Posted on 6 Comments

Simple Crocheting by Erika Knight

Going through a week’s worth of mail when we returned from our extended stay in Burlington was such fun for me – it was like Christmas morning! One of the goodies “under the tree” was this book, sent to me by the nice people at St. Martin’s Press: Simple Crocheting: A Complete How-to-Crochet Workshop With 20 Projects.

The photography drew me in right away. The samples are worked in cream, tan, taupe, and beige, and are accented with well-placed pops of teal or mustard. I’ll admit it had me looking around my house, wishing my decor featured more ecru. That’s an impressive accomplishment when you consider how much I love color.

There is a significant portion of the book devoted to learning the basics of crochet. Each stitch explanation is accompanied by hand-drawn illustrations.

Following the basic instructions is a section on fabrics. Large swatches are used to demonstrate the look of a single-crochet fabric, a half-double-crochet fabric, a double-crochet fabric, and a treble-crochet fabric. Also included are swatches of fabrics produced through interesting textured stitch patterns, including basket weave.

Heavy on the home decor, light on the personal adornment, the projects include pillow covers, laptop covers, a clutch, a few blankets, a sweater, and more.

I found myself particularly drawn to the slippers (Neil’s blood thinners are making him chilly, especially in the feet, and these slippers look like something that could keep his toes toasty [and that I could actually finish, as opposed to the socks I started knitting for him eight months ago…]).

The motif blanket is nifty. The motifs are all the same as one another, but they take on different looks based on the use of color. I need another blanket project like I need a hole in the head, but just the same, I’m keeping this page bookmarked. I really could see myself having fun with this one.

I planned to stop talking about the book right here, but we are in the middle of slowly re-organizing our family room. We’ve moved our sectional couch around, and bought a new little corner table to go in the resulting nook. Today I bought a lamp for the table, and I was struck by a desire to make one of the little table toppers pictured at the bottom left, above.

It was really quite simple to make. The written instructions were easy to follow, and the accompanying stitch chart made it easy to verify that I was doing the right thing. It took me less than an hour to whip this little guy up, and my only disappointment is that it’s not a few inches bigger.

The author claims these would make nice hostess gifts, and I would have to agree. I am considering whipping up a few more to use as coasters – I have a new little corner table to protect!

Big thumbs-up for this book. I love it. If you’re interested in grabbing a copy and can’t find it locally, it’s available at Amazon. (That’s an affiliate link, btw. Thanks!)

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Posted on 6 Comments

6 thoughts on “Simple Crocheting by Erika Knight

  1. I love Erika Knight’s books, they are all beautifully photographed. I took a very fun class from her at TNNA one year & enjoyed her as much as her books 😉

    1. Seriously, I wouldn’t mind taking a vacation inside this book 🙂

  2. Love the look of this book! I’m adding it to my “to buy” list.

    1. I’m really enjoying it. If I didn’t have another project I really need to finish, I’d be jumping head first into a few of these.

  3. […] Oh, I just can’t resist the lure of instant-gratification home decor projects. This week that has translated into an additional four table toppers from the book I reviewed here. […]

  4. […] am realizing that I really like Erika Knight. I reviewed Simple Crocheting three years ago, and I’m still using the little table toppers I made from it. In fact, I […]

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