Book Review & Giveaway: Fair Isle Tunisian Crochet

Do you love Tunisian Crochet? Have you ever tried it? It’s a really fun crochet technique! I’ve been doing Tunisian Crochet for many years now and I always enjoy the rhythm of working the stitches on and off the hook! I also enjoy finding new Tunisian Crochet patterns. One of my designer friends, Brenda Bourg, has a new crochet book out called “Fair Isle Tunisian Crochet”. It’s a fabulous book! If you’re not sure what “Fair Isle” is, it’s a technique where you change yarn colors across the rows to make a certain design, like a snowflake. There are some other techniques for changing colors across the rows, such as Tapestry crochet. But unlike Tapestry Crochet, Fair Isle doesn’t involve working over the unused color. The unused color is just carried across the wrong side of the work until it’s needed again. Anyway, here’s a photo of the cover of Brenda’s new book:

 

 

Brenda is a fabulous designer, as well as a really sweet person! She even mentioned me, along with many other crochet designers, on the acknowledgements page of her book! Now that’s really nice!

 

There are 16 projects in Brenda’s book: 2 boot cuffs, 1 jar cozy, 1 bag, 3 headbands, 3 cowls, 2 mitts, 2 sweaters and 2 afghans. Each project includes written instructions, as well as a color chart. The projects look like they’re knitted because Brenda has worked them in the Tunisian Knit Stitch and the Tunisian Purl Stitch. If you’ve never done these stitches before, don’t despair! Brenda has included complete instructions in the front of the book along with color step-by-step photos explaining how to work the Tunisian Knit Stitch, the Tunisian Purl Stitch, the Tunisian Seed Stitch, increasing, ribbing, the foundation row and binding off. Almost all of the projects in the book have no shaping, except for a little on the 2 sweaters.

 

Here are my favorite projects in Brenda’s book:

 

 

The Ivana Mitts look really nice and don’t look too hard to make. They’re made in flat rows, then the right and left edges are seamed, leaving a hole for the thumb.

 

 

I absolutely LOVE the Annabel Bag! I love the striking contrast between the black and the multi-colored yarn (it’s Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable, which is one of my favorite yarns!). At 16″ wide x 14 1/2″ long, the bag is a nice size to use for crochet/knit projects!

 

 

The Cora Sweater has a really nice all over snowflake-like pattern to it. It looks super comfy and I can imagine wearing it with lots of outfits!

 

 

I LOVE the Elisha Afghan! It looks like it could be made in joined squares, but it’s worked in 1 piece, eliminating the need for seaming. I love the colors in this afghan and the snowflake design, too!

 

This is just a sampling of the projects in Brenda’s book. To see all the projects in this book, check it out on Ravelry here.

 

 

If you’d like to order this book, check it out on Amazon here.

 

 

The book retails for $21.95. It has 16 projects on 112 pages with lots of color throughout.

 

Now for the fun part! The publisher has graciously agreed to let me give a copy of the book away on my blog! If you live in the US and would like to win a FREE copy of Brenda’s new “Fair Isle Tunisian Crochet” book, just leave a comment below and you’ll be in the running! And if you’re subscribed to my blog, you’ll get 2 entries in the book giveaway! I’ll pick and announce the lucky winner at random on Tuesday, March 1^st. So stay tuned to hear who wins!

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this book review. Good luck everyone!

 

Happy crocheting,

Susan