Skip to main content

Book Review: Cozy Toes for Baby ~ Sweet Shoes to Crochet and Felt by Chantal Garceau & Mary J. King


Cozy Toes for Baby
I haven’t been aware of a more heartwarming reason to create a book sommme time! “As I pondered a new direction for my life work and a direction for my design talents,” Chantal wrote, “serendipity intervened and led me to the Imani Project  and  I decided to sponsor a Kenyan child orphaned by HIV/AIDS.” This book is dedicated to the Masheleni children and the Imani Project and pictured is Linet who was one of the first children sponsored by Chantal.

With crochet patterns that are as adorable as they are practical, you can provide fashion for wee ones while keeping tiny toes warm. Instructions for making the soles and even re-purposing the materials from leather elbow patches are included along with how-tos on felting for shape and sturdiness. 

"Sparky Dog"
One basic pattern is used for the 7 sets of shoe designs, each in 5 sizes. Incredibly  appealing embellishments and styling sets each design apart from the other. 

"Fresh Watermelon"
Complete instructions and tips help the crocheter achieve results that are professional looking and unique. Personally, I have been felting-challenged for years. However, the sheer cuteness of these shoes makes me want to try again and again so that I can have several pair on hand: a fantastic gift for the next new baby that comes along.

"Silly Monkey"
Chantal and Mary are accomplished professionals who have found a way to turn their love of crafts into a worthwhile social enterprise. I hope you will stitch to support a worthy cause—the authors' proceeds will all be donated to the Imani Project in Kenya.

Cozy Toes is available at Martingale for $16.99 which includes both print and e-books. E-book only costs $11.99. Photography is by Martingale and Brent Kane.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Craft vs. Fine Art: How is Crochet Blurring the Lines

I was awakening to the world of crochet in 1972,a time of immense artistic expression through fiber arts; and crochet was not the “ugly stepchild” at the time. In fact, Ferne Cone Gellar who I admire as a successful fiber artist said in “Knitting: The Stepchild of the Fiber Arts?” ( Fibercraft Newsletter 1978), “Has knitting been slighted among the areas of the fiber arts? The very word ‘knitting’ evokes images of the little old lady in tennis shoes. Over the years, I’ve learned to ignore all those jokes.” Cone Gellar went on to publish Crazy Crocheting in 1981 and encouraged her readers to create more than bedspreads, providing ideas such as “things to play with or to display on a shelf or hang on a wall.” A photo of single crochet from bread wrappers served as inspiration.  In 1972 in her book, Creating Art from Fibers & Fabrics , Dona Meilach wrote: “Why are fibers and fabrics becoming increasingly appealing to artists? Most artists agree

Wartime Crochet With Attitude, Part I

Wednesday, October 30, 2013 Karen Ballard and I have a mutual love of free form crochet. We met for the first time in a class taught by Prudence Mapstone of Australia at the Chain Link Crochet Conference 2011. I admire Karen's vast knowledge of needle work history and am grateful for her willingness to share with us as my guest blogger this week. Karen wearing a World War II-era knitting hat with stubby needles on top Karen's Heritage Heart,  with flowers symbolic of her heritage, is currently on tour with Prudence Mapstone's traveling "Hearts & Flowers Exhibition" in Australia and New Zealand   World War 1 Attitudes About Crochet by Karen Ballard In 2008, I coined that term, "Workbasket Campaigns" to describe the organized efforts during World War I (WWI) and World War II (WWII) coordinated through the American Red Cross {ARC} and the Navy League to create needle crafted items.  These items were mostly knitted but also sewn, qu

What is Free Form Crochet?

Monday, January 6, 2014 This topic came about from the title of my article recently in Fiber Art Now magazine.  "Crochet As Art: A Conversation with 5 Free-Form Crochet Artists." Yes, the 5 artists I wrote about, all of which are in  my book  The Fine Art of Crochet , are free-thinking when it comes to their creativity. They are free-wheeling with the hook and use unique fibers in many cases. Once you read the article, tell me what  you think? Are these artists doing free-form crochet? In order to define free-form crochet, we must look way, way back to it's origins: Irish crochet. A brief history of crochet, including the Irish method, written by Ruthie Marks is available through The Crochet Guild of America . Unfortunately, there are no images on the site. On her blog, Nancy Nehring has a beautiful montage of Irish Crochet in reference to a class she taught in 2013 at Lacis . I wrote an article in Old Time Crochet Magazine (Spring 1998), "History of Irish Croc