Book Review: Summertime Crochet: 30 Tops, Bags, Wraps, Hats, & More for Sunny Days & Balmy Nights by Helgrid van Impelen and Verena Woehlk Appel

Summertime Crochet: 30 Tops, Bags, Wraps, Hats, & More for Sunny Days & Balmy Nights by Helgrid van Impelen and Verena Woehlk Appel is a collection of instructions and patterns that take advantage of today's cotton and linen yarns. These yarns are perfect for lighter apparel like tanks, motif tops, and cute hats.  Breezy articles that can all be crocheted and are just right for warm-weather style.

Summertime Crochet is a well organized collection of patterns with bright, bold photographs that capture the feel, drape, and possible styles for the featured pieces. The instructions are understandable, with notes about skill level and options to adjust sizing. I really like that the notes about yardage often includes matching or related items from the book. I really likes some of the ideas and patterns, like the espadrilles. However, I found some of the patterns to look much like theses easily found on free pattern websites. I also found a few that had me thinking, just because you can does not mean you should- or maybe I am just old- because crochet bikini pieces make me shudder (and they always have).  I do like that the basic instructions for the stitches and terms is included at the end, for some of the beginner crafters than want or need the additional support.

Summertime Crochet is a small collection of patterns for working in cotton and linen yarn. I was not greatly impressed by it, but think that it would be helpful for those that prefer to work in these yarns, and do not want to go looking for the patterns every time they want to make a lightweight hat, shawl, or handbag.