Review of Ice Box Crochet from Leisure Arts Inc

Title: Ice Box Crochet

Publisher: Leisure Arts Inc

ISBN -13/EAN: 978-1-4647-0397-3

This pattern book from Leisure Arts Inc really caught my eye. I have seen patterns for food stuffs before, but not so many for such a great price. A lot of projects instantly came to mind. So I bought this book for my library.

The book includes patterns to create a wide range of adorable food and drink products, plus a whole icebox to put them in. In the UK we would call it a fridge. The cover says there are “over 45 patterns” but many could easily be varied to give a whole lot more.

The Crochet Patterns

The patterns are very clearly written, using American notion. The projects are generally quite small, and like most amigurumi, made of simple shapes. So they would be great for using up odd bits of yarn.

As is usual with such books, there is a section of yarn choices, how to follow the patterns and a table of what the various pattern abbreviations stand for.

There are even handy checklists of what colours you will need to make each project, or all of them.

So what is included?

Here are the various projects you can make with this box. Don’t forget than many could be easily varied by changes in yarn colour or simple embroidery.

The ice box itself is the biggest project. When finished with the recommend yarn (fine weight) it measures 13″ tall (33 cm) by 10″ wide (25.5 cm). This would work well with popular fashion dolls like Barbies and Monster Highs etc. Or collectors’ dolls like Blythe and Pullip.

There are also some accessories such as plates, trays, dishes and bowls.

The foods are:

Bread
Tomato Sauce
Pickles
Peanut Butter
Jam
Milk
Cheese
Butter
Carton of Eggs
Bananas
Starfruit (also known as carambola)
Mangosteen
Pear
Persimmon
Watermelon
Hamburger
Meatballs and Spaghetti
Pepperoni Pizza
Fish
Ham
Sausages
Sushi
Turkey
Cookies
Doughnut
Flan
Gelatin Ring
Ball Lollipop
Paddle Lollipop
Strawberry Cake
Strawberry Cupcake
Carrot
Corn on the cob
Cucumber
Eggplant
Lettuce
Potato
Tomato
Turnip

Without doubt, many of these patterns could easily be altered to become other items. For example, a white/cream carrot is a parsnip. Jars of jam can become marmalade and other spreads. Strawberry cakes can transform into chocolate and other varieties by changing yarn colours. And you could easily embroider different things on the drinks cans to make your favourite (or own original!) brands.

Uses for these Projects

These little food items would be wonderful as toys for a youngster. They would be great gifts – you could batch a few in a small shopping basket. Perfect for playing shops, or to use with dolls and soft toys.

As they are quite quick to make, and use little yarn, they could be great for selling on at a craft fair.

You could even add faces to turn many into cute foody characters.

I am going to use embroidery cotton and a much smaller hook to make mini versions for jewellery. I wonder if I can make them small enough for my dolls house!

Summary

This is a great value little book with lots of patterns, and huge scope for expanding with simple variations. The finished projects can be used in many ways. It is suitable for anyone who knows the basics of crochet.

Amazon Links

Ice Box Crochet is available in both paperback and Kindle versions. I own the Kindle version. Unlike some craft books, the Kindle version is cleanly laid out and easy to work from.

The following links are to the book on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. These are affiliate links which means that if you buy after clicking them, I may get a small commission for sending customers to Amazon. This is at no extra cost to yourself at all. Thank you.

Icebox Crochet on Amazon.com

Icebox Crochet on Amazon.co.uk