As a beginner crocheter who only began their crocheting journey 5 months ago, I really enjoyed this book. It showed in great detail the basics needed with photos to aid your learning and understanding. Especially as it highlighted the areas of yarn to pull with your hook to help the reader interpret these images. I enjoyed the personalisation in the book about how the author started crocheting and their initial struggle that you first face and the need to persevere; it was very inspiring.

It also covers the complication in terminology between countries, as the UK and USA use different names for terms and stitches which can be confusing, especially when first learning to crochet. The tables provided which converted hook sizes and also yarn weight to the ideal hook size was especially helpful to refer to. I did not know you should use a hook size one to two less than stated on the yarn for amigurumi, so all this information is useful to refer back to and remember for future projects. I also had not heard of the hook style before, so this was interesting to read and learn the terms for the different parts of the hook that I did not know had names.

I am also very environmentally conscious, so I liked that the book included the issue with acrylic yarn being cheaper, but made of plastic. Although it did not cover the issue with the large water footprint of cotton. It also approaches the concern of child and pet safety, such as choking hazards with buttons and safety eyes/noses and advises to embroider these, which is a very good suggestion. The book had several useful tips, such as washing toys in a pillow case, how long to leave your yarn tail to sufficiently weave it in and how to count your stitches and rounds. The patterns are laid out in an easy to read format and understand. There are also a nice range of patterns to make which also aid your learning and practice of the different stitches and techniques.

Amigurumi for Beginners is a how-to crochet book filled with the most wicked cute crochet creatures. The list of creatures can be found at the beginning of the book, so you can choose who to make without going through the whole book. My favorite would have to be Nellie the Nervous Octopus or Santiago the Shy Snake! Each creature had great diagrams and step by step instructions. The book also began with a great guide to hook sizes and instructions of reading crochet patterns. This was a great beginner crochet book!

This book starts with some crochet basics, and then has amigurumi patterns that start off at the beginner level and progress to more complicated creations. Nice illustrations are included, and directions on how to read a pattern are handy.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is a delightful crochet book. The patterns are inviting and illustrations are easy to follow. I considered myself to be an intermediate crocheter and the patterns were easy to follow. This is a great book to get you started with amigurumi.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a chance to read this book. The opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and Rockridge Press for my ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. This book is simple and clear in it's instructions. I am so excited to make all the animals in this book. I have some familiarity with Amigurumi, but I have not done a deep dive. This book is the perfect supplement to do that. Thank you!

I love how easy this was to understand. I'm really all thumbs, but still determined to learn how to crochet. This made it so much easier. I highly recommend.

I am left-handed and unfortunately the author didn’t take us lefties into consideration so the book was a waste for me. I tried following the right hand directions but couldn’t figure out some of them and definitely couldn’t figure out how to reverse them. The pictures and projects are cute, if not particularly original. I wouldn’t call this book really for beginners, but maybe the next step up after mastering the basics elsewhere. . I’m just not sure what the purpose of the book is - there’s nothing new or especially interesting to compel me to purchase or recommend this book. One could just Google the topic and find the same material online, often with accompanying videos.

I have used a lot of crochet patterns and books. This was one of these books which was really handy and explained stuff this even I didn't know. There is a really handy table for the conversion of yarn weights. It is basic so its perfect for beginners. If you are looking for something that is a little more advanced this might not be the book for you.

The patterns are really cute and easy to understand. All in all it was a good book for beginners.

Split up into two parts - part one goes through techniques needed to create amigurumi, and can be used as a reference manual or skipped altogether if you already have experience crocheting.

Part 2 consists of 20 amigurumi patterns listed from easy to more challenging. Each pattern comes with a clear photo, a list of necessary materials and an easy-to-follow pattern description. Where necessary additional photos have been added to the instructions to explain the trickier aspects of the pattern.

I can definitely see myself making many of these, and especially love the owl, the frog and the dachshound

As someone brand new to crochet, this book was EXCELLENT! There are so many animals included, not to mention you can mix and mash to make other animals. The first half is all for us beginners about techniques, types of stitches, etc. The author included photos of how to do different stitches, and they are really well done and easy to read. Great book to go back and reference again. I am extremely happy I got this book!

While this is very cute and has relatively simple designs, I found the creatures a bit too simplistic looking afterwards. The awkward dimensions of eyes in ratio to heads and hands made the amigurumi look quite amateur and homemade.
While I know that this was for beginners I do think that the end product could have been a bit less clumsy looking.
The actual instructions were quite easy to read though which makes it a great choice for anyone starting out.

This book is a very beginner-friendly introduction to amigurumi (small stuffed crochet dolls). The patterns are cute and the initial diagrams are clearly drawn. While I still believe that video crochet instruction is probably easier to learn from, this book is very accessible for new crocheters. As expected based on the title, it does not cover more advanced techniques like magic ring, invisible decrease, or clean color joining.

I found that the instructions for this book were really well done in terms of the introduction and the basics of crochet. As someone new to this craft, and truthfully still have to do my first kit so that I can officially be new and not just an observer, I found that a lot of the basics covered in the first pages of the book were well written and spoke to my newness. Many other books that are similar didn't do as good a job of this part, and of showing the various techniques - hard in a static book but still possible. Unfortunately, the actual patterns were a bit disappointing because they didn't really capture my understanding of what constitutes crochet amigurumi. I really wanted them to be cuter, and there were only a handful that I felt ended up in that category. For me at least. The penguin and a lot of the round, small introductory ones were patterns I could probably get behind, but the others just didn't capture the vibe for me. The octopus, penguin, turtle and bee were by far my favourites and the ones that I would likely try from this book.

So, great for the basics. Not so much for the actual patterns. Not for me anyway.

Amigurumi for Beginners is a tutorial instruction guide with patterns for 20 amigurumi animals written by Julia Simpson. Released 1st Nov. 2022 by Callisto on their Rockridge Press imprint, it's 210 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

The book is logically laid out and accessible. The graphics are appealing and clear. The book is lavishly illustrated and I really appreciate the closeness and detail of the photography. The book has a short introduction including the history of amigurumi along with a short pep talk about why the author started crocheting soft toys.

There are two main parts. The first section includes a fairly thorough intro to crochet and tools and supplies. The chapter is well illustrated with clear photos of different brands of crochet hooks, what they look like, and the structural differences. There's also a handy chart with metric/US size and gauge measurements. The author presupposes no previous knowledge of crochet and the instruction is upbeat and positive (and reassuring). There's enough info here to start crocheting for both visual and hands-on learners. She also covers other supplies, like yarn and stuffing, safety eyes, embroidery thread, needle choices, etc. There are handy US vs. UK terms and explanations, which will be useful to a broad range of readers from most of the English speaking world.

The intro is followed by the 20 tutorials. Each tutorial contains multiple photos (mostly finished project photos), tools and supplies, and well written (not charted) instructions. There are no construction instructions or photos, although those -are- covered in the intro / general tutorial on how-to crochet.

The author has included links to her online presence in the credits at the end of the book for readers who wish to follow or interact with the online community as well as links for readers who wish to source tools and supplies online.

Well done and a nice selection of patterns which are fundamentally different from one another, giving the reader a broad platform for creating alternative amigurumi and for customization.

Four and a half stars. Well worth a read for crochet interested readers. The dolls are cute, and most are quite small and quick to finish.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

As the name suggest, this is truly a amigurumi book for beginners. The book covers all essential topics from yarn and hook selection to basic stitches used to master the art of Amigurumi. The book also has 20 projects with beautifully written instructions and pictures where ever needed. The author has also given the toys fun and charming names, I did like Sammy the Speedy Turtle. He looks cute and adorable. Can’t wait to try my hands on each one of them.

This is an absolutely fantastic book for beginners! It teaches great and simple techniques to get you started. The only issue I saw was the digital format was sometimes a little wonky, the pattern for the birds are terrible (owl and penguin), and caterpillars only have 6 legs not 8. Other than those small issues, this book was absolutely fantastic. I will be making MANY of the patterns.

Thanks NetGalley, Callisto Media, and Rockridge Press for access to this informative and cute arc!!

This is such a great beginner amigurumi book! I've been wanting to learn for a while, but have been quite intimidated haha! The patterns in this are easy to read and very beginner friendly. My favourites are the bee and the cat!! They look very cute on my shelf :3

I had been looking forward to trying amigurumi and this book by Julia Simpson is just perfect.
Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for this ebook.

"Amigurumi for Beginners" by Julia Simpson really nails down the techniques and tools needed to get into crochet. I am a beginner myself and while I've watched tons of youtube videos, I still had a lot of good takeaway from this. There is also quite a few patterns, my particular favorite being the raccoon. The presentation is kind of basic but that's okay because it is concise.

It's the perfect book for beginners who wanted to learn how to crochet, the patterns are so easy to follow and there's a lot of cute animals pattern to choose inside!

It shows the steps one by one, some even included pictures to make it easier to follow. There's also a list of materials and tools for each of the doll's pattern if you want the doll to be the same size as in the pattern you follow.

I will definitely make a bunch of cute animals from this book!