Here is a really fun knitting pattern book which fans of Harry Potter will adore. It contains a wide range of patterns by several different designers, based upon the Harry Potter books and some of the garments and items in the films. It is stated clearly on the front cover that it's an unofficial and unauthorised book of patterns. However knitting by hand is an important part of the Harry Potter book series - Mrs Weasley knits sweaters for all her family and Hermione knits elf hats to try to free the House Elves. The films also use a wide range of knitted garments.

The patterns are presented in clear full colour photographs with full text instructions (charted where appropriate) over a two page spread. I found it a little unusual that the instructions for materials, gauge etc are on the left hand page whilst the sizing is to be found on the right hand page, but once you've realised this it works well. Good quality inexpensive yarns are used for the projects which range from knitting bags (a felted one for Hermione and an imaginative slip stitch one for Mrs Weasley) to a full set of Quidditch team garments in Griffindor colours and basic school items such as a black wizard robe. There is a stuffed version of Errol the owl, Dobby's mismatched socks and lots more. I was a little disappointed though that the knitted snitch does not have wings and the Invisibility Cloak is converted into a pattern for a shawl. Obviously it would have taken more time to produce a pattern, but a cloak which could cover Harry, Ron and Hermione completely would have had to be rather larger than a headscarf! Some yarns may need to be substituted with different makes as one or two are only available from certain suppliers who do not ship worldwide. This would be relatively easy to do as many of the patterns are in stocking stitch and it would be a matter of knitting a gauge swatch for the others.

The patterns are all coded by difficulty level (using the First Year, Owl, Newt and Final Year gradings) and range from more advanced items such as Mrs Weasley's housecoat shown in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to simple bookmarks and house colour scarves. The book is in softback and a convenient size to carry around. The only drawback is that if you plan to knit items from it and have Harry Potter fans in the house you might well have problems!

If you would like to purchase this book it can be found here at amazon.com.