New to the craft...

[last_midnite]

Hi!
So, I was at my local B&N and looking through the craft section, and saw a *bunch* of books about making softies, etc...and I kinda want to start.  However, I wasn't really sure where to begin.  Can anyone recommend a good book for beginners?  Or tips?

X-posted, so my apologies if you get this message twice.

Comments

[hametsunosaturn]

My tips would be to look up all the stitches that confuse you on YouTube. You can pretty much type in "slip stitch" and get a video on how to knit or crochet a slip stitch. Most videos are really well done, where they explain two or three times, at least.

Also, theknittycat posted this just recently. It's got some guides to help. (You can also check the posts tagged beginner and beginners for more~)

I'm big on not buying things till you must. ^_^;; But as books go, for amigurumis, I bought Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet by Ana Paula Rimoli. She has pictures to illustrate each stitch, a guide and explanations on most patterns. Also, the patterns are all pretty easy to follow. So if you really want a book, that's a good one (at least, of the few I've looked at, I liked it!)

Other books, that I found in my public library are Amigurumi Animals by Annie Obaachan and Amigurumi! Super Happy Crochet Cute by Elisabeth A. Doherty. I'm not quite as keen on the patterns in those books, though. I don't think they're as cute. Amigurumi Animals, though, has a lot of good technical info in the beginning (all stuff you can find on a good craft/crochet site)... and some info on how to make designs from sketches. The Super Happy Crochet Cute one also has stitch guides and lots of info on the different hook sizes, embroidery floss and different eyes, stuffing et cetera.

Though, I think the only good reason to buy a book is if you want a lot of the patterns in it. Some patterns are harder to come across without paying for them (since people copyright them sometimes) and sometimes it's nice to have a collection on hand in a book. The tutorial stuff you can find nearly anywhere, because it's not something you can easily copyright.

Hope that helps~!