Edward's Menagerie: Birds: Over 40 soft toy patterns for crochet birds

I bought this book to make toys for my daughter. She's a baby and is drawn to these toys for their bright colors. As soon as I got the book, I dropped all my other projects to make a flamingo. It came out perfectly and she loves it.Although all of these are patterns for birds, they each look unique from each other and range from exotic birds to birds you find in your own backyard. The patterns are easy to follow and most have the same standard body, legs, and wings but with color changes, special embellishments, and even just sewing the wings on at a different angle, each bird takes on its own personality.The birds are divided into three levels of difficulty. Level 1 is the easiest, with few color changes and special stitches while level 3 has the most advanced color changing and shaping. These could be difficult for a beginner, but if you get really stuck and the notes in the "technicals" section don't help, the website has videos of some of the more complicated techniques used. Also, you can make the toys whatever size you want by using different sizes of hooks and weights of yarn.It is important to note that this book uses British terminology for the patterns, so if you're from the U.S. when the pattern says dc (double crochet) it means sc (single crochet.) It's mentioned in passing on page 109, but is easy to overlook. Fortunately that's the only stitch used, so no need to memorize the U.S. equivalents to treble crochet, half treble, double treble, etc. The only real complaint I have about the book is having to flip back and forth between the special instructions for the bird you're working on and the standard form directions on pages 16-19. But if the directions for each bird were printed out in full beside each bird, the book would probably be 250 pages or more, so that's not really practical.If you want to crochet something for a child that they will actually play with, I recommend this book. Best of all, these are child safe and washable. (Also I wanted to note that I did not use the luxury yarn used in the book. I used the cheapest acrylic yarn I could find, knowing it would be drooled on, spit up on, and thrown around. My birds still came out perfect.)

After buying the first Edward's Menagerie book, I was excited to see this one come out but surprised to see it so colorful. The first book created something very unique in the muted color palette, so I'm not sure how this will compare -- whether it will look like a collection like the mammals do. I still like the fact that all the standard forms are in one place. It's not that big a deal to flip back and forth between them. If it really bothers you, make copies of the standard forms pages and have them next to the instructions for any particular bird. The whole point of this (these) collections is that the body parts are all the same style, and that makes them unique. The author did a better job this time around of providing finishing instructions and other details. Read through the whole book (not including the patterns themselves) before diving in and it will make more sense. Same two complaints as last time: the book won't stay open on its own, and you're never told how much yarn you need to make each bird.I actually splurged on the Toft yarn. Had it shipped all the way to Texas from England, only to find out that one ball of pink is not enough to make the flamingo. The colored yarns come in much smaller put-ups than the naturals, so if you're going to use Toft yarn, make sure you get at least two of each color called for in the bird(s) you're making if you're doing more than one (ex: flamingo).But even if you aren't using the author's yarn, she still doesn't tell you how much you need for any of the sizes. I'm doing all of mine in the standard size. I definitely couldn't afford to use her yarn on the large or giant versions.Still it is a unique idea and format. I happen to like the stylized versions of the birds just as I do with the mammals. I expect the same thing with the forthcoming "Imaginarium" monster book, and have already pre-ordered it. If you want some of the author's creative patterns that aren't in this same style, visit her website -- thetoftalpacashop.co.uk -- where she has a new series of dogs that are excellent.

I am a beginning American crocheter, and this is a British book. Some thing you need to know--across the pond, a single crochet is called a double crochet. This info is buried in the technical section in the back of the book. Also, her directions "(dc2, dc2 next stitch) 6 times, 24 stitches", made no sense to me until I looked up how to do amigurumi rounds in an American book which spelled things out more clearly. I think that means "dc in next 2 stitches, then dc 2 in next stitch 6 times." Again, I'm a beginner, and maybe her directions make perfect sense to somebody else. But, for a beginner, prepare to be confused! Still, by using another book for reference, maybe I can make some of these cute birds.

Here is picture of African Grey parrot with model I used. It was sent as a gift to a friend. In my haste, I did not write down what I did. It wasn't until others asked me for more that I realized my error. I went looking for crochet stuffed bird, specifically parrots. There aren't that many out there. I saw this book here on Amazon. I gave it a try. I made a parrot following directions in book. The body came out about the same. The legs, feet and beak are much better then what I did. The directions are easy to follow. Be aware that the crochet terms are British. So convert them to American to save yourself time. I am rating this 4 because of the way the pictures are positioned with the different types of feet and legs in Kindle edition. There is no name on picture page. So it is difficult to determine if the picture is before or after the directions.

I LOVE THIS BOOK!! I have just started crocheting and learned for the purpose of making these birds. The book is very good at explaining to how to crochet to a beginner. Also, the company, Toft, that put out the book has a series of videos that explains several of the steps and techniques. I have made one bird (see picture) and I am on my second bird. I plan to get the animal book from the series as well.

Always love these patterns. I even learned crochet using these and a few YouTube tutorials. The birds look a little goofy as they have rather large legs and feet but once you have the hang of it the patterns are relatively easy to adjust.Comes with helpful diagrams, pictures of each bird next to the pattern and enough range to stop me getting bored.Would recommend the one with various animals over this but still no regrets in buying this. Also the difficulty of patterns ranges from beginner to advanced which I appreciated.

I love the way Kerry explains this book, looking forwards to do my first bird soon

Its for the wife. Looks great. She will have to be the judge on the how easy or tricky the patterns are to follow, when she receives it

Some lovely patterns. I decided to make the kingfisher. However, it was very fiddly with double knitting, so I turned to a larger animal, the rhino, so that I could work out what to do first. I now feel confident going back to the birds. Don't give up!

Lovely book, usual Edwards Menagerie pictures and instructions. Good value from this site.