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Meet the second entry in the new 500 series a book of crochet
blocks. There is just about every block you can think of in
here, plus lots of other crochet know-how. Like 500 Toys by
Nguyen Le (also reviewed on this site) this is a small format
but tubby book filled with 500 projects. Its proud cover boast
is that this is the only compendium of crochet blocks you'll
ever need, but is this true? Let's have a look…
The book starts by giving the reader the basics--what you
need to buy in order to take up the hobby, basic stitches
with clear diagrams, and pattern reading help. Slip knots,
chain, double and treble crochet are all shown clearly but
I wouldn't recommend this book to the total beginner as the
other stitches are just briefly described in words alone.
To be fair, it does not say beginner anywhere on the cover,
so I would suggest that improvers and up would be the target
audience. The bulk of this book is devoted to the blocks themselves
which are divided into rough sections. There are Back and
Forth, Round and Round, Color Work and Shaped Motifs, which
are basically all about either appearance or method of working.
Each section also has a useful part at the end giving variations
on the items (albeit in very tiny print) and projects are
all laid out in the same manner with a full page photograph
of the finished item one side and instructions plus a chart
on the other, plus a basic variation to try out. There are
also projects such as crocheted bunting, a floral corsage,
snowflake Christmas tree decoration etc. Although I have seen
many books with a wider variety of different blocks I have
never seen quite so many in one place. Great value for any
crochet fan (particularly those whose skills are not yet advanced),
but for anybody looking for something different I would look
elsewhere.
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