Christmas Crochet- giveaway, review and blog tour!

It's the season to start really getting ready for Christmas. Edie Eckman, the author of some of my favorite crochet books* has written a wonderful collection of patterns to start decorating. Christmas Crochet for Hearth, Home and Tree is full of easy to accomplish, quick stitched patterns that look good and fit the season perfectly.

My favorite kind of crochet books have both written instructions and international crochet diagrams. This one has both. The written instructions are easy to follow, and the diagrams are clear, and easy to read. The patterns are good for all levels. For people who have been crocheting for a long time, things like the snowy looking 3 dimensional tree decorations will work up in an evening, and putting together enough socks and mittens for a sweet, homey advent calender can be done in a week of evenings. For beginners, they can get practice in following diagrams and simple shaping techniques using worsted weight yarns and simple stitches.

My son is just learning to crochet using another book from Storey, and he's going to help me make the Advent calender.

There are some wonderful Christmas stockings in here as well, and they are also made of worsted weight yarn. You'll find a pattern for everyone in your family so they can all have a different handmade stocking that suits their personality. Bright stripes, polka dots, a complex looking peppermint colored stocking done in seed stitch, some gorgeous single color stockings that use embellishments or texture for interest, and my favorite- the flame stitch stocking which has texture and great color work.

The Christmas tree ornaments are great. My favorite are the felted ornaments. They are worked in motifs and make a great take along project and a good project for beginners since felting is so forgiving. The little birds are another favorite, folksy and simply too cute for words.

The styles are on trend for a homey, comfortable Christmas. Bright colors and easy to find yarn are a winner.

I made one of the snowflake motifs from one of the stockings in thread to decorate a simple headband /bookmark made using 1/8th blue elastic and a button center.

I've been so busy working on a big project, doing some of the small and quick projects from this book is very relaxing.

Storey Publishing gave me a copy of this book to review, but will also give one of you a copy! USA only. Comment on this blog post with your crochet decorating plans for the season to enter or click the Ravelry link below and comment on this blog post with your favorite project. On Monday, November 17th, I'll put all the names in a stocking and let my daughter draw one winner to receive a copy. Don't forget to include some sort of contact information on the comment. Ravelry name, Facebook name or email address.

You can also check out the rest of this blog tour in the next couple of weeks to see projects from the book and get more chances to enter and win a copy!

Check out this book on Ravelry!

Facebook: Edie Eckman and Storey Publishing

Twitter: @EdieEckman and @StoreyPub

Instagram: @StoreyPub

3-Nov Don't Eat the Paste

4-Nov Moogly

5-Nov Liberty's Yarn

7-Nov Rambling Designs

10-Nov Plus 3 Crochet

11-Nov Crochet Dynamite

12-Nov Jenn Likes Yarn

13-Nov Crochet Nirvana

14-Nov Yarning4aSmile

Book Review- Crochet One Skein Wonders

Crochet One-Skein Wonders fits in with this great series very well.

Edited by Judith Durant and Edie Eckman, it's a collection of projects by different designers that can be done with one skein of yarn or less. There are over 100 patterns in here, in sections divided by yarn types. The vast range of projects at several different skill levels ensures that there is something for everyone . If you are a beginning crocheter, this will be a book that can grow with your skills.

Because crochet uses so much yarn, most of the patterns are for accessories, with some housewares, toys and clothing to mix it up. The patterns are done in both American style written instructions and in international crochet notation. Each pattern starts by explaining what special stitches or techniques you might need to know so you'll know if it's going to be really easy for you make, challenging or "I'll get back to this project when I'm a lot better."

If you see a skein you want but have no idea what to do with it, this book has you covered. Super fine cotton threads, lace weight wools, bulky hand dyed wools and the weights in between.

My favorite projects are:
Susan Levin's Bangle Bracelets made with sock yarn.
Melody Fulone's V-stitched Elegant Fingerless Gloves
Sarah Grieve's Bellisfaire Beanie which is a lightweight hat perfect for fashion or cool spring or fall evenings.
Brenda K.B. Anderson's Maywood Purse is felted and embellished, and looks great.
Renee Rodgers' Handpainted Shoulder Bag uses an easy stitch technique and a bulky yarn for a quick to stitch purse that's simple, but still artistic looking.

There are actually a lot of patterns I like in here. Stuffed animals for everyone who likes them, hats, dresses and other things for babies and small children, a tea cozy and other housewares. If you love crocheting, this is full of one skein gift ideas.

The end of the book has an introduction to the designers, a good index, and illustrated crochet stitches for beginners. It also includes a chart of yarn weights and a glossary of crochet terms.

I do recommend this book, and plan to share it with my sister who just recently learned how to crochet.


I received a complimentary copy of this book to review, I received no other compensation, and my review is my honest opinion of the book. You can read more about my review policy here.

Book Review- Connect the Shapes Crochet Motifs

Connect the Shapes Crochet Motifs- Creative Techniques for Joining Motifs of All Shapes by Edie Eckman is both a crochet techniques book and a motif pattern book.

In the first part of the book, the author goes over the basics about how to read international crochet notation or charted patterns and combine that with a text pattern for very clear instruction on how to work the pattern. She discusses color theory and balance, then gets into the techniques. Joining motifs, especially those with picots, mesh or lace edging can be tricky. With a solid edge, you can just slip stitch, sew or single crochet the motifs together. Join as you go or JAYGo edgings can be more difficult. She walks you through, step by step with clear instructions and good photographs with bright yarn that's easy to see how to do those  joins in a few different methods. Advanced beginning and intermediate crocheters will appreciate the clear instructions. I learned a few things that make for smoother, nicer joins. She also discusses ways to adapt a pattern to a bulky yarn, or for a different effect. Some threads for example would make picots too tiny to join with the chain 3, so she suggests up sizing those picots. For bulky yarns and bigger motifs, they can become distorted, for those, she suggests ways to reshape the corners for less distortion.

My favorite crochet books aren't full of patterns for finished projects, they are stitch techniques and motifs for creating my own projects. This book is going on that shelf. The one with the stitch guides and  motifs that I refer to when starting a new shawl or another project. My favorite motifs are the kind that tessellate together nicely which means 3, 4 or 6 sides. There are a lot of them in this book. In fact, as the cover says, there are 101 total motifs and most of them are tessellating motifs that can be joined directly together. The motifs cover a wide range of stitch techniques.This includes some of my favorites like front post stitches where you work the stitch around the post of another stitch rather than into the chain top. This creates a nice dimensional effect, and worked in a different color than the previous round also makes lines of a different color on top of the previous colors. There are lots of intricate looking laces that are really easy to make and a few that are super easy to memorize. Make a couple at home, then carry yarn and a hook to continue making more while you're out doing other things. Each motif also has tips specific to that motif for adapting the joins if necessary.

After that, there are a few patterns that use motifs, such as a curved pillow that takes advantage of a distortion in a triangle motif. The distortion can be eliminated with different stitch counts for things that you want to lay flat, but for the pillow, the doming is perfect. Several patterns show some of the versatility of the motifs. My favorite is the flower garland which has a lovely, soft spring look.

At the end of the book is a chart to refer to if you are having any issues with understanding the stitch symbols. It's a nice complete chart that will work for all the patterns in the book. There is also an index of motif patterns that's laid out with images of the finished motifs. You can browse through the images to find just the right shape and look for your pattern.

If you love motifs for making shawls, afghans or even fashion scarves, or if you've had problems understanding how to read a charted pattern, this book is a great choice. Spiral bound in a hard cover to lay flat while crocheting.

Published by Storey Publishing

I received a complimentary copy of this book to review, I received no other compensation, and my review is my honest opinion of the book. You can read more about my review policy here.