Best of Interweave Crochet Book Review

Discover Interweave Crochet Editor Marcy Smith’s Picks for the Best Patterns From the Magazine’s Early Years

This photo accompanies our Best of Interweave Crochet book review.

This photo accompanies our Best of Interweave Crochet book review.

Did you miss out on any issues of Interweave Crochet magazine in its first 5-6 years of publication? Would you be interested in catching up on the best of the best patterns, tutorials and articles that were published in those years — without spending one zillion dollars to buy boxes full of tattered back issues on the secondary market? If so, Marcy Smith, editor of Interweave Crochet magazine, has made this easy for you to do; she has curated a collection of crochet patterns and articles she thinks are the absolute BEST crochet patterns and articles her team published during the magazine’s first years of publication. (I’m not exactly sure whether it’s five years or six years; the back of the book says “five years;” the Interweave website says six.) The result is a book called The Best of Interweave Crochet; if you’re a fan of Interweave’s publications, I’m betting it’s a book you’re going to want to add to your library.

What You Need to Know About This Crochet Pattern Book:


Publisher: Interweave Press


Copyright Date: 2011


ISBN 13: 978-1-59668-302-0


Book Formats:


This book is available in the following format(s):


Number of Pages: 160, not counting the covers

Crochet Projects Included in This Book:

  • Luna sweater for women by Kim Guzman — This is an amazing design; it features faux cables and feminine shaping.

  • Northern Dreams, a pullover sweater for women designed by Julia Vaconsin — symbol charts included

  • Rosemary Sweater for women by Robyn Chachula

  • Infinity Wrap by Kristin Omdahl — symbol charts included

  • Alpine Frost Scarf by Amy O’Neill Houck

  • Dragonfly Shawl by Lisa Naskrent — symbol charts included

  • Boteh Scarf by Kathy Merrick symbol chart included

  • Moorish Mosaic Afghan by Lisa Naskrent — symbol charts included

  • Big Bow Cardigan by Julia Vaconsin

  • Tunisian Vest by Kathleen Power Johnson

  • Come-and-Play Cardigan by Annette Petavy

  • Stone Path Hat by Lisa Naskrent — symbol chart included

  • Solas Caomh, a baby blanket by Jodi Euchner — symbol charts included

  • Kathryn in Beauly Dress and Hat for toddlers, by Kathy Merrick

  • Sir Stephen, the Bunny by Donna Childs

  • Babette Blanket by Kathy Merrick

  • Boho Blocks Cardigan for women, by Valentina Devine — symbol charts included

  • Ocean Pearls Cardigan by Julia Vaconsin

  • Seafoam Vest by Chloe Nightingale

  • Sera Lace Top for women, by Doris Chan — symbol charts included

  • Larger Than Life Bag by Cecily Keim — symbol chart included

  • Diamonds Silk Scarf by Carol Ventura — includes chart

  • Lace Dress by Lily Chin

  • Fino Mitones by Marlaina Bird

Back to Basics Articles:


  • Weaving in Ends

  • Post Stitches

  • Changing Color

Beyond the Basics Articles:


  • Garment Construction: Seaming by Annette Petavy

  • Learning to Love Laceweight by Tracy St. John

  • Foundation Stitches by Marty Miller

  • Tunisian Crochet Primer by Kathleen Power Johnson: This article gives you instructions for Tunisian crochet stitches including Tunisian simple stitch, Tunisian purl stitch, increasing and decreasing

  • Finding Closure by Dora Ohrenstein

  • Symbolcraft by Sandi Wiseheart
  • Linked crochet
  • The adjustable ring by Donna Hulka
  • Sewing stitches
  • Shoring up on Shells by Doris Chan

The Best Things About This Book

There’s a spectacular diversity of different crochet techniques, yarns and styles represented in the book.


Many of the projects are truly appealing and seem as if they’d be worth the time commitment and the yarn commitment to make them.


The articles included in the book are ones you’re likely to want to refer to over and over.


The projects are presented well with appealing photography and styling.

Comparing Costs on This Book vs Pattern Downloads From the Interweave Store

If you recently learned how to crochet, you likely missed out on the first several years of Interweave Crochet magazine. Sure, you could buy the back issues (at least for the issues that are still available,) or you could download individual patterns in the Interweave store — but from what I can see, this book is a reasonably cost-effective way of owning the highlights of the first five+ years of patterns and articles published in Interweave Crochet. Comparing prices on pattern downloads vs this book, the math isn’t totally straightforward — the pattern downloads currently have different prices, so a to-the-penny comparison would depend on which specific patterns you want — but it looks to me like it’s a better deal to buy the book if you’d like to own more than around four or five of these patterns. If you only want one or two of them, it’s more cost-effective to download the individual patterns you want.

Interweave Crochet Had Some Fantastic Patterns. Are These Really the BEST?

At this point, I should mention that I’m not a regular reader of Interweave Crochet. In the past, I have picked up random issues here and there, but I can’t offer an honest opinion about whether or not these patterns are actually the best. That’s pretty subjective anyway. What I can say is this: there’s some pretty cool stuff included in this book.

This Book’s Shortcomings

I didn’t find many downsides to this book; overall, I think the book is fantastic. One problem for some crocheters: Some of the suggested yarns for the patterns have now been discontinued, so you may have to substitute yarns if you want to make one of the projects where this is an issue.


The only other disappointing thing I found is that there are no skill levels noted. For me, that isn’t a deal breaker; your mileage may vary.

Without having crocheted any of the patterns, I would guess that there are patterns ranging from easy to advanced. I didn’t see any that struck me as being ideal for total beginners, although the articles included would certainly be helpful to beginners.

Conclusion

This is a beautiful book with gorgeous projects, outstanding photography and helpful articles. I’m delighted to recommend The Best of Interweave Crochet to other crafters.

Where to Buy This Book:

Similar Crochet Books and Related Resources

Find More Fantastic Crochet Books

All About Crochet

References and External Links


When writing this book review, I consulted the following sources:



  • Biographical information about Marcy Smith at the Interweave Crochet website — I used a page that was active at the time the review was originally written but is no longer available.
  • Obviously, I also referred to the book itself, which I had in hand while writing this book review.



Posted By: Amy Solovay


This page was last updated on 7-26-2023.