Can you believe Christmas is only 39 days away. Its shocking really and knowing that makes you wonder what can I get done in such little time. I may have a solution, I love doing ornaments. I made a lot of them last year and want to do more this year. Our local Knitting Guild has even decided to do a ornament swap among us at our annual Christmas Party. I think it will be a fun activity and we will have something one of our friends made.

To prepare for my Ornament along I began shopping for patterns. I had come across this book called Annie’s Deck The Halls 20+ Knitted Christmas Ornaments. I fell in love with several patterns in the book and realized how great of a deal this book is. The book retails for $9.99 here in the US. There are actually 20 patterns in the book but several patterns have more than one option. An example of this is the beautiful Opulent Openwork Ornaments by Kara Got Warner. There is a beaded option and a non beaded option. Even if you just say there is 20 patterns then at the $9.99 price point that is less than .50 cents per pattern!

The book is a great size with easy to read pages. I love there is some white space making it easy to focus on the pattern. The projects are photographed in a way that you can see them well and putting the focus on the actual object itself. All of the patterns are wrote out but there are a few simple charts for you chart lovers along with some simple graphs. The last few pages of the book have an index page with all the ornaments and their corresponding page numbers, a stitch reference, abbreviations definitions and a yarn weight guide.

Now lets look at the patterns. Each pattern page has a photo, skill level, materials needed, gauge, special stitches, notes and other information needed to compete the project. I was surprised to see almost all the pattern are considered intermediate. I have read over them and none of them seem that difficult. The one that is considered easy is the Cabled Christmas Stocking and there is one that is considered experienced, Donner the reindeer. I am actually working on Donner and he is not hard at all. I think anyone with basic skills should be able to pick up this book and go.

The only things I wished I had seen are the wording on the method they say to use. This is common among so many patterns I run across. (It in no way takes away from anything in the pattern book.) The book refers to Double Points often and I see many people get turned off by patterns that recommend one method or the other. I use DPNs but many people see those words and think they can not do the pattern because they only magic loop or vice versa. Magic loop and double point knitting are interchangeable methods you just need to make sure you use stitch markers to mark repeats or where they would be split on to the double points. Both methods can be learn by watching any of the videos on line. Annie’s has these two methods on their site and the magic loop can be found here.

The other thing I would love to see in more diagrams as far as where to place things like legs etc. I know many people really have issues where to place legs, eyes, noses etc and where they are placed can really change the finishing look of the finished object.

One more thing I would love to add, I really wish all the projects in the book were added into Ravelry. Ravelry has become a great go to for pattern comments and helpful tips from other crafters. Many head there to see the notes left on a project, how others turned out and so they can link it to there’s.

My wrap up:  This is a wonderful book for the price. The patterns are easy to follow, well photographed and adorable!

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