Book Reviews: One Crochet Book and One Knitting Book
I recently got 2 new crochet/knitting books from Annie’s. I love getting new patterns for crochet and knitting projects! There’s nothing like a new project! If you called me a “pattern junkie”, I think you’d hit the nail right on the head!!!
The first book is “Colorful Tunisian Afghans to Crochet” by Glenda Winkleman. This book includes 6 patterns for Tunisian crochet afghans with cross-stitches worked on the surface to create the designs. These are really nice afghans! I love the construction of them. Five out of the six afghans are done in either strips or squares of Tunisian crochet. Each strip or square is edged before joining them together. The sixth afghan is done in a large center section that appears to be 2 separate sections, but it’s one big piece with bobbles separating the solid center from the edges where the cross-stitches are worked. Here’s that afghan:
Isn’t it pretty? And here are a few of the other afghans in this book:
The patterns in this book are rated as an “easy” skill level, but they may be closer to “intermediate”, in my opinion! Some of the special stitches used in various afghans in the book are: bobbles, popcorns, crossed sc and picots). Each pattern comes with written instructions and charts for the cross-stitch placement. If you’ve never done cross-stitch on Tunisan crochet before, it’s really easy! The Tunisian crochet makes a “grid” of squares that serve as the background for the cross-stitches. The book even includes a diagram in each pattern showing how to work cross-stitches.
Each of the afghan squares or panels is crocheted with one color of yarn, making the pieces work up quickly. Then you cross-stitch the design onto the squares or panels per the charts. If you’ve ever done stamped or counted cross-stitch on fabric, you already know how to do the cross-stitch portion of these afghans. And if you’ve done Tunisian crochet before, you already know how to do the background of the afghans! If you don’t know how to do Tunisian crochet and you want to learn, Annie’s has a lot of books, videos and materials for doing Tunisian crochet. You can see their assortment of Tunisian items here. Kim Guzman has designed a lot of projects in Tunisian crochet. She has several online classes with Annie’s, too. To read about her class called “Learn to Tunisian Crochet”, click here.
You can see all of the afghans in this book at the Annie’s website here. The book retails for $9.95 in the US and $11.95 in Canada. So with 6 patterns in this book, that comes out to be $1.67 for each pattern in the US ($2.00 each in Canada)!
If you enjoy doing Tunisian crochet (or want to learn), why not add this book to your crochet library?
The second book I got is “A Playful Palette of 10 Knitted Accessories” by Tabetha Hedrick. As the name implies, this is a knitting book. For those of you who are bi-stitchual (you can crochet AND knit), this is a great book. There are 10 projects, ranging from small, quick projects to larger, longer projects. There’s a headband, bracelet, scarf, cowl, hat (in 2 versions), fingerless mitts, scarflette, cape and socks in 2 lengths in this book. All of the projects are made with 1-4 skeins of Koigu Yarn: either Koigu Premium Merino (KPM) or Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino (KPPPM). These are both fingering/sock-weight yarns in 100% merino wool. I’ve never tried this yarn, but it looks really pretty in the book, so I’ll have to give it a try sometime very soon!
Here are a few photos from this book:
You can see all of the projects in this knitting book here.
The skill levels for the projects in this book range from beginner to intermediate. I like having this range of skill levels, since I’m a fairly new knitter with lots to learn! I really like the looks of the lacy socks in this book. I never thought I’d knit or crochet socks before, but I might have to take the plunge sometime soon!!!
This knitting book has 48 pages and retails for $14.95 in the US ($17.95 in Canada). With 10 patterns in the book, each pattern costs just $1.50 in the US ($1.80 each in Canada)!
If you enjoy knitting accessories, you may want to add this book to your knitting library!
Happy crocheting (and knitting),
Susan
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Book and Yarn Review: “Baby Washcloths & Afghan Squares” book and Omega Sinfonia yarn
Last month, I got the book, “Baby Washcloths & Afghan Squares” by Lisa Carnahan, published by Annie’s. This is a knitting book, not a crochet book. But since I now know how to knit, as well as crochet, I wanted to give some knit washcloths a try. Here is a photo of the front cover of this book:
This is a very nice book with some nice washcloth patterns. I especially like it because I’m a relatively new knitter and my knitting skills are still a work-in-progress (I’m not ready for the TKGA Masters program by any means, yet!).
It was hard to pick which washcloth designs I wanted to make from this book because I like them all! But I finally chose the Zigzags and the Triangles washcloths to make. Here are photos of these 2 washcloths in the book:
The washcloths in this book were made with Tahki Yarns Cotton Classic, which is a DK weight yarn. Since I didn’t have any of that yarn, I used some Omega Sinfonia that I had left over from the “Wiggly Crochet Dishcloths” book I did for Annie’s. I LOVE this yarn! It’s a sport weight 100% cotton yarn that comes in many gorgeous colors. It is 3.52oz (100g) and has 218 yards (200m) for $4-5, so the value is good (and you can buy it for even less than this with a coupon!). I started knitting a pretty pink sweater this month from 5 balls of Sinfonia that I bought on sale for $3 each to learn more about knitting and shaping sweaters! It should be really nice!
But back to the baby washcloths! These washcloths don’t use that much yarn, so using left overs is perfect for these projects. In my opinion, these washcloth patterns aren’t just for babies. Since pretty much all of them are geometric designs, they can be used for much more than babies. At 8” (20cm) square, I think they’re a great size for facial washcloths and smaller dishcloths, too. I LOVE the drape of them and the stitch pattern keeps my interest instead of knitting rows of all knit or all purl! I also LOVE how quick they are to make. I can make a washcloth in just 1 or 2 evenings while watching TV (I’m not that fast of a knitter, yet, either!). Okay, here are photos of my washcloths for you to see:
What do you think? I think I did pretty well for being a new knitter (since July of this year).
There are 10 solid washcloths and 1 striped washcloth (done with slipped stitches) in this book. There’s even an afghan made with all 10 of the solid squares and 10 of the striped squares in the book (the afghan can be seen on the cover of the book and there is a full-size photo of the afghan inside the book). Here’s the striped washcloth for you to see:
You can see larger photos of all the washcloth blocks in this book and purchase it online on the Annie’s website here. If you love to knit washcloths and dishcloths, you’ll really enjoy this book!
Happy crocheting (and knitting),
Susan
