TOFT - Edwards Menagerie

We recently were sent to review a fabulous crochet book from TOFT. The Toft Alpaca Shop is home to the TOFT luxury British DIY knitwear and wool company and also offers alpaca and wool knitting yarns and knitting and crochet patterns. One of their crochet pattern book is the amazing Edward’s Menagerie: Over 40 Soft & cuddly toy animal crochet patterns. Kerry Lord the owners of TOFTs has designed these animals for you to crochet at home from a gorgeous elephant called Bridget (which I’m currently working on) to through to Clarence the Bat & Sarah the Friesian Cow. I think the most difficult thing with this book is knowing which animal to tackle first!

Now down to the instructions. It took me a while to sort these all out. It’s not a case of you pick up the book and go buts once you figure out its simple and quick. Each animal has the same start so that part of the crochet pattern is at the front of the book then you have to check where you go off pattern to make each animal its own individual charm. Harry wanted me to start with Blake the Orang-utan but I have to say I wasn’t brave enough for a first attempt and concentrated on Bridget the Elephant.

It’s a perfect little book to keep on the sofa and dip in and out of in the evenings. I did find you couldn’t crochet away while happily watching tv as you do have to concentrate on what you’re doing and making sure you haven’t made the hips to big (trust me you don’t want to find this out when you get further up and have to unravel like I did!) but gosh the finished results are definitely worth it. The book is out in paperback which makes it perfect for browsing through and also as a perfect gift although you might want to buy this for yourself and choose an animal to crochet as a gift. I have plans for all of them!