101 Designer One-Skein Wonders

by Judith Durant (Editor)

For every lonely skein there is a perfect small pattern. In this compilation by Judith Durant, knitwear designers from across the United States offer their favorite little projects — each designed to use just one ball of yarn. Hats, scarves, bags, shawls, mittens, pillows, and other One-Skein Wonders® make fun and portable weekend projects. All 101 designs are pictured in a full-color project gallery, while clear instructions make it easy for knitters of every skill level to tie up some loose ends. 
 

Genres: Knitting, Crafts, Nonfiction, Reference, Crochet, How To

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 2007

About the author

Judith Durant is a knitter and beadworker as well as author and editor of several books on both subjects. Trained as a theatrical costume designer, she took a circuitous route through various costume shops in New York, on to a New York theatrical book publishing house, and then to Interweave Press in Colorado, where she was book editor and one of the founding editors of Interweave Knits.

Judith is currently a freelance writer, editor, designer, and teacher based in Massachusetts. She has more than 25 years of experience in publishing and a wealth of experience in many crafts. Judith can help you with editorial project management, design development and pattern writing, and technical and copy editing. Judith is also available to teach workshops at your shop or guild meeting.

Reviews

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOTTOM LINE: Nicely put together book filled with interesting, if a mite cute for my taste, patterns, well illustrated and explained.

I loved Ms. Durant's later book in this series (Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders) and looked forward to this one. While it wasn't as good - or useful for me - as this earlier book, it was still interesting to look at and likely to be a very good book to keep in your library if you tend to make a lot of things for your home (not my sort of thing) or baby clothes (nope.) or as little gifts for folks (yes, maybe, but unfortunately many of these were quite "cute!", which makes me grit my teeth...). Still, there are lots of things to make, the instructions are excellent, and Ms. Durant's informative paragraphs are very well-done.

Patterns are organized by yarn weight, and have a very thoughtful addition that would be quite useful in other books: prior to the written portion of the book there is a complete section of large color photographs of all the projects, all cross-referenced by pattern numbers and page numbers - lovely! There are scarves and hats and lots of baby stuff, and washcloths and tablecloths and many, many other things to make. Might be fun to use this book as basis for a group knitting project, wherein everyone picks an item and makes it, repeating until the group has completed the book... All the patterns work up quickly, might be colorful and interesting, and definitely useful come the winter holidays.

[Shirl · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a huge disappointment, especially since the "101 one skein wonders" was so well done. I was looking forward to making several of the patterns. Unfortunately I found multiple errors in every pattern that I attempted. I have been knitting for 30+ years and have never been so frustrated with a pattern book. I finally found errata on the following website. (search for errata)
http://www.storey.com/correct_book.ph...

There are corrections for 32 out of the 101 patterns and several of the patterns have multiple corrections listed. That is almost 1/3 of the patterns. Very poor

Do not spend any money on this book.

[Cat Randle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a few knitting books but this is the one I use all the time. It has my favourite sock pattern and each time I try a new pattern it becomes my favourite. I am an intermediate knitter and I find it easy to follow. I started using it as a beginner. I am a UK knitter so I have to translate the yarn sizes which is the only downside of the book. They are all one ball of wool. They do translate very well. The pictures are lovely. If I was only allowed one knitting book, this would be the one. This is a forever book for me. Eventually I will get to the hard patterns and knit everything in the book. It is just such a pleasure.

[Ligaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to be wowed by this book, but it is creeping towards being 20 years old... It just didn't do it for me, and I, particularly, hated the way it was organized with all the photos of the projects in the front and nothing but text, not even an illustration, for the rest of the book. There are some schematics and stitch diagrams when needed and the format is pretty to look at but, not having a photo adjacent to the directions really bothered me! There is a decent range of pieces for babies and adults, plus accessories and some toys. There was only one project that I flagged, the Cross-Stitch Scarf (p. 186).

[jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for me

I thought I'd enjoy this book - but it's not as well laid out as other knitting books I've read. Example: I like to see the image of the item before the pattern starts. The ebook version does not show the item before the pattern which I find annoying because the image is before the book writing starts. It's kind of weird.

[Michelle Browne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is great. Lots of gorgeous and varied patterns, plenty of unusual scarf patterns - which are hard to find, honestly! - and some really cute af shrugs. I wish they used more than one model for the photos, but eh, at least it's good photography. The patterns and lace stitches are excellent, and there's a huge variety, enough to please every knitter.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic selection of knitting patterns that only require one skein of yarn. Its a great way to eliminate some of the extra yarn in any knitter's stash and all of the patterns are unique and easy to follow. There is a full range of choices from infant patterns to adult sizes, and practical knitted household items.

[Phillias · Rating 3 out of 5]

wordy, intermediate to advanced

[Sybylla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't like the format (Pictures at the front, hard to find what you're referring to) but the designs were varied and interesting, with very few super tacky 80's vibe things.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice projects using all yarn weights.

[Julie Blankenship]

Good reference book. Like trying new patterns & new inspirations.

[Reading with Cats · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly designed and laid out: all photos of projects are weirdly at the very beginning with no link to go back; patterns all run together with no clear division. Do not recommend.

[Marianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the patterns are really nice, the instructions are clear and complete.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still learning how to crochet

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

fabulous fast projects.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knit the garter stitch Loop-through scarf from this book and it went pretty well. The thing I don't like about this book as that all the patterns are from different designers - so you have to really read the pattern before you dig in so you know what is going on. I feel like when a book is all by one designer you get a feel for how they work a pattern and it is easier to do other patterns.

All that said I still love thumbing through the book and reading the patterns and I think they have clever designs to use up stray balls of yarn. The garter stitch Loop-through scarf worked up nice. I was glad I had to balls of the yarn I was working though as I needed more than one. That makes me inclined toward having more than one ball for each pattern I would work up in that book in the future.

[Tonileg · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the beginning this book was well planed because there is a photo of each project finished in a tiled format so that you can see what you're interested in making and then jump straight away to your project page because it is very clear.
Thank you editor and authors for making it easy to choose a project! The patterns are divided by yarn weight (once again, very well organized for when you have a left over ball of yarn from a big project and you can make up some matching socks or a hat!)
I do prefer having a chart instead of having the rows written out like in this book because I travel with my patterns into the city and while I travel so I find that it could have been made batter if they had added the chart at the end of the pattern.
This is a great beginner book for a new knitter or someone with lots of leftover yarn.
255 pages and square squat format
3 stars

[Bliss · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me preface my review by saying I have been crocheting for over 30 years and have crocheted everything from the easiest patterns to what are considered advanced or intermediate.

If you crochet but don't knit, you might want to skip this book. Unless you just want to look at pretty pictures.

Out of 95 patterns, I found 4 or 5 that were crochet only. One or two additional were knitted and crocheted.

The one pattern I attempted was a simple one. However it was written incorrectly and despite several attempts as well as reading the errata on the publisher's website, sadly the pattern never morphed into the intended project.

I could have modified it to "fix" it but for me, that defeated the purpose of reading the pattern.

[Stefanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 3-star rating I've given this book is temporary. The reason why is I need to knit more from this book. I have tons of knitting pattern books and have yet to make a dent in them!

I've only knitted one pattern and that was a few years ago. I made the kid mohair, silk cowl/snood. The lace pattern is great. It was just difficult to work with that type of yarn for the first time, something highly frustrating where I wanted to burn it. But I trudged through and made a nice FO for my mortgage broker. She was delighted to receive it and had said she could think of various ways on how to use it.

[Sandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately this volume follows the same design as the first book and lists the patterns by yarn weight but with no sense or reason in each category. The only difference being that the project photos are at the start of the book and not the centre.

I was happy to see a few more fun and elegant designs and less of the standard baby and scarf items. Although some of the scarves are more sophisticated looking. I once again found that I'd already done similar projects that I'd found at various knitting sites online.

Still in all it's pretty to look at and a good reference book. I can see at least two of the projects giving me ideas for my own designs.

[Vesper Stamper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE this book as a between-projects fix. I've made multiple ruffled neckwarmers out of really different yarns. What to do with that odd ball of Noro Kureyon? No problem! And I love that it's arranged by yarn weight. SO helpful--what an intuitive way to organize the book, since you're most likely looking at something in your stash. Some of the patterns are a little on the boring side but I'll probably wind up knitting everything in it before I die.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. I'm a new knitter and found a ton of patterns in this book that I want to try. There are patterns that range from very easy to very difficult and everything in between. Also, since the patterns only call for one skein, I can splurge and get some high-quality yarn for each project :-) All in all, a great book. I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys knitting and looking for different patterns.

[♥ Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book because it featured great patterns that only used one skein of yarn each. The book gives me a lot of inspiration when designing my own patterns.
I like how the photos of the projects are featured in the front of the book, unlike those in the original One-Skein Wonders book, which are featured in the middle. They are more accessible this way. The design of the book (the integration of the colors and fonts) is very appealing.

[Shannan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice patterns ranging from simple to complex. Some details of how to do certain parts of the patterns aren't explained so even though many of the patterns aren't too difficult, I wouldn't recommend this book for novice knitters unless you're comfortable looking some techniques up as you go.

I like the pictures of the finished works at the front acting as the table of contents, but I wish there were pictures with the patterns as well. All in all though, some really nice patterns!

[penny shima glanz · Rating 2 out of 5]

quick review: I'm disappointed in the formatting and can't get past that to see the designs (even though there is the goldmine of ravelry/flickr/google to show what they really look like). I admire many of the shop owners and designers who contributed, but find the organization of this book so terrible I just can't get into it.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book of patterns ranging from basic to more skilled. I've knit a couple of patterns from this book.

As other reviewers mention - you can get knitting patterns online for free - but I prefer buying knitting books (just like cookbooks) and having some for reference.

Which is exactly the purpose this book serves for me. :)

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some cool projects, some ugly ones, and some plain ones. The book isn't overly well organised, and the title is somewhat misleading because some of the skeins listed are giant bulk ones that are more equivalent to two or three regular commercial skeins. Planning on knitting a shawl for a friend from one of the patterns.

[Oscar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book in a competition; flipping through the patterns, I see a few I would love to attempt, but others seem fairly basic/ugly. The patterns that I'm interested in seem fairly clearly written, but the book's altogether formatting is not especially intuitive, though the photography is lovely.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the organization of this book! If you have an orphan skein, then just look up under it's weight (lace, sock, bulky, ect) and boom! you have a variety of projects to work on from easy to advanced. Then, your stash will slowly deplete... until the next trip to the yarn store.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am just getting into the world of knitting and have done some projects in crocheting in the past. This has been a fun place to get ideas and starting points for things to make. Gives me some challenges since I am generally speaking, a beginning.