Simple Starter Crochet Projects: 3 Easy Patterns for Your First Hat, Scarf, and Cushion

Textile artist and expert Meldrum’s (Freeform Crochet with Confidence) latest book starts with crocheting basics, such as how to hold the hook. Her book includes clear pictures and written instructions, but they’re only for right-handed people. Required tools and other items needed to succeed—what to know about yarn, for example—are also noted. The book’s patterns, utilizing a variety of stitches, hook sizes, and yarns, are well written, but several of the techniques and stitches required to make some of the projects may be too complex for novice crocheters. Otherwise, readers can choose to make a fitted striped beret, an elegant hooded scarf, and a tweed pillow cover. The suggested yarn for the beret is slightly fuzzy, which can be difficult to frog (rip out) when mistakes are made. On the plus side, the work concludes with a helpful hook size conversion chart, a table of stitch abbreviations, and a thorough index.