Klutz Yarn Art product reviews

Having an kid who is into arts and crafts and loves to decorate her room, I thought this could be perfect for her to have a go at. The recommended age is eight and up, she's nine but I figured that with my help she could get it done and have something to hang up in her room. Well... It didn't pan out as we had hoped and we ended up putting it to the side and coming back to it later. The book gives three creations to copy, we had a flick through and didn't think any one looked easier than the other, so my daughter picked the heart one.

The initial threading of the frames is very easy, no problems and it was done nice and quickly. And then we started and I got so horribly confused, I think that in order to do this you need to have some idea and have done similar before you even open it up, she and I both got so muddled up and she decided that she wanted to freestyle it instead. At one point we were given the measurement for the string and when we had done what the instructions said to use it for, we still had a huge amount left over and we couldn't figure out why. At $25, a good third of the money would be going on the instructional book, one which didn't give me any confidence at all. Miss nine said she would have preferred the book just show the different ways of threading and then let you freestyle, as she ultimately chose to do. As we don't know anyone who's into weaving and such, I can't recommend it to anyone, even for a beginner.

My daughter had been doing sewing and knitting thru school and she loved it, so when I saw this up for review naturally I thought she would be a pro at it. Unfortunately it is not the case and was not as easy as I was hoping it would be for her.

We adore Klutz kits and have usually found them to be very entertaining. I assumed that this would be easy for her as it basically is another level to what she already has been doing. But I quickly learnt that she prefers to be shown what to be done and for it to be penciled out for her. The book does explain the procedure and although it is quite easy it is still rather complicate if your mind is not that way inclined.

The actual examples they have in the book are not that exciting (or maybe too exciting and scary) and my daughter wanted to do her own thing maybe that is where the issue lies. It has a lot of yarn but also has sequins and beads and other items which help your creation pop. She decided to make a love heart but not like they had in the book and instead wanted it to be like a rainbow - too big too fast. She faced a lot of complications and really in the end it turned out to be rather messy. So we went back to the start and she followed along the instructions but instead of having layers to it just made one plain looking heart which actually did not look too bad but it was only in one colour.

There are three frames which you thread up which is nice and easy and then you thread the fabric through over and under. It is not that complicated I think the issue lies with the book trying to teach you too many techniques to fast which kind of freaked her out but when she took the element of hardness away she found she quite enjoyed it. Once the heart was made (basic as it was) I asked her to add some elements to the background which she really did enjoy doing and got rather creative - mind you a lot of the 'sparkle' were already included in the kit.

Depending on how your child operates is depending on how much you will get out of this kit. I was surprised at how much she closed down with it but when we took away the shazam from it and went back to basics - not going to big too fast she really did enjoy it. We are slowly doing things and then adding in new elements not as fast as the book shows. She still does thread around the frame and get flustered but when we talk it thru it helps her out. I am glad we have got the book and it is something that we will work at over time and I am sure she will learn how to add the elements and eventually make the items in the book they suggest but we will just take it slower and at our own speed - a very cute set.