"Crocheting School", a Complete Guide to Crocheting

I was about eight when my grandma taught me how to crochet, but that was a long time ago and she only showed me the basics. Over the years I have learn a few stitches from other people, however with my total crocheting knowledge being limited I could not finish a blanket. I had the squares but no idea how to connect them and make it look good. The way I did it looked bad.

I figured if I was going to do this as a hobby, I should learn how to do it right along with how to do more stitches, and for that, I was going to need instructions. In my small town, I could not just go to a class because there was not any, my friends mom said she would teach me, but she lives on the other side of town in the county and it would not be easy to coordinate our schedules. I decided that a book would be the best thing for me, so I started my search. I went to many book clubs websites to read customers reviews. After a lot of reading I found the "Crocheting School, A Complete Course" got the best reviews. They claimed it was easy to follow instructions with excellent accompanying pictures. The reviews convinced me that this was the book, so I bought it.

At first glace, with only 136 pages I thought that it was a short book and not going to be as good as I had anticipated. However it is packed with information, I was surprised at how many patterns and stitches they fit in to those 136 pages.

It starts with a run down of the tools, how to hold the different hooks, and types of yarn. Before this book, I had no idea what a hairpin was, nor did I know what beautiful things you can make with it. The best feature this book has is the close up sample pictures through out the book are great for seeing what the stitches are supposed to like. There is one for every project. There is also close up pictures for steps of projects. They really help with the more difficult steps, when the written instructions aren't enough.

The "How to Follow Directions" page is great, because the crocheting language is universal. Therefore, once you have figured out the abbreviations you can follow patterns from other books and off the back of the yarn labels. And, you can always go back and read it if you forget.

After the basic stitches, Single crochet (sc), Slip Stitch (sl st), Half Double Crochet (hdc), etc... It shows you how to start rounds and squares. Then it moves on to increasing and decreasing (for various stitches). My favorite stitch is the difficult Afghan (Tunisian) Stitch, as with all the stitches they show any variations that there may be.

Buttons, Button holes, fur stitches, Wrap Stitches, Braided Stitch, Cords, Three-Dimensional Stitches, etc, to view a complete list of stitches in this book use link in the "supporting link" section.

This book is great for those wanting to learn crocheting or for those that just want to brush up on their skill.