Book Review: 75 Birds, Butterflies & little beasts to knit and crochet by Lesley Stanfield

My library book

75 Birds, Butterflies & little beasts to knit and crochet
by Lesley Stanfield

Description:
Expand your knit and crochet repertoire with this menagerie of miniature bugs and beasts: from creepy crawlies and weird wrigglers to beautiful butterflies and splendid metallic-thread dragonflies. Use them to decorate clothes and accessories, give them as gifts---or use to decorate your gift wrap and greeting cards.

Everyone of these cute little beasts is thoughtfully displayed in a directory at the front of the book. And each is cross-referenced to a complete pattern and/or chart at the back of the book, with information on stuffing, finishing, and yarn requirements.

You'll also find a mixture of fun and fabulous ideas for using the creatures in a range of styles and settings: children's designs, quirky homewares, and elegant fashion and accessories.


My Review:
I found this at the library and decided to borrow it because it looks like it has great projects to power through a scrap pile.

I liked several things about this book. First, all the options. Want to know how to make a spider? A beetle? Flowers? There's a pattern for that. Like crochet and knitting? Or just one of those? There's patterns for each.

Second, the patterns have text and diagram instructions. It's nice to see the visuals when figuring out a new pattern. There's a handy chart in the front explaining the symbols and I found it pretty intuitive when I put it into practice.  The text is clean and easy to follow, but I enjoyed how the author says "miss" 3 stitches instead of skip three stitches. Just a cool little quirk.

I also dig the section at the front where all the finished critters and such are arranged into scenes with page references. Though it was disappointing that some of the ones I wanted to do were knitting projects. My knitting skills aren't up to the critter creation level just yet.  I  may try a caterpillar or something before I have to return this, but I'm not too optimistic.

Something I haven't seen before in other books, this one has a chart of common care symbols. Basically, it demystifies what the odd symbols on the yarn bands mean. Pretty cool! 

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Here's what I made from the book. 

A squash and a butterfly.

First completed section of the squash body pattern.

Had to use yarn to mark where each section started.
(Of course, I used pink.)

After I finished the body of the squash.

Another pic of the squash, flat.

Glamour shot!

In all disclosure, I was in fact using my stash yarn, so I pretty much totally disregarded the color recommendations.

As for the squash (which was supposed to be yellow), I ran out of the main color with one half of a segment left in the main part of the project, and then learned that the grooves to enhance the squash's shape and the bottom piece needed some of it, too.  I managed alright.

See the streak of different yarn? I was so close!

Not completely noticeable, but I had to use tan yarn for the groove enhancement.
See the vertical stitches? Supposed to have been the same color.

The butterfly was supposed to be the little yellow, red and green one right beneath the author's name on the book cover, but this is what I made. The pattern was easy, but it was like magic seeing the wings develop from what was written and diagrammed.

The butterfly.
I used the yarn ends of the body to attach it to the wings and then pulled through to top to be its antennae.

Anyway, had fun. One more week to play with this book before it goes back to the library.

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Here's 75 Birds, Butterflies & little beasts to knit and crochet at Amazon.

Found the crochet and knitting books at the library!

I don't know why I never thought to look for them before, but I suppose I've always thought of the library as a source for fiction and non-fiction, and never equated crafty books with non-fiction.

Well, anyways, today I made the connection, asked for help from the librarian, and perused the offerings. I found a few that were interesting, two intriguing enough to snap a photo of, and one I couldn't resist borrowing.

So here's the one I borrowed. It looks perfect for eating through my out-of-control scrap stash. I may even give a few of the knit critters a try, though no promises.

75 Birds, Butterflies & little beasts to knit and crochet
 by Lesley Stanfield

I also thought this one had some interesting projects in it, and it seemed that the instructions inside would be perfect for a beginner. I glimpsed some sections on holding the yarn and tension, plus the obligatory stitch guides.  Anyhow, I thought it good enough to take a snapshot so I'd remember to look for it next time.

Simple Crocheting
by Erika Knight

So if you want to check them out and can't find them at your library, here are some links to find them at Amazon. Also, these are better pictures of the book covers, though I do enjoy looking at the ones I snapped.

Here's 75 Birds, Butterflies & little beasts to knit and crochet at Amazon.

Here's Simple Crocheting on Amazon.

If you try any of the projects in one of these, I'd love to hear it.

WOOT, done with the baby blanket, now on to roses...

I finally finished up with the pink baby blanket and just in time to find out a friend had just welcomed their first granddaughter. That's how it goes sometimes.

I dug up a little tote bag I'd made some years back and it fit in there perfectly. I'm happy I found this a home so quickly.  And so, here are the pictures.

Glamour shot!

Draped over a chair.

With the little bag I had stashed away.

And now onto the roses...

I got the pattern for the rose here.

The crochet was easy, the wrapping and securing not so much. This one took about four tries to figure out the best way to secure it. The pattern didn't go into much detail there.  My advice is to work through that with a different color of yarn so you can see what you did and undo it if need be.

I managed to make one other of these, but it's also pink and looks the same, so no need to post a picture. I'm going to have to think about what to do with them, though. I was thinking pencil topper, but that would be a bit heavy unless I used a thinner yarn. I'll update when I've got something.


On that note, I'm almost out of this watermelon color yarn. It was good while it lasted.

Until next time...