Friday book review

"Natural crochet: For babies and toddlers"
by Tina Barrett
ISBN: 978-1861086242

UK crochet terms

This book has been sitting on my computer desk for months now waiting for me to review it - and I've really wanted to do so, there just hasn't been the time. Seeing as the two little ones seem to be sleeping I'll try and write you a quick review now.

The book is beautiful.

The layout is simple with a photo gallery at the start with a few photos of each project model by some pretty adorable looking little ones which if you are at all like me you'll spend a good amount of time cooing at. This book is unusual in that I found most of the projects really appealing and would be very happy to have a go at making all of them. Sadly my own little boy is probably too old to make for now as he is past the largest size this book has patterns for.

The first half of the patterns are for babies and usually have instructions for more than one size, either 0-6 or 6-12, but there are some patterns with just the one size given. Some of my favourites from this section include the hooded cardigan which is particularly lovely and the little matinee jacket that is very similar to the Maisy baby cardigan I made up for my little niece last year

The second half contains the patterns for toddlers and has some really cute jumpers for little boys in which are so much nicer than the boxy crochet patterns you normally get for boys. However as I need to make a present for my soon to be one year old niece I went with the swing jacket pattern and made the version for a 1-2 year old. To achieve the gauge I had to use a 5.5mm hook instead of the 4mm hook that was recommended, however I did get the jacket to match what the finished dimensions were supposed to be. The jacket looked massive though, but as I didn't have a 1-2 year old about to try it on I crossed my fingers and sent it off. Well - it was far too big as I thought, in fact it was a much better fit on my other niece who is 5!

There is a brief techniques guide at the back of the book - but even so this is definitely more for the intermediate/advanced crocheter. I'm not too convinced with the sizing of these garments after the results I got from the coat I made, but I'm tempted to think it was a one off as a good number of other Ravelry users have had lovely results from the other patterns in this book. So I think I'll try another pattern from here next year and I'll let you know more then.

Friday book review

"Candy babies: Cute crochet for wee ones"
by Candi Jensen
ISBN: 978-1931543545

US crochet terms

It seems strange to be coming back to this book again - I gave away my original copy years ago (before I was writing this blog) over on Crochetville. This was one of my early online craft book purchases where I would just order based on the cover photo instead of trying to find out a bit about what the book contained first (Ravelry is a great place to check before you buy, you can search out the book on there and see what patterns it contains as well as have a peek at what other people have made and if they had any problems).

Nothing in this book appealed to me back then and so I gave my copy away a few years later and forgot about it. Seeing as my lovely crochet book collection is currently in a storage container somewhere I had a rifle through my local library for any suitable baby crochet books and this is the only one that was half decent (can anyone please recommend some good titles for baby crochet?). On second inspection I did find one pattern that I thought would be worth a go - the Party Princess one, so after a quick trip to a local yarn store I started work.

Seeing as I haven't been doing much in the way of crochet my brain seems to have stopped working correctly as it took me over 3 hours to figure out that my gauge was horribly wrong because I was using the wrong yarn weight - I had bought DK instead of the worsted weight that the pattern calls for. After realising this I had to rework the pattern to account for the finer yarn and thankfully this was possible with a bit of tweaking due to the pattern having the finished measurements marked up. The instructions were clear and it was a simple pattern to follow so I ended up enjoying making this item.

So perhaps a book worth looking at - but I would strongly recommend you have a browse through it first to make sure you like the patterns it contains first, for me it still isn't one I would buy but I am glad that I gave it a second chance.

Friday book review

"Yummi 'Gurumi: Over 60 gourmet crochet treats to make" by Christen Haden & Mariarosa Sala
ISBN: 9780740792601

US crochet terms

Last week my copy of this tasty looking book arrived all the way from America and I sat up with it gazing at all the yummy looking treats inside. My favourites to look at were the pretty looking cakes in the last section, that was until I read that they were all made with crochet thread and so would probably take quite a bit of work (as well as a whole stash of crochet thread in a large number of colours) to recreate.

Slightly disappointed I decided to give some of the fruit a try - starting with strawberries. Apart from there being a confusing error in the pattern I was very pleased with how mine turned out and before long I had four juicy looking strawberries so I started on some of the other tropical fruit on offer. I tried to keep to some of the more recognisable fruits as these were destined to be play food for little ones (there were also patterns for a persimmon slice, peach slice and pineapple slice) and after a few issues with a couple of the patterns I ended up with a lovely collection of tasty looking fruit.


Because I wanted my fruits to be easily recognisable I had to alter some of the patterns a little, my orange segments have a white pith and an orange rind - which though a little more of a fuss does mean they look more like orange slices. I also made the white centre in my kiwi slices a little larger and I embroidered far more black seeds in mine to try and make them look more real.

After all this healthy food I decided to give a sandwich a go, and because I loved the look of the tomato slices shown in the book I decided to make up a BLT. Again I found a problem with one of the patterns, the instructions for the lettuce were slightly wrong and were quite hard to figure out how to fix. After reworking it a couple of times I really loved how it looks and think that the design is lovely, but the instructions need rewriting. My bacon got real crochet streaks of fat as I felt that the running stitch shown in the book looked a little naff. And because I ran out of time I didn't make up the slices of bread and just used some of the bread I had made previously that was tucked in my son's play food box.

This book was sadly not as good as I was hoping it would be. There are a number of errors in the patterns that would make it very confusing for a beginner to use - which is such a shame as more pattern testing would have highlighted all of these. The patterns all look lovely, though because this focuses more on adult food tastes like sushi and a fun looking cheese board, there is little that I would end up actually making. I just don't know anyone who could use a crochet bottle of wine or a crochet stir fry.

Friday book review

"Country crochet & Knitted lace" by Jan Eaton
ISBN: 1-85368-227-6

UK crochet terms

This book is where my love for crochet first started... back when I was 17 I found this book in my local library and I fell in love. I could already crochet as I had taught myself a few years before from some old issues of 'Golden hands magazine' but I hadn't really gotten past making up test squares of the different stitch patterns. Then I saw the photos in this book of some stunning crochet lace pieces and I wanted to make it all. Sadly the Library wanted the book back and even though I tried a few bookshops no one could get hold of this title any more (even though at that time it had only been published two years before) and that was the last I saw of it.

That is until I recently found an entry for it on Amazon, without a cover image and available only through marketplace sellers. So I ordered myself a copy in 'good condition' and I'm delighted with how good the condition is. The book is as beautifully presented as I remember it to be, in fact with all the different crochet books I've read through since I can now see just how good a book it is. The photography is beautiful, there are some very lovely photos throughout the introduction of a number of the projects featured next to some other old and new pieces of lace that the author has inherited from her own grandmother.

This book is really two separate titles in one (see the bottom of this review for links to the original two books) - as I don't really do much knitting I'll just be focusing on reviewing the first half of the book which is all about crochet lace. 

The introduction is lovely and includes a detailed section about the history of crochet especially focusing on how crochet has been used to imitate a number of different lace making techniques. There is a good section on selecting the right materials and hooks for your project (with some handy conversion charts for UK/US hook sizes, yarn types and stitch terms) as well as a short but nicely illustrated section for how to work the various stitches. Then the book goes into detailed instructions on a number of crochet techniques from how to do filet crochet to following a written and a charted pattern. There is also an illustrated finishing techniques section that is very useful and some detail on how to care for your finished crochet project.

The projects are almost all worked using crochet thread of varying thicknesses so none of them are what I would term 'beginner' projects as I find working with thread to be very tricky and not very forgiving of mistakes. That said the projects have all been given a difficulty rating by using a cute ball of wool with crochet hooks stuck through it to show how much work each would take, 1 hook = quick to 4 hooks =  a very, very long time indeed. The larger 4 hook projects are both for table cloths one a beautiful looking butterfly edged table cloth and two a very large and wide edging for a 'crystal and silver' table cloth. Both of these would take me about 3 years to finish so I thought it better that I focus on the 1 hook projects.
 

Some of you may remember the Christmas tree stars I made for friends and family last year - well these stars are one of the first things that I started making and the pattern for them came from this book. These stars are very simple to make up - if you can do a granny square then you can make these. After working the central granny hexagon you then work each of the triangular points directly on to the sides, you then sew in a good number of loose ends and starch the finished star to make it stiff for hanging.

These stars went down a treat last Christmas (though I did at the time promise never to crochet with thread again after getting blisters on my fingers trying to sew in all the loose ends on these) as I hope will the next project that I have to show - little lavender bags.

These lavender bags are made using a filet crochet motif worked in thread which is then backed with some felt and made into a little lavender bag. They are simple and very effective, especially if you use a dark coloured felt to highlight the detail in the pattern. Though I had some trouble working the hexagon windmill design it turned out that the pattern was fine, it was me that was reading it wrong.

So after over a decade since last seeing this book my enthusiasm for it hasn't declined, in fact in some ways I appreciate it more as I've read through a lot of crochet books over the years and know how rare it is to come across a book as well written as this one. I love all the patterns, though I may never have the time to make most of them, and the detailed introduction as well as the pattern library that you find at the back make it worth having for just those alone.


After a bit of digging I've discovered that this book is in fact a combination of two earlier titles published by New Holland Publishers Ltd. You may have more success in getting hold of these as separate titles "A creative guide to knitted lace" & "A creative guide to crochet".

Friday book review

"Love.. Crochet: 25 simple projects to crochet" by Carol Meldrum
ISBN: 978-1-84773-595-9

UK crochet terms

My latest visit to the local library gave me the opportunity to borrow a copy of this new UK crochet title - it had only just come in before I snapped it up! Ah - I do so love libraries!

This book is aimed at beginners and so has a beautifully photographed how-to section which includes information on hooks, yarns and how to hold the hook as well as step by step photographs for the different stitches. Strangely though the photographs for working the stitches are taken from the opposite angle to how they usually are so you are looking at the stitches as if you are watching someone else crocheting which I would find a little confusing.

All the projects in this book are very simple and would be a good place to start for a new crocheter. Most of the patterns didn't appeal much to me, finding good clothing crochet patterns is tricky normally and I didn't think much of the look of the ones shown in here. Out of the other patterns there were a couple of things that I thought worth having a go at including the cute little cupcakes at the back of the book.

The pattern for these little cakes turned out to be wrong. If I had followed the instructions as written I would have ended up with some very tall and thin cakes. To remedy this with my cakes I added a couple of extra increase rows to both the base of the cakes and the icing. I did enjoy working the sides of the cake though as they used something called 'linked stitch' which I haven't come across before and produces a lovely dense looking fabric that I really like.

As I wasn't very impressed with the first pattern I tried I thought I would give this book one more chance and try a second pattern. For this I chose the very simple looking crochet hook case that seemed such a nice simple solution for all your hook carrying needs. The pattern was as basic as it gets, you just need to work a long strip of crochet with a few colour changes to create a piece of crochet fabric that you can fold in half for the outside of the case. To the inside of this you sew a felt pouch to contain the hooks and after you've added some buttons and bits of elastic you're done.

I'm really pleased with how my case turned out but again the pattern was a bit confusing - this time with the hook sizes. The materials list a 4mm hook and the gauge also says to use a 4mm hook, but when you turn over the page the pattern specifies a 3mm hook. I stuck with the 4mm hook and also had to make my case a bit longer to fit my hooks, but after that it was a very easy make.

In summary I wouldn't recommend anyone to go out and buy this book - it is well presented and has lovely photographs of the projects but the patterns don't seem to be very well tested and the project ideas are nothing really special.

Friday book review

"Super-super cute crochet" by Brigitte Read
ISBN: 978-1907030246

UK crochet terms

You may remember that back in June I featured a designer focus on the work of Brigitte Read who has been a long time favourite designer of mine. Well a month later I was lucky enough to be given a copy of her first book of patterns for my Birthday and as I've finally gotten around to trying a few of the designs I thought it was time to write the book review.

Sadly my first impressions were not as good as I had hoped. A handful of the patterns published in the book have already been made available for free on the roman sock blog and due to the way the patterns have been printed some of the useful step by step photos from the free patterns have not been included. Even though there are a number of patterns that feature Brigitte's brushed crochet technique the instructions in the book have been limited to only two paragraphs and no photos which considering the detailed guide that is available from the roman sock blog seemed a little odd.

There are a wide variety of patterns in this book all for cute animals ranging from the more usual cat, dog, bird pattern to some much more unusual designs including a walrus, anteater, silkworm and star-nosed mole. Most of the designs I liked the look of so there was plenty in here to keep me busy and I found it quite hard to single out only a few designs to do.

First up I had a try at the cute little blue whale which looked pretty simple to do. The main body was a basic oval shape and the tail was worked separately and added on at the end. Because there are only photos in the book of the finished toys it was hard to work out where to put the eyes and where to attach the tail to the back. A close up photo of the back of the whale would really have helped but the focus seemed to be to show how cute the whale was and hide the fact that the tail looked a little odd just tacked on at the back. Other annoyances included that the mouth of the whale in the book was just a piece of pink yarn stitched straight across and positioned to look nice for the photos - not actually embroidered properly. The method used for starting the main body section would not have left the nice tidy top that you see in my photo and in the book photos - I tried it and it left a gap at the top... you need to use a magic circle to get the finish you see here. Lastly the main body construction is made of two pieces which are joined together at the end which leaves a clear ridge at the bottom of the whale's body (I've carefully photographed mine so it isn't noticeable)  which in my opinion looks a bit silly.

So not a very good start so far. For my next pattern I tried the more difficult looking flamingo and was much happier with the finished result. There were a couple of errors in the pattern but nothing too difficult to figure out and even though the instructions for stuffing were contradictory I found this pattern much easier to follow.

(If you want to try this pattern then I recommend you stuff the head before you get too far crocheting the neck. Once you've finished the neck insert a pipe cleaner with a little bit of stuffing as well, then stuff the body before you finish it off.)

The long bendable legs and the funny little wings make this a very cute toy and well worth the time you spend putting all the separate pieces together.

Lastly I decided to try one of the patterns that is also available for free from the roman sock blog - the beautiful Manta ray that I've been meaning to make for a few years now. The pattern for this ray is exactly the same as you will find online except it has all the useful step by step photos stripped out of it so the free version is more helpful then the pattern published in the book. However this pattern seems to be error free - perhaps because it has been available for a long time before this book and so has had plenty of time to be tested for errors. I found it to be easy to make up though quite fiddly to put together due to all sewing in of pipe cleaners and needing to construct a pink felt mouth. I love how he turned out and would definitely recommend making him to anyone.

In overview - although this book was sadly a bit disappointing as I had expected much better pattern instructions from this designer I would still say it has some of the nicest designs for amigurumi animals that have been published so far. There are still at least 10 more pattern in here that I want to have a go at making which means this book ranks pretty high in my collection of crochet titles. So yes I would recommend it as one to add to your collection - though beware that you may also find some of the patterns have errors in them.

Friday book review

"Tasty Crochet" by Rose Langlitz
ISBN: 978-1600613128

US crochet terms


Doesn't this book look so yummy - just look at that juicy apple and those adorable apple slices, even though I don't particularly like apples myself I'm still itching to get the crochet supplies out and have a go at making some myself. The patterns inside are all just as yummy as promised on the cover each beautifully photographed and with some you have to look twice to work out what is crochet and what is proper food.

I also love the layout of this book. The patterns are divided into four sections, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner with each pattern including a 'ingredients' sidebar listing everything you'll need to make the item. The patterns are all well written with clear instructions and minimal abbreviations making them very easy to read and follow. In fact these patterns are so easy to follow that during the last two weeks of crocheting I've managed to make 9 of the projects and all of them I'm pleased as punch with!

This is certainly a book that I would highly recommend and perfect for making a really good range of play food for little ones or perhaps even yourself... I'm now off to try and make those cute little slices of apple, perhaps have a go at making a slice of pizza and if there is time then maybe I'll give the pattern for the pita pocket with falafel a go too!

Friday book review

"Creepy cute crochet" by Christen Haden
ISBN 978-1-59474-232-3

US crochet terms

This lovely little book is one of my latest additions to my craft book shelf and it is already one of my favourites there. The patterns are fantastic - so very cute  and so very different from any other crochet books out at the moment. Who wouldn't want their own little grim reaper or amazon warrior to brighten up their work desk?

One of the problems I'm regularly faced with is what on earth to make for the male friends and family that I like to send gifts to. Well this book provides 19 perfect gift ideas suitable for blokes and I'm sorely tempted to try making them all. Another great reason to buy this book is that the creatures are very simple and quick to make up, all of them are are based on a basic head and body but once you add the different accessories they become very different and take on their own personalities.

The book starts out with some clear advice about all the techniques that you need to create your own creatures including guidance on working with modeling clay, making yarn hair and some specialist crochet techniques (I found the 'clean fasten off' technique to leave a much nicer finish and I'll definitely be using that a lot with my other crochet projects). Each pattern has a clear ability level, a clear photo of the finished item, stitch diagrams, written instructions and step by step assembly instructions (which I found really helpful in creating a professionally finished item).

After searching through my yarn stash I discovered that I was missing a good few of the colours that I would need to make a lot of the creatures (a suitable yellowy zombie flesh colour is a must and so is brown... I must stock up!) so I ended up just making the grim reaper, the devil and a valiant knight. The grim reaper I made up first and he was the simplest of the three, but I think probably my favourite. With just a simple body shape, a little crochet hood, some embroidery on the face and a little felt scythe he really comes alive (or as alive as a little crochet skeleton can get!)

Next up I decided to try a more tricky creature, the handsome knight - and again I found the pattern clear and easy to follow and had no problems putting him together with the help of the assembly instructions. I love his little shield and the embroidered detail on his little sword. One slight problem I did find was that the templates for the weapons were not to scale which would have been easy to do as there would have been plenty of room to print the full scaled versions.

Last up I made the little happy devil and because I didn't find the finished version in the book to be as cute as I wanted him to be I made a few changes. The eyes I used for my creatures were very small safety eyes so my creatures already look slightly different to the original designs. As well as this I moved the mouth lower down and made it a smile instead of just a line. I also left off his goatee as I didn't think it would suit my devil and I gave him a felt trident for extra devilishness. All simple to do and now I have a few more ideas for ways to personalise any future creatures that I make.

So to sum up, I love this book. Simply love it. If you too need zombies, vampires, ninjas or any warriors in your life then you really should go out right now and get yourself a copy of this fantastic book.

Friday book review

"The Softies kit: Instructions and tools for creating 15 plush pals" by Therese Laskey
ISBN: 978-0811858861

This is more of a set of instructions and a few materials than a book but even so is well worth doing a review for. The title is a little misleading as you could easily think that you are getting instructions and all the materials you need to make all of the 15 designs - you actually just get all the bits you need to make up the party cake design. So when I first received this kit back in 2008 I made the cake out of it and was quite put off by how tricky I found it to be. The kit also includes 14 other designs all printed on separate folded instruction cards, all the templates to make the designs and a little basic instructions book to show you all the techniques you'll need for the projects.

While having a browse through my craft book shelf I came across this kit again and felt that I had to give it another go as there are so many adorable softies shown. So while my husband was out with our little boy for the morning I started to iron out scraps of fabric and got to work on one of my favourite patterns - the "flat 'in' fat penguin".

Cutting out all the pieces was fiddly, and the purple corduroy that I had chosen as the main body colour was tricky to cut accurately but as I wasn't in a rush I managed it all fine. Once all the pieces were cut and ready I followed the very clear and simple instructions and before I knew it I had already finished putting together the face. During the next free chunk of time (nap times are fantastic) I got the flippers sewn together and the feet with their embroidered toes. Then once little Sam had gone to bed I put all the pieces together back to front, sewed all the way out and breathed a big sigh of relief when on turning the penguin the right way out everything was in the correct place.

I love this little penguin very much and finding him so easy to make has been a real confidence boost. I'm definitely going to be trying a few of the other designs in this kit and I'm sure the most crafters will also find a good few patterns in here that they too would love to have a try at making.

Friday book review

"Crochet inspiration" by Sasha Kagan
ISBN: 978-1933027128
 
US crochet terms

This book has been sitting on my craft shelf for a few years begging me to have a go at some of the beautiful things inside, but until I found out about the SIBOL (Sunshine International Blankets of Love) project I didn't really have any need to make anything from here.

Fired up with all the lovely images of different granny squares over on SIBOL I dove into my stash and spent a good few hours to come up with these 4 different 6" squares.

From the top left clockwise we have the Accent square, the Circle square, the Grannies-Lace square and lastly the 3-D Rose square.

For some reason my accent square seems to be a bit squiffy - I'm going to have to try a bit of careful blocking on it to see if I can straighten it out. The other squares all seem to have turned out similar to the illustrations so I'm pretty pleased with them. These squares will be making their out to the project soon, possible with some extra squares as I've developed a bit of a taste for doing them now.

This is a beautifully laid out book with great colour photos of all the motifs and projects. It is divided into 5 main sections with stitch patterns for different crochet fabrics at the start, some beautiful crochet motifs, lots of different squares, some very beautiful flowers and a few projects at the back to give you some ideas about how you could use the patterns. This is a book that you could find yourself turning to for all sorts of things and I do find myself spending hours gazing at the photos to give me ideas and inspiration for the work that I do.

This isn't a book that has been aimed at beginner crocheters, there are no diagrams/photos of how to work the basic stitches and all of the patterns have been written in a heavily abbreviated form which can make them difficult to follow. There are a good few errors in the patterns which should be easy to spot as each pattern also has a crochet diagram underneath. Even so this is a book that I would highly recommend a more experienced crocheter to own as it contains such a wealth of lovely crochet patterns.

Friday book review - a little late

Sorry for the delay in publishing my latest book review - the pattern that I choose to make from the book took me a little longer than I had anticipated.

"Vintage crochet: 30 specially commissioned patterns" by Susan Cropper
 ISBN: 978-1903221884

 UK crochet terms

This beautiful book contains a range of lovely looking projects all in the vintage style that seems to be becoming very popular at the moment. The projects range from cardigans and wraps to crocheted food covers and a beautiful summer canopy. The projects seem to be aimed at a confident crocheter as they all seem to be between intermediate and advanced level and there is only a limited techniques section at the back.

There are a number of patterns that I have fallen in love with from the photographs with my favourite being a beautiful wrap called the 'Ava wrap' which is made up with a repeating large open crochet motif. I also love the 'Papilon canopy' which is a simple open worked net which is designed to be hung up in your garden to give a little bit of shade in summer, if I had a larger garden to fit it in then I would be making it right now.  My other favourite patterns are both by the same contributor - Alicia Paulson, and I've book marked the baby cardigan as one to make up so I'll let you know how I get on with it.

The pattern that I choose to make up for this review though was the 'Peony corsage' by Kate Jenkins, mostly because I thought it wouldn't take too long... but I quickly realised it was fiddlier than it first appeared. I had a few disagreements with the pattern - there were some basic errors in the pattern that should have been picked up in pattern testing and there wasn't any guidance about making the flower up from the separate crocheted pieces.

However after about 5 hours of fiddling with petal placement and weaving in a ton of loose ends I did end up with a very pretty flower so this is a pattern worth making a bit of extra effort for.

Friday book review

Because I want to try and add an example of something that I've made from each of the books that I review I'm going to be now only doing a review every two weeks. These new bi-weekly reviews should hopefully give me enough time to have a go at crafting one of the projects. This should in turn help me to write a better review of the book and give you something more exciting to look at than just the cover image.


"AntiCraft: Knitting, beading & stitching for the slightly sinister" by Renee Rigdon and Zabet Stewart

ISBN: 978-1-60061-030-1

Sometimes the sugary sweetness of crafting can get too much and after looking through page after page of cute bunnies, pretty pink booties and lovable soft toys you start to get tooth ache. The antidote for that is probably this book - but be warned as this isn't crafting for the faint of heart!

This book has it all from a load of skull and crossbones emblazoned projects, evil Easter eggs and crochet whip with handcuff set. There is something for knitters, crocheters and people who sew (surely not sewers though?) alike with some simple getting started instructions at the back for beginners.

There are a large number of projects in this book that I will probably never make as I'm fairly sure that I don't need a menstrual cup cosy shaped like a squid or a two headed albino rat. However there are a small handful of projects that are really lovely, like these beautiful little owls by one of my favourite crochet designers Alice Merlino. Alice is super talented (does some beautiful crochet as well as very cute felt soft toys) and I'm a regular reader of her blog so when she posted about being one of the contributors to this book I just had to get my hands on a copy. The pattern instructions for these owls were simple to follow and as the owls themselves were such quick projects I was able to make all three of them for you to see - hooray!

As well as all the projects you also get a really good fun read. There are lots of little tongue in cheek articles about the dark side of crafting with plenty of Gothic old style images to enjoy and the occasional anticraft comic strip thrown in as well. This book is well worth having a good look through, but if you are looking for a more practical project focused book then this isn't one that you would want to spend money on.

Friday book review

"The Crafter's Companion" edited by Anna Torborg
ISBN: 978-1-905005-17-8

This book is one of my favourite reads when I need a little inspiration to get me crafting again. Each of the contributors have written about why they create and what inspires them as well as including a pattern for a sewing project. Most of the projects included are quite simple and are meant to give you a starting point for your own creativity. Even though all the projects have very clear and well written instructions I have yet to make any of them.

What keeps me coming back to this book are the beautiful photos of the creative spaces of the contributors as well as the photos of the beautiful things that they create. There are contributions from some very well known bloggers in here including Amy Karol from angrychicken, Cassi Griffin from belladia, Heidi Kenney from mypapercrane, Hillary Lang from weewonderfuls, Lyn Roberts from mollychicken and tons of others.

This is a really lovely book and a great introduction to a host of beautiful craft blogs that are well worth paying a visit to.

Friday book review

"Blanket Statement: One Thrifted Wool Blanket Repurposed Into 40+ Projects" by Vicki Haninger
ISBN: 978-1440430299

This beautiful book has been at the top of my wishlist for a very long time now, but due to it not being available on the UK amazon website I wasn't able to get it when it was first published. However all that has recently changed as the UK amazon are now stocking it so I quickly ordered myself a copy.

You may too have heard a little about this book as quite a few craft blogs posted very positive reviews about it when it was first published late 2008. The book came about from a series of projects that were blogged about at http://www.turkeyfeathers.typepad.com/ all using one wool blanket bought from a thrift store. The challenge to try and use all of the blanket turned out some beautiful items that just make you itch to have a try yourself.

My excitement about getting this book was well paid when I got my hands on my own copy. The book is beautiful, well written and lovingly laid out. The how to's at the front are simple and clear and go into just the right level of detail to encourage you to have a try for yourself. Then you have the projects. So many lovely things, where to start? I probably love the little heart pincushion and rosebud booties that you can see on the front cover the most, but then I also love the tiny pony, Eskimo doll, cat nip mittens... in fact I love most of the projects, and that is really rare for me with a craft book.

So now I have to decide what to make first. Thankfully most of the projects look very simple and quick so there should be no problems with my being in love with half the book!

Friday book review

Before I get started on this week's Friday book review I wanted to say a quick sorry for not managing to get one up last week. I have a good reason though - I spent the time putting together a separate page to index all my Friday reviews on to make them easier to browse through. Why not go and have a look once you've finished reading through the review for this week?

"The Cute Book" by Aranzi Aronzo
ISBN: 978-1932234688

The cute book was one of the first of a growing number of simple styled craft books by Aranzi Aronzo that have relatively recently been published in English. The Aranzi Aronzo name is well known in Japan where the characters have been well loved for some time and because they were so popular the original makers decided to write books so that everyone could make them.

The cute book contains 19 different patterns for some exceptionally cute little felt mascots. These little toys are only a couple of inches tall but are overflowing with kawaii (Japanese cute) and so many of them are just begging me to have a go... In fact I did have a go back in February 2008 when I made the two little cute critters on the right. They turned out really well, but at the time I was taken a back by how tricky they were to put together and that was enough to put me off having another go.

Now when I look through the book again there are still so many that I want to try, like the beautiful little squirrel with the very cute flower dress, and the fluffy little lambs, oh and I really must have a go at making the slightly worried looking monkey. As well as a host of very cute characters there are some much more sinister creatures in here too, perhaps to help offset all the cuteness? These interest me and are fun to read about, but I'm not too sure who I would make the 'kidnapper' for, or for that matter the 'liar'...

This book is beautifully presented and very simple to follow, everything that you need to know is clearly explained with just the right amount of detail. It is very cute throughout with lovely photographs and sweet little drawings. It has a style all of its own and if you too love the Japanese style of cuteness then this is most definitely the book for you.

Friday book review

"Super-Cute Crochet: Over 35 Adorable Animals and Friends to Make" by Nicki Trench
ISBN: 978-1906525392
UK crochet terms

After being so disappointed by Nicki Trench's "Complete guide to Knitting and Crochet" it was a very pleasant surprise to flip through this well presented and much better written crochet book which she published last year. Having a different publisher seems to have made a world of difference to the finished result with it having a clear layout, lovely photographs and being obviously much better edited.

Each pattern has a little story behind it which draws you into the designs and makes you want to start creating your own friendly amigurumis which will have their own little quirks and characters. The tiny details on each piece are so lovingly added that you are bound to fall in love, the tiny embroidered flower on the kitty shown on the front cover is a great example of this - and don't you just love her tiny little flower patterned dress? Most of the patterns will have some little added touch - a bit of ribbon on one or a little sewn head-band on another and proves that the details really do matter.

After finishing off one of the little mice from this book I felt the need to make up one of the bunnies as an Easter present, but was sadly less satisfied with the result. May I present to you bright pink evil bunny...

Not too sure where I went so wrong here but this little guy is not my best work by far. I think I should have chosen a less garish colour for him and perhaps tried harder with the embroidery on the face... oh well, perhaps someone else will love him better?

Friday book review

"Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer: A Golden Treasury of Classic Treats" by Jane Brocket
ISBN: 978-0340960899
UK weights and measures used

This is another 'not quite crafting' book that I wanted to share with you all as some of you may know of the talented Jane Brocket from her lovely blog Yarnstorm or perhaps from one of her other books like the beautiful "The gentle art of domesticity".

This book is a baking book with a lovely twist - all of the recipes have been inspired by descriptions of snacks and treats in children's fiction. There are some really lovely recipes to be found in here, and with each recipe there is a short piece about the book it is from as well a short extract. The illustrations throughout this book use the original illustrations from the children's books featured and really give you a good dose of nostalgia.

There are recipes in here for the famous Bruce Bogtrotter's chocolate cake (Matilda), Amy's pickled limes (Little Women), Strike-me-pink raspberry jam cakes (Mary Poppins) and so many more. Everyone who I've shown this book to has been fascinated by it and all have found something that they too want to have a go at making.

My strongest recommendation for this book would be that all the recipes that I've tried so far have been a great success, and I really am terrible at baking. I'm the sort of person who can burn chocolate by trying to melt it in a microwave, I've had some real disasters with baking in the past but with this fantastic book I seem to have managed to turn that around.

I started out by having a go at making the Chalet School Apple cake as I remember fondly reading quite a few of them as a girl. The cake was quite fiddly to make, but the well written instructions guided me through and I turned out of my oven a very moist and delicious apple cake (top right photo) that almost looked professional!

High on the success of this I tried Mrs Glump's Melt-in-the-mouth shortbread and again ended up with some very tasty shortbread, the first batch disappearing quicker than snow in July and the second batch being very happily eaten by some of our neighbours. The recipe for coconut kisses (an easy way to make little coconut macaroon type treats) was also a great success, as was the two batches of ginger biscuits that I've done (and for which I have orders for more!).

My most recent attempt has been the coffee and walnut cake (above left) which is heading off to my Mum's tomorrow so I'll let you know how successful it is once I've had a chance to taste it.

To help save the cake from the snaffling hands of my husband I've had to take the precaution of baking up a mini batch of ginger biscuits to go in his 'snaffle jar' so hopefully there are enough there to keep him out of mischief for tonight!

Edit: The coffee and walnut cake was a great success, so much so that I've just made another one to scoff at home today!

Friday book review

"The Wonderful Weekend Book: Reclaiming life's simple pleasures" by Elspeth Thompson
ISBN: 978-1848540460

Because I really loved the book "Homemade" (by Elspeth Thompson & Ros Badger) I just had to get my hands on this book as well in the hopes that I would find another similar gem. However this book is very different to "Homemade", there are no gorgeous photos to gaze at and no 'project' ideas to get you thinking creatively. Instead it is a book that is jam packed with all sorts of ideas for doing something new so that you hopefully end up with a more enjoyable weekend.

There are simply heaps of suggestions in this book, some of which I've come across before but a lot that I would probably never have thought of. The chapters are helpfully sorted into things you can do year round, things to do in each season, having guests, cutting down on chores and making the most of Sundays. My advice for making the most of this book I would be to read it with a notebook next to you so you can jot down anything you want to look into in further detail later (I didn't do this so now I'm going to have to re-read the book soon). You may also want to skip to the chapter for the season you are currently in so that you don't miss out on doing anything that you will then have to wait another year to have a go at.

I found this book to be great for having next to the bed and reading a short section each night as otherwise I found myself getting a little drowned in too much information. There are hundreds of links to go with all the different ideas mentioned so there is plenty of opportunity for finding out more about anything that takes your fancy. This is a great book that I can see myself constantly refering to over the years as I'm always short on ideas for what to do at the weekend. However if you aren't a UK resident then this book won't be nearly as helpful as it does refer heavily to UK places and seasons.

Friday book review

Sorry for the delay in posting loyal readers - the technical issues experienced have now been fixed (after much tinkering with the old broken PC we now have a shiny new one) so soon I shall be posting about all my latest crafty work. Until then I have another book review for you all to enjoy!

"Complete guide to Knitting & Crochet" by Nicki Trench
ISBN: 978-1405486101
UK crochet terms

This unusual book came as a late surprise Christmas present (I love late presents!) a couple of days ago and I've quite enjoyed having a good read through it.

It's unusual because it reads more like a magazine than a book, the pages are very thin and the printing isn't of the best quality. The book is also more of a basic beginner guide to knitting and crochet and is in no way the complete reference that you might assume from the title.

The layout of the book is also unusual - it is divided into two separate books really with the first half being all about knitting and the second being all about crochet. Because of this it repeats some of the content about different wool types and different embellishments. There are also no projects that use both knitting and crochet which is a real shame and would have been a nice way to perhaps bring the book together a little better.

There is a nice 'history of' type section for both knitting and crochet which makes interesting reading though in both of these the author claims that the current popularity of both knitting and crochet is down to the new "super chunky yarns" that are available - not too sure where she heard that from... The 'how to' sections seem pretty basic when you see other better written guides, the illustrative photos are quite small and the accompanying written instructions are not very clear. The stitches covered are only the very basics with some reference to more advanced techniques.

There are some fun looking projects in here, all of which are aimed at the beginner but still manage to be interesting. While I would never knit at dog coat or my own bikini (yes - another pattern for a yarn bikini - why do so many books bother with them?) I may well have a go at the pretty crochet bolero or the sweet little ballet style slippers. The simple knitting patterns also look tempting to me - I may have to dust off my knitting needles and see if I can still knit to try a few of them out.

This isn't a book that I would recommend anyone to buy, though it is worth a look through if you can borrow a copy. It is not a great guide to either knitting or crochet and the book could have done with a really good editor to improve the writing, cut out a lot of the strange quizzes and illustrations as well as change the order around so that it doesn't read as if it is two separate books. That said I do like this book and even though it comes across as slightly amateurish that is part of it's charm.

After a quick look at Ravelry & Amazon it seems as if this book used to be two separate books "The Cool Girl's guide to Crochet" ISBN: 978-1405473194, and "The Cool Girl's guide to Knitting" 978-1405452328, at least all the patterns are the same, so be careful not to buy it twice!

Friday book review

"Essential Crochet: 30 irresistible projects for you and your home"
by Erika Knight
ISBN: 978-1844001651
UK crochet terms

This really is a lovely book with a good range of projects using a variety of techniques and materials. The layout and photography throughout this book is clear, simple and beautifully done making you want to flip through it with a nice cup of tea and dream of all the things you could make.

The crochet instructions at the start are well written and have some of the clearest photographs of how to work the stitches that I have ever seen. There is also instruction on how to work a Solomon's knot which is a technique that produces a net like fabric and is one that I haven't come across before.

The first section contains some basic patterns to get you started but all of these have an unusual twist to give them a professional look that you don't get with most beginner projects. The use of different materials like leather thonging to make a simple tote bag and finishing a simple scarf with an assortment of buttons is the key in how these finished projects look so good.

The other sections in this book contain projects in 4 different styles; timeless (think filet crochet and lacy edgings), contemporary, heirloom (some lovely baby items here), and vintage. There are some beautiful projects that are very tempting, though my favourite is the one using the Solomon's knot technique to create this beautiful gauzy net curtain that looks a little like a spider's web.

For new and more experienced crocheters I think this book would make a great addition to your personal library, however one word of caution - if you already have "Simple crochet" by Erika Knight then you may find that some of the ideas are quite similar and so it may be best to choose between the two.