This is Wesley, he is my first ever crocheted animal! And if I do say so myself, he turned out wonderfully.
For Christmas last year my sister gave me a wonderful crochet book 'Cute little animals' by leisure Arts, I had finished a baby blanket using granny squares and she thought that I might like to give these a go. I attempted a few but for the life of me I couldnt work out how to do them. Granny squares are one thing, following a pattern another! There is a new magazine out now 'The Art of Crochet', I bought the first book and started, it turned out I was rather good for a beginner (again if I do say so myself :P) My first proper crochet square, was in fact, square! I did have to undo the second one done with the proper wool however as it went a bit...uh... diamond shaped lol!
So I thought after my wonderful square I would do an animal. Right? Wrong! I still couldnt read the pattern. I turned to the back of the book (where the expanded abbreviations are) and read some more. Still not getting it. And then... it clicked! There was a tiny little box which said 'Crochet Terminology... United States - International' Well no wonder it hadnt made any sense! I had to translate it from American into just plain English! And from then on, I havent looked back! :)
Out of all the animals, why Wesley? Because my son picked up the book and the first thing he said to me "Elephant! Mum Elephant". So of course I had to make him one!!
Wesley aka Elephant
