Crochet Stories: Grimms' Fairy Tales

This book is part crochet patterns, part fairy tales, and as thus makes for a very charming resource for parents, teachers, babysitters and anybody else who's frequently around children. The book is split up into five parts: "Hansel and Gretel", "The Hare and the Hedgehog", "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Tom Thumb" and "Rapunzel". Each part starts off with the original Grimm fairy tale, and is then followed by patterns to the most essential characters and settings in the story.

So for instance for "Hansel and Gretel" there's a pattern for Hansel, Gretel, the Witch and the Gingerbread House!

A crocheter with small kids can make the crochet projects, and use them to tell the story; and a crocheter with older kids can use these patterns to teach the kids to crochet, so they can make their own characters to tell the stories!

The patterns instructions were clear, with good photos of each finished project, and I liked how Vanessa Putt included both very well known and slightly more obscure fairy tales.... and with the success of "Tangled", Rapunzel will be sure to be an instant hit.

A++++ great book!

Vanessa Putt has created a truly wonderful resource for parents, teachers, childminders and any other professional who works with children. This book is a wonderful teaching resource as the author beautifully combines traditional Fairytales with her well written, clear patterns. The five fairy tales this book is based on are a mixture between well known classics and a couple of lesser known, the "old english" maybe hard to understand by very young children.
The patterns are all well written, with clear photos. Vanessa Putt gives ideas on how to personalise each figure separately. Beginners should carefully read the initial introductions by the author and use the information at the beginning of the book as a stitch and reference guide. I particularly enjoyed the Gingerbreadhouse pattern, although not very demanding to work up the pattern, the beautiful colour choices and creativity that can be put into the decorations are wonderful.
More experienced crocheters may want to adapt some of the more basic patterns, as these are straight forward amigurumis, this can easily be done. All in all this is a beautiful collection of patterns, with a new twist that will be a pleasure to have for many amigurumi enthusiasts.

16 patterns of amigurumi ,the Japanese art of crocheting animal and doll figure, are included in this charming book. The book contains the telling of five Grimm's fairy tales and the patterns for crocheted characters . Tales such as Hansel and Gretel with patterns for the witch ,the Gingerbread house and the children or Jack and the bean stalk with a pattern for the giant and the beanstalk.
The patterns include a list of supplies needed and full instructions to complete each tales scene. These would be adorable to make for a child. The patterns are simple and easy to follow.

What a cute book this is. The perfect gift to give to a young child accompanied with the characters to be knitted from the book, by the gift-giver. The crochet patterns are easy and simple to follow, add your own interpretation of the details on the finished figurines, and you have a very cute and unique addition to a classical fairy tale book. Use them as to stage your own little show for the young attendees, and bring the stories to life. What a wonderful idea for a book. Just love the little hedgehogs. All the patterns are so easy to enlarge or minimize, just by changing the yarn ply, giving lots more options to their use.

I really love this whole series.

The books are well-organized for actually doing the patterns and actually contain the information needed for some of the more unusual stitches that are used. The pictures help a ton as well--they might not be needed for the very advanced, but I don't generally do very well without a few ideas of what things are supposed to look like along the way, and I'm grateful for them.

The inclusion of the stories before the patterns added a new level to this. It's now not just useful for the patterns, it feels like a book I actually want to keep around. The mix of stories included was interesting as well--not just the "basic" Grimm stories, but a few I wasn't terribly familiar with ("The Hare and the Hedgehog," anyone? I had forgotten about this completely.)

I get the idea that this is intended to be at least partially for those who crochet and have small children (these would be fun for telling the story, I bet) or those who have children of an age where they might learn how to crochet (the combination of comfortable patterns and stories would probably make it easier), but I enjoyed this quite a bit and I don't fall into either category. I have started a beanstalk and intend to make myself a Jack to go along with it, and I'll probably do several of the others as well (the witch is adorable and would probably look cute by my punch bowl for Halloween).

This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I can't wait to try these. A great addition to the ami books out there.

Amigurumi has been a passion of mine for the past five years or so and I have been so pleased to see the gradual increase in available patterns. Of all of the patterns and pattern books I have seen so far I find that this one stands apart in that it is one I have actually considered buying. I usually get my patterns for free online but this book is endearing enough that I would be willing to cough up the dough.

Here is why: While I have not had a chance to complete all of the patterns I found that the patterns were clear (not something you find everywhere. I can't explain the frustration of buying a pattern and getting down to it and not being able to figure out the garbled goop that is written on the page.) This is of a necessity in any good pattern.

It is helpful as well that the book also includes the basic pattern for how to make a doll body. This is nice because it not only shows how to make the dolls in the book but provides the average crochet-er the ability to use what they learn in this book and go further.

As a teacher I was also very tickled to see that their was a story for every character set. Not only would kids picking this book up be getting patterns for cute plashes but they would also get some exposure to the stories that inspired them. I would easily recommend this to some of my craftier students for SSR as a book to pleasure read. I can imagine that these stories would be appealing to other kinds of crafters as well, such as mothers creating these dolls for their kids or perhaps grandchildren. I can imagine these hand made dolls becoming puppets for nightly story-time. It's an endearing idea and the final straw that tipped this crochet pattern book into being a purchase worthy book for any person interested in crochet.

There are two categories of crochet books, either they are a hit or they are a miss. This one is definitely a hit. I love that the book starts off with the basic person pattern, which means that after practicing a few of the characters here, you will be designing your own fairy tale creatures in no time.

Although I often see doll characters, I haven't seen the other play pieces (Rapunzel's tower or the Cookie House from Hansel and Gretel). Those are what make this book so unique and fun. It also makes the projects you create excellent gifts, you could easily partner them with a copy of the corresponding book and be the hit of any child's birthday party :)

The patterns are perfect for beginners and I think kids who like to crochet or are interested in crochet would enjoy using this book together. I also think it would be a fun grandma/grandkid project, they could read the stories and then play with the creations. I would have loved doing something like that when I was a kid.

This book is so cute! I had thought before opening it that it would just be patterns and hadn't realized it has the stories the characters are from as well! What a fantastic idea!

The patterns are written clearly and should be easy for even a novice to follow (I would consider myself to be advanced, having written my own patterns and crocheting for 8 years now, just to give an idea of where I'm coming from. :) ).

I've made almost the complete set of Jack & the Beanstalk toys and it's so much reading the story to my 3-year-old son and having the toys to play with at the same time.

Review will be posted Feb 26 Another Crochet book in which I wish I knew how to crochet. This one features some of your favorite characters from Grimms' Fairy Tales. As with most craft books, this one starts out with some notes, tips and abbreviations so you understand what is going on in the rest of the book. The first pattern is an easy pattern known as the "Basic Person" which will get you started on any of the person characters in the book. Each project has a list of all the things you need and is broken down by The Yarn, The Hook, Additional Materials, Measurements and Gauge. There is the skill level, a photo of the finished product and a break down of the steps to create it. The rest of the book is broken down by each of the Grimms' Fairy Tales beginning with a photo of a scene that you can create and then the story. Included are Hansel and Gretel, THe Hare and the Hedgehog, Jack and the beanstalk (The giant looks a bit like Hagrid if you decide to try and make some Harry Potter characters too!), Tom Thumb and Rapunzel.

I think my personal favorites are the house from Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel and her tower and the hedgehogs! Now, if only I could learn how to crochet. Maybe that's something for the 2017 crafty to-do list. 2016 has enough on there as it is ;)

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

I love this series of crochet stories! This book has a great set of patterns with fantastic pictures and tips. Most amigurumi that I have seen is made with a magic ring or loop, but Ms. Putt shows us how to create ami using the chain method, which makes a great product as well.

In addition to great patterns with clear instructions, there is a written story for each of the dolls. Tom Thumb, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, and other familiar Grimm's tales are included! It would be fun to make each character and read the stories with my children.

Thank you, NetGalley and Dover Publications, for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I loved it!

This is cute - and the patterns are easy to follow. I would say that it is not quite as simple as presented in the book though!

This is an adorable little book with an unexpected hidden treat inside! I knew it was crochet patterns for these tiny little Grimm's creatures but what I didn't expect was the lovely, quirky telling of each of the Fairy Tales before each set of patterns! Most of them were a bit different than I have ever heard. I don't know if it was the author's cute way of telling them or if she has done a lot of research and found an original set before being modified through the years. But, it was interesting to read the different versions before reading the patterns.
The patterns are well written. Simple and easy to follow which is not always true for crochet patterns.

I was sent this book in eBook form to read by Net Galley for my honest opinion which I have given here.

This is a crochet book with projects from five different Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales. They are: Hansel and Gretel, The Hare and the Hedgehog, Jack and the Beanstalk, Tom Thumb, and Rapunzel. The projects include some different and interesting items such as the cottage from Hansel and Gretel and the Beanstalk from Jack and the Beanstalk.

The designer includes the type of yarn used which is a very thrifty Red Heart Super Saver. She also gives you the hook size but there is no gauge size as it is not important. If you crochet with a lot of tension, your projects will be slightly smaller; if you crochet with loose tension, they will be larger. I tend to have loose tension and my daughter, very tight tension. Needless to say, we can’t work on this as a project together as there will be a noticeable difference in sizes. If you plan to finish the project by yourself, all of the characters should be similar sized.

Along with the projects, the book tells the fairy tale story. You can use it as a way to read for yourself or to the child in your life as you crochet or after you have finished the project and they can play with the charactes.

I received a digital ARC copy of this book from the publisher, Dover Publications, via Netgalley.

I love to crochet. It was what I learned first before I learned to knit. I've been making a lot of amigurumi of sorts lately, and love doing characters. This is an exciting book, and I love that there is a story for each pattern! The story is interesting enough that I could have my daughter read to me, while I actually crochet her a character from that story. It's nice to see them engage in such a good story, but then to get their very own character doll at the end, is also something sweet and amazing. I really love this book. The patterns are super easy to follow, and I love that the yarn that they use is simply within budget as I've seen others suggest a much pricier yarn. For something that will be played with, the suggest yarn is completely perfect. I can't wait to make every single character and have my children read and even use the dolls to act out the stories. Would recommend this to parents because usually when we crochet, our kids are doing their own thing. It's a perfect bonding tool.

This book is very good for the beginner crocheter. The patterns are simple and easy to follow. I loved the fairy tale stories inside along with the pictures! This was a nice surprise. I recommend this book for anyone with children, grandchildren, or that work with children. It's also good for someone who simply likes amigurami. I received a free copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Nice selection.

Simple crochet patterns with easy to follow instructions. Good addition to libraries with crochet clubs or patrons with an interest in amigurumi.

This is an adorable crochet book with instructions that are not too hard to follow for the general crocheter. I will be ordering a copy for our library.

For those ladies (and gentlemen) with dexterous fingers and a love of fairy tales, Crochet Stories: Grimms' Fairy Tales will be a welcome addition to your crafting books. Author Vanessa Putt combines the familiar stories of the Brothers Grimm and colorful patterns for amigurumi, or Japanese crochet stuffed dolls.

Crochet Stories: Grimms' Fairy Tales not only provides patterns, but a retelling of each story using the finished dolls. Inside you will find Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk and even long-haired Rapunzel. The instructions for the dolls are clear if you're well versed in crochet and provide step by step points. For a beginner, some of the patterns may prove a bit more challenging. Let's be real; the most complicated thing I've been able to crochet myself is a granny square. However, if you've moved past basic blanket elements, the book gives you great tips and pointers for working in the round, stuffing the doll, measurements and making sure you're finishing beautifully.

The finished projects make great gifts for younger folks and lovers of fairy tales.

Crochet Stories: Grimm's Fairy Tales is available now from Dover Publications.

This is definitely a public library book, although if you want to make anything from the book, you'd be better off getting your own copy. These would make really cute decorations for a children's library or a kid's room.

Cute ideas. Enjoyable book & easy to follow directions