tabs

es about us es contact es archive es challenge es we love 9 es recipes es pintests es links

Friday, 26 September 2014

Book Review: Edward's Menagerie, Kerry Lord (2014)

*Review PDF copy & images c/o MLPR
edwards menagerie

Edward’s Menagerie is a beautiful new crochet book from Kerry Lord, the founder of UK alpaca yarn company TOFT. Created for her son Edward the book contains a collection of cute crochet animal patterns perfect for the children in your life… as well as the adults!

Each different animal pattern comes with cute name, character description and of course a step-by-step tutorial. The instructions found in Edward’s Menagerie use UK terminology however it is worth noting that conversions are also included in the book. The patterns are split into three sections depending on their difficulty and range from beginner through to advanced so whatever your skill level there’s a project to try!

Before jumping into the patterns themselves there is also a section on creating the standard forms which make up the base for all of the designs. At the end of the book you’ll find more detailed advice on stuffing the toys, sewing the parts together, adding facial features alongside other tips and tricks.

The amazing range of designs have all been created using TOFT yarns with natural colours that compliment them perfectly. As both of us have used TOFT’s yarns in the past we can vouch for the fact that they are super soft and lovely to work with!
skye toft

This book has completely fuelled my desire to learn crochet properly. Whilst I have crocheted before and made a few different things, I've never really been as comfortable with crochet as knitting - until now!
I absolutely love the concept of this book, and think that every animal is well thought out and as a collection they are just adorable. I especially like Caitlin the Giraffe and I'm definitely going to attempt to make her when I feel confident enough.
I was also happy to see a variety of cats included, and luckily for me Alexandre the Cat is featured in the beginners section. I've been working away on my very on cat, so stay tuned for a post on him next week :) - Skye

erin toft
It was definitely tricky to pick out just two favourite projects from the book as there are so many adorable designs! As a rabbit owner Emma the Bunny of course had to make my list - and really, who could resist those big ears?! Another favourite design is definitely Alice the Zebra with her contrasting stripes and loopy tail. Although I currently have zero crochet skills the awesome collection of designs in Edward's Menagerie has definitely made me want to give this craft a go! - Erin

Find out more on the TOFT website!

Have you read this book? We'd love to hear your thoughts so don't forget to use the hashtag #eightandsixteen to share them with us!

Erin & Skye

2 comments:

  1. These are soooo cute!! I taught myself to crochet last year sometime, and I made an Ood from Doctor Who one time (wow...geek much? Goodness me...), but I'm really bad at following patterns and getting the lingo or the stitches into my brain. I would seriously love a book like this so I can make more than circles. Haha :D
    Thanks for the review! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's so cool! My sister would love anything Doctor Who related so I may have to look up some patterns... I know what you mean though, sometimes the patterns just go straight over my head!

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...