Corner-to-Corner Lap Throws for the Family by Sarah Zimmerman: A Book Review

Want to learn an exciting technique for crocheting colorful pictorial, striped, solid or patterned projects that you stitch on the diagonal? If so, Corner-to-Corner Lap Throws for the Family is a book you should know about. By reading this slim volume and following the instructions on its pages, you can make adorable projects including 5 different lap blankets while you learn how to crochet corner-to-corner.

What You Need to Know About This Crochet Book:

Corner-To-Corner Lap Throws for the Family — A Crochet Pattern Book Published by Annie’s Crochet

Author: Sarah Zimmerman

Publisher: Annie’s

Copyright Date: This book is © 2016 / 2017.

ISBN 13: 978-1-59012-787-2

Book Formats:

This book is available in the following formats:

Softcover with staple binding: Paper copies of the book are available at a variety of retailers including Amazon, Biblio and others.
Digital download: Kindle e-book edition available from Amazon
Digital download: PDF e-book available from the Annie’s website

Number of Pages: 20

Skill Level: The team at Annie’s has assigned a skill level rating of “Easy” to all the patterns in the book. However, because of mid-row color changes, my opinion is that “intermediate” would be a more appropriate skill level rating for 4 out of the 7 patterns.

The Crochet Patterns Included in This Book:

1. Corner-to-Corner Crochet Heart Pattern

In the beginning of the book, Sarah includes step-by-step instructions for how to crochet corner to corner. She demonstrates the technique using a two-color heart pattern. The heart chart is included, so you can practice making this piece as many times as you like.

Sarah shows what I’m guessing is a work-in-progress photo of 4 of the heart squares crocheted in different color combinations and joined with white yarn. I love heart designs, and I found the picture inspiring. Looking at it compelled me to wonder: If the project were mine, how would I finish it? What would I do with it? Those are fun possibilities to consider.

The heart isn’t one of the finished blanket designs included in the book; Sarah does not include instructions for how many heart squares or how much yarn you would need to make for a finished blanket. However, you could easily make a pretty blanket using this design if you are willing to do a bit of calculating.

2. The Basic Corner-to-Corner Crochet Pattern

Sarah has written out a basic corner-to-corner crochet pattern that you can use for making a solid-colored blanket or other solid-colored piece in any size you choose. This is the basic formula for corner-to-corner crochet, and you’ll be likely to refer to it often as you work through the other patterns in the book.

Once you’ve mastered the corner-to-corner crochet technique, you can use this basic pattern along with your own graphs to design your own custom corner-to-corner crochet projects if the design process interests you.

3. Woodland Animals Lap Blanket

There are 4 different animal-themed squares that make up this cute 40-inch blanket:

Owl
Fox
Hedgehog
Raccoon

This is the project pictured on the front cover of the book. It’s also my favorite project in the pattern collection; I think it is absolutely adorable.

4. Simple Stripes Lap Blanket

There are 7 vibrant yarn colors in this diagonal striped blanket. This is an asymmetrical design that somehow manages to look wonderfully balanced, a phenomenon which caused me to sit gazing at the project photo for a full three minutes. It’s really quite intriguing.

Measuring 33 inches square, this is a fresh and lively design that would make an ideal baby blanket for little ones of either gender.

5. Snowman Blanket

This is another 33-inch square blanket that would make an excellent baby blanket. It would also be a fun Christmas gift for any of the little ones on your gift list. The colors on this design are vibrant and appealing, and the graphic design is super cute. The focal point of the design is a fun snowman wearing earmuffs and a scarf.

6. Sheep Blanket

A calm, peaceful-looking sheep adorns this fun 27-inch square crocheted blanket. The interesting blanket border had me taking a closer look at this design and picking up my crochet hook with interest to try working a bit of it.

7. Sweet Dreams Baby Blanket

The words “Sweet Dreams” are actually spelled out in this lovely pastel-colored baby blanket. A friendly moon face is the focal point of the design. The light blue background is boy friendly, but you could easily switch the background color to pink if you’d like to crochet the design for a little girl — or for that matter, to any other color of your choosing.

The Best Things About This Book

The finished blankets in this book look like things you’d buy at a fancy children’s boutique in the high-rent district of your closest big city. You might think that these sophisticated, color-rich designs would require expensive luxury yarn, but you’d be wrong; the projects are all completed using Red Heart Super Saver.

I marvel at Sarah Zimmerman’s ability to make cheap acrylic yarn look like the chicest, freshest thing a person could crochet with. (Of course, you can always upgrade to a nicer yarn if you are making these projects as gifts and are concerned that the Red Heart Super Saver isn’t the type of fiber that your gift recipient would appreciate most).

I LOVE IT that this is both a technique book and a pattern book — in one concise package. This is book is reasonably light and portable; it doesn’t take up much space in a backpack or project bag.

This book is gift worthy, and so are the projects in it. If anyone in your inner circle crochets for kids, this book is a no-brainer of a good gift for that person. The book’s low price point and cute projects make it a definite winner in the gift-giving department. The projects featured in the book would also make fantastic gifts if you prefer to buy the book for yourself.

The charts in the book are colorful and clearly presented. I found the fonts used in the book to be tasteful and easy to read, even despite my completely out-of-date eyeglasses prescription.

The instructions in the book are clear and concise. The book includes a helpful stitch guide and metric conversion charts. The instructions include easy-to-understand illustrations where necessary that show you special stitches and techniques you need to know but may not already be familiar with.

Other Observations About This Book

Most of the colorwork in this book is exceptionally good, but there are a couple of things that could be improved on.

Excellent Colorwork — The snowman, simple stripes and sheep designs are all colored beautifully, with colors that complement each other well yet contrast well enough to make the design eye-catching.

I think the fox square in the Woodland Animals blanket is another example of outstanding colorwork; the colors harmonize beautifully, with a pleasing level of contrast.

These designs are all worth crocheting exactly as pictured (if you want to — although you can get as adventurous as you like with re-coloring them, and that would be fine, too).

Good Opportunities to Try Out New Colorways — I worked in the textile industry for many years. At that time, creating colorways was one of the tasks I was asked to do most often. I had the opportunity to create colorways for big brands like Nordstrom, Target, Pacsun, Walmart, JC Penney and many others. One thing I learned from working with these big brands: Virtually all of the buyers at these companies would reject colorways if there was not enough contrast between colors that touch each other in the designs they were interested in.

With these experiences fresh in my mind, I’d suggest re-coloring a couple of the squares in the Woodland Animals blanket. While I do think this is a really appealing design exactly as it is presented in the book, my opinion is that sometimes even the most appealing designs can be improved.

There’s a fantastic amount of contrast between the hedgehog’s coffee-brown body and the cornmeal yellow background that surrounds him; this is ideal. However, there is not much contrast at all between the hedgehog’s buff-colored face and the cornmeal yellow background; this is not ideal. The colorway could be improved on by choosing a new background color that contrasts strongly with both the brown and the buff colors.

The raccoon’s gray body seems to fade into the green background; the colorway could be improved on by choosing a background color that contrasts more strongly with the gray while still also contrasting with the white and black in the raccoon’s face and other details.

Think of this as being the perfect opportunity to flex your creative muscles and customize your own colorways of the design. The suggested yarn for this pattern has a HUGE color line, and it offers you many color choices — so if you agree with me that re-coloring this pattern is a great idea, you can really show off your own color sense with your color selections.

The photography in this book is outstanding overall. The colors are clear and bright. Everything is in focus.

I really appreciate seeing room view photos with the blankets styled appropriately for each interior environment pictured –and this book delivers that wish beautifully.

The styling in the book is done well. However, most of the projects are pictured at an angle rather than straight on. The exception is the simple stripes blanket, which is creatively photographed almost straight on and in a way that I can see the entire design easily — I LOVE it!

While you can see the projects okay for the most part, it would have been nice to have at least one full view picture of each blanket that is taken straight on, with the entire blanket in view. It drives me a little bonkers that I can’t see the fox’s ear in the Woodland Animals project photo, and I would love a closer look at some of the details that look distorted in the photo.

However, this is not a deal breaker, as the charts clearly show which colors you need to make each block of stitches when you crochet these blankets. You are not relying on the project photos for crucial yarn placement details, so it isn’t all that big a deal that you cannot see every stitch clearly in the photos.

Conclusion

I’m simply enchanted with this book, the projects presented in it and the corner-to-corner crochet technique in general. I think the book is a valuable resource, and I am delighted to recommend it to other crochet enthusiasts. I think it’s an especially good purchase for anyone who enjoys crocheting for children or participating in charity crochet events. As I mentioned before, the book would also be a lovely gift.

With a cover price of only $8.99 US dollars, this book is affordable for crocheters of just about any income bracket. Even better, you can sometimes find this book for sale online even cheaper. Even at its full cover price, the book offers an exceptional value for the money you spend on it, but you might not have to pay full price if you shop around a bit.

Where to Buy This Book:

Similar Crochet Books and Related Resources

If you’re interested in learning the corner-to-corner crochet technique, I recommend signing up for Sarah Zimmerman’s corner-to-corner crochet class. The class is available in two formats: on DVD and through Annie’s online portal.

Sarah Zimmerman’s Corner-to-Corner Lap Blankets for the Family book is included on our list of best crochet baby blanket pattern books. Click here to see the entire list.

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