Product Description

Imagine knitting with the most decadent of cashmeres, silks and other fibres gliding through your fingers as you work. Better yet, imagine yourself draped in their elegant softness! Yahaira Ferreira lets you create your own upscale couture with two needles and some yarn. Sexy, skin-baring sweaters, dresses, stockings and camisoles await you. Beautiful models display the clothing and every exquisitely photographed garment provides a stunning example of how classic can also be very sexy. Peruse the styles to find the garment that would flatter you most. With their body-conscious silhouettes and creative blend of fashion-forward and classic detailing, every piece will make you feel sexy. The projects make use of the most lavish yarns available, the blend of the fibres, the way they're plied, and even the colours and notions add your own personal flair. If you've been longing to treat your body to the best in modern luxury, this is the collection you've been waiting for. Yahaira Ferreira has an MA in photography. Her background in photography gives her a sophisticated eye for colours and shapes. A passionate knitter, she saw the need for luxurious and hard-to-find yarns, and launched her retail web site, www.pureknits.com, in April 2006.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #98420 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

About the Author
Yahaira Ferreira has an MA in photography. Her background in photography gives her a sophisticated eye for colours and shapes. A passionate knitter, she saw the need for luxurious and hard-to-find yarns, and launched her retail web site, www.pureknits.com, in April 2006.

Customer Reviews

no sense of sensual
In the introduction Yahaira states that she could not find the perfect knitting pattern and that what she found as shapeless and boring. So she set about to banish bulky knits. Instead of being the ground-breaking book this could be, it harks back to an earlier, older style of knitwear. When I saw the title, my mind associated it with sleek and sexy, but the sensual element refers to luxury yarns such as alpaca and silk. For me, the designer has not translated that sensuality into pattern. Given that luxurious yarns are expensive and that you will pay vast sums for the yarn, you would be right to demand something extra special. The close-fit style only suits sylph-like figures. The instructions for altering patterns are inadequate if you are discussing a textured pattern, because it is not simply then a case of knocking a few stitches off.
I particularly like the loop shawl and Multiplicity Jumper. However, in my personal opinion as a knitwear designer myself and a hands-on knitter with forty years experience, the designer has abandoned finish for style and shape. The patterns are lacking in refinement and detail. On the Vixen Camisole, the lacy body is spoiled by a clumsy top rib, held up by thick ribbon, which does not really work. Although a curled bottom without a rib has become popular, it suits certain yarn weights better than others and does not work well here. The opera gloves look inelegant, thick and clumsy. In finest gossamer, they would have been something else.
The 25 patterns, can be adapted with some skill and know-how. Baggy edges, cuffs and gaping necklines with clumsy finishing do not make for a couture look. Using expensive yarns means you can achieve a high couture look, immensely sensual look. I believe the designer has missed the obvious through lack of experience and know-how.
The first thing Yahaira tells us is that se is a photographer, this book is well-photographed. Most of the patterns, from camisoles to sweaters are easy to knit. There is no innovation here. This U.S. book gives the usual suppliers for sources of yarn in the U.K. This is a brave attempt that by and large misses the mark.

Not sensational
I bought this book in a discount store when I first started knitting. While some of the tanks/ camisoles are very wearable some of the jackets and jumpers are a bit frumpy to be called Sensual. Erratas are available as there's a few errors to say the least. Still planning to make a couple of patterns all the same though!