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At first glance this looks like a book of Scandinavian projects,
but it is more than that as it actually teaches you how to
crochet as well. In fact, most of the book is dedicated to
crochet know-how, including information about edgings, looking
after finished pieces, learning a variety of stitches and
finishing off. I confess to being rather impressed!
This feeling starts with the first pages, where the building
blocks of crochet are explained via photographs with captions.
Some photographs can be harder to follow than drawings as
there is sometimes too much going on in the background, but
the backgrounds to these are black and everything has been
cropped to show just fingers and the work itself. There are
sections on all the other basic things such as working in
a round, properties of yarn, sample gauges, US/UK terms and
hook sizes etc and this progresses through more complex stitches,
troubleshooting and even a few pointers on designing your
own work. This is not to say that purchasing a good book that
is just dedicated to crochet for the novice might not also
be a useful idea for a total beginner, but it is certainly
handy for both brushing up and learning the basics. The patterns
themselves are for a mixture of levels, and feature clothes
for men, women, children and babies as well as blankets, granny
squares, soft teddy, teacosy, pillows, a rug and more. All
are in a Scandinavian style but not obviously so; if you are
imagining sweaters with rows of reindeer then you are way
off. Projects are plain, or feature stripes, blocks or simple
geometric patterns that are as much a part of traditional
British crochet as anywhere else. Rather this is a book that
just happens to have been written by two Swedish women. Recommended
for beginners and improvers.
If you cannot find a good range of crochet materials locally
try www.searchpress.com
for a list of suppliers.
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