This week I checked out How to Crochet Animals: Wild: 25 Mini Menagerie Patterns by Kerry Lord and I’m going to share my review with you so you know what it’s all about.
Thank you to Lark Crafts who provided this book to me free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion.
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If you like to crochet amigurumi toys then you may already be familiar with the name Kerry Lord. Kerry is the founder of Toft yarns and the author of the popular book, Edward’s Menagerie. Since releasing Edward’s Menagerie in 2014, Kerry has gone on to pen multiple amigurumi titles. How to Crochet Animals: Wild is one of the latest releases by Kerry Lord and it contains 25 crochet animal patterns for wild animals. How to Crochet Animals: Wild contains the patterns for many popular wild animals and some lesser-known animals as well. The animals contained in the book are:
| Snake | Elephant |
| Hippo | Rhino |
| Buffalo | Kangaroo |
| Moose | Lion |
| Bear | Meerkat |
| Panda | Beaver |
| Parrot | Platypus |
| Oryx | Zebra |
| Sloth | Sugar Glider |
| Giraffe | Leopard |
| Koala | Giant Anteater |
| Orangutan | Red Panda |
| Crocodile |
The book starts off with talking about essential tools and yarn, which is of course, Toft yarn. I was really excited to see a page devoted to gauge. This point isn’t often touched upon in amigurumi books so I was thrilled to see it’s inclusion. It unfortunately fell short of providing information on how to measure gauge for amigurumi which was disappointing since some many other great tips and other resource points are touched on in detail for other items. There is a part on how to hold your yarn so I’m under the impression that the book is meant to be accessible for beginners so it just would have been nice to have that section fleshed out to really help readers understand it.
The patterns in How to Crochet Animals: Wild are simple and easy to understand. Throughout the book, technique pages are added to illustrate new techniques as they are introduced. This is a great idea for crocheters that plan to work through the book in order from beginning to end. If not, there is an index which will help you find these pages quickly. The patterns are written in US terminology.
How to Crochet Animals: Wild is one of multiple books in a series under the “How to Crochet Animals” title by Kerry Lord. There are also Ocean, Pets and Farm animal books. I have been fortunate enough to be reviewing each of these titles so we will be able to explore all of these titles together. Overall I felt the book was a well-written resource that is accessible to a variety of skill levels.
If you’re interested in buying a copy of How to Crochet Animals: Wild by Kerry Lord, you can check it out on Amazon.
If you enjoy crochet pattern books, you can check out some more of my crochet book reviews on my blog:
What a great review! I have never known amigurumi to have a gauge, nor would I ever follow one…LOL. I have seen many use larger hooks (h, i and even j) and I always use the smallest hook size the yarn can tolerate.
Somewhere along the line I’d get distracted and never make all 25. I wonder how many people have? Kudos to them!
Thanks Verna! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I know not a lot of people follow gauge for amigurumi, and honestly, I don’t always follow it either. But gauge is the only reliable way to ensure that your toy comes out the same size and uses close to the same amount of yarn as listed in a design. I know it isn’t something that not all people care about but as a designer, I find it important to include that information to provide people with all the tools that are needed to duplicate a design and have it turn out as they expect it to. Whether they follow it or not is up to them and ultimately, if they don’t use/have all the tools they may face disappointment and I’d hate for that to happen to someone that puts they’re time, love and talent into something. 🙂