Cowl Girls by Cathy Carron: Book Review

Title: Cowl Girls: The Neck's Big Thing to Knit
Designer: Cathy Carron
Publisher: Sixth&Spring Books
Publication Date: Oct 2010
Number of Pages: 136
Series: Stand Alone
Reason for Discovery: I love Cathy Carron's hat patterns.

According to GoodReads:

Forget tired scarves and bulky turtlenecks-funky, chunky, hip and happening cowls are where it's at! Following up her hit book Hattitude, author and designer Cathy Carron weaves a fashion statement that puts in-the-know women head and shoulders above the rest. Among the more than 35 patterns provided here are a cozy neck wrap featuring a built-in iPod holder, a lacy drawstring hood, and a woven necklace sparkling with Swarovski crystals.

First Impressions: It is a Cathy Carron book! Yea! I love her hat patterns! I love cowls, because they keep my neck warm but do not take ten million years to knit. This will be the best book ever. Hmmm, these patterns are interesting. I am not sure who is supposed to wear these cowls. They are pretty, but they seem a bit large.

The Details: This book contains 41 cowl patterns. The majority of these patterns use bulky yarn. Because most of these patterns use bulky yarn, these are large cowls. These are statement pieces, not just cowls to keep your neck warm. I don't think I have ever seen a man wearing a cowl, so I am going to assume that these patterns are for women (the models are all women). In regards to range of difficulty, there are patterns to fit all levels from beginner to beyond. This book assumes that you know the basics. With that said, the patterns are short and fairly straight forward, so once you start knitting some of the patterns, you should be able to branch out to the more complicated patterns in the book. The yarn used in this book comes from your friendly, neighborhood yarn store, not your big box store.

Final Impressions: Cathy Carron patterns are always fun. This book is no different. There are definitely some fun patterns in this book; however, I think I am not the demographic to wear most of these cowls. There are a handful that I can see myself wearing (a 30-something year old), but for the most part, I think you need to be a teen or in your 20s to pull these cowls off. Because most of these cowls are made with bulky yarn, you could knit up a bunch of these and hand them out to the younger girls on your holiday present list, if you don't fit the "cowl girls" group.

I give this book 3 out of 5 balls of yarn.