Crazy for Crochet (book review)
You are certain to find something that you want to make in the book Crazy for Crochet: 70 Projects You’ll Love to Make: Hats, Slippers, Sweaters, Bags, Pillows, Blankets, Potholders, and More
Authors Lily Secilie Brandal and Bente Myhrer are both living in Oslo, Norway. Bente owned multiple yarn stores and Lily purchased one of those shops. When you look through the projects in this crochet book, you can definitely see the influence of the Scandinavian style. It’s there in the essence; but it’s not overdone. In other words, you don’t have to love Norwegian style to want to make these projects but if you do love that style (and I certainly do) then you will be happy with the influence of their location on the creations.
They write beautifully in their introduction,
“Those of us in the yarn industry are most concerned with ensuring that our customers and potential new customers will be inspired to engage in handcrafts and sustain our Norwegian traditions. With today’s rapid tempo, everything has to be so fast, but working with handcrafts is not – and we think it is important to do some things more slowly. With peace and quiet for our souls, life becomes a bit easier to live. It is not always what you make that is most important, but finding that quiet space where your fingers can work completely by themselves.”
I love that idea, and I believe that the author of a book brings the ideas through to all of the contents inside the book. I believe that it becomes easier to sit down and find space for crafting precisely because the makers of the title believe deeply in the power and importance of that.
One thing that I thought was interesting was that the projects follow one another without being categorized into chapters or themes. Most crochet books would take the approach of having a section for “pillows” and a section for “kitchen” and a section for “wearables”, etc. That’s especially true for a book with so many projects. (And I must say that I’m thrilled when a crochet book has so many projects; this is at least twice the number of patterns you find in most crochet books today.) Alternatively, a book might have a seasonal theme or some other theme to sort the projects.
This one does not … and I find that to be an interesting editing choice. I don’t dislike it. In fact, I think that there’s something a little bit fun about just flipping from project to project, waiting to see what catches your eye. That said, there’s no chapters and no index, so if you were looking to make a specific type of project, your best bet would be to go through the list of projects in the table of contents to find those that might be best suited to you. And you’ll notice that similar types of projects are loosely grouped together in the same areas of the book.
Beginner crocheters will find an instructional section at the back of the book that teaches you how to crochet all of the basic stitches plus a little bit more. The patterns are written in US terms. Just before the crochet school section, you’ll also find a set of swatches for stitch patterns and options for edgings, which together are a great addition to the book. You get information for how to crochet 70 patterns but you also get some information about crochet basics and how to elaborate on patterns with your own ideas.
