200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws, and Afghans: Crochet Squares to Mix and Match

After reading the reviews, I hesitated to buy this book. I was concerned about the errors people talked about. So, I got it from my local library. Then (why I didn't look before) I realized it was an Interweave Press book. That made up my mind - one of the HUGE benefits of every Interweave Press book is that they carry Corrections to any/every book that they print on their web site. It's phenomenal. While we might say that there shouldn't be errors, there are in every book unfortunately. But, the benefit of Interweave books is that they do something about it. Check out their web site, click on Crochet Books on the left hand side, and then click on Corrections. Click on this book's name, and you'll find all the corrections - complete with highlighting of the part being corrected. I simply love Interweave Books, and I love them all the more for this feature.

The book not only has beautiful and fascinating block patterns, but on each page, along with the block pattern, it includes several different alternative color combinations, as well as photos showing other blocks (with page numbers) which would fit well with the one described. This enables the reader to design a completely unique project. It also contains an introduction to basic color planning, as well as a section on joining squares and other "how to's". This is the most comprehensive crochet book I've seen, and I highly recommend it.

This book uses some old, some classic, and many modern patterns and styles to make squares that can be joined into an afghan. Another way the patterns could be used is to multiply them and make an afghan from one single square. Or, you could join squares into a scarf, hat, or whatever else you can think of. However, there are NOT 200 DIFFERENT patterns. Many of the squares are the same pattern done in different colors. That is really the only problem I had with the book. It is well worth the investment as there are a lot of patterns and the showing of different color groups does provide some inspiration and lets readers know that they can use their own creativity to extend the beauty of the art of crochet.