Maran Illustrated Knitting & Crocheting is a full-colour reference covering both crafts in one volume, and it is a genuinely beautiful piece of work.
What makes it good
The photographs. They are clear, well lit and close enough that you can see the texture of the yarn – and every one is accompanied by plain text instructions.
That combination is what a technique book needs and what most of them get wrong. A photograph without a caption leaves you guessing which strand is which; instructions without a photograph leave you guessing what the result should look like. Having both, on every step, is about as close as a book gets to having someone sitting beside you showing you the stitch.
The close-ups deserve particular mention. Craft books frequently photograph techniques in dark or fuzzy yarn where nothing is visible. This one does not.
What it covers
A great deal more than can be listed here, but as a summary: types of yarn and their weights, needles and hooks, terminology, and the stitches and techniques for both knitting and crochet.
Covering both crafts in a single book is unusual and genuinely useful if you do both, or if you do one and keep meaning to learn the other. It also means the terminology for both sits in one place, which saves owning two references.
Who it suits
Beginners will get the most from it, because the photographed step-by-step approach is exactly what you need when you have nobody to show you.
It also earns its place on the shelf of someone experienced, as the book you reach for when a pattern uses a technique you have not met – or when you need to remind yourself of something in the other craft.
Worth knowing
A reference book like this is a different purchase from a pattern book. Patterns date; techniques do not. A well-made technique reference stays useful for decades, which makes the cost per year of ownership very low.
If you are choosing between this and a collection of patterns, buy the reference. Patterns are freely available everywhere; clear explanation of how the stitches actually work is much rarer.
