Customer Comments

Aloha Kitchen’s table of contents reads like the menu at a really good plate lunch place, and the recipes deliver. Classic, comfortingly familiar, and generally easy to prepare, even if you are outside of Hawaiʻi. The pantry section includes information on where to find ingredients, and the recipes include options for harder to find items, such as a simple recipe for Portuguese sausage patties that can be used in Portuguese bean soup. If a recipe has a longer ingredient list or is a bit more complex, it’s for a specific reason, such as getting the flavor profile of the beef chili to be like Zippy’s or getting banana leaves (can be found frozen at Asian groceries) for the kālua pig to get you closer to the subtle, distinct flavor of imu-cooked pork, not just a basic pulled pork recipe that some people will call kālua. The photos are big, well-styled and beautiful, a challenge for many of the dishes (“ugly delicious”). One drawback for me is that the recipes make a LOT of food. For example, the potato mac salad recipe that says it serves 6 to 8. Those are very generous portions! Easy enough to deal with - I have trimmed it down to 1/4 for portions that are more like a small scoop on the side. It’s also very heavy on meat dishes, which is accurate for a plate lunch. Overall this is a thoughtfully done, well-tested, visually stunning collection of good, reliable recipes.

Safe, fun projects, some of which are suitable for doing with kids, and which can be done with items foraged from kitchen scraps, like carrot tops and red cabbage. This is a nice introduction if you just want to try something out or have a relatively simple weekend project for total beginners. You can probably do at least one project with things you already have on hand!

Very thorough and instructive, with beautiful photos throughout. Shade cards for protein-based and cellulose-based fibers are provided. The projects are set up to walk you through specific skills and have step-by-step photos. Kristine Vejar is both an expert dyer and experienced instructor; it really shows in this book! This is an excellent introduction to plant-based textile dyeing and a useful resource for more experienced dyers. The materials used are all obtainable in North America and a list of resources is included. There are a few limitations - not all of us can set up an indigo vat, for example. Although she does have good instructions for setting up workspaces, and gives instructions on a manageable medium sized vat, you must wear eye protection and gloves, and I personally would not do this in a household with small children or pets around. You will likely need to make some purchases, whether for equipment or dye supplies (lye, soda ash, pH testing strips), although many of them can be obtained through thrift shops and garage sales (such as pots, tongs, and spoons). The projects often include the use of mordants and plant extracts that are easy to purchase. This makes sense - it's easier to get started and to get more predictable results - but if your aim is to do something low cost or easy to do with kids, this may not be the right book to start with.

A beautiful looking book and delightful to leaf through! For those more serious about making their own inks, you may want to know ahead of time that about a third of this book is taken up by beautiful tests and samples of inks. The specific instructional content takes up less space than you may expect, especially as the recipe layouts are two-page spreads with text on the left page and a full-page photo of an ink sample on the right page. Most colors have one recipe (e.g. purple from wild grape, yellow from turmeric, and pink from safflower petals). Raw materials in the book are fairly easy to obtain in North America, either through foraging or purchasing. This is a visually lovely introduction, and quite frankly anything to do with naturally sourced pigments is going to be a lot of experimentation on your own (there are so many variables that it can be extremely difficult to provide reliable recipes). Don't go in expecting much beyond some basic introductory material and inspiring photos and you won't be disappointed!

An enjoyable "go along for the ride" account that takes you from the author's first spark of interest and through her experiences. The primary focus is on the West Coast of the U.S. This is a good way to stick a toe in and live vicariously, as well as a starting point for learning more about other efforts to build the small-scale wool industry back up. If you find yourself wanting to learn more, I would recommend looking up Peace Fleece's recent work with the Navajo Nation, the TONOFWOOL one-off project in Australia, and other small wool mills starting up in the U.S.

A very well constructed piece of fluff - it’s a difficult thing to pull off and this author is very good at it. This is a very soothing read.

Even if you think you don't have any creative blocks, you may find that the exercises in Make It Mighty Ugly - which has you aim directly for failure so you can get it over with - reveal areas in which you are still uncomfortable. It's like thinking there are no monsters under your bed - and then you look, and find one. No need to be frightened - you can work with your monsters! Kim Werker's voice comes through clearly, supportive, upbeat, and engaging without being cloying or saccharine. The book is a comfortable size for carrying in a handbag or backpack, with a thick, nubbly paper cover that feels good to hold (just enough surface to give your fingertips a little traction).

The 25 patterns in this book range from a sparkly beaded cocktail ring (Dazzling Ring by Kazekobo) to thick, warm, cabled men’s socks (Hiking Socks by Kim Kotary) to a colorful floral motif bag (Amazing Motif Bag by Regina Rioux) - all cleverly constructed and great ways to explore crochet techniques and stitch patterns you may not be familiar with. For example, the Saturday Beret by Ellen Gormley, featured on the cover, is a visual head-turner that uses Bruges lace techniques to create a chunky texture, and the Chunky Capelet by Doris Chan employs broomstick lace. There a lot of great gift ideas here, including hats for men.

With decades of experience in design, textiles, and knitting, Britt-Marie Christoffersson offers up 200+ pages of striking examples of using basic knitting techniques to create eye-popping textures, color patterns, and embellishments. It’s a wonderful way for experienced knitters to reconsider the possibilities of knitting, and an exceptional way for less experienced knitters to explore how simple techniques like slipped stitches, casting on, binding off, and knitting in different directions can create interesting fabrics. Instructions are provided for each stitch pattern in written form, accompanied by color photographs. A few of the stitch patterns are also shown worked up as cardigans, and a very simple cardigan template and brief instructions on how to use stitch pattern swatches to calculate a garment are provided. Knitters may find additional books such as Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns handy for finding ways to use the stitch patterns to make wearable pieces. ​Many of the stitch patterns are time-consuming and will leave the knitter with a lot of loose ends to weave in and tidy up. They are also excellent ways to use up small amounts of yarns, with striking results.

Curvy Girl Crochet goes beyond just offering patterns in larger sizes, offering tips and techniques for altering patterns to fit your body the way you want them to. The first two chapters focus on the groundwork: how to take your measurements accurately (tip: don’t use an old tape measure), how to assess yarns and patterns, and how best to make changes. The patterns include an entire wardrobe of sweaters, accessories scaled up for larger proportions, and something for every season. The Wrapt Top, a cropped lace wrap, could be a lovely accent in warm weather, while the basic, very customizable Progressive Tunic can be worn on its own or as a layering piece all year long. While the patterns may not all look like they come from the same wardrobe (and that’s intentional), yarn and color choices along with adaptations can open up a lot of possibilities. Is the Traditional Cloak too bold for you in bright blue- purple? An earthy tweed could give it a more classic countryside appeal. Looking through Ravelry projects to see how other crocheters have re-imagined the patterns is going to be a lot of fun!

Japanese crochet books are renowned for having beautiful photographs, clear schematics, and well-presented charts, making it possible for crocheters who don't read Japanese to still use the patterns successfully. Crochet with Color, an English translation of a Japanese book, makes it even easier for English readers. Originally pubished in 2008 as Kirei Iro No Knit Zakka by Shufunotomot Co., Ltd., this book has been translated by Miho Atsumi (World Book Media) and published in the US by North Light Books. With a brief introduction to yarn weights (the chart provided is from the Craft Yarn Council of America - www.YarnStandards.com), gauge, how to read a crochet chart, and illustrations showing what each symbol used means (for example, the illustration for the chain stitch symbol shows a hook pulling a loop through a chain), crocheters who are comfortable reading charts and have a CYCA rated Easy or Intermediate skill level may be able to jump right in and get started. Yarns are not specified by brand; each pattern lists a quantity and weight [ex. 49 yards (20 g) of aran-weight (#4 medium) merino wool in blue]. While it can't be guaranteed that the reader can make exact matches for every project, a quick skim through Knit Picks and through WEBS suggests to me that crocheters should be able to find close matches without too much trouble online, and taking the book to a craft store or yarn shop could make color and texture matching even easier.