This is a book review of Big Book of Christmas Crochet
What You Need to Know About This Crochet Pattern Book:
Author: This book includes patterns by multiple authors / pattern designers.
Publisher: Annie’s Crochet
Copyright Date: 2020
ISBN 13: 978-1640254305
Number of Pages: 74
Skill Level: The patterns included in this book have all been assigned skill level ratings using the Craft Yarn Council’s skill level rating system. The majority of these patterns were rated as “easy”, and there are also many others that were rated as “intermediate”.
The Focus of This Book:
This book is focused on giving you 30 Christmas-friendly crochet patterns. All the patterns in this book are crochet patterns; there are no knitting patterns, no quilting patterns and no sewing patterns. You ONLY get crochet patterns in this book.
Some of the patterns in this book feature overtly Christmas-y themes like Santas and reindeer. (Are gnomes the same as elves? There are a couple of gnome and elf patterns included in this book). Then some of the other patterns aren’t specifically Christmas-y, and so you could use the patterns for making Christmas gifts that the recipient could use at any time of year.
Crochet Projects Included in This Book:
4 Crochet Patterns for Blankets, Afghans and Throws
Deer Plaid Afghan
Yuletide Greetings Crochet Afghan Pattern
Cranberry Lace Throw Pattern
The fourth blanket pattern features a Santa Claus design, and it matches one of the pillow patterns included in the book. (Not pictured).
Crochet Slipper Patterns
This book includes 2 different patterns for crocheting slippers; one of them, called “Christmas morning slippers”, is pictured above. The other, called “jingle bell slippers”, really does have jingle bells on it. They are super cute and festive! (Not pictured).
2 Patterns for Setting Your Holiday Table
This book includes one table runner pattern and one pattern for crocheted mug rugs, which are sort of like coasters.
Reindeer Door Stopper Crochet Pattern
This reindeer looks a lot like a stuffed toy — but if you follow the included instructions, it will be weighted differently than an ordinary toy would be, enabling you to use it as a cute, child-friendly door stopper during the Christmas holiday season.
3 Basket Patterns
Baskets are endlessly useful items to have on hand during the Christmas holidays. For starters, you can use them as organizers for tucking away little items that would otherwise clutter up your countertops or table tops; doing this can help to make your house look nice and tidy for the holidays. Furthermore, you can use them for your holiday decorating; you could keep the kids busy by asking them to gather small pine cones to use for filling several of these adorable baskets. If you want to put more effort into using them for decorations, you could emulate the project photos shown in the book, which are more elaborate arrangements featuring Christmas balls, pine cones, Christmas greenery and holly berries.
Another idea: Use these as gift baskets. You can fill them with candies, small toys, or other little treats; and if you purchase some cellophane wrapping and some ribbon, you could easily wrap them to look like professionally-made gift baskets — but these would be far nicer than anything you could buy at the store.
Christmas Crafts for the Kitchen
This book includes a cute hot pad pattern and a gorgeous pattern for making a poinsettia towel topper. I’ve never crocheted a towel topper, because I secretly think that a lot of towel topper patterns are kind of tacky (although I would never have admitted that to Aunt Laura, who used to crank them out by the truckloads; she sold hers at craft fairs, and people did buy them. I didn’t, but bunches of other people did). But this one isn’t tacky at all; it’s really quite beautiful. I’d actually want to make it for my own kitchen. Maybe you’d want to make some of these lovelies for yourself and your friends, too.
Toys
Not counting the reindeer door stopper, there are 2 patterns for stuffed toys or soft sculptures included in this book. One of them is a cute snowman. The other one is a little round elf.
One Scarf Pattern
The scarf pattern included in this book is called “Buffalo Plaid Gnome Scarf”; it looks just like the name suggests, with silly, adorable elf-like gnome motifs at either end of the scarf. The gnomes are wearing plaid Santa-Claus-style phrygian caps. The scarf is embellished with fringe. It’s super cute and festive — just what you’d want to wear to casual Christmas get-togethers with friends and family when you’re in the mood to try to make everyone giggle. If you have kids or grandkids, they’re sure to get a kick out of this.
Gift Tags and Gift Boxes
If you want to make your own gift tags and giftwrap, this book will most likely be a good investment for you. Aside from the gift basket idea already mentioned above, the book includes patterns for a gift tag plus two different boxes; one of them is a small, postcard-sized box, and the other is an interesting hexagonal shape. Both of them would make unique and lovely boxes for wrapping your treasured holiday gifts.
Check ’em out:
Pillows
Snowman Crochet Pillow Pattern
There are 3 pillow patterns included in this book. One of them is the snowman pillow pictured here; another is the Santa Claus pillow that I already mentioned matches the Santa Claus blanket pattern included in this book.
The third is called “Farmhouse Truck Pillow”. It features a pictorial design of a Christmas tree tossed in the back of a pickup truck, and the Christmas tree is on its way home. It’s a creative design that’s sure to elicit smiles.
One Christmas Stocking Pattern
A super cute “elf boot Christmas stocking” pattern is included in this book.
4 Christmas Ornament Cover Patterns
There are bunches of reasons you might want to own these patterns for crocheting ornament covers. For me, the most compelling reason is that these patterns give you an ultra-affordable way to differentiate cheap, dollar store Christmas balls and make them look luxurious.
Let’s say you’re on a tight budget for gift giving this year. If you’re in a situation where it would be embarrassing to show up to the annual Christmas party empty-handed, these patterns give you an easy “out”. You buy some boxes of super-cheap Christmas balls at your local dollar store or big box store, plus you pick up a few inexpensive balls of size 10 crochet thread. (You only need about 35 yards of thread for each ornament cover, so keep that in mind when you decide how many balls of thread you need to buy.) You work up a bunch of these ornament covers, and then you put them on said super-cheap Christmas balls. You now have a whole bunch of luxurious, expensive-looking gifts to give to everyone at the Christmas party. Pretty clever, huh?
The Best Things About This Book
This book offers you a spectacular value for the money you spend on it. There is no “average crochet pattern book”; these books can have any number of patterns in them and they sell for a broad range of price points. That said, it’s pretty typical for crochet pattern books to have about 20-25 patterns each, and to sell for a cover price of $24.99. This book beats both of these benchmarks easily; I counted 30 patterns in this particular book, and its cover price is significantly lower.
I think the blanket patterns in this book are the highlight; they’re all incredibly beautiful designs.
The patterns in this book are all super creative. Many of them are practical designs that will be endlessly useful; you could make multiples of these for gift giving (along with some for keeping).
This book gives you patterns for creating gifts AND your own gift tags and giftwrap, all of which could come in handy during the holiday season. Also keep in mind that the giftwrap ideas could be used at other times besides just the winter holidays; you could make birthday or anniversary gift tags and gift boxes using these ideas, too.
Conclusion
I’m delighted to recommend this book to other crochet enthusiasts, particularly to crochet enthusiasts who celebrate Christmas and have a desire to make their own decorations and gifts. This book offers you an excellent value for the money you’ll spend on it, and it will also offer you the possibility of many enjoyable hours spent making festive projects for your friends and loved ones.
Where to Buy This Book:
By Amy Solovay
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About Your Book Reviewer:
Amy Solovay is a content creator and educator who holds a bachelor’s degree with a studio art minor; she has also earned a separate degree in textile design. Amy learned to crochet as a small child, and she still enjoys crocheting all these years later. Beyond that, she enjoys introducing other crafters to the best new craft supplies, and she also loves helping crafters learn new techniques for making the most of the craft supplies they buy.
As an educator, Amy Solovay used to teach in-person college courses in trend forecasting, marketing and surface design at California Design College in Los Angeles.
Nowadays, Amy uses online platforms to teach digital courses to craft pattern designers, content creators and influencers all over the world. If you’re an artist, crafter or DIY enthusiast who is interested in earning income from your creative work, you’re invited to visit Crafterprise.com to learn more about monetizing the arts, craft(s) and / or DIY projects you do.
More Crochet Pattern Books You Might Enjoy
The Big Book of Christmas Crochet Patterns is included on our list of best Christmas craft books. You can’t go wrong with this one, but if you want to see more options, you’ll definitely want to check out our other recommendations in addition to this one.
Find More Outstanding Crochet Books:
- Best Crochet Patterns for the Home
- Best Crochet Blanket Pattern Books
- Best Granny Square Pattern Books
- Best Crochet Motif Pattern Books
- Best Tunisian Crochet Pattern Books
- Best Baby Crochet Pattern Books
- Best Crochet Stitch Dictionaries
- Best Crochet Womenswear Pattern Books
- Best Crochet Edging Pattern Books
Check Out More Christmas Craft Ideas
- DIY Christmas Wreaths to Make
- DIY Christmas Ornament Patterns
- DIY Christmas Card Making Ideas
- Find More Christmas Craft Ideas
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