Amigurumi!: Super Happy Crochet Cute

This has great projects for the advanced practitioner.

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.

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.

This is a great first book for amigurumi in America, but gives plenty of information to help you take it to the next level. Yes, amigurumi has been in Japan forever, but most people need a little introduction to it here. So of course the book needs to have some beginner projects. There are 14 projects in this book. It is broken into smallish food type projects, medium animals, and then the larger Humaniods. While the food may be the sort of thing that is seen in Japanese amigurumi books, the other projects have a little more care and detail put into them to make them several steps above the rest. Once you learn how to construct the body of the humaniods by following her great directions, she encourages you to use your imagination to come up with your own details ( while providing some great ones if you don't feel creative) to make your creation one of a kind. While this book is about crochet, if you look on her website, you can see that she is using knitting to make many parts of her creations now like clothes and hair. So there is lots of inspiration there. This book seems well written and I can't wait to see what comes next from this wonderfully talented artist!

This book is a blast! I already own lots of Japanese amigurumi books, but this book stands out by itself with its funky/cute dolls and excellent sense of humor. I love the vivid pictures too. One thing I need to point out is that some projects are too easy for an experienced crocheter, although this book will definitely suit a beginner. I hope Beth's next book will have more intermediate-level projects.

First let me say that I am not an Amigurumi person at all so when this one reached me for review I thought UUUGGGHHH But I am pleasantly surprised. I really like the projects including the cupcakes and hamburger. And the humor sprinkled throughout this book puts me in a wonderful mood, it really is funny. I think if it can make a non amigurumi person rethink trying this art then it might reel you in to.