Coastal Crochet - Book Review

The cover of Coastal Crochet. All book photos by Anne Podlesak, used
with kind permission of the author.

Coastal Crochet
Author: Karen Whooley
Various Formats; 95 pages; 8.5 x 11
Publisher: Occhi Blu Press (2018)
ISBN: 978-0-9723232-4-6
eBook ISBN: 978-0-9723232-6-0
Language: English

I attended (for a single day) the recently held Chainlink Conference, the annual crochet event organized by the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA). This was my first attendance at this particular event (I have, in the past, attended a few Vogue Knitting events as well as the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival - photos from both which you can view here on the blog). 

It was a whirlwind afternoon, with a lot of meeting. During my walk through the marketplace (which was almost at the end of the day), I managed to say hello to Karen Whooley. Local to the Puget Sound just like myself and a self-publisher (also just like myself), I was quite open in my willingness to review her latest, sophomore self-published effort Coastal Crochet.

As an author who has worked on each and every aspect of a self-published book, I know exactly how much effort publishing one's own title entails. While Whooley managed to assemble a well-seasoned team to help her, ultimately things always rest with the author in this type of publishing, so my hat is off to Karen for a strong second effort.

This is a clean, straight forward assembly of 12 (mostly) summer designs utilizing all of the colors found at the shore. I love her choice for the cover (the design is Storm; that stitch pattern is fantastic, and I think its provenance can be traced to Robyn Chachula's Crochet Stitches). I have included photos here of my favorite designs from the collection. 

Deep Blue Sea

Shoreline

Deep Blue Sea is not only a unique shape - trapezoid from a beginning half-circle - but is an excellent pairing of stitch and yarn. The same thing holds for Shoreline - I love the colorway used to highlight stones along the shore, and graphic black and grays are always a winner with me. Coastline is a cross between a poncho and a pullover - it is a fresh garment shape and in the soft beige/gray green of the Anzula Fiber yarn used, this design is very striking.

Coastline

Two other garments and six additional accessories round out this collection that Whooley places within her love for the western coastline of the United States. She also spends a fair amount of her introduction going over her favorite seaside places along said coast. Because I also know the lay of the land here in the west, I was a little surprised when I kept flipping pages and noticed that all of the designs were photographed in front of a fresh water lake. Karen acknowledges this at the end of the book, and I expect there is a fun (or at least memorable) story involved in the reason for this. That is, sometimes, the way self-publishing goes.

Whooley includes charts and schematics in her written instructions for each design, so crafters can choose the method that best works with their making style. I personally would rate all of these designs suitable for intermediate crocheters; Karen describes these designs as being suitable for anyone "who is comfortable with the basic crochet stitches." Several of these designs do incorporate shaping (and some of it unique), so if someone has yet to make a garment, a few could fit the bill in this collection (especially Coastline and Mist, which are very forgiving). While the cover tank isn't too difficult in terms of shaping, its stitch pattern rests on post stitches which can be a challenge for someone comfortable only with basic crochet stitches. I think sometimes designers (and I have, in the past, been guilty of this) give makers all kinds of technique and stitch credit when, in fact, that credit might be just a tad aspirational. A maker's desire can, however, overcome a lack of experience with a stitch or technique.

In the end, this is a well-rounded collection with something for most crocheters. If you are looking for some pretty designs to span the end of summer into early fall, I can surely recommend the designs in Coastal Crochet. They should keep a hooker happily making through well past the end of summer.