Review of Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders

I bet there isn’t a knitter out there who has not succumbed to buying at least one ridiculously expensive skein or hank of yarn. Then when you get home, after the usual petting and just simple enjoyment of the yarn, you wonder what to do with it. Generally the yardage is fairly small and because of the price you paid for it, it feels more like an investment than a simple purchase so you want to knit it into something that will maximize its wonderfulness and show it off to its best advantage. The book Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders edited by Judith Durant publisher Storey Publishing, has brought together some patterns that will allow you to do just that. This book has scarves, hats, mittens, socks, vests, fingerless gloves, shawls and other items that will highlight the special yarn you have and make the investment of time and money worth every penny. This isn’t to say that you can’t use less expensive yarn in these lovely patterns, but be careful to make sure your gauge matches what the pattern calls for so you get the correct results.

There are charts, where appropriate, there is an index, glossary and techniques section. The instructions are clear, but there is no guideline as to the skill level needed to complete the item and the pictures are not in the same place as the instructions, which may cause some confusion. I suggest reading through the pattern thoroughly before you start and making sure you get help if anything is unclear, the shop you bought the yarn from (since it probably is an expensive yarn should be able to help you - and with a smile) is a good place to get instruction.

The Nancy Pygora-Merino Lace Scarf, the Ocean Wave Merino-Bamboo Vest and the Caravan Silk-Wool Socks, are examples of projects that first caught my eye when I was paging through the book. These patterns are simple enough to make a showcase for the yarn, but have shaping and interesting patterns so that knitting them will hold the knitter's interest. Further analysis of the patterns and subsequent investigation of my stash has brought some yarn out of the stash and moved it to the "to be started as soon as possible" pile. Since these are one-skein projects and since they are using lovely yarns they are a pleasure to work with and have a high likelihood of being finished which makes this book just about perfect as far as I am concerned.