The Crochet Books Have Arrived

Finally my new crochet books have arrived. I will show you what it is the learn Tunisian Crochet book tomorrow.

I can see Doris Chan is once again going to teach me something new as the book contains a lot of hairpin lace and broomstick lace as well as a few in Tunisian.

My favourite is the sweater on the front cover Isabeau top which thankfully is in 'normal' crochet apart from the belt which is in Tunisian crochet.

The gold Kylara Vest is mostly crocheted but the border is in hairpin crochet which I never got the hang of when I tried it many years ago. I will have to buy a hairpin and do a bit of practise before I attempt this one. The blue Meglet Cape is mostly Tunisian crochet.

The blue Zhaan Wrap is crocheted in large openwork motifs which luckily for me are squares. The squares are assembled in a V shape with the point at the back. It can also be assembled as a straight wide scarf or stole. The look of this is delicate but Doris does suggest that you can 'explode' the squares by changing the wool and the hook to make a bigger design.

The red Rosalinda top is extremely pretty but I am hoping that the model is wearing a top way too big for her. The pattern is only in one size that fits up to 2XL I think that I would have to adjust the hook size to produce a more figure hugging design. I am a big girl but I don't want anything over sized that hangs off me.

The Jadzia jacket is mostly crocheted but has a collar made with broomstick lace. The Ming Jacket and Ping Skirt are very pretty but I think are spoiled by the model wearing the set over such a violently coloured dress. Both are crocheted. I especially like the jacket as it would make a lovely evening or summer jacket to wear over a plain vest in a toning colour.

The Melisande Vest is in broomstick lace and is very delicate and open. Once again I will have to brush up my broomstick crochet skills and check on the size of broomstick that I have.

The Bozena Dress is an openwork lace with optional beads, Lovely but one for the young and slender I think. I could possibly get away with it if I made it over a matching coloured plain dress and used it as an overlay.

The Ling Collar is made with the same stitch as the Ming Jacket and Ping Skirt. It is an off the shoulder collar that could make a nice addition to a plain top as in the Lipstick on your Collar top in one of Doris's earlier books.

The Felina skirt is one of two skirts that are openwork. Whilst I think that they are really lovely they, and the very openwork poncho, are just not for me at my age and size. They would be lovely on the young and slim though.

The narrow pink Inara scarf (not shown) is a good project to practise my broomstick crochet on and the lemon Scarfaroo with pockets is a practise piece for my Tunisian crochet. There is another yellow Leeloo scarf in the book which is another practise piece for my Tunisian crochet.

There are more projects that I haven't photographed and those of you on Ravelry can see the others by typing Doris Chan into the designer search.

My fingers are itching to start something new but I am on the downward bit of the crocheted aran. I have started the yolk pattern on the back and both of the fronts are up to the point of starting the yolk pattern as well. Hopefully it will be finished by the weekend.

I am off out tomorrow doing something different with knitting but I will tell you more about that when I get back.