Review: Good Tips Buried in ch. 6, but some prior knowledge would help
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 6, 2014
Disclaimer: I was asked to review this book, so I got a free copy. I'm going to preface with the fact that I'm probably not the right person to be reviewing a non-fiction book of this nature. I knew nothing about crocheting going into this book and I know pretty much next to nothing after having read the book.The introduction asks you to consider several things when seeing whether or not the hobby is for you: budget, surface preference, time, patience, and math. The whole thing boils down to it's not that time consuming but you've got to make a decision on whether or not you want to put in the time to try it. That's basic common sense and if somebody's reading this book, it probably means they've made the decision to give crochetting a shot as their next hobby. The point about patience is a good one. Ask yourself if it's going to be a chore or fun. The math point is irrelevant. The time would have been better spent trying to convince people why it can be a fulfilling hobby rather than listing random factors and telling them to make their own decision. This is the author's soap box and she needs to use it more. Convince us why this hobby rocks.The materials chapter is pretty basic and it keeps harping on the fact that there are beginner kits and online resources. The main question then becomes, why does this book exist? What does it add that I couldn't find online?Ch. 6 contains the bonus hints and tips; the wisdom and experience the author gleaned from years of crocheting. All of that information was excellent, but I think she did the book a disservice by clumping that info into the last chapter instead of spreading out those hints in the appropriate sections. For example, hint 4 is about which weights are best for novices because they're easier to work with. That's kind of an important point. Hint 5 tells why wool yarn is excellent for practicing. These are the types of key pieces of info a novice would need to get them started. I'd be annoyed if I fumbled my way through the hobby getting frustrated by novice pitfalls only to have ch. 6 give me the map to avoiding such frustrations.Also, it might have been helpful to have the author comment on which starter kits are better than others or which online resources are good. Randomly googling crocheting is going to bury the casual reader in useless information. She mentions several times that there are good videos for certain things. It would be nice to know what these resources are exactly.I believe the stitches are described in pretty decent detail. Pouring over that chapter would probably be very useful for a novice crochet enthusiast.Conclusion: It's okay, but I think you actually have to know a smidgen about the subject before using it as a resource. It fails to convince me the hobby is completely awesome, but that's okay. The tips chapter was rather useful. If it's a hobby that intrigues you, try it. Skip to Ch. 6 if you think you're in need of some helpful hints to start. That's the strongest chapter in here.