Crocheted Softies: 18 Adorable Animals from Around the World [Paperback]

Stacey Trock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 14, 2011

Stacey Trock, author of Cuddly Crochet, presents 18 new cuddly stuffies. Find animals from every continent and the sea, all made with earth-friendly yarns. Discover fun facts about the yarns and regions.

* Create a moose, panda, penguin, alpaca, snake, whale, and a few surprises
* Turn fibers such as soy, bamboo, organic cotton, and undyed wool into child-friendly toys
* Get basic info on crochet as well as stuffed-animal assembly in projects for all skill levels

Editorial Reviews

Review

Children adore their stuffed friends, and what could be better than crocheting that new toy for a cherished child? Featuring two animals from each continent, the 22 fantastic patterns include mammals, reptiles, aquatic life, and even aliens. Use your imagination and create a cuddly cutie in their favorite color. First, follow the initial helpful hints to ensure the perfect finish before moving on the detailed step-by-step instructions; each pattern includes clever tips to help you select the ideal fiber to crochet your treasured gift. --Love of Crochet Magazine

Stacey Trock, author of the popular Cuddly Crochet book, presents a terrific new collection of cuddly stuffed animals from around the world, all made with earth-friendly yarns. Discover fun facts about the yarns and regions while creating a moose, panda, penguin, alpaca, snake, fish and a few surprises. You can learn the basics of crochet, as well as stuffed animal assembly, all while turning fibers such as soy, bamboo, organic cotton and undyed wool into child-friendly toys. --Crochet 1-2-3 Magazine

Crocheted Softies is Stacey Trock's latest book. She has designed 18 adorable animals from around and out of this world. Cuddly Crochet was her last book that covered 10 stuffed animals and baby items that matched.


The book opens with "Give a crocheter a pattern and she'll make an exact copy of the sample in the pattern. But teach a crocheter how to use a pattern and there is no stopping her!" So true.


Stacey will show you how to work the stitches through step by step photographs. You will also learn about fibers and yarn substitution. The fibers used in the stuffed animals are "slightly outside the box". They include yarns that are organic, undyed, banana silk and from yarn companies that give back to communities that are in need.


The results of this book are bright, fun loving stuffed animals. You will create your own menagerie from start to finish with Stacy's help. Which one will you crochet first? --Paula Moliver for the Hartford Knitting Examiner

About the Author

Home: New Haven, Connecticut

Stacey Trock is the designer for Fresh Stitches, an exciting place where her stuffed animal creations live happy and fulfilling lives. You can read all about them on her entertaining blog. Stacey also enjoys knitwear design.

Also by Stacey Trock:
Cuddly Crochet: Adorable Toys, Hats, and More (ISBN 978-1-56477-985-4)

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Martingale & Co Inc (November 14, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1604680407
• ISBN-13: 978-1604680409
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.2 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Crafts & Hobbies > Toys & Models > Stuffed Animals
  • #57 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Crafts & Hobbies > Needlecrafts & Textile Crafts > Crocheting

More About the Author

Stacey Trock was born and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland, where her mom taught her to crochet at the age of 6. Although she loved crochet, her pursuit of the craft was limited to entries in the county fair and presents for family.
The summer after finishing school, Stacey was in the midst of a quarter-life crisis, and her boyfriend was away in Europe. Looking for something to do, she designed two crocheted stuffed animals. And she hasn't stopped since! After making her first animals, she heard the call of the crochet-bug loud and clear, and went into crocheting full-time. In 2008, she founded Freshstitches, an amigurumi design company, where many of her stuffed animal designs are featured.
In addition to designing, she also works at a fantastic yarn store, where she teaches knitting and crochet, and also helps customers solve yarn-related crises. In her free time, Stacey loves to travel and, since she isn't looking for a change in vocation any time soon, tries to not get left at home from any more European expeditions.
Visit www.freshstitches.com to view the full range of Stacey's designs.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun project book with helpful tips for making amigurumi December 8, 2011

By Underground Crafter

Format:Paperback

(Full disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher to review on my blog, and another copy to giveaway on my blog.)

I confess that I was really looking forward to receiving my review copy of Crocheted Softies from Martingale & Company for several weeks before it arrived. I really like the look of Stacey Trock (FreshStitches)'s work, and especially enjoy the larger sizes of most of her amigurumi patterns. I grew up receiving awesome crocheted bears from my grandmother, years before I ever heard the term amigurumi. These bears were some of my favorite playthings as a kid, and I love how Stacey merges the coziness of an old fashioned teddy bear with a contemporary look. I was also really intrigued by the the book's concept of making amigurumi with earth-friendly yarns. In my mind, amigurumi has always been associated with acrylic yarn, but in the past year, I've been looking at my yarn stash and trying to replace my petroleum based yarns with natural fibers.

I'm going to come right out and say that I love this book, and definitely will recommend it far and wide. The book starts with a several concise but detailed sections: Getting Started, Crochet Stitches, and Additional Techniques. Stacey's writing style is really conversational, and she gives some wonderful tips on substituting yarns, informal gauge, assembly and stuffing, and caring for your softies. She also provides patterns for "basic animal shapes" which are used throughout the book. Once you are familiar with the basic head, for example, you can use it to make many of the softies.

The book then introduces 18 softies, sorted by region. Most of the critters are made with one skein of yarn in the main color and then smaller bits of other colors. Stacey uses safety eyes throughout the book, but provides you with a quick technique for making crocheted eyes so you can easily substitute if your softie is for a baby or toddler (or you just plain don't like safety eyes). She uses an interesting range of fibers and her premise is that if you are using only one skein, you can try out some yarns you may not be as familiar with, like soy, corn, or recycled silk, without much of an investment. All of the projects are super cute and would make great gifts, but I do have a few favorites: Stretch the Giraffe, Lala the Panda, Salty the Crocodile, Milton the Slowpoke Snail, Mr. Crabby, and Sherwin the Alpaca.

I think the book is great for a crochet newbie because it explains things like yarn substitution in a really friendly way, but it's also wonderful for a more advanced crocheter because it encourages you to move outside of your comfort zone by trying new yarns and experimenting with pattern modifications. Like all Martingale & Company books, it has a really clean and eye pleasing layout.

Just so I don't sound like a groupie, I'll balance my review a bit. Crocheted Softies doesn't pretend to teach you everything you need to know in order to crochet, though it does have written explanations and illustrations of the basic stitches. Therefore, it will probably be too challenging for someone who has never crocheted before. It doesn't include international stitch symbols, which is ok by me since the patterns are really straightforward, but I know some people prefer to have both abbreviations and stitch symbols. (The book uses U.S. pattern abbreviation terminology, by the way.) The book obviously doesn't include a range of project types, and only focuses on softies (though there is a variety of shapes and animal/space creature types).

If I wasn't buried under a mountain of holiday crafting and design deadlines, I would absolutely be making my special guy his very own Mr. Crabby right now (not because he's cranky, but because he's a Cancer). I think it will be on my Valentine's Day gift list instead.

I give the book 5 out of 5 stars as a fun project book that shares some helpful techniques and skills for making amigurumi.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy, Fast, Cuddly Animals February 9, 2012

By bonster

Format:Paperback

So far I've made 3 items from this book. The first item I crocheted was the alien. I was pleasantly surprised at the completed object's large size - even using a "G" hook with worsted weight yarn. The alien crocheted up in a night and a half of casual crocheting in front of the TV. The animals are absolutely adorable, and the patterns are easy to follow. The author uses a consistent increase / decrease pattern so after making a couple you will need to refer to the pattern less and less making it go even faster. There is a 'generic' pattern for arms, legs and spheres so if you do them a couple times it gets really easy to memorize (which is great if you like to take your crocheting with you).

I've bought patterns from this author's website, and am taking her 'design your own amigurumi' course on craftsy.com. She consistently puts out patterns that are easy to follow and I always end up with cute finished objects that are adored by the receiver (even if it's for me).

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice large animals January 7, 2012

By Carl Vannostrand Sr.

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I appreciate this book because after working tiny and small animals, it is refreshing to work on larger projects. I have made the crab and crocodile and the instructions are spot on and easy to follow. For some reason, the author has you working back stitches only for all the projects. I ignored that because I find it clumsy and time-consuming to do back or front stitching unless necessary for the design. Some of the projects need special stitches like loop and bubbles. I recommend going to YouTube and following live instructions if you do not know how to do these stitches. The bubble stitch shown in the book is different from the one I use but a bubble is a bubble! There are very simple projects and some are a bit more complicated but I think even a beginner could find good projects in here. This book also has one of the cutest penguin patterns I have seen. I have an extensive library of animal crochet books and am always reluctant to buy anything that repeats what I already have but this one is definitely different.

Mrs. Phyllis VanNostrand