Easy Toys to Crochet: Dolls, animals and gifts for children
By: Claire Garland
Rating: 5 of 5
This is a book of adorable crochet basic dolls, clothing, and other fun child related projects. As a word of warning, if you have the author’s book from 2007 (“Toys to Crochet: Dozens of Patterns for Dolls, Animals, Doll Clothes, and Accessories”), you may be seeing some duplications. However, that book is out of print and is not available for Kindle. I also cannot tell if the patterns have changed at all in the intervening years.
As I do not own the prior book, these patterns are all new to me. The book is written with both English and US crochet terms, so the instructions look more complex than they are. It is easy to get used to, example: 1dc/1sc English crocheters follow the first term and US, the second. While there are no embroidery diagrams, the written instructions are sufficient for most to be able to make the simple stitches needed to add features, etc. to the toys. I like that the author suggests adding a button at the back of the doll/bear to help hold the clothes in place – great tip.
The book sets up by giving us instructions for a basic bear and a basic doll. From there, we are given instructions for various clothes, including: hooded cardigan, trousers, shoes, skirt, and hat. Additionally, there are patterns for clothing for a hula girl, a sailor bear, and a mermaid.
Those alone are great but that really is only half of the fun of this book. It includes patterns for: finger puppets (wizard, witch, owl, and walrus), baby blocks, a planet and rocket mobile, giraffe (with gown and scarf, too), lobster, walrus (really cute), horse and foal, pig and piglet, and cow and calf.
While I consider these items to be easy to crochet, I am a very experienced crocheter having done it for more than 30 years. I would not consider these easy for a brand new beginner. I would suggest that it be used by someone who has done a few projects, or if you are just starting out, be sure you have someone or a website where you can get help if you get bogged down.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Pavilion, via Netgalley. I am also planning on purchasing the paperback version of this book which currently seems to only have been published in the UK. While I like having it on my kindle, for books I really like, I also like to have a paper copy in my library, too.
This is a book of adorable crochet basic dolls, clothing, and other fun child related projects. As a word of warning, if you have the author’s book from 2007 (“Toys to Crochet: Dozens of Patterns for Dolls, Animals, Doll Clothes, and Accessories”), you may be seeing some duplications. However, that book is out of print and is not available for Kindle. I also cannot tell if the patterns have changed at all in the intervening years.