Tunisian crochet, sometimes called the Afghan stitch, combines the ease of crocheting with the appearance of knitting. This instructional pattern book brings Tunisian crochet into the realm of high fashion with exquisite stitch patterns, meticulous shaping, and attractive finishing.

I have Sharon's second book on crocheting so I was ready for the nice photos and good layout in this book. Sharon has designed everything herself this time plus all the instructions. Photos showing the most basic Tunisian stitches begin the book followed by 16 projects which include scarf, wrap, skirt, shawl, shell, duster, clutch, vest, jumper, sweater, pillow, baby blanket, afghan, pillow, ottoman cover and placemats. I like the woman's shell or vest, second vest, baby jumper, sweater, and the two truyen tranh hai afghans. All instructions are written out with no charts.

Skill level, and schematic included with each project and also helpful notes and working photos included. In the appendix is a standard sizing chart and one chart for the standard yarn weights. So my one criticism is that nowhere in the patterns are the yarns given that important information and some of the yarns are a bit unknown to me such as Blue heron yarns rayon metallic. I'll have to go look them up online and add that information to this book.

I knew nothing about Tunisian crochet. This book helped me to understand how it worked. The illustrations and directions were top notch and clearly showed me how to do the stitches. After making a sample piece, just to get the hang of it, I realized that it did indeed, look like knitting, BUT this kind of crocheting makes an extremely thick finished product. I got to thinking about the implications of this as my ball of yarn disappeared at an astounding rate. This way of crocheting really eats up yarn!

More patterns playing to the strength of Tunisian crochet would have strengthened the book. The patterns are for various clothing items (most of which I wasn't too excited about), but there was not one purse in there. Tunisian crochet would make a wonderfully sturdy handbag or even a nice, thick winter hat. I used it for the strap of a crocheted purse that I had almost completed. No worry about a too-stretchy strap now!

I give the book 3 stars weighing in the look of the book (beautiful), ease of learning how to do the stitch (very easy with great illustrations), types of patterns (lacking, uninspiring), and unfortunately, my new understanding of the yarn eater that this type of crochet is (think the Cookie Monster here).