There are so many amigurumi books on the market that finding something fresh and new can like a lost cause. And then in jumps in Amy Ting’s book. Not only does it include an amazing variation of 25 designs but it also has many helpful pictures, including each individual finished piece (ie a wing or foot) plus finishing help.

I found the difficulty levels and their organization easy to understand. The lowest level uses only single crochet and has relatively simple construction while the hardest may involve specialty stitches, multiple color changes or intricate finishing instructions. The easiest - and first - pattern is the duck featured on the cover. It’s the author’s breakout design so it’s no wonder it takes pride of place! Several variations follow - duck, turkey - but the book doesn’t only contain variations on a few patterns. There’s a koala, a starfish, a shark, a turtle… just an amazing variety of patterns that, even in the rare occasion where they share the same base, are unique and original.

It’s honestly hard to pick a favorite pattern. One of my personal favorites is the spiders. While they only use single crochet, they’re rated at a more intermediate level of difficulty due to the small tubes that make up the legs. The otters, with their big noses and tiny baby, were huge hits with my kids and have gone to the top of their wishlist. At the highest difficultly level, the sea turtles are simply amazing, with gorgeous shell-like stitches on their shells and little accents like eyelids and a hint of a darker color around a flipper.

Overall, this book has a great variety of patterns with clear instructions, definitely something that someone with beginning crochet experience could pick up and enjoy. And with all those patterns, it’s pretty much guaranteed that everyone will find something they like!

Thank you to Netgalley and to Cider Mill Press for this ARC. My review is voluntarily given and my opinions are my own.

there were some really cute patterns in this book. they were easy to understand and well written. cant wait to make more critters!

I love that the book includes QR codes to get help with videos. The patterns look easy to complete and there are so many adorable animals. I can't wait to try to make one.

5 stars

This book is full of colorful photos of step by step instructions on how to crochet these adorable little critters. The book gives you an introduction to crocheting, discusses the different tools and difficulty levels in crocheting, techniques, and contains different patters for each level of difficulty. This is perfect for a beginner like me or even someone who’s bee crocheting for years. One of my favorite designs is the penguin which is an intermediate level. I hope to be able to make my own one day soon.

The tiny crochet critters in this book are adorable. Gertrude the Grumpy Chick? Yes, please! So many of the designs put a smile on my face, which is not a small blessing. Even though I’ve been crocheting nearly 50 years, I learned new tips and tricks in the introductory technique pages. Never before have I heard of switching to a “yarn under” or why that would help.

The first animal I plan to try is Shredder the Shark, for a boy whose favorite animal that is. I will try to circle back and update the review with my experience of making that pattern.

Over all, this book will likely spark delight and imagination in crocheters of various skill levels. It provides beautiful, bright photos and clear explanations. These critters would be perfect stocking stuffers or “just because” surprises for a loved one. They would be easy to tuck into a college care package or into a gift bag to add a personal touch to a gift card. Gertrude, the koala, the sloth, and the family of otters are my favorites as far as cuteness factor. I’ll start with the shark and go from there.

Thank you Cider Mill Press and NetGalley for the complimentary e-ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book has a great selection of adorable designs that will work for different skill levels. The book starts with explaining the basics of tools, yarn, difficulty levels and techniques. The pictures of finished amigurumi are cute, the instructions easy to understand, there are also QR codes to watch YouTube videos of stitch tutorials if pictures were not enough. In general the book is nicely made and my kids already picked the characters we need to make next.

This is a great book for all levels of crocheting. I’m a seasoned crocheter and learned things. I loved the tips at the beginning. The patterns are easy to follow. My only negative is that I found using an ebook pattern was tricky as I like to annotate as I go.

25 truly adorable patterns are included in this book of amigurumi toys. I think the frog is my favorite! I appreciate that the patterns are divided by skill level. Each have beautiful color photos with details such as assembly and embroidery. The author mentions her YouTube channel which made me go take a look. So nice you can watch her videos for inspiration and techniques. She discusses yarn types and I also prefer cotton for my amigurumi. The book includes the basics, Magic Ring, increasing, decreasing, etc. I highly recommend this book if you'd like to improve your skills or if you already know what you're doing and want to dive right in.

I absolutely adored the critter patterns in Amugurumi Critters by Amy Ting! They were unique and new patterns I don't see often. As a still learning crocheter, the patterns were easy enough to follow along and the tips and tricks she offered were helpful. Thank you to Netgalley, Amy Ting and Cider Mill Press for the ARC!

There are a lot of cute crochet patterns in this book. I made the axolotl and the frog so far. The abbreviations are easy to understand and the stitches are beginner friendly; however, I did run into a few instances where the pattern wasn’t lining up (ex. White on frog’s chest). I am pretty proficient in crochet so it wasn’t a big deal for me, but a beginner may struggle with this. I have used a few other pattern books by Amy Ting in the past and have made some awesome crochet pieces. Thank you NetGalley and Cider Mill Press for the opportunity to read and utilize this guide.

My first thoughts and feelings. I will be back after attempting to create a critter.

This is an extremely adorable book! It got me to stop procrastinating (I have always been curious about creating these wonderful creatures) and go pick up some materials to get started. I just ordered a beginner kit to get started (30July2025).

The book is marketed to an audience of intermediate-beginner, however, Amy Ting also encourages one to just start by following a video on her youtube (curiouspapaya) for Gertrude the Grumpy Chick. I have taken a look at it, and the audio-visuals really help visualise the stitch patterns.

As a newbie, I will be honest, the descriptions on the patterns do scare me (i.e. Rnd 2: (inc) x6 [12]).

But I am determined to start and create a cute critter, as the animals in this book is really way too adorable. I will update in a month on my progress and whether I finally got over my fear of all the abbreviations.

P.S. I am extremely thankful that I was provided with an advanced e-book by NetGalley for my honest review. I do believe this book would be much better in print form, due to the cute square shape of the book.

As a beginner in crochet this book was really fun! I am still learning to read patterns but the instructions on the magic circle and different techniques was really easy to follow! The critters you can make with this book are also adorable and so cute! I cannot wait to try and make some of these once I can read a pattern better, but for the most part I thought they looked pretty standard and understandable!

Love love love it! Clear, precise instruction and great pictures really make the projects doable. I have always struggled with amigurimi crochet, but with the tips and tricks from this book I have improved quite a bit! Highly recommend!

This is a great book for beginners or semi non-beginners that only know basics. The pictures of the plushies are adorable, the instructions easy to follow and the designs are well thought out.

I was so excited to have been able to download this book. I went straight to Michael’s, got some hooks, yarn, and got ready to work. I’m learning and this book has been instrumental in teaching me the single crochet, magic circles, and binding off techniques that are needed to build the bodies of the cute little plushies! I even got my daughters into it!

Thank you for giving my girls and I something in common that’s can help us spend time together.

Very cute, easy to follow patterns with lots of helpful pictures and diagrams for every level. I'm excited to make some of these critters!

These patterns are absolutely adorable and all of the extra instructions are spot on. I love this little book of critters and can't wait to make more than a few!

If you've ever wanted to start making cute stuffies, but aren't sure if you're ready to take on a large project, this book is for you! These are super cute little critters, perfect for beginners on up. The patterns are simple to read and there's extra instruction for yarn and hook selection and a couple of more advanced stitches that I haven't seen included in other crochet books. Once someone is comfortable with these smaller projects, they should be more than prepared to move onto something larger with confidence.

My 12 year old also loved this! She's just learning to crochet, but had no problem reading through the patterns and working through what to do to complete a project. The most difficult thing for her was picking which one to start with. Each new critter brought new comments of how cute the projects are!

My only hang up on this on is that there are a few critters that are just variations of the same pattern - the little ducks, etc. Still super cute and helped show how easy it is to make each pattern your own, but I would have loved to see one or two different critters as well.

Thank you Netgalley and Cider Mill Press for the ARC!

This is such a great amigurumi crochet book. Not only does it have so many different things to crochet but the instructions are great. I was able to make Finnegan the fox and it turned out almost identical to the picture, The book has a lot of picture references which are always needed when doing amigurumi crochet projects. Another thing I appreciated was the different levels of difficulty the book had, so either a beginner or a more advanced crocheter can get this book and still have fun. I highly recommend this to anyone looking to get into amigurumi!

Thank you NetGalley and Cider Mill Press for the RC! Amigurumi Critters is an excellent resource for crochet crafters looking for cute amigurumi (Japanese crochet/knitted stuffed toy) animals. The instructions are well laid out and easy to follow with great accompanying images, as well as links to further resources. I followed the instructions for Finnegan the Fox and had no problems following along and ended up with an adorable little critter friend! This is now a must-buy for me, and I look forward to creating some of the other designs!