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Very nice knits - all top down style
I love making hats so I was very excited when I received this book. However, I'm a beginner and have not yet learned how to make a hat from the top down, only from the bottom up. This book is very detailed, has great pics and many nice patters. I'm just waiting for my next knitting class to start so I can learn the technique then I'll be on my way to knitting everything in this book! Also- there is a large section on felting hats for anyone interested in learning about that!

Good useful patterns
This book has great basic hat design and a nice array of hats that you actually want to make. Instructions are clear and colorful illustration is inspiring. Nice to have so many patterns and ideas in one place!

Still a beautiful book with great hats
I agree this may not be a book for absolute beginning knitters, although I thought the designs were fairly simple. Knitting in the round can be tricky, and the cast-on technique recommended for most of the hats is difficult even for me. Re: the errors in the instructions, fortunately, the edition I bought had all the corrections, so the hats worked up accurately.

But as an experienced knitter who still has problems following patterns (just what KIND of "make one" did the designer mean??), I found the directions for the two hats I've knitted (VALERY, the one on the cover and DUNCAN) simple and easy to follow. I've made both hats several times. They knit up quickly, they look just as good as the photos in the book, and they fit beautifully. In fact, the first time I tried on my finished "Valery" hat, my daughter exclaimed, "It looks just like the hat in the book!" With these two hats, I found I could almost follow the pattern by looking at the photograph, they were so intuitive.

After a long hiatus from knitting, I needed to make a hat for a friend. I searched high and low for weeks for hat patterns that were simple, quick and beautiful. I was surprised at the dearth of easy-to-follow yet attractive patterns.

This book was the only one that had several simple yet lovely hats, with no silly "things" on them. It features designs that don't rely on a bunch of faddish novelty yarns, yet offers enough variations and color choices to keep me knitting and knitting and knitting. I've already made and given away four of the hats in the book, and every recipient has LOVED them.

I love the simple guide that showed me how to combine various weight yarns to get the gauges noted in the patterns.

I love the variations suggested, in yarns, colors, patterns. I love that the gauge was provided for each yarn, so I didn't have to track down a specific yarn to make a substitution.

I love that the book itself is beautifully photographed, with lots of good images of the finished hat, and images of hats in alternative yarns and colors.

The "Duncan" hat is so simple, and I can't wait to try the designer's suggestion to experiment with different patterns and textures on the brim.

I admit I didn't like how the start of the hat looked with my usual two-strand cast-on--a bit too bulky to lie flat on top. I might still be doing it wrong! I ended up unraveling that first row when I finished, and simply sewing it up with the yarn end. It looks fine this way.

Again, perhaps not a beginner book, with the difficult cast-on and 4-needle technique. But a breath of fresh air for knitters with moderate skills who want something simple yet different AND attractive.

Wife loves it.
Bought this for my wife, an ardent knitter, for Christmas. She says it is the finest book of hat patterns she has encountered. Recommended.

So, I was going to give a 5, but...
I realize that a 5 would only work if I went by the ONE pattern I've actually knit, which happened to be one of the error-free patterns. Due to the numerous errors seen on the page described here, I would give a 1 or 2 for the patterns themselves.

But I totally give a 5 for the variety of patterns, the multiple pics she gives for each hat (one hat in two different colors can look sooo different!) and for the instructions on how to combine yarns to get the weight you need, felting instructions, face shape info, etc.

So, a 3 will be it for me. It must be VERY frustrating for those who have made her hats and had serious errors to see so many ratings of 5. I'm glad I got this one at my local library. :)