Monday, May 20, 2013
I met Sheryl Thies last October when I attended the symposium put on by the Knit & Crochet Heritage Museum in Madison, WI. An out-going and friendly person, she is also a talented crocheter and knitter. I am delighted to review her latest book, her second, on Tunisian Crochet.
I met Sheryl Thies last October when I attended the symposium put on by the Knit & Crochet Heritage Museum in Madison, WI. An out-going and friendly person, she is also a talented crocheter and knitter. I am delighted to review her latest book, her second, on Tunisian Crochet.
Tunisian Crochet Encore: New Stitches, New Techniques, New Patterns
by Sheryl Thies
Published by Martingale, 2013
I had a very positive experience over ten years ago with
Martingale publishers when I participated as one of the designers in Crochet Today, a book they published to
celebrate the Crochet Guild of America. Today, Martingale and Sheryl Thies do
not disappoint!
She had me at page one! The word “encore” in the title gives
a hint to the creative metaphor that Sheryl uses throughout the book. She muses
that once the basic Tunisian skills are achieved, crocheters will develop a
rhythm with their hook and not be able to put it down, much like when a line or
rhythm from a song is “stuck in your head” all day long!
Not only is Thies a lovely and gracious needle worker, she
is also an expert at Tunisian crochet. She wields her Tunisian hook to create
drapy, flowing, fashionable designs. Her goal is to increase her reader’s
confidence in this age-old tradition in crochet. Again, using musical terms
that easily segue to crochet, Sheryl provides the basics of the technique in
the first section, Prelude. Here she
starts the crocheter on a journey into Tunisian crochet, along which she thoroughly
explains the use of short rows and miters to shape and curve rows
Make it Sing, the
middle section, builds on the fundamentals with new techniques and concepts
that lead the crocheter to create some amazing fashions including patterns for
using bulkier yarns and large hooks for projects that work up quickly. I love
the continuation of the metaphor in the catchy project titles like, Ruffled Interlude, Beaded Trill and Hummingbird Rhapsody!
Finally, you’ll find useful information required for
finishing a project along with helpful resources information in the Coda section at the end of the book.
The publisher provides excellent photo illustrations of all
the stitch techniques and Sheryl’s sixteen lovely designs are a bargain at the
book’s retail price of $24.99.
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