Book Reviews ; Suzen Millodot's Knot Books

Suzen Millodot's books on knotting intrigued me first because of the gorgeous knots on her website promoting the Chinese Knots for Bead Jewellry.
The books, both of them, more then lived up to my expectations, the illustrations are gorgeous, and the knots are both illustrated and photographed well to show how they go together.
The intricacy of the knots makes them seem a lot more difficult then they are following the instructions. The instructions are clear cut, and there is a nice section on selecting the right cording to try the knots in. Rat tail and mouse tail which are both very inexpensive are used extensively in the projects.
I love the incorporation of beads into the designs, and the colors and classic figures the knots make.
Since I wanted to see how an absolute beginner would do with the instructions,I loaned the books to my eldest child who hasn't really ever tied knots before and within a few minutes he was tying himself a Turk's Head knot bracelet. We wound up going to the hardware store to pick up cording that was more "masculine" for him to make himself some handsome bracelets and key rings using the pendants in the books as the fobs. The designs translated well to the paracord type cords he used, and proved the versatility of the techniques.
Gorgeous books, I highly recommend both of them.
You can get them from SearchPress, or if you prefer, here's a links at Amazon.com.