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Hawaiian Lei in Crochet
by Roberta E. Wong Crocheters you are going to love this book! There are a few Hawaiian lei crochet books in circulation and I bought a few frogs before I found this prince of a book. Some of the authors use eyelash yarns to make bushy leis, which are difficult to see your stitches for the design plus the finished lei is not necessarily comfortable around your neck. I gave those books away. Then I found Roberta’s book, a real treasure trove of fun and easy designs, and I was ecstatic. These patterns are very easy to make, you can use very inexpensive to fancy yarns, and make some dynamite floral necklaces. All the projects were made with 3-ply yarn you can find at your local craft store and the aluminum hook sizes vary from F to I. There are 33 patterns and if you follow the instructions, the leis will look like florals around your neck. The most difficult stitch is treble crochet and there are no complex stitches. There is a nice table of contents with the page listing for each pattern. There is a supply list, stitch abbreviations plus the basic stitches are provided with step by step color photographs for the stitches. You will find an assortment of lovely flowers such as hibiscus, carnation, orchid and plumeria, plus lots of other Hawaiian flowers that may not be familiar to you. The shape of each lei varies; some have loops of yarn while others have little flower buds or are spiral in shape. You will be surprised at how many flower varieties you can make by a simple change of stitch. By diversity in your stitch and yarn color, you will be making a myriad of exotic floral necklaces. You can also make shorter pieces for bracelets and head pieces or longer pieces for belts. When you finish a necklace, you can add a bead crochet edge to each flower with simple bead single crochet and really jazz it up. Instructions are not provided for bead crochet; however, you can find my lessons on www.beadcrochet.com. You can also use metallic thread for embellishment along the edge or even carry it with your yarn for a real glitzy lei. Each lei pattern is splashed across two pages, one has a full color photograph of the finished lei and the opposite side has the pattern plus step by step color instructions for the main stitch used. The photographs are laid out in such a way to make you want to reach in and pick up the lei to touch it. Roberta comes from a family rich in Hawaiian lei history and has shared some of her traditions with us. Thank you so much, Roberta. I highly recommend Hawaiian Lei in Crochet; you are going to love it. Review by Lydia F Borin |
