I came across the *cutest* crochet animal kits for beginners. Ok, Instagram… your ad got me and it earned you a purchase!
Here’s an example of what drew me in:
The making of these little animals are called Amigurumi — the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small, stuffed yarn creatures.
I had crocheted a few beginner flat pieces before, learning from Youtube with the cheapest yarn I could find at Joann. But The Woobles kits said it was for beginners and provided everything needed for a finished product. I also watched a video where the founder explained she wanted to teach people how to crochet in a way that avoided the mistakes or frustrations she came across as a beginner; she even went to be purposeful about the specific yarn she included as one of the issues novices face is the yarn working against you. I completely related as I accidentally have split up plied yarn with my crochet hook. All of that, plus the end result of a cute animal, roped me in!
Cost
Fred the Dinosaur Crochet Kit + Fitzherbert the Bear Crochet Kit (no hooks)
Free shipping
Tax
IG 20% off promo
= $57
Timing
I made the purchase right off IG on a Monday in May 2022 and it arrived Saturday. Saturday I received an email from the company with direct links to digital guides. Here’s the product package, along with a spoiler… I did it!
So as you can see from the photo above, mission accomplished! It took me 3 nights to complete. The dinosaur is rated as Beginner+. This bear is rated as Intermediate and I also completed that one, which did take me a little longer:
My Big Mistake
I tried to camouflage it in the photos above so it may not be that obvious, but the bear’s face is definitely not centered 😅 his eyes are too far to his left by a couple of stitches. The unfortunate thing about using the eyes that snap in is that they don’t come out! Versus using embroidery yarn — at least you have a chance to cut it out. I had to go with my mistake and put the snout in between the eyes evenly, but I made a further mistake when I put the ears on square with the head; I should have also offset the ears so it really sold the “looking to the left” look. But I didn’t think to do that and now my bear is a bit derpy. Oops!
Accomplishments and General Process
Through the kits, I learned:
- how to read crochet notation
- single crochet stitch
- magic circle
- how to attach eyes and limbs
- how to embroider details
The lessons combine both written instructions as well as very slow, zoomed in videos with literal explanations. Completing these projects gave me confidence in crocheting! I agree this product is great for beginners. I think the difference between using this as a beginner lesson vs learning how to do some specific stitches from Youtube (which I was doing previously) is that these little animals give you a finished product as a goal, something to work towards. I’m happy I did them and they helped me make the leap into completing another crochet project. I would recommend these as a gift or a self-purchase for someone who wants to learn how to crochet and end up with a really cute end product!
