Book of the Month for December

Welcome back to our regular book review feature. I'm scraping into December by the skin of my teeth. It's always easy to underestimate just how busy life becomes around Christmas/school holiday times. 

This month I've been looking at another book by the fabulous Anna Nikipirowicz, following hot on the heels of 'Crochet Socks that Rock' comes 'The Crochet Stitch Companion for Blankets & Afghans' (Search Press 2025 ISBN: 978-1-80092-293-8).

As the title of the book suggests this is a stitch directory, but not your average stitch directory. It is divided into five sections: Stitches, Motifs, Edges, Blankets and a comprehensive techniques section. 

The Stitches section includes both written instructions and charts, stitch multiples and a rating  of easy, moderate or challenging to help you choose according to your skill level, although with such comprehensive instructions I think anyone could have a try of any of the stitch patterns. The Motifs section divides the motifs by shape. covering hexagons, squares and diamond shapes and there are ten patterns in the Edges section, several of them really quite unusual, such as the Fair Isle and Overlay Mosaic stitch patterns. They also include stitch multiples so they can be adapted to work with your own blanket designs. 

The layout of the book is clear and concise, with the text set in lots of white space so the pages aren't cluttered. US terms are used throughout.

There are four suggested blanket patterns so that you can have a go at testing several of the stitch patterns, motifs and edge stitches without needing to incorporate them into a design of your own. The blankets are colourful and look fun to make, with a variety of stitches/motifs to try out. You can see the Teignmouth Blanket in the photo below.

As today is the 31st December and I have just finished the squares for my JC temperature blanket my first job for this book will be to help me choose the edging! Emma would have me launching straight into a picot edging but I'm just not sure! 

If you like the look of Anna's book and fancy getting hold of a copy for yourself you can find it on the Search Press website here. If you are in the UK you can get a 20% discount and free delivery by entering the code DD88 at checkout. 

I'll be back next month but I haven't chosen a book yet so if you have any suggestions do let me know in the comments. Happy New Year!