BEYOND THE SQUARE CROCHET MOTIFS

This colorful book may make a nice addition to your crochet library if you don’t already own a bunch of crochet square books. While these ’squares’ are not all square, many are repeats of those seen in other books. However, there are a few in this collection that I find to be especially appealing.

I like hearts. They speak to me. Motif #127 is a unique heart motif with a trefoil in its center.

Motif #130 is an oval that I’ve not seen before. There are several stars, but Motif #144 is an especially charming two-colored star that would make an excellent applique. Motif #17 is a very unusual circular flower motif using picot stitches (not my favorites but very effective).

Each motif is pictured in color with an accompanying symbol chart plus an inset with directions on THAT PAGE for any special stitches. Most motifs cover a single page, so keeping this book on your lap while working is comfortable.

The motifs are organized by chapter – circles, hexagons, triangles, squares, and unusual shapes. In addition, there are the usual ‘how-to’s’ at the beginning and a stitch key in the back of the book. All photos are full color, which adds to the visual appeal of this book. There’s also a very cute 7 page lay-out of color drawings demonstrating how the motifs in this book might be used in and on garments, as appliques, and edgings. Lots of creative ideas!

Book Specs:

Beyond The Square Crochet Motifs by Edie Eckman

Storey Publishing, 202 pages, 144 motifs.

ISBN 9781603420396

Hardcover with SPIRAL BINDING (yeah!!) and slick cover

There are several other advantages to this book over other motif books. The appendix contains two elements that I find especially helpful – the circular graphs for drawing one’s own symbol charts and the full color motif arrangement guide.

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Whether you have snow where you live or are on the wrong side of the world for that, these snow glob crafts for kids are a lot of fun to put together at home or in the classroom.

If you want to keep it super basic, you can download some snow globe coloring pages from Monday Mandala and have kids drawn in their own images (or color in what is there for the ones that are already filled). This could be a fun way to play with different media, having kids paint in one, draw in another, or use crayons in one, colored pencils in another, etc.

Or you can add your kid (or a classroom full of kids) to snowglobes with this craft from Twitchetts. It’s easy to make and fun for kids to help with, too.

You can also make snow globes with paper plates pretty easily, and there are lots of different options out there that should give you some ideas. This one from In the Playroom uses blue glittery pompoms as the snow and has a snowman in the background (though you can use whatever you want).

Mas and Pas uses a clear plate on top of a regular plate to make its snow globe, and Daydream into Reality just uses a paper plate to make the snow globe shape but there’s no snow involved. Their template includes different images you can put in the snow globe, or draw your own.

If you want to make a snow globe without the watery (so potentially less mess) you can make a waterless snow globe out of a plastic cup with this tutorial from The Pragmatic Parent. It uses tiny foam balls as the snow. Tidy Mom’s version uses a real glass jar and fake snow to flurry around.

And if you’re OK with using liquids in your snow globe, which will allow the snow to flutter like in a real snow globe, check out this version from 123 Homeschool 4 Me, which uses water and baby oil.

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Have you read?