Funny-looking birds and cute handmade toys are pretty much two of my main jams, which is why I specifically learnt to crochet to make Toft’s Sophia the Flamingo.
Anyway, as I mentioned in my flamingo post, I was lucky enough to get the Edward’s Menagerie: Birds book for Christmas, and I only managed to wait until Boxing Day to jump onto Wool Warehouse and order yarn for my next bird.
Rather than get ahead of myself (something I’m kind of known for doing), I sensibly decided to stick with Level 1 birds, which use more basic crochet skills. There are so many beautiful patterns even just in that section, but I decided to make Ina the stork; I loved the contrast of her white feathers with her super bright orange legs. And look how she turned out!
As far as yarn was concerned I needed something fairly inexpensive with vibrant colourways, and Cascade 220 Sport looked just right. When it arrived the colours were fantastic and I found it easy to work with. That said, despite having absolutely no problems with the skein of white yarn, the orange came apart and got nightmarishly tangled, so if you do use this yarn – be careful! In the end I had to just gradually unravel the whole thing and roll it back up into balls.
As with the previous bird, the pattern was really easy to follow. The only thing I had trouble with (which you can’t really see here) was the tail, through my fault rather than the pattern – I still just haven’t quite nailed splitting rounds, but hopefully I’ll work it out next time!
Also, I think I might have slightly overstuffed the head and body, as she looks a tiny bit bloated. But otherwise, I’m really pleased with the result – especially the hilariously bright, wiggly legs, for which I used learnt a new technique to crochet a tiny fourth claw.
I’m taking a little break from crochet now to work on some knitting projects, though I did already order the yarn to make a bright yellow canary. When I’ve made a couple more, I’ll definitely be posting a full review of the book itself – so keep an eye out.
I’ll leave you with a final picture of adorable Ina. Let me know if you decide to give any of the Toft patterns a try!
Hook, Knit and Stitch 