Chain-Free Crochet Made Easy

by Judy Crow

All crochet projects start with a chain, right? Wrong! In Chain Free Crochet, you will find 19 different ways to start your next project. You will find 23 incredible projects, wearable's ranging from a beautiful knit-look sweater tunic to a Russian Tea Leaf shell, plus totes, scarves, dishcloths, afghans and more. And, each and every one is made the incredible Chain Free way!

Genres: Crochet

176 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2009

Reviews

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book and I just didn't gel. The main reason is that its whole premise is to teach folks how to overcome the phenomenonal difficulty of beginning crochet pieces with a chain stitched foundation row. For me this way of starting pieces became a breeze for me over the past couple of years when I stumbled upon a tip that was insanely simple and completely took my final products to a whole new level of quality. That tip was so simple I would be remiss if I didn't share it whenever the opportunity arises.

Are you ready? Use a crochet hook one size larger for the foundation chain than you intend to use for the body of the piece. For instance, I'm currently working on a scarf that called for a size H hook. I used a size I for the foundation chain.

I tried to learn how to work their chainless foundations unsuccessfully and in truth I was terribly frustrated by the method. But that is not to say that I didn't like the patterns within the book. I'm tempted to purchase it for the patterns and figure out how to work them my own way.

I also really liked their modification of chain loop foundations and may well adopt their method for that beginning of patterns worked in the round.

The other two pieces of bad news about Chain-free are that all of the patterns are intermediate to advanced in difficulty (although that's hardly surprising); and, they didn't keep all the directions for each pattern together - you have to flip back and forth to get the complete set of directions for far too many patterns.

Prior to writing out this review, I'd given Chain-free four stars. In retrospect I've lowered the star-rating to two.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome technique. Easy to follow instructions

[A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Favorites

Idaho Country Bed Spread (queen size)
Garden Bath Set
Blue Shells Doily
Flower Basket Wall Hanging
Ripple Afghan
T Strap Booties
Cupcake Hat & Purse
Spiral Popcorn Baby Blanket
Baby Blue Blanket
Peekins Summer Dress

I bought this book mainly to learn the foundation stitch and make perhaps one day I'll make the Ripple Afghan and or the Peekins Summer Dress