The holidays have passed, your gift giving burden has lifted, and you have gift cash burning a hole in your pocket. What's that mean? It's time to check out some cool crochet swag. Just for you. And all your friends.

One of the cool aspects of the knitting craze is the cool kits and packages that seem to be everywhere. Well, now crocheters can rejoice because Tina Whitmore of Knitwhits has put together some pretty cool crochet kits. The Ella Scarf (pictured) is made up of eight flowers joined together on a green background, and it's totally a compliment magnet. The kit comes with enough Tahki Cotton Classic yarn to make the scarf (ooh, this yarn is soft and shiny!) and a pattern complete with a diagram to show how the scarf is assembled. It's perfect to wear around the office on chilly winter days, and just think how handy it'll come in once spring has sprung.

$45US
See knitwhits.com for stores or knitwhits.com/ella.shtml to place an order.

The Knitter's Messenger Bag
Jordana Paige

This could be called the kitchen sink bag. It's huge. And it's got pockets. And a removable pouch. And a special sleeve just for your pattern. It holds enough yarn to make a big sweater or a small afghan, plus your cell phone, tools, notions, a magazine, and your kids. And it's unisex. The strap is long enough for you to wear the bag across your body, where it's surprisingly not cumbersome. It's made of all synthetic materials, so you don't have to worry about cleaning it and it'll protect your precious cargo in the rain. Except I lied about it holding your kids. That would be ridiculous.

$85US
In Navy Blue/Black or Camel/Brown
See www.jordanapaige.com for stores or to place an order.

Beginner's Guide to Crochet
by Pauline Turner
Search Press

I'm a bit biased these days when it comes to beginner crochet books, but I like this one. It's short(ish) and sweet, covers all of the basics, and has patterns throughout to reinforce the techniques that were just introduced. I'm not very excited by the patterns themselves, but I do really like the fringed rug using spike stitch. The tutorial photos are clear, though I question the choice to overlap some of them. Overall, I think this book presents a clear introduction to crochet, and that it's lightweight means it's conveniently portable.

Soft cover
80 pages
$14.95US
Distributed by Unicorn Books and Crafts
Available at Powells.com

Never Too Many Handbags
by Prudence Mapstone
Distributed by Unicorn Books and Crafts

If I haven't already come out about this, I'll shock you now and say I'm not a huge fan of free form crochet. Although I love the concept of following your intuition instead of a pattern, all too often it comes out looking garish. Not in the case of Prudence Mapstone's work, though. She has a remarkable talent for making harmonious free form items that use colour and moderation to a stunning result. In this book she introduces techniques to use both free form crochet and knitting to make handbags. Her writing is clear, the photographs are lovely, and as I said, the examples are among the most beautiful free form I've seen.

Soft cover
51 pages
$19.95US
Available at Unicorn Books and Crafts

Hook Tags
Wyndfire Designs

Ever put down a project before you've finished it? Yeah. Thought so. The poor, neglected project ends up in a pile (maybe a neat pile, I'll give you that) where it sits until you discover it months later. You pick it up, hold it to the light, feel proud of yourself for keeping the pattern with it so you know what it's supposed to be. But here's where knitters have us beat -- knitters pick up their neglected projects and find the needles conveniently in the stitches. We, on the other hand, think it's great that we can use one hook simultaneously on as many projects as we want. Except then when we pick something up to finally finish it, we can't remember what size hook we were using. Enter the Hook Tag. Stick the pin with the appropriate hook size bead into the project, and when you pick it up three years from now you'll be able to start where you left off with no super sleuthing needed. Simple, durable, and terribly convenient. Cool.

Starting at $5US
See www.wyndfiredesigns.com to order.

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