17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My favourite amigurumi book, February 4, 2008
This review is from: Amigurumi!: Super Happy Crochet Cute (Paperback)
Amigurumi, the Japanese art of making cute crochet animals, has been popular in Asian countries for years and in the past, it has amazed me that there weren't more books containing this style of crochet available in English. However, it seems that the Western countries have finally caught on to this craze and "Amigurumi!" is one of the books on this topic. In fact, "Amigurumi!" is, without a doubt, my favourite of the amigurumi books that have surfaced in the last year or so.
"Amigurumi!" contains 14 patterns divided into three sections: crocheted food (including a hamburger, cupcakes, cookies and a fish bone), crocheted animals (including a weiner dog, a fawn, a piglet and a mouse), and those four humanoid animals that you can see on the cover of the book. Unlike some of the other amigurumi books that I have seen, where the patterns are incredibly amateurish, made up of a series of balls sewn together, the patterns in this book are well thought-out works of art which would hold their own in a boutique toy store.
Although, I would not recommend that a beginner make one of the humanoid animals as a first project, many of the patterns in this book would be appropriate for beginners (especially the food patterns) and all of the basic stitch techniques are explained in detail at the front of the book. The patterns are all designed to be made with the brightly colored acrylic yarn, which is cheaper than wool and which I have never had any difficulties in obtaining (I buy mine from my local department store).
To use the cliche, if you only buy one amigurumi book, this is the one to buy.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT book for beginner amigurumi-ers!!!, August 27, 2007
This review is from: Amigurumi!: Super Happy Crochet Cute (Paperback)
I got this book for my 14 year old daughter who has already made lots of amigurumi from Japanese books. She found it too simplified for HER (oh the teenagerness of it all!) but to ME it is perfect! The only thing we cringed over is the originality of a crochet cheeseburger - as we have seen it done many times in the Japanese books, as purses and tawashi and yes, stuffed toys! This book does a great job of enlightening people about this fantastic craft - new to many, but not to the Japanese!
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
wonderful crocheted toys, October 10, 2007
This review is from: Amigurumi!: Super Happy Crochet Cute (Paperback)
I have a few Japanese Amigurumi books and was hoping this book will help me decipher those but it is written only in words and not in the Japanese style of a chart with long list of rows with number of stitches. But as a crochet doll book, it is a winner and probably a lot easier to use too. I'm not excited about doing carrots
and not even the cookies thrill me, but the 8 animals and humanoid dolls are terrific. Since I'm doing this for a little child, I have to change certain things like the eyes. Personally, I prefer crocheting dolls to knitting them and there are a lot less crochet toy books than knitting ones. The difference is that knitting makes a flat piece you have to sew up but with this crochet you work around and get body forms and this type of crochet is meant to make oval shapes which can be easily joined to each other. I'm very happy with this book and plan on making several and then hopefully figuring out my own Amigurumi dolls.
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