I thought we'd take a break from photo tutorials and look at what I got for Christmas! So here's a review of Edie Eckman's Crochet Borders.
"150 colorful, creative crocheted edgings". That's all I need to say really, colour and alliteration, you know I love this book! I sat down with it the other night and tried out a few of the designs. (Please don't look too closely at my attempts as there may be a few mistakes and some are not exactly as written by Edie.)
The selling point for this book comes from the fact that all the designs come with full instructions for the corner. If you want to just add a frilly edging to a towel or a hanky, working back and forth, well that's covered too.
Edie is a knitting and crochet instructor, as you'd expect her instructions are clear and comprehensive. I learnt a lot just from the first few pages. I now know how to crochet into the selvage and how to add crochet to fabric. The actual instructions also include diagrams which is a plus for dyslexics and also avoids any confusion over stitch names.
The designs themselves are really creative. There is everything you can imagine from lacy to solid borders. And there is plenty of variety. I came across a lot of unusual stitches that I just had to try out. I even encountered the horizontal puff stitches I blogged about recently.
This seemingly frilly edging is actually Treble (UK) stitches made horizontally.
There are some which use post stitches to give texture.
This one is folding stitches. Making little samples like these is a great way to improve your skills as well as trialing something before committing to a larger project. My problem is I never can choose one over another!
This edging struck me as really original. The post stitches are made around two stitches at the same time.
This border intrigue me as it used a stitch called herringbone. After attempting the border I just had to try the stitch out as a swatch. The texture just doesn't come across in the photo. The inside is smooth. Unfortunately it can only be worked up from the right side, so needs to be made in rounds.
I wish I'd put this book on my wish list earlier. I feel really inspired to try out something new. Thank You Santa!
P.S. If you happen to pop by, please say Hello! It's very lonely here on my own!
