Are there any children or toy collectors on your gift list? Would you enjoy crocheting some adorable amigurumi toys for them — perhaps some cute animals, superhero dolls, monsters, gnomes or even some animal-themed scarves? And would you find it helpful to have access to a brand new collection of 37 assorted adorable amigurumi crochet patterns? If so, there’s a fun new crochet pattern book you should know about. It’s called Amigurumi: An Adorable Collection of 40 Heroes, Animals and Monsters to Crochet. Leisure Arts is the publisher of this book, and numerous talented crochet pattern designers contributed the project ideas.
What You Need to Know About This Crochet Pattern Book:
Copyright Date: 2019
Publisher: Leisure Arts
ISBN 13: 978-1464777974
ISBN 10: 1464777969
Book Formats:
This book is available in the following formats:
Number of Pages: 144 pages
Skill Level: Easy, easy, EASY — and did I mention easy? The editorial team at Leisure Arts has assigned a skill level rating of “easy” to every last one of these amigurumi crochet patterns.
Important note: I reviewed an older edition of the book. It has since been reprinted with a new, updated cover.
The Focus of This Book:
This book is almost exclusively dedicated to giving you fun, enjoyable crochet patterns for making amigurumi toys. The toys are all kinds of different characters and critters and creatures ranging from animals to monsters to superheroes to fantasy characters.
When I said “almost” above, it’s because there are a few exceptions. There are two cute scarf patterns featuring amigurumi heads, and then there is a set of stackable baby toys. I think these items add a nice amount of variety to the pattern mix while still staying closely related to the main theme of the book.
Crochet Projects Included in This Book:
The Best Things About This Book
These patterns are fabulous! And there’s such a wonderful variety of them that you’ll have plenty to choose from — no matter what occasion is coming up next on your calendar. Christmas? Birthdays? Baby showers? No problem — you’ll have suitable patterns covered for any and all of these types of occasions.
I LOVE IT that the boys are not left out of the fun with this book. The majority of these patterns are unisex designs. In my opinion, a few of them are better suited for being girls’ toys than boys’ toys — but if you have boys to crochet for, I think you’ll be satisfied with the choices available in this book.
These are all easy amigurumi crochet patterns — which is fantastic, because this means the book is accessible to the greatest possible number of crocheters. In comparison, many competing titles feature patterns intended for intermediate and experienced crocheters — which means that beginners are totally excluded unless they are brave enough to jump in and try a more challenging project. This book doesn’t demand that kind of bravery from you, which is fantastic!
If you’re a total beginner, and you’ve never completed a crochet project before, I’d recommend crocheting at least one beginner-friendly granny square before you attempt any amigurumi. But once you’ve got the hang of crocheting a super simple project like a granny square, there’s no reason why you couldn’t move on to crocheting any of the fun toys presented in Amigurumi: An Adorable Collection. In particular, the bunny looks like it would make a good first amigurumi crochet project — because it doesn’t have excessive numbers of fussy little parts to make and join.
Other Observations About This Book
There is a helpful reference section in the back of the book which will teach you how to do some of the crochet techniques that may be unfamiliar to you. However, it is important to note that this book IS NOT a comprehensive guide to crochet. The amigurumi crochet patterns are really the main focus of this book. If you’re in need of a general crochet reference, or you haven’t learned how to crochet yet, this book won’t help with that. In that case, check out our beginner’s guide to crochet and the books featured towards the top of our list of the best crochet books for beginners.
The table of contents is in the format of a helpful visual reference of each project — thumbs up to that! I LOVE IT! But, when I counted the projects in the table of contents, I only came up with 36 of them. So then I counted the actual projects in the book, and I came up with a total of 37 — not the 40 promised by the book’s subtitle. Bummer, but in my opinion, not a deal breaker. 37 patterns is still a whole LOT of different patterns. Are you really going to care that there aren’t 40 patterns included, if the ones that are included are ones you want to make? I think not — but consider yourself informed in case I got that wrong.
“Cute” is in the eye of the beholder. This beholder thinks the collection includes a whole lot of truly cute critters. A few more of these projects are “ugly-cute”, in the same way that the Cabbage Patch Kids from the 1980s were ugly-cute. (Yes, I am old enough to remember having played with Cabbage Patch Kids in the 1980s.)
Case in point: This gnome. Cute? Or ugly-cute? You decide:
We all have our opinions on that, and yours are quite likely to be different from mine. In fact, the toy from this book that my 4-year old niece is absolutely begging for is the wolf. I really like the wolf, but I wouldn’t have picked it out of the collection as being the cutest of the bunch. My niece, on the other hand, cannot stop raving about how adorable “Wolfie” is (She has already named her future toy “Wolfie”, before I have even had a chance to order the yarn for making the toy.)
Aside from my niece’s input, the items I would have picked to make from the book include the bunny, the kitty, the lamb and the giraffe scarf.
I guess I have my work cut out for me, don’t I? HAHA. I will hopefully update this review with pictures if any of these toys actually materialize. Looking through my yarn stash, it seems the likeliest project for me to complete first would be the puppy dog scarf, considering I already have some suitable, non-earmarked yarn hanging around in my stash that could maybe work for making it. But we’ll see how that goes…
Important Note: The photos above show you some, but not all, of the projects included in this book. A bunch more project photos are available at Amazon; they have the “look inside” feature enabled, so you can see a preview of the book’s contents if you are interested. CLICK HERE to check it out.
Conclusion
I’m delighted to recommend this book to other crochet enthusiasts, particularly to crafters who are in need of a large number of easy amigurumi crochet patterns. This book currently offers the best value I’m aware of for an amigurumi crochet pattern collection of this kind. You get a whole lot for your money with this book. If you have kids, have friends with kids, crochet for charity, or have any gnome collectors on your gift list, this book is likely to be a fantastic investment for you.
Where to Buy This Book:
Click here to shop for this book at Amazon.
More Toys and Amigurumi Knitting and Crochet Patterns
- The Woobles Crochet Amigurumi Pattern Book: Make Gifts for Every Occasion — If you are a total beginner to crochet, The Woobles is a book you might want to take a look at instead of, or in addition to, Amigurumi: An Adorable Collection. I make this suggestion because the cute Wooble toys are all designed using thicker t-shirt yarn that is easy for beginners to manipulate. However, the book is worth a look even if you aren’t a total beginner; it offers you seriously fun projects to work on.
- Busy Baby Boxes: If you have any babies to crochet for, Busy Baby Boxes is a book you’re likely to be interested in. The book features adorable toy activity cubes and finger puppets for you to crochet and your little one to play with. I’ve made some of the finger puppets in this book, and they turned out super cute. If you have a baby in your life to crochet for, or you plan to soon, you absolutely must see this book — it is adorable.
- Arne and Carlos Favorite Designs: This book is not exclusively dedicated to patterns for making toys; it also includes a broad variety of other types of projects, ranging from crocheted blankets to knitted sweaters. But, my opinion is that the toys are really the highlight of the book. There are patterns for making adorable knitted birds; super creative, customizable dolls, plus bunches of clothes for them; a multicolored teddy bear; adorable mice; and more. If you want to knit some appealing Christmas or other holiday projects, this book is my #1 top pick for Christmas knitting patterns. The selection of knitted Christmas ornament patterns is outstanding.
- Voodoo Maggie’s Adorable Amigurumi Crochet Pattern Book — If you’re an experienced crocheter, and you want to make teeny, tiny, itty bitty amigurumi animals and fantasy creatures like dragons, this book might be of interest to you.
Similar Crochet Books and Related Resources
This book is included on our list of best crochet toy pattern books. We hope you’ll check it out!
Learn More About Crochet Books:
- The Best Crochet Stitch Dictionaries
- The Best Crochet Books for Beginners
- The Best Crochet Baby Pattern Books
- The Best Crochet Blanket Pattern Books
- The Best Crochet Edging Pattern Books
- The Best Books on Crochet Flowers
Learn More About Crochet:
- Click Here to Learn How to Crochet; This Link Takes You to a Total Beginner’s Guide to Crochet.
- Click here to find crochet stitch tutorials and instructions.
- Click here to learn more crochet techniques.
- Click HERE to Find Fabulous Yarn for Crochet and Knitting
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- Click here to find my favorite crochet project bag.
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By Amy Solovay
About the Author: Amy Solovay is a real person; she is NOT a robot and does not use artificial intelligence (AI) to write articles for this website. She is a real, live, human content creator and educator who holds a bachelor’s degree with a studio art minor; she has also earned a separate degree in textile design. Amy learned to crochet as a small child, and she still enjoys crocheting all these years later. Beyond that, she enjoys introducing other crafters to the best new craft supplies, and she also loves helping crafters learn new techniques for making the most of the craft supplies they buy.
As an educator, Amy Solovay used to teach in-person college courses in trend forecasting, marketing and surface design at California Design College in Los Angeles.
Nowadays, Amy uses online platforms to teach digital courses to craft pattern designers, content creators and influencers all over the world. If you’re an artist, crafter or DIY enthusiast who is interested in earning income from your creative work, you’re invited to visit Crafterprise.com to learn more about monetizing the arts, craft(s) and / or DIY projects you do.
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This page was last updated on 10-4-2024.