by Joelle Hoverson
I admit, I was attracted to this one because of the elfin hat on the little girl on the cover.
As the title suggests, this is a book of patterns for gift items that you can knit. It is different in that the table of contents is organized by how long it takes to make an item!
There are some really nice items to make and some of them take as little as two hours, maybe less. Hats, bracelets, wrist warmers, sock and even toys can be made quickly when you suddenly need a gift for someone. That alone makes this is brilliant book.
There are holiday items like bauble covers, not to mention the cute elf hat, and many of them would be a joy to give to someone. The knitted baskets in the 2-4 hour patterns really appealed to me. Nice design and so useful!
The book has full color photos for all the patterns and some of them show the effects of making them in different colors and sizes.
You get the usual baby socks and hats, but also things for adults like scarves and wrist warmers in particularly nice designs. A few household items are included that are diferent from the usual stuff. As the time commitment gets longer, the patterns include more clothing items for both children and adults. There are even patterns for gift tags to make your present especially nice. There's an index in the back to make it easier to find the pattern you want.
Personally, I may have to make a gift for myself out of this. The beret was very appealing, especially with the photo of different ways to use color to make it unique. Apparently there was a first book called Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I may have to search it out!