The best new crochet books

Hooked on crochet?

Get creative with our pick of the best new crochet books full of great ideas of gifts and designs to make.

By Olivia Gordon

You might also like...

Our crochet collection: learn to crochet, plus patterns

Best for your bookshelf: great reads on knitting, sewing, gardening and more

Patience is a virtue

There are more than 50 designs for Afghan throws in this classic book, and every one is dazzling in its inventive use of colour and texture. You\'ll need serious patience to crochet an Afghan - which you can use as a throw, picnic rug, wall-hanging or shawl - but the reward, if you use one of these patterns, will be a serious heirloom. And you\'ll expand your crochet skills, practising Tunisian stitch for a Marrakesh-inspired coverlet in ochre with huge embroidered flowers, broomstick lace for a ribbon-effect throw, or Solomon\'s Grid, a loose lacy mesh stitch, for a luxurious Victorian wrap.

Comfort Knitting & Crochet Afghans, Norah Gaughan, Margery Winter & the Berocco design team (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, £11.99)

You might also like...

The best new craft books

Great knitting books

The ultimate sewing pattern collection

The perfect finish

From tips for assembling your project to borders to make edgings stand out to fastenings for crochet garments, this handy book will make sure your work has a professional-looking finish. The ‘Creative Touches\' section guides you through interesting techniques like combining yarns, filet crochet, woven crochet and surface crochet, plus crochet intarsia and beadwork. There\'s an indispensable directory of patterns for edgings and trims as well as clear pointers on stitch basics and simple patterns.

Finishing Techniques for Crochet, Batty Barnden (Search Press, £9.99)

Bright designs

If you want to play with colour combinations in your crochet projects, this book will tell you everything you need to know. The patterns are full of colours and textures that work together to amazing effect, like lavender and brick-red, used here in a Spanish-style shawl where lavender flowers pop out almost three-dimensionally from a red background; or a textured scarf in many variegated yarns which, contrary to popular wisdom, make a fancy-stitch pattern stand out. The author explains how she gets her own colour ideas from her travels and surroundings - an inspiration to all crocheters.

Crochet in Color, Kathy Merrick (Interweave, £16.99)

Perfect leftovers

Time to spring clean your yarn stash? All the 60+ projects in this book use one, two or three skeins of yarn, and are the ideal way to use up all your leftovers. There are some really ingenious things to make - a horseshoe-shaped pillow for plane travel, for instance, a checkers game or a cute jewellery roll - even a toilet-seat cover! There are also plenty of hats, socks, scarves and gloves, cushions, and delightful baby clothes.

1, 2, 3 Skein Crochet, edited by Judy Crow (House of White Birches, £14.99) www.amazon.co.uk

The beginner\'s manual

This is the perfect all-round manual if you\'re a total beginner - and it\'s also very useful if you know how to crochet but want to brush up on your skills. The tone throughout is encouraging and fun, taking the fear out of ‘crochetese\' and making stitches understandable, step by step. The authors take you in detail from the beginner basics to advanced colour and texture techniques, with advice on finishing, too. Highly recommended.

Crocheting for Dummies (Second Edition), Karen Manthey, Susan Brittain, Julie Armstrong Holetz (Wiley, £14.99)

You might also like...

Learn how to crochet, step by step

It\'s a wrap

Another lovely collection of large crochet projects, this book is packed with winning patterns: a Shetland-style shawl in pale pink, a 1930s-style pastel-coloured baby blanket made of patchwork crochet ‘puffs\', and a gorgeous aran throw are three of our favourites. The author shows how to crochet gingham, tartan, rainbow or 3D-flowered effects with exquisite results.

Crocheted Throws & Wraps, Melody Griffiths (CICO, £12.99) 

Going it alone

Ideal for anyone who wants to invent their own patterns, this helpful little guide gives you over 200 illustrated stitch patterns to experiment with - from basic patterns to textured stitches, fans and shells, mesh and filet stitches, openwork and lace, spikes, relief stitches, trims, clusters, puffs and bobbles - and more! There are flower patterns and special stitches like overlaid steps and woven checks, too - all in all, an invaluable guide.

Handbook of Crochet Stitches, Betty Barnden (Search Press, £9.99)

Eco warrior

If you want to get really adventurous with your crochet, and be green at the same time, this book has some fantastic ideas for crocheting (and knitting) with eco- friendly yarns. We especially like the homewares patterns. Bulky jute cord, for instance, and a 16mm crochet hook, can be used to make a giant doormat. Or old T-shirts can be cut and knotted together to make yarn, then crocheted into an oversized laundry or toy basket. Genius!

Knit, Purl, Save the World, Vickie Howell & Adrienne Armstrong (David & Charles, £14.99)

Good enough to eat

Crochet cherry tomatoes on the vine, crochet sandwiches or crochet nutty ice cream cones - there\'s nothing you can\'t re-create in crochet with the help of this cute pantry of patterns. Let\'s face it, they don\'t have any functional uses and you certainly can\'t eat them - but you can use them to superb decorative effect - for example on place settings or as sweet, calorie-free gifts.

Tasty Crochet, Rose Langlitz (North Light Books, £15.99)

You might also like...

Bake them, make them: cakes to knit

Homemade gifts

A charming shawlette in chain stitch, a scarf with an ice-blue vintage shell edging contrasting with bright, contemporary inner colours, and sweet frilled lace wristlets are our favourites in this book of ideas for making crochet gifts. Not every other project is as stunning, but there are plenty of very easy, quick ideas - some, like friendship bracelet-making, or a flower choker, are especially good for children learning crochet. And there are also projects which will challenge your skills - like crocheting with fine wire to make a hairpin lace bowl.

Crocheted Gifts, Kim Werker (Interweave, £15.99)

Break the chain

If you hate chaining, this is the book for you. The technique of ‘foundation stitches\' means you don\'t have to chain - you make the foundation with the stitches of your first row. There\'s a short section explaining how to do it, and a variety of patterns for everything from clothes to homewares. The patterns are slightly inconsistent taste-wise, but the book\'s worth it for some fun ideas practising this technique, like the cabled dog jumper and dog basket, and a rather impressive hobbyhorse.

Chain-Free Crochet Made Easy, Edited by Judy Crow (House of White Birches, £12.99)