Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Brave New Knits by Julie Turjoman

I like to collect patterns about as much as I like to collect pretty yarns, pretty beads, pretty paper, well pretty anything really, so I couldn't believe my luck when Rodale Books offered the digital version of Brave New Knits through NetGalley for reviewers. I'm thinking "teehee, it's sooo good to do reviews! Yum, yum, another good treat." More on that later.

The Brave part of the title is that it has a short bio on several of http://www.ravelry.com's pioneers and then an original pattern from each designer. They were ahead of their time in that they had the foresight to use modern technology of the web with the ancient fiberart. Very smart ladies, I'd say. This part of Brave New Knits was a very enjoyable read. So now, I wanted to go back through and take a gander at the actual patterns that were offered........

But little did I realize that the ebook version that I was sent would be laid out the way it is. It's basically a draft of the book, uncorrected in soooo many ways. NetGalley goofed in sending out a draft, it's not easy to present a book review when the copy given to you is not a review copy (a finished copy of a book) and it doesn't properly serve the purpose of having a book reviewed in order to entice folks to buy it either. In fact I've not been able to actually review any of the patterns. There are no photos of any of the items near the area of it's pattern, so if you want to see what the item looks like, you have to write down what page you're reading, hunt through the back of the book, where the pictures are, then flip back to where the pattern is. Remember, I'm just reading a draft, not trying to follow an actual pattern. When you do get to the pictures they were blurred!  I'm positive that the finished product will have the pics with it's corresponding pattern and that they'll be great in detail but my copy is definitely not finished.

My only disappointment with the actual book is the sizes offered within the patterns.....only some of the patterns have sizing for large folks. I wish that all patterns would be presented for any wearer. Now, I have heartburn...I really don't like doing a non-positive review. This review is of the draft copy that NetGalley sent to me, not the book that will end up in the stores.