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Hurray for Ponchos! Viva Poncho is a wonderful knitters' book of just ponchos. Ponchos in all shapes, lengths, and sizes, from calf to capelet in length. The designers have used wool from various sources, however, the yarn gauge is included with each pattern so substitutions can always be made. Of the 20 ponchos, I particularly liked the soft mohair designs - more open lacework and one deep red alpaca shorter poncho has a hood. It makes you think "Red Riding Hood" but it's actually very cute. Several of the designs incorporate ribbons woven through eyelets - all very appealing. There are also many designs of the more typical triangular poncho using intersting textured wools, or incorporating a pattern for interest. Also included are open work ponchos done in cottons, which would be perfect as a beach cover up, or just as a fashion statement. The book has a skills page for each garment which shows what knowledge would be needed for each item. This would be a great aid for the beginner knitter who may not be sure if they could complete the project once started. As an example for one pattern it simply says "knit and purl" on another it states "stockinette stitch, seed stitch, increase, change color". So the beginner will know before they start what stitches they'll have to do. Yarns and yarn weights are shown in a chart to help explain the gauges - from finer wools such as fingering up to thicker bulky yarns or roving. There is a terms and abbreviations page with the abbreviations explained, i.e., psso - pass the slipped stitch over. It doesn't give more detail than that so if you're a real beginner, you might have to google some knitting sites for a better description - there are lots of sites that give this info free, and even have on-line videos to show how to do the stitches. The authors are big fans of circular needles so many of the patterns do use them (my own note here after years of experience - use the circular needles from the beginning, it saves time and your hands!). Every few pages the book has these great little inserts that give Tricks & Techniques - with full colour photographs. These are really helpful for beginners! Included in these inserts is casting on and off, how to use circular needles, picking up stitches, increasing and decreasing stitches, weaving in new colours -- all stuff the beginner needs to learn. At the back is a section on how to make pom-poms and a resource list for suppliers of all the yarns used in their patterns. This is a really useful book with great supporting information for the beginner knitter. There is a large enough variety of ponchos and styles to please both the beginner and advanced knitter. Happy Knitting! See also:
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