Baby Beanies Review

Sandy and I picked up this book, Baby Beanies - by Amanda Keeys, at a local grocery store.  We bought it pretty much just because of the cute baby pictures.  I didn't even glance at any of the pattern instructions.  The babies in this book are darn cute; oh yeah and the knitted beanies on them are pretty cute too.

After reading the book and testing out some of the patterns, I have to say that I quite enjoyed the book.  I'm not saying that it's a great read like a good novel but enjoyable for a knitting book.  The patterns are easy to follow and instructions cover the techniques needed to make the beanies.  And of course the cute baby pictures make this book that much more enjoyable.

The book starts out with the usual introduction from the author about how she/he got into knitting and what she/he hoped to give the readers through the book.  Amanda Keeys is actually a professional children's photographer and you can definitely tell from the pictures in her book.  She, like most knitters (I think), got tired of the usual beginner scarf pattern - plain, seemingly never ending garter stitch.  I can so relate to her - I have yet to make another scarf; I made one for Sandy as a Christmas gift and have never made another dull, oh so boring to knit, scarf.  Any way, she actually got into knitting when she just got fed up with boring beginner scarf patterns and just picked up a pair of needles and improvised a baby hat.

I'd say that she fully understands the frustration newbie knitters have with boring beginner patterns like the garter scarf.  Her baby beanie patterns are easy to follow for the beginner and fun to knit.  Also, as she states in her book, baby hats are small so they do not require a great investment in yarn or time.  She does introduce some knitting skills that will test those new to knitting.  If you are a newbie, you'll appreciate the experience - I certainly did; I learned how to do three needle bind-off and a weird thing called knit into front and back of same stitch (kfb).  I also relearned how to increase and decrease - I had forgotten after a long break from knitting (2 year break).

The book is perfect for the beginner knitter who wants to make something other than a scarf.  An added bonus is that, what you end up making looks really pro.

I will add posts with steps and videos of some of the hats I made from this great knitting book.  You can get a copy of the book following this link to Amazon.ca but if you can find it at a local grocery store that has a book aisle, it'll probably be cheaper there since you won't have to pay for shipping.  Unless you were planning on getting other books from Amazon anyway and needed another book to push you into the free shipping range then, maybe Amazon is the way to go.