Animal Hats by Vanessa Mooncie ~ Knitting Book Review

Book Description: Gather knitting know-how for making animal hats of all shapes and sizes. The book features detailed knitting patterns, schematics, and basic animal hat-making techniques--plus how-to instruction for adding a fleecy hat-lining for extra coziness. There are patterns for every animal-lover. Animals included are cat, dog, chicken, rabbit, pig, frog, penguin, cow, elephant, fox, koala, monkey, panda, lion, and mouse. Patterns offer both child and adult sizes, so family members can each have their own hat

About the Author: Vanessa Mooncie spent many happy hours as a child sitting with her mother and maternal grandmother learning how to knit and crochet. She went on to study fashion and textile design and became a self-employed children’s wear designer, illustrator and commercial interior designer. She now specializes in silkscreen work and designing crochet jewellery, which she sells through her company Kissy Suzuki. She lives with her family in a rural village in the south of England. Vanessa is also working on Crocheted Accessories for GMC Publications and is a regular contributor to other craft books and magazines.

Purchase a copy from Thomas Allen & Sons Ltd. for $18.95

My Initial Review:

Today I am just reviewing the book, how the instructions are laid out and ideas. I will be working on knitting a couple hats in September when it isn't plus 40C out. I will later review the patterns and how the hat(s) turned out.

This is a great knitting book for anyone looking to make animal hats for children and adults. With 15 patterns to choose from there is sure to be one each family member will love. When the book first arrived the kids picked up which hat they would like me to make. This is the first knitting book I have and will be the first time knitting intarsia.

With a simple quick 1 page introduction we jump right into the projects. Each project (hat) has a single page for materials needed, size and gauge needed to obtain right hat size. There are tons of photos of the finished hat from different angles and the next page is broken down into a small overview and each section as they need to be knitted.

If you are a newer knitter you can easily flip to the back of the book to find knitting abbreviations along with basic knitting techniques. You will also find 2 options for linings that can be used for any of the patterns in the book, fleece & knitted.

I do have a few things I didn't like about this book, this could be because I am a new knitter but I didn't like that each pattern calls for a brand name yarn. It does say or equivalent but for myself I had to look up each wool/yarn to see what could work instead of the brand in the book. Some of the wool isn't available in my local knitting store and can be costly if it is. Also for kids wool isn't always the best for easy washing care as it has to be hand washed gently as to not felt it and I don't have a lot of time to hand wash things. I did noticed when I was online looking for a yarn that at least one yarn that was mentioned in the book was discontinued.

My kids have picked out the Fox and Cat hat for me to make them this fall.