18 Calming Crochet Projects, a Book Review

A book called Crochet to Calm on a white surface with a blue crochet hook and two skeins of ecru yarn. Text on the image reads: Banana Moon Studio.

A book of calming crochet projects

A month or so ago, I was sent Crochet to Calm by Interweave. I was rather surprised to receive it, as I was not expecting it. It’s a really nice book! This book of calming crochet projects is a great collection for those times when you need to turn to your craft to calm your mind.

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I’m not familiar with all the yarns used in this book, but it seemed that most of them are inexpensive yarns that you can find at the hobby stores, so the price is just as calming as the project! Of course, you can always substitute if you’re more of a local yarn shop fan.

What’s in this book?

The book starts with a foreword from the editor that talks about the benefits of crafting, crochet in particular, to help us deal with stress. The repetitive and rhythmic nature of crochet makes it well suited to calming us no matter the project.

The editor adds that a project that requires just enough attention to distract our minds from our worries is also a desirable characteristic for a calming crochet project. Not something hard, because a stressed mind isn’t going to be up to tackling a difficult project, but something that will keep our minds occupied.

After the foreword, the book jumps right into the patterns. First up 9 calming crochet projects for your home – pillows, blankets, baskets, and cozies.

That’s followed by 9 crochet projects for you and the people in your life – hand warmers, hats, scarves, and slippers.

Each pattern includes the necessary info like recommended yarn, hook size, notions, finished measurements, etc. There are written instructions that are most certainly professionally tech-edited. Some projects have symbol charts which are always accompanied by a key to explain the meaning of each symbol.

After the patterns you’ll find a list of abbreviations and their meanings, a list of techniques and stitches with written instructions and line drawings, a list of the included designers and their bios, a list of the yarn providers, and a handy metric conversion table.

A few of my favorite calming crochet projects from the book

Honeycomb Blanket, by Adrienne Brigham, uses Red Heart Super Saver Solids to make this simple blanket that I really love. Great design is when simple techniques make a big impact and that is the case here. Counting your stitches and keeping the pattern of spaces correct will take some focus, but nothing about this blanket is hard or complicated.

The Peachy Arm Warmers, by Julie King use Patons Classic Wool Worsted in two colors. Just a smidge of colorwork and some basic stitches here. These cozy arm and wrist warmers will be as calming to wear as they are to make!

Slouchy Slipper Boots, by Lisa Van Klaveren uses Premier Yarns Deborah Norville Everyday Worsted Heather. I really love the stitch pattern of the legs on these slippers. They kind of remind me of Big Bird’s legs, lol. I made a pair of these for three of my kids this year while watching the Olympics (see those photos below).

And Small Crochet Basket, by Desiree Hobson uses Lily Sugar n’ Cream. Each basket pictured uses three colors, but you could easily use more or fewer than that. These would be a pretty way to organize a spot in your home that needs it, which will make your space more calming as well.

And the final calming crochet project I’ll share from the book, Pinecone Infinity Scarf from Julie King uses Lion Brand Heartland in a pretty reddish brown color. The texture on this is just beautiful and does remind me of pinecones!

Buy the book!

Check out the crochet slippers I made!

Not long ago, I went on a sock-knitting binge. I made 2 pairs of socks for myself in quick succession. My four girls all started begging me for handmade socks of their own. Well, one day I started looking through the yarn vault for suitable yarn to begin a pair of socks for Lady Hops-a-lot.

She asked what I was doing, and quickly showed me just the yarn she wanted. It was Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable, which is a heavy worsted weight yarn….not your typical sock yarn. This was not what I’d had in mind, but it would be a lot quicker.

I thought of the Slouchy Slipper Boots pattern in this book and showed her the picture. She immediately agreed that the pattern would be perfect. Hooray!

I began her slipper boots on Monday. By the end of the week I had completed, not one, but THREE sets! Lady Hops-a-lot, Princess, and Baby, all had a set in the color of Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable of their choosing. I made these while watching the Olympics. It was a great project to keep my hands busy while spending much more time than usual watching television.

I made this blue pair for Lady Hops-a-lot.

Slouchy Slipper Boots in Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable

This purple pair is for Princess.

And this pink pair of slippers are for Baby.

Aren’t they so cute?! The pattern was easily memorized and fun. I look forward to trying other patterns from this book as well. I hope you’ll get the book and try them too!

Buy the book!