Want to crochet adorable amigurumi toys for all the kids on your gift list? If so, consider grabbing yourself a copy of The Woobles: Crochet Amigurumi for Every Occasion: 21 Easy Projects to Celebrate Life’s Happy Moments. These cute toys would make fantastic Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, baby shower gifts, housewarming gifts, engagement gifts and more.
What You Need to Know About This Crochet Pattern Book:
Author: Justine Tiu
Publisher: Weldonowen, an imprint of Insight Editions
Copyright Date: 2022
ISBN 13: 978-1681888569
ISBN 10: 1681888564
Book Formats:
This book is available in the following format:
- Hardcover Without Dust Jacket
Number of Pages: 200
Skill Level: Easy
The Focus of This Book:
This book is intended to give you 21 easy-to-crochet, gift-worthy patterns for celebrating life’s happy moments: birthdays, engagements, baby showers and housewarming parties.
Crochet Projects Included in This Book:
1. Pyrus and Li the Pears
Here we have the perfect “pair of pears” (haha!) you can crochet as an engagement gift for a special couple. It would also be possible to crochet just one pear for anyone who happens to want one.
2. Sugar and Snow, the Two Peas in a Pod
This project is adorable. I didn’t have a chance to ask these peas what their pronouns are, but presumably this is a female pea (she’s wearing a bow on her head) and a male pea (he’s wearing a bow tie on what would be his neck, if he had a neck – but he doesn’t, because, obviously, he’s a pea.)
This cute duo is suggested as an engagement gift, but if you have any friends who scrapbook and frequent the Two Peas Refugees forum, it would also make a hilarious gift for any of them.
Or it would be a cute gift for a mom who has a hard time getting her kiddos to eat vegetables; maybe these two could convince the little ones that peas are a lot of fun.
3. Dai and Suki the Lovebirds Amigurumi Toy Patterns
These 2 lovebirds each have cute hearts on their tummies.
4. Skipper and Boom the Otters
These 2 otters are just the cutest! In addition to the pattern for crocheting the otters, you also get instructions for making top hats and flowers for them to wear. While these accessories are intended just for the otters, I can’t see any good reason why you couldn’t also make them for any other Wooble to wear.
5. Cornelius the Bee
This cute bee amigurumi features black stripes on a yellow body; white wings and black antennae.
6. Hubert the Frog
Hubert is intended to be a baby gift, and he is shaped like a ring. He looks a lot like a classic teething ring toy.
7. Urkel Philibert the Stork
This white stork is carrying a blue bundle, and you get the pattern for crocheting the bundle along with the stork pattern.
8. – 11. Outer Space Mobile
With this project, you actually get 4 patterns in one; there are patterns for making a star, astronaut, spaceship and the planet Saturn. You could make any of these items separately, or you could make them all and assemble them into a space-themed mobile as pictured.
Important Note: Detailed instructions for working the crocheted pieces are included, but detailed instructions for assembling the mobile are not. So if you want to make this mobile, you will need to use some creativity in figuring out how to assemble it. It looks like maybe the mobile pictured in the book is made using an embroidery hoop and some simple macramé type knotting– so that is one possible idea you could try. However, I am not totally sure of my facts on that.
12. Ollie the Lamb Crochet Baby Blanket Pattern
I think this is the cutest project in the book. It’s actually a baby blanket with a lamb’s head, ears, legs and a tail attached. People, I can hardly stand this much cuteness! Cute overload!
13. Cat Tray
This tray is intended for giving you a place to stash small items like coins and keys.
14. Clint the Cactus Amigurumi Toy Pattern
There aren’t many cacti you’d want to cuddle, but this one is definitely the exception. With this pattern, you get instructions for crocheting both the cactus and the pot he lives in.
15. Mushroom House
This little mushroom house just couldn’t be any cuter. It sort of reminds me of watching The Smurfs cartoon as a child.
16. Wally the Koala Amigurumi Toy Pattern
Wally the Koala is cute as can be. In the book, he’s pictured hanging onto a bottle of wine. This pattern also includes instructions for crocheting leaves you can attach to your wine goblets. If you don’t drink wine, or you’re giving this toy to a kiddo who obviously doesn’t drink wine, you could probably think of other fun ways to display him.
17. Pippa the Octopus
Pippa is actually a super cute sachet you can fill with your favorite scented potpourri. Isn’t that just the cutest idea ever?
18. Fred the Dino
Fred’s pattern also includes instructions for making a party hat with pompom. I’m guessing you could make this hat for any of your other Woobles, too, if you want to.
19. Sam the Sloth
You can crochet Sam the Sloth, and the pattern also includes instructions for making 3 cute balloons he can hold.
20. Doug the Pug
Doug the Pug is adorable, and this pattern includes instructions for making him a cake-shaped party hat.
21. Walter the Bear
It isn’t totally clear if Walter is a bear, or a cupcake. His head is topped with a cherry and cupcake frosting, and he’s wearing a cupcake liner instead of clothes. This is just too cute for words.
The Best Things About This Book
This is the ideal crochet pattern book for beginners. It includes easy projects plus clear step-by-step photo tutorials showing you exactly what you need to do to succeed with crocheting these projects.
The projects featured in this book are cute, creative, playful and fun. They’re likely to appeal to both kids and kids-at-heart.
The projects featured in this book are also accessible to crocheters of just about any skill level. Total beginners have enjoyed success making these projects – and, since this book features detailed photo tutorials plus information on where to find video tutorials, this is an ideal beginner’s crochet pattern book.
The book is intentionally designed to offer you gifts you can make for the people in your inner circle. It’s divided into sections by type of gift you might want to give:
- Engagement
- Baby Shower
- Housewarming
- Birthday
- There are also additional sections for resources, acknowledgements and author bio and info.
While there is not specifically a section in the book intended for Christmas gifts, it would be totally easy to change the colors on some of these projects to make them Christmas friendly. For example, by default, Walter the Bear has colorful sprinkles and a yellow cupcake liner. He’s supposed to be a birthday project – but you could make his sprinkles red and green and crochet a red cupcake liner for him, and he’d make a great Christmas gift.
The book includes pun-ny jokes that will (hopefully) make you smile or even giggle out loud. One example: The pattern for the Mushroom House starts out by saying “An A-spore-able Addition to Any Room”, followed by “The perfect gift for that fun-gi, gal or non-binary pal with a fabulous new address!” haha!
Many of these patterns include fun, silly puns like these in the introductory notes.
There is a huge community of crochet enthusiasts making Woobles! These patterns have apparently been well-tested by many, many other crocheters — so you can be assured that, if you are willing to put in the time and effort to work on these projects, you can succeed with them.
Other Observations About This Book
You will need to have a copy of this book in order to be able to view the video tutorials for these projects. If you are set up to scan QR codes, that is one possible way to view the videos that accompany these patterns. However, you do not need to be set up for scanning QR codes in order to access the videos. You can also simply enter the video link into your web browser and enter a password (which you get in the book) and you’ll be taken to the videos.
At the time I posted this review, there WAS NOT a video tutorial available for every project included in this book. I have no idea whether the author of the book will update in the future and add more videos. At the time of this posting, there were videos available for showing you how to crochet 7 of the projects: the peas in a pod, the otters, the stork, the octopus, the dinosaur, the sloth and Walter the Bear.
However, the book does include detailed work-in-progress photos for every project, plus it has an extensive photo tutorial section in the beginning showing you how to do all the crochet stitches and techniques you’ll need for successfully recreating these cute amigurumi toys.
I really can’t emphasize this enough: The Woobles editorial team was extremely generous with providing work-in-progress photos in this book! Most crochet pattern books do not give you this many pictures – so if you find it helpful to have lots of step-by-step crochet tutorial photos to help you with your projects, this is definitely a book you’ll want to add to your library.
Between the cute patterns, the helpful photo and video tutorials and the affordable asking price, I’d rate this book as offering an exceptional value for the money you’ll spend on it.
Things to Be Aware of Before You Buy This Book
If you’ve been a Woobles enthusiast for awhile, it is possible that you might already own some of the kits or patterns for the projects you’ll find in this book. If you’re concerned that this could be an issue for you, please be sure to double check the pattern list I included above so you get an idea of how many of these designs will be new to you versus how many of them you might already have in your collection.
What Yarn to Use for Crocheting Your Woobles Amigurumi Toys
The suggested yarn for crocheting these amigurumi toys is the Woobles Easy Peasy Crochet Yarn, which, according to the book’s author, has been especially custom-made for beginners.
The easiest thing to do is to buy a kit that includes this yarn and the other supplies, like safety eyes, that you will need to make your project. Buying a kit also ensures you’ll get the right amount of yarn you need, which can be handy if your project requires just a small amount of multiple colors; when you buy a kit, you won’t have to buy multiple full-sized skeins to get the yarn you need.
I am sure the kits are worth the money; there are many satisfied buyers for them, and also many repeat customers. However, when I checked the price of the kits vs the price of other similar yarns I could use for these projects, I came to the conclusion that the kits cost more money than I personally wanted to invest in making these projects.
It is not necessary to buy the suggested yarn to enjoy success with crocheting your Woobles. It is possible to crochet Woobles using other, cheaper yarns. If you substitute yarns, your Wooble(s) will not look exactly the same as the ones pictured – but they will still be adorable, and you can save a bundle by using less expensive yarns.
The author mentions that you can use any medium-weight yarn that rates a #4 on the Craft Yarn Council’s yarn weight standard system. Usually, yarn labels will have a number on them specifying what weight they are – so if the Woobles Easy Peasy yarn is unavailable to you or just not what you want, you can check out yarns at your favorite craft supplies retailer and see if there is another yarn you’d rather use instead.
If you make yarn substitutions, be sure to make a note of the amount of yardage you need and order at least that much yardage in the substitute yarn, ideally buying even more to be sure you won’t run out of yarn.
Conclusion
I’m delighted to recommend this book to other crochet enthusiasts, particularly to newer crocheters who want easy patterns and would benefit from having video tutorials available. This book is also a great choice for experienced crocheters who enjoy spending time chilling with easy-level patterns. I think this book is an amazing value for its asking price, and it is likely to appeal to anyone who is interested in crocheting cute toys to give as gifts (or to keep, if you enjoy cute amigurumi toys – and who doesn’t?)
Where to Buy This Book:
- Click here to shop for this book at Biblio.
- Click here to shop for this book at Amazon.
- Click here to shop for Woobles Easy Peasy Crochet Yarn at Amazon.
- Click here to check out the Woobles Store at Amazon.
More Crochet Pattern Books You Might Enjoy
This book is the #1 choice on two of our best-of book lists: the list of best crochet books for beginners and also the list of best crochet toy pattern books. It’s honestly the best book of this type that I am aware of. However, you might like to check out some alternatives instead of, or in addition, to this book – and if you do, I invite you to check out the entire list of excellent crochet toy pattern books.
Find More Outstanding Crochet Books:
- My Picks for the Best Christmas Craft Books
- Best Crochet Stitch Dictionaries
- Best Crochet Womenswear Pattern Books
- Best Crochet Edging Pattern Books
Posted By: Amy Solovay
This page was last updated on 7-25-2023.