This week I checked out a new to me book called Crocheted Dogs by Vanessa Mooncie. I have reviewed some other books by Vanessa Mooncie previously that I thoroughly enjoyed (find the other reviews here: Crocheted Birds and Simple Crocheted Hats) so I couldn’t wait to see with was in store for me in Crocheted Dogs.
Thank you to our friends at GMC Books for providing this book to me free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion.
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I have been a big fan of Vanessa Mooncie’s work for a long time. A photo she posted online of her crochet barn owl had me falling head over heels with her realistic designs and the unique techniques she uses to achieve complex structural shapes with ease. Ok, I’ll stop before I get into full-on fan girl mode. She’s really skilled and I have a lot of admiration for her. Anywho… back to the book. Crocheted Dogs contains the patterns for 10 different dog breeds. She did a great job picking which breeds to select because many of they’re all incredibly popular pet and show dog breeds. The dog breeds included in Crocheted Dogs are:
- Dachshund
- Border Terrier
- French Bulldog
- Labrador
- Chihuahua
- Dalmation
- Spaniel
- Yorkshire Terrier
- German Shepherd
- Poodle
These dogs, looks like real dogs. They aren’t a humanized version of an dog or a dog that looks like a doll. These are meant to look as close to their real-life counterparts as possible. Theey are all incredibly cute and well-done. As a daschund owner, it was nice to see them incuded in the book but I have to say, the Spaniel pattern is the one that stole my heart. The Spaniel is just beautifully executed and the most realistic-looking dog in the book. I’ve never been huge on spaniels but that dog is the one I’ll make first, just because it’s gorgeous. All the patterns in Crocheted Dogs are written in the U.K. terminology but a conversion chart to help you convert those to U.S. terminology is in the back of the book.
The one thing that made me chuckle a bit about this book is that there is a section called “Getting Started”, which is the reference section, located at the back of the book. Not a huge deal but just something that I found amusing because I’m a nerd. If you’re reading how to do the stitches in the resource section, don’t rely on the illustrations. Read the words as they’re more accurate. Looking at the illustrations may be confusing if you’re a beginner or misunderstand what the arrows are trying to show you. I know I had to look at the instructions for the slip stitch multiple times until I figured out what it was showing me. It’s always hard to clearly show stitches with illustrations. The resource section covered different embroidery stitches, stuffing your toys, attaching pieces and more.
One of the things I enjoy seeing in Vanessa Mooncie’s books, are the crochet charts. These charts have assisted me on multiple occasions as I was getting used to using short rows for shaping pieces on toys. Stitch charts are included for each piece of each toy and as I mentioned above, can be helpful when working on some of the shaping in these toys. The patterns are clear and easy to follow for experienced amigurumi makers. I’d recommend that makers have some amigurumi experience before attempting the patterns in this book to avoid frustration.
Overall, I think it’s another beautifully-done book by Vanessa Mooncie to add to one’s collection. We have familiy that breeds and shows dogs so dogs are a big part of our lives and I know I’ll be making many of the crocheted dogs from this book.
If you’re interested in checking out Crocheted Dogs by Vanessa Mooncie, you can find it HERE.
If you enjoy crochet pattern books, you can check out some more of my crochet book reviews on my blog:
