Skip to main content

Book Review: Quick Crocheted Accessories: 3 Skeins or Less

Quick Crocheted Accessories: 3 Skeins or  Less
Sharon, also the author of It Girl Crochet  which I reviewed, has assembled a stellar group of crochet fashionistas who have designed accessories that are not only quick but they also underscore the praises of clever crochet!

There is a unique quality about each person in this group of designers yet a commonality in how they look at crochet that unites the designs in this book. Sharon, a fabulous designer in her own right, has tapped into those qualities to ensure you will want to add it to your library.


Wavelength Beanie by Sharon Zientara
Many of the designers within are women whose crochet I have greatly admired in the past while crocheting marvelous projects from their patterns. Several of the designers are European-born which, it seems, exposes them to a legacy of needlework and fashion sense. Others in the book bring graphic design skills and television costume design experience.
Add caption

Mosaic Slippers by Cristina Mershon
Honeycomb Shawl by Regina Rioux

Combine all this with observation of new things that bring fascinating ideas, yarn-obsession and other interests like belly-dancing, and you have a captivating group that brings out the best in crochet! 

Corona Cowl by Kathy Merrick

Sharon believes that the desire to take the time and care to make something balances how we live in a fast-paced manner these days. However, she says that “you don’t need to spend a huge amount of time, money or effort in order to create something by hand. Near instant-gratification is built into these pages.”
Quick Crochet Accessories is published by Interweave/F+W and is available now for $23.99


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Craft vs. Fine Art: How is Crochet Blurring the Lines

I was awakening to the world of crochet in 1972,a time of immense artistic expression through fiber arts; and crochet was not the “ugly stepchild” at the time. In fact, Ferne Cone Gellar who I admire as a successful fiber artist said in “Knitting: The Stepchild of the Fiber Arts?” ( Fibercraft Newsletter 1978), “Has knitting been slighted among the areas of the fiber arts? The very word ‘knitting’ evokes images of the little old lady in tennis shoes. Over the years, I’ve learned to ignore all those jokes.” Cone Gellar went on to publish Crazy Crocheting in 1981 and encouraged her readers to create more than bedspreads, providing ideas such as “things to play with or to display on a shelf or hang on a wall.” A photo of single crochet from bread wrappers served as inspiration.  In 1972 in her book, Creating Art from Fibers & Fabrics , Dona Meilach wrote: “Why are fibers and fabrics becoming increasingly appealing to artists? Most artists agree

Wartime Crochet With Attitude, Part I

Wednesday, October 30, 2013 Karen Ballard and I have a mutual love of free form crochet. We met for the first time in a class taught by Prudence Mapstone of Australia at the Chain Link Crochet Conference 2011. I admire Karen's vast knowledge of needle work history and am grateful for her willingness to share with us as my guest blogger this week. Karen wearing a World War II-era knitting hat with stubby needles on top Karen's Heritage Heart,  with flowers symbolic of her heritage, is currently on tour with Prudence Mapstone's traveling "Hearts & Flowers Exhibition" in Australia and New Zealand   World War 1 Attitudes About Crochet by Karen Ballard In 2008, I coined that term, "Workbasket Campaigns" to describe the organized efforts during World War I (WWI) and World War II (WWII) coordinated through the American Red Cross {ARC} and the Navy League to create needle crafted items.  These items were mostly knitted but also sewn, qu

What is Free Form Crochet?

Monday, January 6, 2014 This topic came about from the title of my article recently in Fiber Art Now magazine.  "Crochet As Art: A Conversation with 5 Free-Form Crochet Artists." Yes, the 5 artists I wrote about, all of which are in  my book  The Fine Art of Crochet , are free-thinking when it comes to their creativity. They are free-wheeling with the hook and use unique fibers in many cases. Once you read the article, tell me what  you think? Are these artists doing free-form crochet? In order to define free-form crochet, we must look way, way back to it's origins: Irish crochet. A brief history of crochet, including the Irish method, written by Ruthie Marks is available through The Crochet Guild of America . Unfortunately, there are no images on the site. On her blog, Nancy Nehring has a beautiful montage of Irish Crochet in reference to a class she taught in 2013 at Lacis . I wrote an article in Old Time Crochet Magazine (Spring 1998), "History of Irish Croc