Knitting the National Parks: 63 Easy-to-Follow Designs for Beautiful Beanies Inspired by the US National Parks (Knitting Books and Patterns; Knitting Beanies)

I first discovered this book at the library, but after looking through it, I fell in love and ordered my own copy. There is a gorgeous hat for each of the National Parks, some with colorwork and others with textured stitches. I also liked how there was a little blurb about each park and photos to show what inspired the hat's pattern. It made me want to visit each and every one! I have knitted 8 of these hats so far, and the patterns have been clear and easy to use. The color charts are great because the boxes aren't super tiny and the colors are easy to distinguish. I will say that I substituted yarns I already had in my stash, instead of buying the pricey yarn listed, but everything came out fine. You just have to make sure you have the correct weight yarn to get the right gauge. I knitted these hats for Christmas and birthday gifts, and everyone loved them. I even passed the book around with sticky notes and had folks label a few of their favorites, so I had an idea of what they would like. Now I just need to knit one for myself!

This book is amazing! Nancy Bates put together a great assortment of patterns. Love this book!

Previewed this book previously and fell in love with it. Patterns are colorful and fun. So many good ones difficult to choose which one to do first. Must have for national parks enthusiasts and you can knit your own memento of where you have been or where you want to go.

I ordered this book because we are an outdoor family and thought it would be fun to knit hats based on the parks we have been. Easy to follow directions, and beautifully written. Beautiful pictures included.

The book is put together so well, great photos, content, instructions, information , paper, printing. all of this. The hats are just lovely, so glad I bought this book.

The pictures are gorgeous! And the finished hats are beautiful. But for someone, like me, who does not read patterns from the graphs that this book uses for knitting each hat. In other words, I can read actual written patterns better than reading graphs. So for those that find it hard to read graphs this may not be the book for them!

Even if knitting isn’t your hobby of choice, this is a beautiful book with good information and lovely pictures. Knitting instructions are detailed and pattern charts very clear.

First want to say this book is an outstanding concept and my favorite knitting book!!! It combines my love of knitting with hiking, camping and traveling to beautiful parks. I love to make a hat after I visit a park and knit it in colors that I personally experienced in that park during that season, time of day, weather conditions, etc. I did not buy the suggested yarns because they aren't economical if you're planning on knitting many hats; instead I bought large quantities of same gauge wool in many colors from a single company and can mix and match, like a large paint palette. I've made 8 hats so far (24+ more to go).I have 2 issues with the book, just want to make others aware io them so that they might adjust if needed in advance:1. There is absolutely no mention of how to do stranding colorwork. This might not be an issue for experienced knitters, but it definitely is an issue for those who haven't done much of it before. (I assume the book is extremely appealing to young hikers who might not be experienced colorworkers.) For the price and level of detail in the book, it's a disappointment that there isn't at least some MENTION of basic color stranding techniques, or at least advice to go read about or watch videos on doing it properly. I knit 7 hats before I realized my stranding could be so much better. A friend introduced me to the concept of color dominance. I watched 2 videos from Brooklyn Tweed that have greatly improved my colorwork (How To Knit: Trapping Floats, and How To Knit: Color Dominance 101). I'm now finally really enjoying this book as a result of those videos. I'm tempted to frog my first hats and start over because they could look better but I've already blocked them (on a hat block), so that's not going to happen. Irritating.2. All of the hats are taller and narrower than normal (I realize it's because they accommodate the scenic graphs). They're not really the slouchy style because they're narrower. Just be aware than if you have a medium to large head (I'm 22.5 inches), you might want to adjust your gauge and yarn, or shorten the crown of a hat. My yarn was already bought, so I have been shortening the crowns (started decreasing earlier). I also don't like folding the ribbed brim up because it covers the colorwork, so I knit shorter ribbing as well.

This is a beautiful book with colourful photographs taken in US national parks together with patterns for knitting interpretations for each photograph. Haven't knitted any yet but the patterns appear to be very clear, although in graph form only. There are no written instructions. It makes a nice coffee table book as well - in case I never get around to the knitting part!

I love this book it is so beautiful. the photos are detailed and gorgeous and patterns easy to follow, so glad I bought this book

Ich stricke gern Mützen und ich liebe die amerikanischen Nationalparks, also war dieses Buch für mich natürlich ein Must Have. Die Aufmachung ist sehr schön mit vielen Fotos der Parks, die als Motivvorlage dienten. Das Buch ist auf englisch, hat aber durchgängig Charts, so dass man auch ohne große Sprachkenntnisse die Modelle nachstricken kann. Die Mützen sind originell gestaltet und haben schöne Muster und Farben. Die meisten haben Einstrickmuster (Stranded), einige haben aber auch Strukturmuster. Etwas schade ist, dass alle Mützen immer aus relativ dickem Garn gestrickt werden, allerdings passen die Maschenzahlen auch zu Socken und man kann ja auch sein eigenes Design aus den Vorlagen entwickeln. Ein kleines Gimmick sind die Labels an den Mützen, auf denen immer der Nationalpark benannt ist. Leider gibt es diese Labels nicht so zu kaufen, man müsste sie wohl anfertigen lassen. Im November erscheint von der gleichen Designerin "Knitting California". Das habe ich schon vorbestellt und freue mich drauf, auch daraus originelle Sachen nachzuarbeiten.