Crochet books for beginners

I’ve recently started knitting and I am wanting to try crocheting also. I learned how many years ago and I can do the basic chain and single, double crochet stitches but I want to make some of the beautiful afghans and other stuff I’ve seen. My grandmother used to make some amazing crocheted things. Can anyone recommend a basic crochet instruction book to get me started?

I really like Maggie Rhigetti’s book Crocheting in Plain English. (Her Knitting in Plain English book is great too.)

There are also plenty of instructions free on the internet. You can look on my site, right on the sidebar under Hooked On Needles Links, and click on whatever it is you want to learn. You will find video tutorials and other helpful information.

Lots of great patterns out there free too!

MGM

I would go to your local bookstore and browse though their crochet books and find one that is good for you. Another good source is your local library. But I have two I really like : The Crochet Bible by Betty Barnden and Encyclopedia of Crochet Techniques by Jan Eaton.

I went to Barnes and Noble (2 actually) and checked out what they had. I ended up getting The Crochet Bible. It pretty much covers it all.

I went to LYS but unfortunately they didn’t have much for crochet beginners, so I got a book about decorative items, that had the basic stitches covered. (At the beginning of the book they explain how to do the different stitches)

I would have wanted something more “guiding” than that, since I was a bit lost with just that book. But with the help of internet, and on my own (trial and error) I found out pretty much how to crochet.

And I love it.

Good luck, sorry I can’t give any advice

I would recommend [I]Donna Kooler’s Encyclopedia of Crochet[/I]

This book has it all, history of crochet, basic technique, yarn types, how to read patterns, even has 164 stitch patterns in it. It’s a little pricey at about $25 but definitely worth it to have this in your library.

ISBN 1-57486-282-0

I agree about Donna Kooler. Also, the Harmony Guides are great inspiration. I just finished a shell-pattern afghan from one of these. There is also a great book called [I]101 Stitches for Afghans[/I]. There are many free afghan patterns on websites, such as www.crochetpatterncentral.com.