Cat Mad Crochet

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

I have a lot of books in my crochet library. Some are books of projects, some are books of stitch patterns, some are books about other crafts, some are just plain art books that I find beautiful and inspiring. I do have a very favorite crochet book right now. It’s the Crochet Every Way Stitch Dictionary by Dora Ohrenstein. Let me tell you why, in a disaster of house losing proportions, I would rebuy this one first. 

I am fussy about my stitch dictionaries, so I have a lot of requirements for the ones that grace my shelves. I do not want the stitches to look too old fashioned. There are some really nice stitch dictionaries with pretty pictures and lots of stitches demonstrated that end up looking like a tablecloth convention. By this, I mean two things: The patterns are very lacy in an old fashioned way and they are difficult to shape so they are mostly good for things like, oh, tablecloths. I know, they could be scarves or rectangular wraps or dresser toppers or table runners, not just tablecloths. I exaggerate, but I do like a more up to date lace pattern. 

I like really functional crochet stitches. I like stitches that can be manipulated to be made into all sorts of things from scarves to hats to fingerless gloves to sweaters. Or tablecloths if that is really what you want. For me, at least, a lot of the functional stitches look sort of difficult but really aren’t, so they can easily be manipulated with increases and decreases. Some simple chains and puffs and double crochets and you have a really nice stitch pattern that looks amazing but is super easy to both make and manipulate. 

This is where the Crochet Every Way Stitch Dictionary comes in. It has six sections, each dedicated to a different type of stitch. I highly suggest you read the introduction before you start enjoying the stitch patterns. It’s an interesting discussion of the author’s journey and the way she created the stitch patterns presented in the book. In drafting the stitch patterns in the book, Ohrenstein set forth very specific rules for herself about how the stitch patterns were to be manipulated and what the finished increases were meant to look like. She also discusses what she learned about making increases and suggests ways for you to take this knowledge into your own work. It’s well worth reading if you are looking to learn about the hows of increasing and not just using the increases she lays out.  

After the introduction, the book opens with a section on closed stitches. These are stitches, both flat and textural, that give a more solid look to the fabric without being boring. Do you want a sweater that can’t be seen through? A scarf that leaves no gaping holes for the wind to come wuthering through? A skirt that actually keeps your butt covered? You have found your section. I have used this part of the book for some of Adia’s sweaters as she prefers a more solid sweater. I like the stitches presented because they are not just single, half double, and double crochets. They are combinations that create interesting, but solid, fabric, which is shapeable into more than, you know, tablecloths. 

Section two covers mesh and simple laces. I will admit this is not my favorite section, barring “Clustered Arches”, which I have made into several things. I have yet to try it in a sweater, but I will. The stitches in this section are a little plain for my taste. They are trending toward lace, but it is a very simple lace and I want something more complex. I think it would be good for the crocheter looking to move away from solid stitch patterns and not quite ready for more complex laces. I guess this section is full of gateway stitches. Yes, that’s what these stitches are: The beginning of the road to complex lace for those people just getting away from making fabrics of all one stitch. It’s needed and useful, but you might find yourself moving beyond this section very quickly. Or not. Maybe you love a nice mesh. 

Section three deals with textured stitches. Now I love textured stitches, but I am notoriously bad at them. Like frog it all, ball it up, start fresh with a new stitch pattern bad at textured stitches. I keep trying with an unending belief in my ability to conquer these stitches because I am that sort of person, but mostly I cannot. Despite my lack of skills, there are a lot of really awesome stitches presented. If you like post stitches, bobbles, and cabling, this is your section! I have done Bobbled and Crossed, but I made the bobbles be puffs because I like puffs better. Same thing with Bobbles on Stems, I swapped the bobbles with puffs with no ill effect. Split Puffs is nice as it is just my beloved puffs. I think Split Puffs calls for a nice, softly spun, single ply yarn to show it off the best, I’m sure I have some somewhere. This section is sort of my “achievement waiting to be unlocked” section. Some day, even if it kills me, I will master it.

Hannah’s favorite section is next: Exploding Shells. I feel like Lumier in Beauty and the Beast explaining the castle when I talk about this section. It has open shells and closed shells and some shell patterns that are more solid and grand shell arches. Do you love shells? Do you long to make complicated looking sweaters out of shell patterns? Just get the book. It’s all laid out. I love this section. I’ve already made a sweater for Hannah with the Domes stitch pattern. It’s one of her favorite stitch patterns. 

The next section, “Classic Laces”, is, I think, the least successful section in the book. The author just hasn’t found many ways to run internal shaping for the patterns she presents. Edge shaping is provided for many, but not all, of the patterns, which has its place and is useful for certain projects, but several of the interior shaping options involve just adding extra chains to the original pattern. This would work for something short like a little collar, but for a capelet or a sweater yoke it seems like that would become awkward and unstable very quickly. 

Is there a better way? I don’t know. Perhaps. Perhaps there are just some stitch patterns that cannot be increased nicely at all when it comes to interior shaping. Perhaps using a different sort of stitch pattern altogether to create the increase is a more effective means of doing interior increases for these types of stitch patterns. The question is, as I see it, are you increasing with the intent of preserving the look of the stitch pattern at all costs or do you just want an increase? (Damn the stitch pattern! Full hook speed ahead!)  Maybe some stitches are just doomed to be tablecloths. It isn’t their fault. We should help them all we can, the poor things. 

If you want to preserve the stitch pattern and create an increase, then I think there are some stitch patterns that just do not increase nicely when it comes to interior shaping. If you are willing to be more carefree with the look of the increase and allow it to complement the original stitch pattern while adding a new element, then I think your options increase a lot. The author was really trying to maintain the original look of the stitch pattern. I wonder what one might come up with if you took that restraint off?

The last section, “Undulating Stitches: Ripples and Waves”, is my least favorite section in the entire book. First, interior shaping is nearly impossible over many rows, which the author admits freely. Second, I hate ripples and waves. They speak of the 1970s to me in the worst possible way. 

Specifically, they speak to a very long and thin “afghan” that lived in my parents’ family room and served as the all purpose runway, ground cover, fort building, chaos blanket of my carefree early childhood. It was some sort of ripple stitch worked in, I assume, some form of extremely resilient acrylic. It had a ton of different colors in completely inconsistent stripe thicknesses. It was about three feet wide and twelve feet long. Perhaps it was meant for some specific purpose and we diverted its path? Perhaps it was a much needed exercise in learning to crochet that was generously endowed with someone else’s scrap yarn? Maybe it was meant to be a little lap blanket but the spirit of the thing overtook the maker and, twelve feet later, working in a fit of nearly religious fervor, a colorful something emerged from their hook and into my family’s life. To this day, I do not know who made it or their feelings about our use of it nor can I look at zig zag stitches without seeing it. 

Perhaps, not having lived with that “blanket”, you do not feel this way about zig zag stitches. If not, allow me to tell you about the section. The zig zags are not just standard double crochet zig zags. The author has included zig zags with puffs, v-stitches, texture, and even fans. I might even be enticed into trying the one with fans. It’s a cute stitch, and it’s me saying it, so it must be interesting. There’s even a granny stitch zig zag, which epitomizes much of what I hate about crochet, but I’m sure it will appeal to someone. Blessings on her for working with it. She is a better and more open minded crochet craftswoman than I will ever be. 

Having sung all of its praises, let me tell you what frustrates me about this book. The print is very small. I understand that at 50 my eyes are not what they were. I love my reading glasses and would not be able to do much without them. I would certainly not be able to read the text or the stitch diagrams in this book at all without my glasses. Sometimes, I have to use my phone to make the stitch patterns big enough to make sense as it is. Perhaps, to keep the price down, they made the text and diagrams small. The two page per pattern spread does convey a lot of information: pictures of the pattern with edge and interior increases as relevant; basic information about the pattern, its repeats, notes, and special stitches; diagrams of both the basic pattern with edge increases and a diagram of the interior increases; and written instructions for the basic pattern, edge shaping, and internal shaping. It’s a lot of information. Perhaps a larger page would have been better. It would have at least allowed me to see the print more easily. 

The pages for each section are different colors. This makes finding your stitch pattern a bit easier sometimes. It also lends an eye-catching little pop to the pages of the book when it’s closed. The problem is that sometimes this makes the text hard to see. Specifically, the left hand page is a darker color than the right hand page. This is very aesthetic but sometimes it’s a little hard to read. This could just be me and my aging eyes, though. 

My biggest complaint is that the author does not provide decreases for interior shaping. The edge shaping has both increases and decreases. The interior shaping stitches provide increases only. This has been a challenge for me and I’ve been working them out, which has probably made me a better crocheter, but it can be frustrating. I start projects and hope that by the time I get to the shaping bits that will require decreases, I’ve figured it out. So far, I have. Wish me continued luck, please. I guess this says a lot about the chaotic way in which I work. Hmm. Well, we shall just pat that thought on the head and help it on its way. Good luck to it!

Overall, it’s a really informative and interesting book with fun stitch patterns and the ability to inspire new creations of all sorts. Even tablecloths.