Jewelry with a Hook: Crocheted Fiber Necklaces, Bracelets More

by Terry Taylor

Two hot topics in one book—crochet and jewelry! Here’s something special for crocheters who want to go beyond hats and afghans and for jewelry makers looking for new and adventurous ways to create jewelry. The 40 projects come from the finest contemporary crochet artists, and range from sleekly modern to whimsical, starched to felted, and boldly modern to daintily elegant. Create chunky rope bracelets out of large cord or a beaded tapesty pattern in a geometric cuff. Make a formidable design statement with a head-turning choker featuring a dragon and floral motifs. All the items use familiar stitches, as well as unusual techniques such as tapestry, Irish, and bead crochet, and some incorporate chains, pendants, and earwires for a finishing touch.

Genres: Crochet, Crafts, Nonfiction

128 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2007

Reviews

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing for me.

[Yani G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reference - made jewelry for my grand-daughter and neice!

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like crochet jewelry and this book delivers some nice patterns. The looks range from Victorian to New Age.

Some of the specialized techniques include embroidering on top of a crochet base, felting, crocheting with beads, and crocheting over or with buttons. Occasionally patterns can be a little tricky, such as the one for crocheting a pendant wrap around a jewelry stone.

One aspect of the book, which I appreciate, is some patterns are shown worked up with different yarns or threads showing how much the look of a piece can change just by changing the yarn.

The difficulty level of each pattern is marked.
The resource section has a very basic overview of yarns and tools as well as stitch pictorials.

There are some gorgeous and some edgy patterns included in this book for chokers, longer necklaces, cuffs, bracelets, rings and earrings. These make great additions to your jewelry box as well as one-of-a-kind gifts. I would potentially make about half of them, that half being on the more traditional side. Some of the other patterns are just not something I believe my friends, relatives, or I would wear, but I can see where those patterns would be very appealing to some women who are more adventurous in their fashion looks.

[K.D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was trying to incorporate Crochet into some of my jewelry, but I have very little experience with crochet, my attempt to go at it on my own was a complete disaster since I'm horrible with crochet, So I decided to buy a book! Jewelry with a hook is one of the very few I found out there that is dedicated entirely for crochet jewelry.

The book provides almost 40 different projects, and Basic information needed to complete the projects (stitches, patterns, tools and materials etc...). Each project lists the materials needed to complete the piece, along with stitches used, and instructions.

I found the jewelry projects to be innovative and really nice. Although they were not always easy to achieve. I had to practice the stitches several times before I could do the actual piece. My problem with this book is that the instructions were brief, the author omitted a lot of details assuming the reader already knows them. Also more pictures would have been great, only pictures of the finished item were included.

All in all Its a good book to have in my collection, but I would only recommend it to those who have some kind of background on the skill.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of really interesting designs in it, and many of them are easy to do. The patterns are easy to follow as well. Though, honestly, it is up to the wearer to decide if they are wearable designs. I would wear several of the things in here, and yet there are a far greater number that I would not. There are also rings in this book, which I found quite interesting to see. They are easier to make than I thought!

All in all, it was worth buying for the patterns and inspiration. I plan on using this for many gifts in the future.

[Bliss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great photos and lots of projects that interest me.

Crocheters let's celebrate taking our craft to another level. I was sooooo bored with hats and scarfs and afghans...

I love this book!

[Johanna Haas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, too many of these designs are too "craftish" - but I am copying a couple of great ones that made it worth taking this book out of the library.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good designs, some pretty cheesy ones.