Anyone familiar with Candi Jensen’s designs will know her combination of cute yet practical clothes. In her latest book, Candy Crochet, Candi Jensen presents us with 50 designs.

Designs
There are patterns here for babies, toddlers and young children. Anyone with a young boy will be delighted to know that there are plenty of designs suitable for the young man in your life and not just frills and flowers for the girls.

The photos are gorgeous, combing great pictures of children looking cute, with good illustrations of the designs. In addition to photos, there are line drawing and illustrations where required.

The patterns are given in a range of sizes, meaning that this book will stay useful as baby grows through their first few years. The sizes range from 3 months to 3 years of age. There are a wide range of clothes from hats and scarves to skirts and booties.

Crochet
The book is targeted at crocheters of all levels, and more advanced crocheters will be pleased that there are some unusual techniques used which will add a bit of a challenge. An example of this is the argyle vest and the Peruvian poncho, both of which use multiple colors. Most stitches used are standard crochet stitches, however subtle variations bring texture to the crochet. While many of the patterns can be tackled by a beginner, the book only gives a brief set of instructions about how to crochet. This will be welcomed by most crocheters, however, who often get frustrated with by precious pages in a book taken up with basic ‘how to’ information. There are plenty of excellent books available explaining the basics of different crochet stitches.

Some patterns include combining crochet with fabric and this is an exciting technique and has many other applications. A crochet bodice is attached to a fabric skirt to make a dress, and this would work equally well for adults, and a fabric edging is applied to crochet and this would work well on a variety of items, in particular accessories and is a great tip for someone who struggles to keep the edges of their crochet straight!

Yarns
Many of the yarns used have been discontinued since the patterns were first written. Substitute yarns are suggested, and the yarn weight is given to allow readers to substitute different yarns if required. It should be noted that the pictures are of the garments made in the original yarns.

Conclusion
Candy Crochet represents great value for money. This is a beautiful book full of great patterns for babies and young children. Potential purchasers should note however, that this is a collection of designs from Candy Jensen’s 3 other books, Candy Tots, Candy Blankets and Candy Babies so check to avoid overlap in patterns.

This would be a great gift for mums, mums-to-be and grannies! By it as a present with a ball of yarn and nice hook and you never know what you might get in return!