Surrender to the allure of knits inspired by the immortals we all love to fear. If you adore Twilight, True Blood, or The Vampire Diaries , this collection of 28 imaginative and beautiful projects is sure to captivate.
• Black capes are so 1897, instead get stylish with the dead sexy Sidhe Shrug. • Unleash your inner shapeshifter with the Werewolf Hat. • Keep warm while holding hands with your vampire by wearing these Bellisima Mittens. • Around humans? Use the Blood Bottle Cozies to disguise your beverage.
Whether you are wandering the Carpathian Mountains or the bayous of Louisiana, these smoldering projects—for knitters of all levels—will keep you well protected, no matter what you attract.
I am slightly ashamed for picking up this book... I had found a free pattern snippet from this book a few months back, and I had thought to myself, "Oh maybe if I see this in the library, I'll get it because I wouldn't mind whipping up some Victorian- style projects." Turns out, I almost cried reading the summary in the car on the way home from the library. It's knitting for the Twilight obsessed. I was not surprised to see the author pretty much thanking Stephanie Meyer for saving her life from being dull with her just plain human guy husband. Nor was I surprised with the Twilight trivia quizzes halfway through the book. It was just plain freaking sad. I read it again after first writing my reveiw. Considering, this time, I actually read the patterns for what they were, patterns. I put the obsessive Twilight people to the back of my mind, and pushed forward my new love of Victorian fashon. There were a handful of some of the most beautiful pieces I've seen. Some of them from a few of my favorite knitwear designers. I was slightly dissappionted over the few, the sad children's and men's clothing, though, but what kid or guy would wear knitted Twilight stuff? Yes, I was happy for the few decent Victorian-style patterns. No, I did NOT need the obsessive Twilight mom thing.
Though I've seen a lot of these patterns online at Ravelry (and have actually made a couple) it was still nice to have them all in one place with big glossy pictures to go with them.
While this is mainly geared towards Twilight fans there are a couple of patterns included that every vampire fan would be able to sink their fangs into.
The patterns range from Beginner to Advanced Intermidiate (Knowledge of using DPNs would probably be a plus) but I would recommend either knowing how to knit, having a family memmber versed in the craft, or teaching yourself at art store workshops (ever noticed those knitting ladies they have scatted out there on winter weekends?), with a book that will show you ( Stitch N Bitch is what taught me) or online (like at wwww.knitinghelp.com ). This is not a book that will teach you (unless you are great at looking basic little picutres -- which I am not)
While some of the patterns are a bit corny (any red socks mean vampire) others are just so awesome they made me squee (Be Still My Beating Heart Capelet pattern).
It's a fun book that takes you on a journey from having a vampire boyfriend to getting bitten yourself and what to wear at each section of your life (there's a little story that goes with each pattern that's really cute). It's also packed with vampire tidbits from folk lore to pop culture (which I found very entertaining)
This book is INCREDIBLY silly. It basically worships Stephenie Meyer which annoys me to no end, with only some mention of True Blood which IS FAR MORE INTERESTING. I found a couple patterns I may use, but most of them are ridiculous or totally function-less. Or just embarrassing.
I'm a beginning knitter... this book made it onto my shelves purely because it's a cool title and a cool idea for a compilation of projects. BUT... let me tell you, I'm a fan, I really am. I've knitted two projects from this book so far - a pair of fingerless gloves and a werewolf hat - and both were really easy to do thanks to the clear instructions provided by the author(s).
I can definately recommend this whether you're a beginner or not (there ARE more complicated projects available).
Also, there's lots of little vampire trivia bits...
(in case you've never knitted before, do go ahead and try it, it's actually supposed to be good for your brain - something to do with using both hands and coordinating movements)
I have found online knitting patterns for several knit items worn in the Twilight movies, such as Bella's mittens and hat that she wears to La Push (I've made these), and Alice's handwarmers. These patterns were included in this book, although I'm not sure if they are the same patterns I used. But other than "official" sort of Twilight knits, this book has a lot of other patterns loosely related to vampires and most of it is pretty cheesy (Team Edward and Jacob pillows, scarves with a pattern of red yarn "dripping" like blood, TrueBlood beer cozies, etc). The hoodie sweater on the front and one other sweater were pretty cute although they really didn't have much to do with vampires or Twilight, they were more reminiscent of the sort of clothes (warm knitted stuff) worn in the movies. The pictures evoke the right feel (and the model kind of looks like Victoria). This is more of a novelty kind of book, you can definitely find versions of the "official" Twilight stuff online for free, and most of the other stuff is very basic with simple modifications to make it "vampiric." If you're looking for stuff that a gothy vampire might wear, I'd suggest Anticraft.
This knitting book is great for anyone who follows the current trends of Twilight, True Blood and other vampire/werewolf series that are so popular today. I particularly liked the illustrations and references to different vampire lore.
The illustrations are gorgeous and there are projects for fans of Team Edward and Team Jacob.
My favorite projects include the Black Veil Scarf, The Werewolf Hat, Shapeshifter Shrug and Lore Hoodie.
Check out the True Blood bottle covers! Very cool. This book is a keeper for anyone who enjoys vampires. So pick up your knitting needles and knit some vampire knits!
I haven't read any of the Twilight books, and I don't think I've read any vampire books or watched any shows since Buffy was on the air. And when I saw this book I admit that I laughed out loud.
BUT.
There are a lot of really lovely patterns in here. Some of them are sort of ridiculous like the corset. But I'd say there are more practical patterns in here than the Harry Potter inspired knitting book.
This book has many really sweet knitted items, though perhaps not all are relevant for all knitters, but there is a lot of potential in the models provided, and honestly: Twilight really has little to do with what you find here, trust me on this as I am not a Twilight fan! :)
Interesting patterns around the paranormal theme. Nothing truly new or outstanding, I'd recommend French Girl Knits for those who find this not quite what they were looking for.
My public library has Vampire Knits under 746.432 M468, dewey decimal system.
I thought that most of the patterns were nothing special. There are better patterns for many vampire inspired items, such as Bella's mittens or her LaPush hat, available for free on Raverly. Save your money.
I really like these books. After a lifetime of knitting, I was getting board with scarves, hats and sweaters. These fantasy knit books show a bunch of not-very-practical but extremely fun projects.
Bits of vampire lore are sprinkled throughout. This book isn't for the average knitter but someone who is looking to do something different.
I'm not really that into vampires but this book have some really cute patterns. Most were "too" vampy for my taste, but that's what its about and I considered that in my rating. I would recommend if you'd like some witchy patterns too!
Way too fangirl for my taste. I liked the cover and thought there might be more flowing, romantic patterns inside. One or two, but not really. If you're REALLY into vampires (and I mean REALLY), this book is for you. Otherwise, meh.
Some good patterns inspired by pop culture vampires. I took the descriptions as tongue in cheek rather than as “sad” as some other readers seem to have.
I need to buy this book. I borrowed it from the library and there are so many cool knitting patterns in here. I need my own copy so I can take my time and make them all.
Vampire Knits by Genevieve Miller is a collection of knitting patterns from a diehard Twilight series fan, who was so inspired that she created a collection of patters for other fans of the series and vampires in general. However, some of these patterns could just be knitted and worn by everyday, non-vampire fans and fans of werewolves/shapeshifters too. The book’s font and design seem very appropriate for the vampire inspired knitting in these pages, which are broken down into sections: Protect Me; Just Bitten; Vampire Style; Bloody Accents; and Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?
My local library had a copy of Genevieve Miller's Vampire Knits: Projects to Keep You Knitting from Twilight to Dawn--(oh yes, she went there.) Once you get past the stupid premise, there's actually a lot of cute fun stuff in this book and the materials are very affordable. Most of the yarns featured in Vampire Knits are available through
I don't know much about knitting, but I have friends who do. I also have friends who knit who hate Twilight with the flaming passion of a thousand burning suns, so when I saw this, I had to look at it. There seems to be an overabundance of mittens in this book; I'm not sure why. I've always been a fan of vampires in literature, and I don't recall much in regards to how the absence or presence of mittens added to the plot.
The photos in the book are nice, though the male sweater model looks like he longs for a quick and pointy stake to the heart at any moment... The sooner, the better.
I haven't tried to follow any of the patterns yet, so I cannot comment on the quality of the instructions except to say they look fine. The projects are a real mix in this book. Some of them barely cling to the book's theme: including a silver and red striped headscarf because silver and red represent silver bullets and blood is a bit too much of a stretch for me. Most of the projects are more strongly connected to the vampire theme, either by evoking the mood and atmosphere of various works of vampire fiction or by tongue in cheek references (duplicate stitch blood drops, for example).
Book has lots of fun little vampire tidbits, and I like vampire stuff, hence why there are tons of vampire books on my read list. But the patterns in it are mostly too complicated for me. I am a basic knitter, knit 2, purl 1 kinda thing, so not very much I felt like I could tackle. I did enjoy just reading it though, and didn't have any problems with it.
Decent mix of knitting projects with a vampire theme. There are a few nods to other vampire book/movie/etc. series, but it's strongly targeted at Twilight fans. Concerning the knitting patterns, I'm a big fan of charts for projects that involve texture or colorwork. While some patterns in the book include charts, they're missing from other patterns where they would be helpful.
There were a couple of patterns here that I might attempt to knit, but even the few that I really found attractive were impractical for my body type and I couldn't help but wonder who would even look good in them, except for these stick thin models. Knitwear designers, take heed, REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES! Please design with that in mind! The average American woman is a size 12? 14? Yeah...
Maybe I should have picked up a book of Anne Rice vampire knits instead of Twilight knits...I was a bit underwhelmed by the patterns. I had hoped they would be more goth, or more punk, or at least more Victorian, but instead they ended up mainly as blood drinking puns. Beautiful pictures, though, and they're not bad patterns in and of themselves.
I do not like Twilight and never got more than 15 pages into the first book, so most of the references to clothing worn by the characters were lost on me. However, several of the patterns are interesting, and they seem fairly easy to follow. I think the finished projects would be at home at a Renaissance fair or druid cosplay equally as well. The pictures are useful also.
Ignore all of the Twilight references and mentions and stick only with the patterns. Even then this books only gets 3 stars from me because a lot of the garment patterns are for skinny women with not much allowance for those of us with curves. The accessories are nice and a couple will work for a swap I'm participating in.
Wanted to like it. Patterns not as exciting as I was hoping. Cute, but didn't like any of the patterns enough to make them. I did like the corset though, especially that it actually has boning in it and looks like a pretty good pattern. Author's fondness for Twilight Series did not help.