Blueprint Crochet Sweaters: Techniques for Custom Construction

This book contains lovely creations by well-known designers such as Robyn Chachula, Drew Emborsky and Kristin Omdahl. The charts and schematics are plentiful and extremely helpful. The introduction also contains some useful information and suggestions. Don't skip it. The book is divided into four ways to construct a sweater: Classic, Top-down and In-the-Round, Granny Motif and Unique. Each section provides you with several options of great sweaters to crochet.As always, I took the book to my fiber fun group which mostly consists of beginning crocheters. They loved many of the items but felt the projects were way above their skill level, even with assistance. So possibly the book would be best for advanced beginners, but mainly intermediate and advanced crocheters would love it.My personal favorites are: Cranberry Cardigan by Robyn Chachula on page 12, Foliage Shrug by Simona Merchant-Dest on page 30, Veronica Pullover (the book cover sweater and a real winner) by Kristin Omdahl on page 138 and the Smoky Cropped Top by Drew Emborsky on page 60.If you are up to the challenge of crocheting a sweater (maybe for the first time), this is the book for you.

I just began the Cranberry Cardigan...with the recommended 4.5 mm hook. I know I should have made the swatch first, but I didn't. I cast on and started 3 rows of the size XL (217 stitches) and when I measured, I got an alarming 55 inches. So, I began the swatch...it didn't take long to see that across, instead of 4 inches for 21 stitches, it measured 5.25 inches. I then tried a 4 mm. I got 5 inches. I trusted the book...after all, the title is "Blueprint Crochet." I expected Robyn Chachula to have tested the relatively few patterns in the book. I gather that it might have been a Cascade Yarn company pattern because I am using the Cascade DK pima yarn that is recommended, and she may have relied upon them to have the pattern correct. So, I am guessing that she hasn't made the pattern herself. This was a disappointment, and I am now attempting to do some arithmetic. I hope that the rest of the book isn't like this. I think that the sweaters are very beautiful to look at.

There is just a ton of information to help you learn to .are, design or adjust a pattern to fit you better

A book that takes the mystery out of making sweaters with a crochet hook!Pros1) Gives 4 very different construction techniques2) Explains each technique in great detail3) Special stitches and how to incorp them into designs4) How to read a chart5) ButtonholesAll the above explained in great detail and moreNeuts1) Some ofthe designs are very much neutral for me liking or disliking but the book shows how to change them so could be considered a ProConsI can not see one con other than book construction and binding being crafter unfriendly but that is the publisher's fault not the author, so no ConsThis is book is for any serious crocheter's library!

I have been crocheting for 8 + years and have recently been working on designing my own sweaters. Although not a true step-by-step for designing from scratch, this book does have a lot of hints and tricks, and provides several attractive sweaters for you to customize and tweak to fit you perfectly. With explanations on how to crochet sweaters in several different ways, there is definitely something for everyone who wants to take their crochet to the next level.

This is a handbook for the crochet enthusiast who wants to customize garments. The author share tips on using different size hooks in the same pattern, important consideration for using different fiber content of yarns, reading and making your own diagrams, and shaping to fit your individual measurements.

This book teaches you how to take Robyn's patterns and custom fit them to your size. The information provided can be incorporated into designing your own crochet patterns, but how to do so is not spelled out in this book so you must be creative at piecing together specific techniques to get the end result you want.

Great ideas. Easy to follow.

It's not really a blue print at all but the diagrams are quite useful and a few of the garments are nice and others are quite awful.

Having made my own garments this book takes me to the next level of design with crochet. It is simple to understand but already has me planning the next project.

excellent

given me some ideas

The sweaters and tops in this book are beautiful and quite practical for everyday use.Some that uses granny squares are actually downright artistic.The explanations are clear and charts are easy to decipher.Each design takes about 10 pages average,so you can imagine the kind of detailed explanation given.There are 12 designs in total,but if you are fond of experimenting like I do,then these are 12 templates that can help in your designs for years to come.Almost all crochet techniques are used here for custom designing.I never knew that hdc could be used for ribbing borders,but here I found it.