Book Review: Knitted Wild Animal Friends

Sweet stuffed animals turn a little less wild in this cute book full of patterns for animals along with clothing and accessories.

Knitted Wild Animal Friends by Louise Crowther features patterns for 12 different animals, as well as a closet full of clothes, shoes and more that you can mix and match to dress your dolls. The animals included are:

elephant
rhinoceros
giraffe
lion
chimpanzee
tiger
zebra
sloth
koala
bear
hippopotamus
panda

The animals generally use the same pattern pieces for their bodies, arms and legs, though some have contrasting paws, for example, or stripes or other embellishments. Each animal is shown in a unique, multi-piece outfit. The elephant is a ballerina with a leotard, tie-front sweater, three-layered skirt and ballet slippers, for example, while the sloth has tw0-piece, striped pajamas with a star on the shirt, a fuzzy bathrobe and slippers.

The book is listed on Ravelry but the photos from the book aren’t there. You can look in the projects to see images of the animals that other people have made.

All of the clothing is designed to be interchangeable. The bottom parts of the garments are worked flat and closed with buttons that make it possible to wear with different tail positions. In fact, most of the knitting on these projects is done flat, but there are lots of detailed instructions with photos at the back of the book to help you with the seaming and other techniques needed to complete these cute animals.

This book is a good introduction to knit amigurumi (or knitting animals and toys) if you’ve never done it before. You’ll get a good grounding in colorwork techniques, too, as there are stripes, fair isle (one very cute sweater), instarsia and duplicate stitch projects. All of these are explained in the back as well. Most of the patterns that include charts have written instructions as well if you need a little help with that.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 12 animals and more than 40 patterns total. Published 2022 by David and Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

One of my favorite things to make on a circular knitting machine is scarves, because they’re a great way to use leftover yarn and certainly faster than knitting by hand.

But if you pay attention to the colors you’re using and how you are using them, you can make fun knitting machine scarves that look like something different when you roll them up.

One of the first versions of this I saw was the sushi scarf, are there are a lot of variations on this one. For example this one from Flower and Anchor that uses five colors of yarn, or this one from Three Threads NE that uses four. These generally are made to look like California rolls, but you could change up the colors to make them different things if you like. Just make sure the outside of the “roll” is black or green to indicate the nori. I found another version on Pinterest if you’re looking for a free pattern, but there’s no image of it rolled up.

Another popular variation is making a scarf that rolls up to look like a mug with coffee, tea or another fun beverage inside. This collection of three mug scarf circular knitting machine patterns from Idaho Cottage Creation includes green tea, a pumpkin spice latte with whipped cream and a candy cane colored confection (which honestly reminds me of the Grinch since it has a green mug!). Again you can change the colors of the mug part and the drink part. The little handle looks like it’s crocheted on these, and it doubles as a loop you can thread the scarf end through when you wear it.

Again there’s a version of the green tea scarf on Pinterest with crocheted elements. I also found a latte done with a striped yarn and a red mug that’s pretty cute and gives you an idea what a different beverage would look like.

I also love this pumpkin pie scarf designed by Jodi Favish Saunier. It has a bit of crocheted edging to give it a fancy crust but you can omit that if you don’t crochet. These are all on Facebook but she also has a watermelon and lemonade pattern that are super cute.

Have you read?