Book of the Month for April (slightly late!)

Last month was a busy one and I'm really not sure where the time has gone but I've made it here to tell you about the book I chose for April's review. Needing to make space for an inherited stash, I cast my eye over some of the odds and ends in my own stash and I found a bag of very small oddments of a lovely King Cole yarn called Finesse, left over from a workshop I taught towards the end of last year. It's a soft blend of cotton and silk and too nice to waste and with this in mind, this book presented itself: 'Crochet Makes from Scrap Cakes' by Naomi Vincent (David and Charles Publishing 2024 ISBN-13: 9781446313626).

I have to confess that there are very few space dyed yarns that appeal to me. I like more regularity and uniformity of colour and so the concept of a scrap yarn cake was a bit out of my comfort zone. However, I like to challenge myself and so I thought this was the ideal opportunity to give it a go, especially as I was starting with a yarn I really liked, in a good range of pastel colours.

There are several pages giving ideas for how to come up with a colour scheme, for example using a photo or tools like the colour wheel. However as I was already starting with pre-selected colours, I just made sure that I felt they would all look ok together i.e. there were no two colours that would clash horrendously if they ended up next to each other! 

After the colour guidance the author goes on to explain how to use arm spans to measure the yarn, how to make magic knots to join the yarn and how to use a yarn winder to make the yarn cakes once all the scraps are joined. In a 'life's too short' moment, I ignored any suggestion of measuring my scraps and just went ahead and joined them all, winding them into a ball as I went, by hand. I do have to say it was incredibly satisfying going from a ball of oddments to one single ball! I can imagine it could become a little bit addictive as a process. My final ball weighed around 50g and so I decided to have a go at the clutch purse pattern in the book. 

I loved the concept of this pattern. Imagine a series of ever increasing arches and that is essentially how the design works. The bottom of the 'arches' are then folded over to make the pouch and then the top forms the decorative flap. The patterns are written in US terms throughout and although I was ultimately able to follow the pattern, it wasn't the clearest. Descriptions of abbreviations such as 'cl' = 'cluster stitch' and 'ps' = 'puff stitch' didn't include any further information on how many stitches were in the cluster or how many loops needed to be pulled up for the puff stitch for example. There was also clearly an edging worked along the bottom the the rows, as can be seen in the photo on the right above, but this didn't appear anywhere in the pattern. Despite this, an end product was produced. Tah dah! 

I was very pleased with how it turned out and actually quite liked the random appearance of the colours! I will probably stitch in a fabric lining at some point, to make it a little stiffer and more practical but on the whole, success I would say. 

I like the concept of this book and how it approaches the yarn cake making in a technical and almost precise way, despite the nature of yarn scraps being almost the opposite to that. There is a wide range of projects in the book, from garments and accessories to household items such as cushion covers and baskets. I think it might be a challenge for a beginner to follow the patterns but the clear and close-up photos do help with working out what is being said in the written pattern. 

If you like the look of the book and fancy getting yourself a copy, you can get it from the Search Press website here at 20% off and  with free postage in the UK, by using the code DD88 at checkout. 

A little bit later on this month I will be reviewing the 'Granny Square Flowers Card Deck' by Claire Montgomerie. This is the eagerly awaited follow-up to Claire's hugely successful Granny Square Card Deck and I can't wait for it to arrive! 

Until then, enjoy your crochet!