300 Crochet Patterns book

If you enjoy creating with crochet motifs, then this is the book for you. As with all Japanese stitch pattern books this one is all charts, along with a few diagrams -- mostly illustrating how to join as you go (as in -- no sewing motifs together) along with a panel showing a looped center starting ring. These diagrams have Japanese writing (no English) but frankly the diagrams are clear enough that most crocheters shouldn't have trouble following them.

There is a dizzying array of different motifs -- squares, six-pointed, circles, octagons, triangles and tri-lobed, and one I'm not even sure of -- rhomboid perhaps? They range in size (somewhat) from small 2-round flowers to larger 10 round (doily like) circles. The photos show them worked -- some in thread and some in yarn. Depending on your intended use I would think most of them would be successful either way. Many are shown worked in more than one color, but you could certainly work most of them either solidly or multi-colored -- crocheter's choice. In addition to charts for each individual motif, they all show one possible arrangement of modules, and, what is especially nice, the motifs that fit together leaving large spaces also have a chart for a small "filler" pattern.

While motifs make up 221 of the 300 patterns, the rest are edgings. Some are just straight edgings, but a few (19) of them are shown worked at right angles (in other words, around a corner) thus taking all the guesswork out of edging a cardigan. Take them around all four corners and you'd have a pretty square frame -- for a pillow, or perhaps to trim a fabric photo frame. My first thought on seeing the right angle trims though was "would this work to trim a vee-neck top"?

I used some perle cotton to try out a few -- they're all done with the same size hook too, so you can see that there is a difference in motif sizes.

I think my first project will be a crochet/sewn fabric combo top -- along the lines of Crochet me Magazine's Galaxy Top by Katy Westcott. Just as soon as I finish those STR socks. And, for those of you who were wondering: yup, the second one is patterning just like the first. What fun, my own Children of the Corn socks!

Note: As with all my other Japanese pattern books, this one was purchased online through yesasia.com. It is probably available from other sources too, I have simply found YesAsia to be easier to order from.