Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia: 300 Stitch Patterns, Edgings, and More Hardcover – January 1, 2011

In a later paragraph, I will talk about why I rank this as my favorite of all the stitch guides I've collected over more than 30 years, roughly 50. But first, I want to distinguish between what it is and what it is not.First of all, I think some people are confused on what a stitch encyclopedia is; it is NOT a how-to book, but a reference book. Every bicycle does not come with training wheels, nor every math book start with learning how to count. You buy books on how to crochet first, not references. It is like buying an English-German dictionary and expecting it to teach you punctuation and grammar. A visual encyclopedia is one with pictures of objects, and this one has pictures of fabric, motifs, and trims for crochet work. If they included pictures of hands holding the hooks (which most how-to books don't even do), you would get 30 to 50 stitches in the book, tops.There are several options if you are trying to learn, including free sources like YouTube, Ravelry, etc. Another is to look for some of the cheapo Kindle patterns, such as 15 Crochet Motifs, which have video links in them. That 99-cent Kindle pattern (and there are free Kindle apps for most platforms) has more than the stated 15 motifs suitable for making a pieced afghan, among other things. It also has video links for each and every motif, and you can watch her crochet them at your leisure. I watched one out of curiosity and it was well done, but as an experienced crocheter, I just did not have the patience to sit through 17 videos start to finish, so I cannot swear that she shows every stitch she takes on all 17. Another source is a site like Interweave. As part of the Black Friday online sale, I bought several downloadable videos for about $5 each. These are pricey videos normally, so getting on a mailing list to learn about sales is useful. One of the videos was three and a half hours of tips and tricks, and was a real find, so you are getting more than just what you get for free on YouTube. Another I bought, just on flower motifs, is by the same author as this book, and even after 35+ years of making crocheted flowers, I not only learned new tricks, I understood why I had not encountered them before: They would be extremely difficult to communicate by any means other than close-up video.The problem with some stitch encyclopedias is that there can be too much of a good thing. At some point, they are including ugly, fussy, or boring stitches, and many of them all look alike. 800 stitches? No, I get frustrated looking for what I want. This book has what we think of as regular crochet, lace, motifs, edging and trims, colorwork, a few filet crochet and broomstick lace patterns, surfacework (very simple to do, and you can create a sort of plaid in crochet or just use it to add trim), and even Tunisian. I have stitch encyclopedias for each of those techniques, so obviously one volume cannot do them all justice. But these are all attractive, useful entries, with diagrams and not just words. I think that a far greater percentage of these will wind up being useful than with any of my other stitch guides, especially given the broader range of the subject matter.

This book is for those who have at least basic crochet knowledge. It contains stitch patterns, which one can use to create project patterns as well as ideas to give your projects the finished look you want.The biggest drawback for me is the lack of an index. The table of contents is very good for what it is; however, it is necessary to read through the table of contents to find a particular stitch unless I know what basic stitch to look under. I also agree with other reviews about the names of stitch patterns can be whatever the writer wants to call them. Other than that, I think it is a very good guide with a lot of choices and I don't think the lack of an index should keep anyone from purchasing this book.The instructions are clearly written and easy to understand. I never used charts prior to having this book, but I have found they are much quicker to refer to than reading through the text, and I am beginning to appreciate the charts included. The pictures are extremely helpful so I can tell I understand the instructions. Larger pictures would be nice, but the pictures that are included are adequate for me.This is a beautifully produced book of very good quality and excellent presentation. The author suggests projects for many of the stitches and explains why a particular stitch works well for her suggestion. The instructions are concise, the charts are helpful and the pictures give the user a good visual for the stitch.Again, I believe basic crochet knowledge would be most helpful in appreciating this book, but it would not take much before anyone could use this to create projects.

The layout of the book is engaging, with clear photos of beautiful stitches, while each page has enough white space to not overwhelm the reader. I love just flipping through the book to see what I can possibly create. Although I have been crocheting for a few years, I've stuck to the simple patterns and stitches (single and double crochet), so I bought this book to help me learn new stitches and patterns. I really appreciate that each pattern tells me not only what the pattern would be good for (e.g., scarf), but it also notes the number of chains needed to start the pattern (so that I can use and modify the pattern for a scarf or an afghan).The major issue I have with the book is that a beginner cannot just flip to any page in the book and get the necessary information. For example, trying a lace design in the middle of the book, you'll come across 2 dc-cl, and then need to flip several stitches back in the book to figure out what that stitch is; there is a glossary in the back, but because I'm a beginner, I have to constantly flip through the book to find the stitch requirements. (A better way might be to include a textbox for the uncommon stitches in each pattern, or at least note the page number of where to find an explanation.)The explanations are clear enough, though I find I still need to find a video on the Internet to show me what the author means in some cases, but this is just because I have yet to train my brain to efficiently read crochet patterns. The graphic representations of the patterns are very helpful, and I find myself using the graphic more than the text explanation.All in all, it was a good purchase, but I will still purchase other books to supplement this one.