Twenty to Make: Knitted Aliens: (Twenty to Make)

Close encounters of the knitted kind! Fiona McDonald's instructions make knitting twenty adorable aliens easy and fun, so blast off and have an adventure with these charming characters.

Table of Contents:
Twenty designs and twenty alternatives Perfect as gifts

About the Author :
Fiona McDonald studied classical painting and drawing at The Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney, Australia from 1985 to 1989. After moving to the Blue Mountains, she began developing her unique oil-painted, needle-sculpted, life-size cloth figures, and her own line of fabric dolls and dragons. On returning to her home town of Armidale, Fiona added to her skills by learning to knit. This latest phase in her career has resulted in her developing designs for dolls and other toys.

Review :
I have knitted two of these alien whilst on holiday and Mum made another two. The patterns include only basic knit, purl and basic increasing and decreasing. They would make them a brilliant project for a new knitter with some help making up. Will (6) particularly enjoyed adding the decorations to the knitted bodies, and both he and Anna chose the wool. It was a great way to use up little ends and some of the novelty wool I can't resist but wouldn't necessarily want to wear! Sometimes the fancy wool made bits come up bigger then expected but I think that's definitely the fun of these, each one comes out with their own personality. As the name suggest there are twenty patterns in this book, giving lots of potential for a whole planet of daft aliens. Due to the size of the book it was sometimes difficult to knit and keep the pages open, especially if you need to keep a count of the short rows, which you would need to do with the fluffier wool. I can see this book coming out over and over again as the kids grow up and are able to complete more of the stages themselves. I can also see no reason why these aliens couldn't be stuffed with lavender and live in an underwear drawer or be threaded onto a bag dangle. One nice thing is that the models in the photos are not so perfect that you feel your own efforts would be a poor comparison, they give you a very reasonable expectation that every single alien you make will come out totally bonkers!-Jennyflowerblue.blogspot.com Have you ever seen a Fragmolite? How about a Welpmina or a Helipop? Inside this book are knitting patterns for twenty aliens, together with twenty ideas for variations on them. They are out of this world! Just the thing for people who have learned to knit and are up to tackling a small pattern, or anybody else who is looking for some wee creatures for whatever purpose and wants to use up some spare yarn. These aliens all come with a few lines about where they come from and what they are like, just the sort of thing to get children's imaginations working in overdrive. They would make great party favors, prizes, gifts to hang on a Christmas tree or charity bazaar items. Each project has a double page spread with a whole page format photograph of the alien and its variation, plus details about what you need (mainly 8-ply yarn), size of needles, written (not charted) instructions and how to make them up. The instructions are easy to follow, laid out in sections for different body parts and with each new instruction on a separate line. You won't find knitting instructions in here, but there are some hints as to safety, what to use as filling etc and in truth everything you need to know for everybody but the most inexperienced knitter.-Myshelf.com If you are a knitter, or if you just like to smile, this is the book for you. It is dedicated to the designer's son, Gabriel, who apparently knows everything there is to know about aliens. He must have lent his knowledge to these designs because they are delightfully alien to the world of traditional knitting. Each pattern is complete on one page (faced with a colour photo opposite), the pages being 6"x9", which makes it a perfect size for travel knitting. While not designed for the under-three crowd, these toy designs may be adjusted for younger children by replacing beads with embroidery and leaving off little antennae and choke-y bits. The designer used 3mm needles and a combination of wool and fancy (stash) fibres, but larger needles may be used since these are not garments with a required gauge. Have fun, for aliens are watching. Twenty designs, twenty colour alternatives, and 100% original.-Spool