Finished reading:
- New Design in Crochet (1972) by Clinton MacKenzie, an art professor. Book will be evaluated in the next blog entry later today or so.
Skimmed while waiting for other early '70's books to arrive:
- Vogue Guide to Crochet (1971) Occasionally I'll skim a '70's book that lacks a pioneering emphasis in its title ("New", "Adventurous", "Creative", "Discovery" etc).
Next up:
- Crochet and Creative Design (1973, 1st ed.) by Annette Feldman--it just arrived in the mail.
- I may skim America's Crochet Book (1972) by Gertrude Taylor.
The minute they arrive (any day now) I'll read these:
- Crochet: Discovery and Design (1972) by Del Pitt Feldman
- New Ways with Crochet (1972) by Dorothy Standing
- Fashion Crochet (1969) by Caroline Horne (might skim this one)
- Crochet: A Modern Guide to an Ancient Craft (1969) by Iris Rathbone (might skim this one)
The Horne and Rathbone books (the last two) are complete wildcards to me--I've never heard anyone mention them. They lack any pioneering terms in their titles, but hey, copyright 1969! I'm intrigued! Might offer a useful context for the '70's books.
Books too darned expensive for me to order right now:
- Modular Crochet (1978) by Judith Copeland, currently over $100.
- Creative Crochet (1973) Arlene Stimmel and Nicki Hitz Edson, currently $65 and up.
- Batsford Book of Crochet (1981) by Ann Stearns. Past the '70's, but people make it sound so good; minimum $40 now.
- Crochet: A Basic Manual for Creative Construction (1974) Mary Tibbals Ventre. Okay, so it's only going for $29 right now, but no one ever raves about this one, and it's still more than I want to spend after buying crochet books I'm more sure of for much less. I have no shortage of '70's crochet books to read!
excuse me if this a double post...the Creative Crochet cd is availble at Nicki Hitz Edson's website.
ReplyDeletehttp://nhedson.tripod.com/creative_crochet.htm
Hi Tracy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me. Two people told me this last month, but then a houseguest brought her copy with her. I tried to read it while she was here , and it looked great but I only had time to skim it, so I couldn't really review it well. So I'm just going to have to order the CD and get it over with! I just emailed the author.
Add "Practical Modern Crochet" by Vibeke Lind to the list. Published 1973 by Van Reinhold and currently inexpensive. The designs are amazingly contemporary.
ReplyDeleteI bought Copeland's Modular Crochet via a secondary book market seller on Amazon for $40 a few months ago. It was worth every dollar. The book pops up occasionally on Amazon too. Don't give up.
ReplyDeleteThe book isn't perfect, as it's limited in it's use of stitches and variations, and some of the photos are muddy. But the ideas and inspirations .. the adaptability of the ideas is what is exciting. As I read it, I kept coming up with ideas to freshen the concept for today's fashions... tho the basic modular crocheted sweater is not necessarily dated, as one can pick any yarns, most any weight [sport weight up, I'd say], apply the principles to ones preference for snug, loose, textured, short or long, sleeves or novelty looks.
I'm already working out a way to adapt the concept into a cardigan [odd and unfortunate that the book didn't include one], to add panels of lacy stitches, etc. I'm not an advanced crocheter, picking up a hook last year, and all I've designed was a cabled iPhone cozy. But this book makes me believe I can do more.
Barbie