Category Crochet Books

500 Crochet Stitches

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500 Crochet Stitches : The Ultimate Crochet Stitch Bible

My copy is from August 2015 printed by the St Martin’s Griffin Books.

It has been my go to for when I want to try a new stitch or even remembering a stitch that I haven’t used in a long time or that often. Anytime I get asked about crochet books and what I recommend to anyone looking to start of even add to their crochet collection, it’s this.

It has great descriptions for what tools as needed for crochet and the basics that every crocheter should know. My favorite part though is the visuals. Between the photos and the graphs, it’s among the best of stitch books that I have ever seen.

I believe I got my copy at my local Barnes and Noble, but I do know that it available on Amazon as well.

Note: I am not getting paid for this review, nor was I asked to write it.

Color

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Have you ever found a pattern that you wanted to do, but had no idea what color scheme you wanted to use? Or maybe you have a mix of colors but you aren’t sure what will work together.

When I first started to crochet I used whatever I had available, without really caring what went with what. Then I started to learn some things about color while working in the paint department at my local Home Depot.

One of my first forays into figuring out colors for projects was to get the old paint books that nobody really used anymore to help figure out color schemes. These days, those books are referred to as decks. To my knowledge all paint companies have or had some version of them.

Fast forward a decade and I have two books that I mostly rely on for this particular thing when I have a color question.

The first book I use is The Complete Color Harmony Pantone Edition. written by Leatrice Eisman from 2017. I like this book because it has hundreds of color matches, broken up by categories such as Active, Powerful, Casual and Botanical. It also goes into what colors in general are traditionally attributed to.

It is available from Amazon for $18.49 at

The other book I use is called The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair. This book goes into the historical side of some colors, such as Lead White, Verdigris, Archil, and Isabelline. It’s great if you want to make a piece is colors from a certain time period or are just curious about where particular color may have come from.

It is also available from Amazon for 14.19 at