Quick & Easy Crochet Magazine

I am not old and gray. (All right, I'm not old. It's not my fault that I got my first gray hair at 17!) I learned how to knit when I was 11 and crochet when I was 15.

I remember a weekly installment pattern book that I was hooked on (pardon the pun) as a teenager. It contained patterns for a variety of needle crafts at several levels of competency. Rarely was there anything for a beginning or intermediate crocheter. The yarns required were way out of a teens budget. Eventually, I got tired of purchasing books with patterns I could never complete.

Over the years, I purchased many pattern books for crocheting afghans, wallhangings, clothing. The patterns were easy enough for a beginner -- even though my skill had grown well beyond the novice stage -- but the designs became dated very quickly. Books I bought within the last 15 years are obsolete, unless those styles come back. By then, I will qualify as old!

Quick and Easy Crochet was a breath of fresh air when I discovered it about 11 years ago. I subscribed to it because I was pregnant with my youngest child and wanted to make a layette. I had done this for my other two children; but as I said earlier, styles changed. I couldn't find anything I really wanted to make in those books from the late '70s and early '80s. Not only did I make a beautiful layette for my son, but I also made several afghans from that first subscription alone.

When we moved, expenses were high and we had to drop our magazine subscriptions until life was on an even keel. Once I was working again, Quick and Easy Crochet was once again a part of the household. I can pick up an issue from 10 years ago and work up a beautiful baby gift, wedding gift, or just because gift because the designs are classic -- like that little black dress. That is value!

In addition, great care is taken in the proofing. Can you imagine what a typo can do to a pattern. Supposing "repeat 10 times" were accidentally typeset as "repeat 100 times?" Only an expert would know it was a typo on the spot. A novice would be in shock at the results -- and give up crocheting altogether. In all these years, I have never noticed a typo. I couldn't say that for some of the other publications I read.

Quick and Easy Crochet is definitely not for grannies only, although there are many grannies who swear by it. Hint: They weren't always grannies. If you don't know how to crochet and want to pick up the habit, this magazine is for you. If, on the other hand, you know your doubles from your trebles and can yo with the best of them, you will be tantalized by the bright color photographs and intricate looking patterns. Then you will be hooked on Quick and Easy Crochet for life.