Book Review – Blueprint Crochet, Modern Design For The Visual Crocheter

Many of us know the name

Robyn Chachula

as a luminary in the crochet world. What I didn’t know about her is that she’s a structural engineer. In my own long and varied career path (or simply job history), I worked for seven years in the world of forensic engineering (accident investigation). One of our team is a structural engineer. She is also a fantastic seamstress. She told me once that she would have preferred a career in fashion design, but engineering paid better and used the same skills! That was news to me – but it makes a great deal of sense.

What an advantage a crochet designer has when s/he is well versed in the world of shapes, geometry, and structure. As my engineering colleague explained it, structures are all the same when you consider how they are constructed and with what materials. So, Chachula brings her engineering background into the world of crochet, emphasizing things like shape, drape, and structural context to create eye-catching designs. Her latest book is entitled ‘Blueprint Crochet‘. Certainly sounds like a combination of engineering and yarn, doesn’t it?

This book is full of designs that will appeal especially to twenty something crocheters, but there is lots of information in the book that will be of use to all crocheters, regardless of age.  If you want a good guide for learning how to read patterns, symbols, and diagrams, this book will be perfect for you.  The explanation for ‘Understanding Granny Square Diagrams’ alone is probably worth the price of the book.  Chachula expands on this diagram reading exercise to show us how to better understand joining squares and stitch pattern diagrams.  The book’s graphics are clear, concise, and easy to follow and accompany every pattern.

As for patterns, the book  has a little bit of a lot of things.  Building on the fairly simple (but sometimes confounding granny square), Chachula has designed several accessories like a scarf and cuff that give plenty of practice to perfect the techniques demonstrated in the beginning of the book.  There are a variety of more complex motif designs – sweaters, boleros, belts and the marvelously tempting ‘Isabella Wrap’.  This is a must do for me.  Isabella here I come!!  The ‘Paige Sweetheart Top’ is another design I find particularly attractive.

Other designs, sweaters, a dress, and a jacket, build on stitch patterns rather than motifs.  The ‘Sarah Bee Dress’ shown in a cheery yellow color is worked from the top down in a single piece.  As regular readers know, I cherish those top down designs for their ease of adjustment to fit one’s size as the garment is being made rather than doing a lot of frogging as I have to do when I work from the bottom up.  Many of the patterns in this book are constructed from the top down.  I find this most helpful and informative.