The Crochet Wildlife Guide takes you on a crochet journey around the world, discovering interesting animals near and far. Inspired by wildlife guide books, writer Jeff Wiehler and amigurumi designer Phillip Ha (@sirpurlgrey on Instagram!) created and self-published this adorable collection of animal amigurumi patterns. First a kudos to this talented duo for executing the book all on their own! From photography to pattern writing to layout, they created the entire book themselves – that’s amazing!!! The Crochet Wildlife Guide is available as a physical book on Amazon or as a digital PDF via Etsy. (P.S. You can find the adorable daisy scissors here!)
Note: I was provided a copy of “The Crochet Wildlife Guide” for review. All opinions are my own! Also, some of the links in this post are affiliate links meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Thank you for your support!
The book has everything you need to crochet 12 exotic animals: Three-Toed Sloth, Flying Squirrel, Grey Bat, Raven, River Otter, Brown Bear, Mountain Blue Bird, Fennec Fox, Rabbit, Axolotl, Great Horned Owl, and Red Panda. It includes handy tutorials covering basic techniques like stitch and shaping guides, making it a great book for beginner amigurumi crocheters. If you need extra guidance, there are even video tutorials on the Crochet Wildlife Guide website of specific techniques to make your piece perfect. For more advanced crocheters, the book details ways to customize your creations with different yarns and hook sizes.
In reading through the book, I could definitely see how Phillip and Jeff were inspired by wildlife guide books. The photography shows each critter in nature and includes a fun fact about each animal and in what region it can be found, which were such thoughtful touches! It reminded me of animal books I read as a kid with awesome pics and facts about each animal. I think kids would particularly love to flip through the book and some of the simpler patterns would make for a great first amigurumi pattern. I also liked that the book included animals that you wouldn’t typically find in crochet pattern books like the axolotl and fennec fox.
The pattern I chose to make was the axolotl! Axolotls are such interesting creatures and I love their fun antennae things. I made my axolotl using Knitcraft Cotton Blend DK in the colors pink and coral and used a size D (3.25mm) hook. The book recommends worsted weight acrylic yarn and a size G (4mm) hook. But I prefer to use smaller hooks in general and the Knitcraft yarn is more like a worsted weight yarn in my opinion.
The pattern worked up really quickly, although there was quite a bit of attaching (aka my least favorite part of crochet)! I gave my axolotl embroidered eyes and a lil mouth for extra cuteness. The book was very user friendly – I especially loved the clean layout and graphic elements. The only part of the pattern I found tricky was when it came to attaching. I would have liked to know what specific rounds to attach the pieces to, but I just zoomed in on the photos and made my best guess. I loved working the pattern because it is very different than my normal crochet style. It gave me a chance to try out different shaping and attaching techniques!
You should definitely check out The Crochet Wildlife Guide for 12 easy and unique crochet animal patterns!
For a chance to win one of 2 digital PDF copies of The Crochet Wildlife Guide, check out the post on Instagram HERE! I’ll be drawing a winner on Saturday, June 30th at 11am ET!
You can find Phillip on his website, Instagram @SirPurlGrey, and on Etsy. You can find Jeff on his website!
