Reviews

I have purchased all of the itty bitty books and love every one of them. i have made the lamb and the bear from the itty bitty toys and they turned out unbelievably adorable. everyone i show them to, wants me to make them for their grand kids or friends so they can give them away as gifts. the patterns are easy to follow and susan explains the pattern with careful detail. i actually have never knitted patterns that are so well written and easy to follow. it is so much fun to watch as the animal/toy begins to take shape and when you are finished, you have a beautiful gift to give to some very lucky child. you can get free patterns from lions brand yarn...but believe me, the patterns from this book are well worth the price. i am so happy that i purchased it and i have been thoroughly enjoying making these little critters.

I purchased this as a gift for my sister in law. A couple of weeks ago i recieved a sample for my new baby and it is adorable. She likes the book, she said many of the projects are hard but she has not had any troubles so far. Other reviews mentioned mistakes in the patterns but she has made 3 different projects ( hippo, giraffe and elephant i think) with no problems

I love this book. I have made the santa and bag. I plan on making the mouse next. My 9 yr old grand daughter loves the santa and he will sit on a shelf of honor in the family room all year. I am not so good at multi-needle patterns. The instructions were simply straight-forward and I had no problems with making Santa. I do enough knitting on a budget that I don't opt for the expensive yarns. I used Red Heart worsted weight yarn purchased at the local Wal-Mart and size 4 needles purchased at a flea market with excellent results. I used round beads for the eyes and pulled the threads taut for a little (needle sculpting) different look. My biggest complaint about any knitting instruction pattern is the loyalty to a certain type or brand of yarn. I always try to adapt the patterns to use the yarn I prefer or have access to. This book adapts well. I am pleased to see so many reviews on this book. Some of the patterns seem very simple, maybe too simple. But I also enjoy this approach because I can take any pattern and add my own touch to create something by my own hand and vision. I have already found a little golden book containing the story of The Princess and the Pea and will make this simple little doll. Many children enjoy a simple toy and again, I can fancy it up a little. The simplicity allows me a spring board of sorts for my own creativity. The baby doll is the cutest I have ever seen in knit. I will have to make that for the fair project of the year. I plan on attacking the bird/egg/nest set for Easter baskets. Those are a bit more challenging and more than cute. I love all the sock yarns but don't make socks (as of yet anyway). So I welcome the idea of making a monkey or bear out of the stuff. Lastly I would like to applaud the size and design of the book overall. The book is easy to hold in my lap and opens flat due to the spiral binding. It is easy to stuff in my rather small to go knitting bag. I actually covered the book in a school book cover to protect the pretty cover and hide my current obsession.

I love, love, love this book! Super easy to follow with so many cute, fun patterns and the bonus for me is many are unisex.

I have to admit to being a lazy knitter. On numerous occasions I've started a project without finishing it, either because I get bored or become frustrated by confusing instructions. But even so, I love this book. I just finished two koala bears, and I can't wait to start on a bunny. The bears were so cute as they came together that I couldn't put my needles down. (And, I'd never used double-pointed needles before, but the instructions are very clear.) The other thing I like is that so many of the projects are appealing. I rarely buy knitting books b/c usually I only like one or two of the patterns, but I can imagine trying about 75% of the toys in this book.

Reviews

thanks for the trade, parcel arrived quickly and in good condition for international purchase. Pleased with trade

I have found this book has wonderfully designed finger puppets for me to knit for friends and family, young and old. A very professional approach in design to much loved "friends" of nursery rhymes and nursery tales. Thank you for sharing your skills with me.

I love the book. It is in great shape. I don't mind the name on the inside.

Over thirty easy-to-make finger puppet toy projects are offered in a fine guide of easy patterns modeled on popular kids' characters and everyday figures, and will be perfect for beginning knitters with small friends to knit for. Three theme 'collections' are included in this outstanding resource.

I am beginning to knit again after many years away from it. I thought I would try my hand at finger puppets for my grandchildren. Boy was I wrong. These puppets are too tiny for my beginning status. I was thinking they would be something simple but they have several color changes and are worked in the "round" with double pointed needles. This would be a good book for a very advanced knitter. If you have made socks or done any other work in the "round" with double pointed needles, then you will have a grasp of what is needed to create these cute puppets. The directions are not overly complicated to read IF you know the abbreviations and how to work each type of stitch. Do you know what ssk means? It is a left slant: slip, slip, knit. Even reading the directions, I didn't get how to do this stitch. There is a section on "how-to" but most of it goes over my head. The patterns are also skill rated but even the ones marked as easy are still worked in the round, rather than worked flat and sewn together. There are over 30 different puppets to knit and they would make great gifts for children. These are especially nice when a child needs to be entertained quietly and without electrical power! Just make sure your skills match the difficulty level.

Reviews

I like the book and think it is well worth the money, although I found typographical errors which made some instructions a little puzzling. Needed a better proofreader I think.

I bought three different crochet books for my sister the new grandma. She loved every single one of them. She said this one had especially cute toys to make and a good variety of choices. I was having a hard time finding books with toy patterns but Amazon showed me many sites that were great.

These are some of the prettiest crocheted toys I've seen--very cute and clever. The directions are very clear and easy to follow, even for someone who's never tried crocheting a toy before (like me). So far, I've made the basic bear, the mermaid, and the foal. Of course, if any of these toys are to be created for use by babies, some modifications are necessary--no beads or other small, detachable items should be used. Also, no instructions are given for stiffening some slender areas of the toys, like the arms and legs of the dolls, and the legs of the foal. Still, a lovely book with plenty of good ideas. Not for beginners, but confident crafters will enjoy it.

I bought this book pretty much on the basis of the pigs on the front cover. Why is it that the best item is always the one shown on the cover? Indeed, as a toy for my little girl, I think the pigs are the only ones I'll really make. Possibly make the shark and lobster for our beach house but the long dangly bits of the lobster don't make it a toy for a small child. I can't comment on the yarns because we certainly can't get them easily in Australia, but it seems to me that a cheap, probably synthetic yarn that washes easily will be appropriate for toys for use by children. A bit disappointing, and I certainly agree with the previous review about the lack of instruction on how to make things stay in shape - how does the bear stand? Overall, probably a book to give to someone who likes collecting toy pattern books.

The piggie on the cover is adorable, and is child-safe; many of the toys in the book are not, because they have seed bead eyes and other small sewn-on bits. The pig has embroidered eyes. Even the pig is a bit impractical as written, though - it calls for cashmere blend and alpaca blend yarns. For a children's toy?? I don't think so. And therein lies one of the two big problems I have with the patterns in this book. Problem 1 is the yarns - many of the ones the author uses are exotic blends that are not a great idea for a children's toy that would need to be washed, and they are expensive for use in a toy; also, many of the yarns are ones that are commonly available in the UK but not so easy to find in the US, and it would be tough for US crocheters to get some of them at all. But the book doesn't give pictures of the individual yarns, and it doesn't give complete fiber content, so it would also take considerable effort to find yarns here that were a reasonable equivalent. Contrast this with another book of crochet toys that I received as a gift, which suggests the sturdiest worsted weight acrylic one can find, for the bright colors and washability. Problem 2 with this book is that many of the toys made following the patterns will not come out the way the pictures look. Consider the mermaid, for example - nothing in the pattern tells you how to get her arms to pose the way the photo has them, and they definitely wouldn't pose that way if you didn't do something additional - pipe cleaners? Wire twist ties inserted in them? Something! The doll arms would all be floppy and hanging down, without some additional support, and the book doesn't describe any such support. Likewise the giraffe on the back cover - the pattern inside doesn't give any suggestions for how to make her little antlers/horns stand straight up, and if you just crochet them according to the instructions, what you'll have is two floppy chains hanging down over the giraffe's face. That said, Larry the Lobster is too cute for words, and I'm definitely going to make one of those. I'm not going to use the recommended yarn, Lobster Pot Bulky, though - it's a mohair blend, again wildly impractical for a toy, and also hard to find. Easier to find, a bit cheaper, and about the same content and gauge, would be Lambs Pride Bulky. I'll probably test the gauge using a less-expensive yarn such as Lion Suede, which I suspect will work and be equally soft. In short: many cute toys pictured, but the yarns called for are not suitable for toys, the seed-bead eyes are not suitable for little kids, and you'll have to do some work not described in the patterns in order to make the toys come out as pictured.