Adorable Crochet Creatures: Amy Gaines’ Cute Little Animals
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“Cute Little Animals” by Amy Gaines features crochet patterns for eight whimsical and playful characters. Each animal has its own unique personality and story, making them fun to create and bring to life. The book provides easy-to-follow instructions to help crocheters make their own adorable versions of these charming animals.
Disclosure: Leisure Arts provided the eBook of “Cute Little Animals” by Designer Amy Gaines to me for free for review. All opinions are my own.
Title: Cute Little Animals
Publisher: Leisure Arts, 2008
Pages: 36
ISBN-13: 978-1601404671
Crochet Your Own Cute Little Animals
These cute animals each come with their own quirky backstory. Millicent Rose is a librarian by day and a bingo lover by night. Archibald Hiram relaxes in his striped pajamas when he’s not working as a financial advisor. Wesley the blue elephant stays out of the circus due to peanut shortages. Lourdes is a stylish, preppy purple hippo. Pirate panda Roscoe (Newgate) Kidd once escaped from the zoo. Scooter Pup is a lovable dog with a knack for getting into trouble with his teeth. Nestor Lochland, also known as the Loch Ness monster, adds a paranormal twist. Finally, Chaos A. Cat and his sister, Calamity, are always ready for an adventure.
I enjoyed the stories that Amy Gaines wrote for each of the amigurumi characters appearing in her book. They really added an extra dimension to the patterns – and made me want to hook some, more than others, just because of the personality of the critters.
Instead of printing the publication, I transferred the file to my Kobo Arc. I was able to view and follow the pattern using my Arc – without incident.
I wanted to crochet Wesley (the easygoing pachyderm) but he was not one of the cuties chosen by my “Littles”.
Darla chose Chaos A. Cat – whose personality actually mirrors her own – ironically enough!
Drew chose the Doggy “woof, woof”!! – Scooter Pup –
The publication was very well organized – the “General Instructions” were located at the back of the book – after all the patterns. Pertinent information (like special stitches) was clearly indicated by a change in colour, or an outlined text box within the pattern.
The instructions were very easy to follow – and the projects were quick to complete.
You may wish to print the page(s) that have the diagrams showing the size and shape recommended for the felt cut-outs. Otherwise the eBook format was perfect for this publication.
I only made one minor change to the Scooter Pup pattern – cutting the ears out of a vinyl fabric – rather than felt – I know my son and he is rough on toys (as most 2-year old boys are I suspect) the felt would not have lasted very long. He was pulling on Scooter’s ears within minutes of receiving him.
I still want to make Wesley, Roscoe (Newgate) Kidd and Archibald Hiram (there is just something about that little bear that I love!).
To me, there is very good value in this publication. Of the eight available amigurumi critters, I want to crochet five. I also like that the eBook costs less than the paper publication and is more environmentally friendly.
When browsing through the available eBooks online from Leisure Arts – I came across many I wanted to acquire – I have a love of all Darla Sims’ pattern books (I already own a few) – and I also discovered some fabulous granny square eBooks…who am I kidding I have a list of Leisure Arts publications I want to add to my library!
Here are a few I would love to take a closer look at:
- More Cute Little Animals to Crochet
- Easy Crochet Critters
- 99 Granny Squares to Crochet
- Urban Edge
- Triple Play Pattern Stitches
- Curvy Crochet
- 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares
- Crochet in a Day for Baby
- Tunisian Crochet Stitch Guide
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This book is available from Amazon.
Happy crocheting!
Thank you for reading!
I’d love to feature your work—share your finished projects and testimonials!
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Great review Rhondda, I think all the animals are cute. Your pup and cat turned out fabulous. I like the change you made with the ears. I’d make the pup as well.
Need to expand my stitch repertoire with these cute animals