Whether you're interested in a special gift for a new mom, a bride, your husband or a friend undergoing cancer treatment, you'll find knitting inspiration for all in Nicky Epstein's Knitting a Kiss in Every Stitch: Creating Gifts for the People You Love.
The book includes 37 patterns for kids of all ages, men, women, pets and special friends, ranging from hats and throws to scarves, wraps and mitts.
The Patterns
Knitting a Kiss in Every Stitch is mostly dedicated to the 37 patterns found inside -- there's just a little bit of instruction in techniques and a glossary at the back of the book, as well as information on charity knitting, which we'll get back to in a minute.
The main part of the book is divided up by recipient: kids, girls, guys and special friends.
Projects for kids run the full spectrum of age ranges, from a hat for a newborn to caps for teens featuring a werewolf or vampire fangs knit into the side.
There are also socks, a blanket, a hoodie for a young child and a variety of cute hats for kids.
For bigger people there are shawls, wraps, hats, bags, scarves, mitts and throws. There are knit luggage tags, spa washcloths, a scarf hat for a dog and a play mat for a cat.
The projects vary in skill level requirement, with one pattern suitable for beginners, 15 ranked easy and 18 for intermediate knitters. Most of the projects are for things that don't have to fit perfectly so there's only one size, but a couple of garments and mitt patterns have a couple of different sizes.
There are projects here that are classic Epstein, including a wrap made out of a bunch of heart motifs sewn together and a cabled bridal bag covered with roses, bobbles and beads.
But some of the patterns feel a little plain for a Nicky Epstein book, such as relatively plain Stockinette socks, ribbed scarves and a pretty basic rectangular shrug.
Some of my favorite patterns include the Meow Kitty Cap, which features stripes, ears and a cat face; the Cable Delight Hat, a super-chunky number embellished with a fun pin; Fisherman's Gloves, a nice fingerless glove pattern featuring a cool Double Broken Rib ribbing pattern; and the Charitable Gift Afghan, a collection of squares featuring basketweave, bobbles, flowers, bows, cables, appliqued ribbons and knit-in phrases.
Make it Charitable
The book also includes information on 26 different charities that accept knit items, from local charities in Los Angeles and South Carolina to the biggies like Warm Up America!, Warm Woolies and Afghans for Afghans, as well as some you might not have heard of before, like Heartmade Blessings and I Cross Canada.
The short roundups of the charities include website and e-mail addresses, general information about the charity, items that are accepted and any special requirements such as if a particular pattern or fiber should be used in your creations.
This is a great at-a-glance guide to giving that will help knitters get inspired to help others with their craft.
Bottom Line
Knitting a Kiss in Every Stitch provides a lot of basic patterns -- ramped up with classic Epstein embellishments in many cases -- that would be great for gift giving for a wide range of recipients. Some of them would also be appropriate for knitters who want to give the gifts of their needles to charity.
This book is surely a must-read for Epstein fans, though she doesn't chart a lot of new ground here. It's also a good choice for people with some knitting experience who maybe haven't done a lot of embellishing of their projects and who want to get started with some patterns that are a little beyond plain Jane but still are accessible for the average knitter.
Publication date: November 2009.
