Custom Crocheted Sweaters: Make Garments that Really Fit Paperback – 3 Jan. 2012

This is one book I could not wait for Amazon to make available in the UK. While there are plenty of reference books on specifics of knitted garment construction, I never came across such books written in crochet "language" until Dora Ohrenstein released her "Custom Crocheted Sweaters".When I finally got my copy, I was not disappointed. It contains ten stunning sweater designs, but they are not the main reason why I bought this book in the first place. This is not a book to admire the designs and leave on a shelf among your other pattern books. It's a fantastic reference to keep on your desktop and use whenever you want to make a well-fitting sweater from any pattern or even create a garment of your own design.This book teaches about all the main ingredients of a perfect sweater recipe and how to mix them wisely to create an impeccably fitting garment. It starts with a general overview of sweater construction and making, which covers such aspects as choosing the correct yarn and fiber, measuring your body, reading pattern schematics and the all important finishing techniques.It then moves on to the ten sweater designs each featuring a specific construction technique (such as top-down, dropped shoulder, fitted sleeve, raglan, etc.) and Dora walks the reader through making each of them. They progress comfortably from simpler to more complex ones and are accompanied by plenty of very detailed and well-explained lessons and master-classes on various alteration methods, including adjusting body and sleeve length, shaping necklines, creating bust darts, and many more.Although I may not crochet all of the sweaters in this book, I can't wait to go through all of the steps to get a firm grasp of the different construction methods, so I can use my knowledge to customise any sweater pattern or (hopefully!) create a design of my own.Many thanks to Dora for such an empowering and very inspirational book!

This is the best crochet book I have ever purchased...I am experienced and have struggled to find patterns that look modern and professional (i.e. not home made in a bad way and mumsy!) I intend to make all the garments in this book. Well laid out, clear instructions and handy little user-friendly tips along the way too. Would recommend.

I knew of the book before purchase as I had it on loan. Which was the reason I decided to own my own copy. It covers the subject so well and helps to make a garment the correct size as having some very good patterns

This book is amazing, I started the Floating Tee (pic) and I’m so happy at how it turns out. I can’t wait to do the rest! The absolute best part is: diagrams!!! This is the perfect book for me!****

Service from seller excellent, received within a couple of days of placing order. Inspirational designs for crocheters. If you enjoy crochet this is a good book to have in your collection.

This is a wonderful book with great patterns and clear instructions.

I found this book very easy to understand however the choice of thread used in the book is very expensive and I found it a challenge to choose a more reasonable alternative and I initially hadn't realised that it was written with American terms. This is not a problem as a glossary at the back.

A great assortment of different patterns, patterns are explained well, illustrations are good, looking forward to trying the patterns out

C’est très bien rédigé. C’est facile à suivre étape par étape, mais je ne suis pas une débutante en crochet.

Technical info but well explained and visualised

Bought it as a gift. The person I gifted it to, said that it is a very useful book. Lots of illustrations and good quality paper. Written in lucid language. Seller/importer (Bookreadersindia) should use better packaging for books during rainy season. Arrived 3 weeks after ordering, which is satisfactory for an imported product.

i modelli descritti sono da crocheter tra intermedio ed esperto , e quindi discretamente difficili, e le descrizioni sono in inglese (che e' un ostacolo in piu'!)

This is really an amazing book! It boosted my confidence enough to make me try my first crochet sweater. I did knit several in my life, but never tried a crochet garment before other than accessories: a hat, a scarf, mittens, slippers, etc. The information on how to take measurements and how to understand and alter any pattern to make it fit is the true value of this book. It will free you up from the rigidness of all the other crochet garment patterns!In addition, among the ten beautiful patterns included in the book, there are several sweaters that I want to make right now.This book changed my attitude to crochet altogether. Most people think that crochet fabric is inelastic, so that close to the body garments cannot be made comfortable. The Uptown Sweater I just finished is a clear contradiction to this statement. Its stitch is so incredibly stretchy in all directions that if someone showed this sweater to me just 2 months ago, I would not have believed it was crocheted.True, the book has some errors and I hope the more accomplished crocheters will keep submitting correction suggestions to the author or to the publisher for the sake of future users.I just learned that you can download two errata from Lark Crafts' website. The book I bought few days ago from Amazon though, after using a library book for 2 months, is the first reprint and has all these corrections implemented already (and so did the library book!). If you find errors not included in these errata, you can submit them to [email protected], so that the mistake can be remedied. Or you can contact the author via her page crochetinsider.com or through ravelry.com (must be a member). You can also peek at the sweaters' pictures included in the book at crochetinsider.com.There is another aspect than errors in the patterns that may be turning off many crocheters: the yarns used for the models and instructions are often quite expensive (kid mohair, alpaca, silk, merino superwash, etc.) and some sweaters would require yarn purchase for well over $100. It would be really helpful to provide less expensive alternatives. Not experienced crocheters may have problems with finding a suitable substitute and many crafters find animal fibers either allergenic or not appealing due to their beliefs (e.g. vegans). In addition, in my area, large box stores like Michael's do not carry DK weight in adult (non-pastel) colors and my LYS (Local Yarn Shop) does not carry cheaper yarns. Only one sweater in the book uses worsted yarn weight (#4), other yarns are thinner: DK (#3) and fingering (#1).I think this book should be in all crocheters' reference library. If you are skeptical, wait few more months for more corrections to be implemented or a second edition, but I can assure you, one can learn A LOT from this book as it is now, even if it did not have any patterns included. These patterns are meant as progressive lessons and are analyzed in detail prior to giving concise directions. I love it. I hate patterns that don't tell you where you are going, I simply don't bother to try them.I don't think it is geared towards the beginners though. I consider myself an intermediate crocheter and still had frustrating moments because of gauge adjustment to a different yarn weight, but I made it! Maybe I had some problems because I started from the last but one sweater rather than from the first in the book. I am on my second sweater from this book now and I know of people who plan to make every one of the ten designs and in multiple copies. As far as I am concerned, this book will serve me for years, it is a great investment.BTW, I am not related to the author or to the publisher in any manner and I did not receive any remuneration for writing this review.