Crocheted Sea Creatures: A Collection of Marine Mates to Make Paperback – Illustrated, September 29, 2015

I wanted to clarify for everyone that this book does not have knitting instructions at all. Before I pre-ordered, I checked with Amazon customer service and was told that it is knitted. If I believed that, I would not have pre-ordered it. So Amazon really should change that so knitters and crocheters alike are not mislead by the listing. The preview showed crocheted pictures and references, so I couldn't imagine why it would be knitted. I crossed my fingers and went for it. It arrived yesterday and I LOVE IT!!! Beautiful photography, easy to follow patterns. You should be aware that the stitches are listed in UK terms and must be converted to US terms (UK dc = US sc). Perhaps that's why they have (knitted) in the listing? I quickly got started on the Puffer Fish. It is a bit challenging, but I don't mind going on You Tube if there is a new stitch to learn. The sea creatures are so life-like and large. I'm looking forward to crocheting all of them!!

This is an awesome book. Both my daughter and I crochet and look for unusual patterns; also, patterns that we cannot produce ourselves without a lot of thought. This book has patterns for :whale, starfish, jellyfish, shark, seahorse, octopus, nautilus, angler fish, puffer fish, sea urchin, hermit crab, and lobster. It puts both written directions and charts. I have seen patterns for some of these creatures in other books but not nearly as detailed and the finished products do not look as good. For example, the shell for the hermit crab looks like the shell our real, live pet hermit crab had. I haven't made all the patterns, but they look pretty straight-forward and simple. My daughter and I are very pleased with this book. The one thing that might cause problems for some people is that the author uses British crochet terminology. That means when she says double crochet Americans should do single crochet. This is very easy to adjust to especially because she has a chart in the book on page 156 comparing UK and US crochet terms.

They are very real looking and a bit of a challenge. But they look real good when you get them finished.

I haven't gotten around to making anything yet, but I have perused the patterns. After looking through these patterns I have ran into 2 problems, which although are minor are also enough of an annoyance that I had to dock a star.First problem is this book uses UK terminology for stitches, and doesn't let you know that it uses UK terminology. I only found out after I noticed they used the treble stitch in a few patterns, and a lot of double crochet, which is single crochet in American terminology (please don't do the American double crochet where it says to dc.) I honestly don't mind that this book uses only UK terminology, but I do find it annoying when I don't get any warning ahead of time.The final problem I have encountered is there is almost no yarn weights given. All yarns are by brand unless they are oddments, which are usually in DK (Weight 3.) An example is the yarn required for the shark is:Katia Peru, 40% Wool, 40% Acrylic, 20% Alpaca (115yds/106m per 100g ball)2x 100g balls in 012 (A)1x 100g ball in 026 (B)1x 100g ball in 003 (C)Oddments of DK yarn in black (D) and white (E)Other than those problems I can't wait to get started on some of these projects. After which I will add on to this review.

Some can be used with different sized hook or yarn to make smaller/larger sizes to fit owner. Most are easily made without learning new stitches, but newcomers will need patience to get best results. The star ratings seem perfectly matched to ability

The patterns in this book are amazing. Not too difficult for seasoned crocheters and some beginner projects. I purchased the Kindle version and made an error in doing so since I print out my patterns to carry with me. I was unable to print my patterns thru the Kindle version. But I wanted the book immediately and Kindle was the only downloadable version and was less expensive, of course. Side note for American Crocheters: This pattern book is written in British terminology. Easy to translate but tough if you forget and start patterns using their stitches. the photo is my first project from this book.

Seems confusing to follow, plus the different use of crochets of us and uk

Great photos, very detailed instructions. Book includes both row-by-row instructions and charted instructions. All instructions and sizing are given in UK terms but conversions (stitches, needle size, etc) are listed at the end of the book.Yarn is suggested by brand, would have been slightly more useful (at least to me) to list suggested yarn weight instead.I made the shark and it looks mostly like the photos, wanted him to be a bit comical so I made large eyes and teeth, turned out the predicted size (~22", all these patterns produce sizeable stuffed animals), again very easy to follow patterns. The anglerfish is adorable, will definitely make more of these marine mates. I will probably purchase other books by this author, like the wild animal book.