Would you like to learn how to crochet snowflakes to use for decorating your Christmas tree, embellishing your Christmas cards and other paper craft projects, or appliquéing onto clothing, home décor items and more?
Would you also enjoy learning how to use your crocheted snowflakes to make winter-themed craft projects such as a lacy wrap-style scarf, child’s dress, sachet, garland, coaster or headband? If so, Crochet Snowflakes Step-by-Step: A Delightful Flurry of 40 Patterns is just the book you need.
This is a book that’s written for beginners. If you have never crocheted before, and you want to learn how to crochet starting at the beginning, this book is a great way to get started. However, you’re likely to enjoy this book even if you are already an experienced crocheter — and you’re likely to learn interesting things from this book even if you’ve been crocheting for awhile.
For example, do you know how to make your own blocking board? And do you know how to take a floppy thread crochet project like a snowflake and make it stiff enough to use for decorating your Christmas tree? If not, you’ll learn how to do these things when you read this book.
What You Need to Know About This Crochet Pattern Book:
Author: Caitlin Sainio
Publisher: Quarto Books / St. Martin’s Griffin
Copyright Date: 2016
ISBN 13: 9781250093837
ISBN 10: 125009383X
Book Format: Softcover / Trade Paperback with Perfect Binding
Number of Pages: 112 pages
Cover Price: $18.99 US dollars / $26.99 Canadian dollars
Crochet Skill Level: This book is appropriate for total beginners with no crochet experience. The projects are lovely and reasonably quick to make, so it’s likely that intermediate level and experienced crochet enthusiasts will also want to own this book.
The Best Things About This Book
These crochet snowflakes are beautiful! There’s a fantastic selection of designs. Some are sleek and chic. Some are froofy and frilly. They all look like snowflakes you’d be likely to want to use for decorating your Christmas tree, handmade Christmas cards, clothing, accessories, home décor items, Christmas crafts or other winter-themed craft projects.
The project ideas included in the book are also lovely.
The snowflake crochet instructions in this book are amazingly thorough. You get international symbol crochet charts for each pattern. You get a step-by-step photo tutorial with the steps listed logically and in order. You also get the concise text-only version of the pattern that isn’t stepped-out. You’re pretty well covered here, no matter which way you prefer to consume your crochet project instructions. And if you’re so new to crochet that you aren’t sure which type of instructions you prefer, you’ll have the opportunity to figure that out for yourself when you work from this book.
I crocheted a couple of these snowflakes, and I found the instructions clear and easy to understand. I’m pleased with how my snowflakes turned out.
The team at St. Martins Griffin has organized this book logically and intuitively. The book starts off with a detailed, visually presented table of contents. You can see a small picture of each snowflake and compare the photos against each other at a glance. This feature enables you to pick the pattern you want quickly, so you can flip right to it and get started crocheting. The snowflakes are each grouped into one of three sections according to the crochet skill level required. If you need basic crochet instructions, there are sections of the book to help you get started. The book also includes a helpful index.
There’s an abundance of detailed information included in this book such as the finished size of each snowflake, the yardage required when making each design using size 10 crochet thread, and the hook size used to make the sample project. These details are omitted in some competing thread crochet motif pattern books, which has been a source of frustration to many of our readers in the past. You’re likely to appreciate having these insights available when you work from this book.
The photography in this book is done well.
The book is a visual delight; the pages are filled with harmonious color combinations, on-trend fonts and graphics, and appealing design work.
The snowflakes have interesting, evocative names like “Aspen” and “St. Petersburg”. I appreciate the time and creative energy that went into naming these 40 designs. I also find it much more inspiring and thought provoking to begin crocheting a snowflake called, let’s say, “Prague,” than a snowflake called “Design #32.” You know what I mean?
These projects and the book are both portable; you can take them with you on the go. This volume is surprisingly compact considering all the information packed into it.
Things to Be Aware of Before You Buy This Book
This is a fantastic book overall, and there is no doubt it’s a worthwhile purchase for any crochet enthusiast who would enjoy crocheting snowflakes. I really didn’t find anything worth outright criticizing in this book. However, I’d be a bad reviewer if I didn’t point out a couple of nit-picky things that caught my attention.
First I want to point out that the instructions for the project ideas in the back of the book are not as thorough as the instructions for the snowflakes are. However, this should hopefully not be a deal breaker for anyone, as I think there’s enough information presented that most crafters will be able to use these ideas and run with them to create projects that are either just like the ones pictured, or variations that become unique one-of-a-kind craft projects.
The other thing I noticed: readers who have less than perfect vision, like myself, should take care to read this book in a well-lit environment. The book is readable to me even though my glasses prescription is several years out of date, but the text is small. Thankfully, the crochet charts are large and highly readable, and the photos of the finished projects are full-sized and detailed. These are the elements that I think will be most important to the majority of crocheters who work from this book.
Conclusion:
Crochet Snowflakes Step-By-Step is a clear-cut winner of a book. For crafters who want to crochet snowflakes, I’d recommend it over many of the competing crochet pattern books I’ve worked from. I think it’s an especially good value for beginning crocheters, who are likely to make the best use of all the basic crochet instructions included in the book — but I’d recommend the book to crochet enthusiasts of any skill level. It’s clearly worth its asking price of $18.99, but the retailers I’ve linked to below often have it priced at a discount for an even better value.
Where to Buy This Book:
Find More Excellent Crochet Snowflake Patterns
- Find our main directory of crochet snowflake patterns.
- Crochet snowflake trivet for beginners
- Beaded crochet snowflake Christmas ornament
Related Resources:
- Take a look at our list of the best crochet books for beginners.
- Find more of the best crochet motif patterns.
Learn More About Crochet:
- Check out a similar book: Crochet Flowers Step-By-Step
- Click here to find our picks for the best crochet books.
- Click Here to Learn How to Crochet; This Link Takes You to a Total Beginne’’s Guide to Crochet.
- Click here to find crochet stitch tutorials and instructions.
- Click here to learn more crochet techniques.
- Click HERE to Find Fabulous Yarn for Crochet and Knitting
- Click here to learn about crochet hooks.
- Click here to find my favorite crochet project bag.
Learn About Other Crafts: Knitting, Sewing, Quilting, Paper Crafts and More
- Click here to get updated on the latest craft supplies.
- Click here to learn about knitting.
- Click here to find our beginner’s guide to knitting needles.
- Click here to find outstanding craft project ideas.
Posted By: Amy Solovay
Page last updated on 11-12-2021. Thanks for visiting!