150 Favorite Crochet Designs (Dover Crafts: Crochet)

Lots of patterns. Well liked

This is a book that I've had a number of years. I purchased it in a different phase of my life, one where I had and anticipated having more time then I do now. I love vintage crochet, in particular, thread crochet, which is why I initially purchased this book.I think this book is a good value for what it is, but I want to mention up front what it isn't: This book is not a good book for beginners. As such, there isn't a break down in it of how to do the individual stitches, and I would recommend being able to crochet at an intermediate to advanced level before purchasing it. Also, this uses written patterns with abbreviations, so for those of you used to working with stitch diagrams, this also doesn't come with those (although it does have the standard block patterns for fillet crochet patterns). It is a reprinting of older publications of patterns, and therefore does not have some of the conventions that can be found in more current pattern books.Also, a heads up, the font is pretty tiny in general, but some of the patterns are printed even smaller, maybe I want to say font 8 or 7, so if you struggle with smaller print, this could be important for you to know. I no longer have time to do this type of crochet project, nor do I anticipate having that kind of time in the future, so I'm honoring my life energy and mission by donating this at this time so that someone else can come to love it as I did. However, I did work some of the patterns from this book before my life got more involved with the care of our beautiful special needs son, and they did work up looking pretty stinking cool, and I can definitely recommend it. I very much found it useful and worth the cost as long as you know what you're getting...

Easy and clear instructions, fun patterns.

Thank you for this well thumbed book. It is perfect. Fast shipping too!!

very good

This review is for the KINDLE edition of this book. I have both the paperback as well as the Kindle versions. The paperback version rates 5 stars. However, the Kindle version has some serious formatting issues that really interfere with its usability.The patterns here are reprinted from old crochet pattern leaflets, and the instructions are reasonably clear and easy enough to follow for intermediate- to advance-level crocheters. And there is a black-and-white photo of each project, including many "close-up" views of the individual motifs.The problem arises when the photo(s) of a project are separated from the instructions. For example, you see a photo of "Hospitality Tablecloth" - looks wonderful! I want to do this one! Under the photo: "Directions on page 72" -- uh, OK. Where is page 72? There aren't any page numbers in the Kindle edition. So you have to flip through page after page of other photos and instructions until you find the set of instructions under a DIFFERENT photo for another tablecloth (whose directions are somewhere else) that are labeled for the photo of the item you wish to make -- in this case, ** 20 ** pages after the photo. How difficult would it have been for someone to either include clickable links to the instruction page or actually move things around so that the photos are followed immediately by the directions?I love Dover's needlecraft series, and they've done a lot to make these vintage patterns available for a reasonable price. But if you're going to do a Kindle edition of something, I believe that a little care should be taken to reformat to fit the idiosyncrasies of that device (i.e. "locations" rather than "page numbers").The patterns are still useful, the photos are still relatively clear, but finding what you're looking for is frankly a royal pain. I'm giving this 3 stars -- it's OK. I don't hate it, but it's more difficult to use than it should be.

This is the best crochet book I have ever held in my hands. It is such a relief to find a crochet book that isn't geared towards young, inexperienced crocheters or grandmothers with the worst tacky taste in the world. This book is anything but tacky; the designs are elegant, beautiful, delicate (thank goodness!), and many of them are expansive--if you want to do a large table runner, tablecloth, or pair of curtains, you can find those designs in here along with doilies and motifs. I made the beautiful rose motif tablecloth--it took me quite some time, but my ex-boyfriend's mother loved it and it is an excellent testament to the design of the piece that he and I broke up rather badly and she still has the tablecloth on display. Only thing I struggled with was crocheting in double crochet stitches as instructed instead of converting to trebles, as the beginning of the book instructs you to--the first piece I made ended up rather wide and fat.Incomparable value for the money and the results are works of art.

Tatting dollie designs are easy to see an relearn