Disney Classic Crochet
By: Megan Kreiner
Rating: 5 of 5
Overall, I am impressed by the quality of this kit. The kit includes enough yarn to finish two classic Disney projects, specifically Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and after that, you will need to purchase additional yarn, fiberfill, floss, and felt to finish more characters. The kit does not say exactly what size the yarn is but it seems to be at most a 3 in weight and it appears to be acrylic and/or wool rather than cotton. I have also purchased the Peanuts kit and the yarn in the Disney kit seems to be a better quality. The colors of yarn included are: white, black, dark blue, yellow, and red. The felt included is black, light blue, and white. The floss is black and white and appears to be cotton. Also included is a tapestry needle (for the floss), an inexpensive crochet hook in size 4.00 (US G/6) and fiberfill. There are also fairly detailed instructions including many diagrams.
While the yarn in this kit is very nice, I will be using my own stash to be sure that the sizes, colors, look, and feel of my characters are consistent. The instructions are detailed but I don’t think that this is a project for most beginners. It uses techniques that crocheters with a bit more experience would feel comfortable with. If you are a beginner, just be sure you have access to someone or a website that can give you answers if you have any questions about the instructions.
The book includes instructions for 12 Classic Disney characters which is outstanding. These include: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Chip ‘n’ Dale, Dumbo, Bambi, Lay, Pinocchio, and Jiminy Cricket. I have only one a complaint: if you are going to give us a Lady project, you should also have given us Tramp – they are a couple just as Mickey and Minnie and Donald and Daisy are couples. I was disappointed that Winnie the Pooh was missing from this kit until the designer let me know (in comments below) that Winnie was available in a separate kit along with 11 other characters from the Hundred Acre Wood. The characters are all quite recognizable and are sure to be a hit for any classic Disney fan. My entire family and especially my younger daughter have loved Disney for years so I will have a lot of fun crocheting these amigurumi characters. When we lived in Southern California (for many years), I always purchased season passes so we could go to Disneyland many times during the year.
The hook is okay but I prefer to use my own for ergonomic reasons. The characters look to be fairly small – if you want to make them larger, use thicker yarn and larger hooks. The instructions should work well no matter the size. The tapestry needle is decent and works well for the embroidery purposes in the instructions. There are templates for the felt – which seems to be how the eyes and some other details are made. I will probably figure out how to embroider the eyes as I prefer that over felt whether it is glued or sewn on.
The Peanuts kit had an issue in that they failed to give instructions for how to make the embroidery details that each of the characters requires. That is not true at all in this Disney book. While the instructions are not the best, they do give photos of the stitches in progress and also provide the names of the embroidery stitches you will use: long stitch, running stitch, back stitch, overcast stitch, and whip stitch. It should be fairly easy for you to find more detailed instructions on the Internet. I am already familiar with these stitches so the lack of great detail in this area is not an issue for me. There are also photographs showing how to add hair and made a twisted tail.
On the whole, I really like the kit and the instructions and recommend it to an intermediate or above crocheter without hesitation. I have also purchased the Peanuts Kit and the Star Wars Kit by this company as well as the Winnie the Pooh Kit (which was distributed by another company and is being released exclusively on another site as I write this review.) All of the kits are of good quality and I have been enjoying crocheting the various characters.
