Stitch Bible

“The Step-by-Step Guide to 200 Crochet Stitches” by Tracey Todhunter

Interweave, 2019

 

I’ve been crocheting most of my life. I knit too, but prefer crochet. While crocheting, you can really SEE your stitches, you only use one hook not two needles, so mistakes are easier to correct. Also, crocheting is faster than knitting. One row of double crochet stitches equals about 5 rows of stockinet knitting. I’m impatient and like to see my project take shape quickly. Crocheting a project offers almost instant gratification. 

 

Once I mastered the single and double crochet stitches, I was on my way. However, soon after learning the basics of crochet I started to crave slightly more difficult challenges as well as wanting to have a larger variety of crochet patterns and designs to choose from. I started buying crochet stitch dictionaries. My yarny friend and knit designer, Brenda Castiel asked me to review “The Step-by-Step Guide to 200 Crochet Stitches” by Tracey Todhunter. This book is packed with plenty of new techniques to master. It's an amazing source of inspiration. Paging through this book is like exploring a whole new world of possibilities! This collection includes both written instructions and a chart for each pattern. I love being able to see the chart and how the pattern comes together at a glance. 

 

 

Every pattern includes a clear photo with yarn as well as the chart and written instructions.  The patterns are broken into sections to make them easy to find and there’s even a visual table of contents at the beginning of the book. 

 

 

There aren’t any projects in the book, but suggestions are given as to what each stitch would be suitable for. There are recommendations of yarn weights, colors or yarn types that would work for the different stitch patterns. There are sections on Tunisian crochet and also edge stitches. Crochet basics are at the end of the book with a section on symbols and abbreviations.

 

I am an extremely visual person and I need pictures. “200 Crochet Stitches” gives me a general idea of how the stitch looks once worked. There are so many wonderful stitch patterns included in this book. I already have sticky notes on about 50 of the ones I want to try.