Edward's Menagerie Make - Alexandre the Cat (aka Puss)

As promised, here is my attempt at one of the cute creatures from Edward's Menagerie by Kerry Lord.
As I said in our review, I knew that I wanted to attempt making Alexandre the cat - though my little guy is aptly named Puss - and despite being in the beginners section of the book, I have found making him a real learning curve.

With this being my first attempt at amigurumi, I decided to raid my wool stash instead of buying some of the beautiful TOFT wool. As tempting as it was, I'm glad I made this decision as there are tons of mistakes in Puss, and it would have been a shame to waste good wool.
When I say that I raided the stash, I meant it! I used every single scrap I could find in a similar colour way, with the result being a rather scrappy looking Puss - I think it suits him!

It took several attempts for me to get the hang of crocheting (and a few extra legs I might add) but I really think that I'm getting to grips with it now. You definitely need to keep a count of your stitches and rows and I have a sneaky suspicion I lost track a little on the body as it seems a bit too long.
Edward's Menagerie is great for advice and learning the techniques, and I will definitely be adding the book to my wishlist as I'd love to have it on my bookshelf. The most useful thing for me was being able to watch Kerry's tutorials on Youtube; I am definitely a visual learner and things made sense so much more quickly after watching these.

It's been so much fun to get to grips with crochet, and even better to learn with such a cute outcome. My next aim is to buy some TOFT wool and start making a few creatures that will hopefully be ready in time to give as Christmas presents - wish me luck :)

We'd love to hear from you if you've made anything from Edward's Menagerie - use the hash tag #eightandsixteen to share your photos with us!

Skye

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

*Review PDF copy & images c/o MLPR

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!

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

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

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