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.

Next Pattern:

The other day I saw a post from Pinterest about trends for summer and it said one of them was “cultivating whimsy.”

Well, I don’t know where Pinterest has been all this time, but we’ve been cultivating whimsy here at Craft Gossip for a long time. I love sharing projects that are a little different, things that make you smile when you see them, and will make you smile when you knit them and wear them or use them.

Such it is with the Tutti Frutti tee knitting pattern from Bea Creative Knits.

This cute little baby tee is worked top down in the round with contiguous shoulder construction to shape the sleeve caps. There are short rows for the neckline and folded hems with picot edging at the hemline, neckline and edges of the sleeves.

All of this would be great on its own, but then there’s the addition of a super cute fruit icon, which is added with duplicate stitch. There are a lot of options, including strawberry, banana, orange, cherries, watermelon, lemon, blueberries, kiwi, peach, dragon fruit, apple and pear, so it’s likely you can add on your favorite fruit.

It is offered in eight sizes, to fit a bust measurement ranging from 28-30 inches (71-76 cm) to 56-58 inches (142-147 cm). The design is meant to be worn with around 6.3 inches/16 cm of negative ease, but you can choose the fit you prefer. There’s also optional bust and waist shaping included in the pattern if you want to make it even curvier.

This is considered an advanced beginner or intermediate project because of all the skills involved, but it’s sure to be a lot of fun even if some of these techniques are new to you.

Grab a copy of the pattern for yourself form Bea Creative Knits on Etsy.

[Photo: Bea Creative Knits]

Next Pattern:

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