Beardie and Blondie - Sea Animals Crochet Kit - Review

 I've said this before in previous reviews, but sometimes, the simplest designs are the cutest. I love detail and complexity and, well, chaos, but it can be very soothing to create something small, round, and adorably simple. And what better creatures to crochet as small, round blobs than sea critters?

Actually, sea creatures can be some of the most complex and delicate animals, and you can really turn anything into a precious, small, blob, but sea creatures seem to be very popular, especially cephalopods. I don't what it is about octopi and squids, but people seem to really like them (or, at least, the idea of them).

This kit includes instructions and materials to make three little sea creatures: a whale, an octopus, and a dumbo octopus. Octopi and whale crochet patterns and kits are quite common, but it was the dumbo octopus that really drew me to this kit.

I purchased this kit from the Beardie and Blondie store on Etsy for $31.95 total ($25.87 for the kit, $3.88 for shipping, and $2.20 for sales tax). Beardie and Blondie is based in the UK, so the shipping cost was extremely reasonable (I live in the US). The kit is not currently available from Etsy, but you can purchase all three patterns in a bundle for a little less than $6. I do think the kit was a little expensive for what it was, but considering that you get a lot of materials and it shipped internationally, it's not an unreasonable price.

The kit contained four 25g balls of Ricorumi DK cotton yarn in white, orange, pink, and blue (you could pick between more muted colors or bright colors; I went with bright), a bag of stuffing (that's what the pink bag is), 3 pairs of 6mm eyes, quick reference cards for all three patterns (with a passcode to download the full PDF patterns from their website), and a thank you card. I've worked with Ricorumi cotton yarn before and really like it, so I'm happy to see it included with this kit, especially as it seems more rare (a lot of kits that use DK cotton yarn include Scheepjes, which is also an amazing yarn and I'm always happy to get more, but variety is nice, too).

I also like the inclusion of the pattern cards; it's a nice way to bridge the gap between including a printed PDF pattern and offering the pattern as a digital download only. The cards include all the instructions for the pattern, but the PDFs include much more detailed information and full color photos. I'm not a big fan of the included safety eyes as I find the ones with the darker colored washers tend to be of lower quality and are much easier to pull apart after snapping together. I did end up using my own 6mm safety eyes for all the critters I made from this kit. Unfortunately, I may not be able to get the brand of safety eyes I prefer anymore (Darice) as Michael's (the craft store) has shut down their factory (they purchased the brand/company a while ago, and it's been downhill since then). I won't get into any more detail in this post, but let's just say I am not happy.

All three patterns worked up well and created cute and recognizable creatures, and I am overall happy with them. I will say, though, that the whale and octopus aren't super unique, and that these versions/patterns aren't my favorite. The octopus only has 6 legs (which is nitpicky, and it's not noticeable unless you count. However, I was able to make octopi with seven and eight legs by modifying the pattern slightly) and I prefer how the whale's fins look when using a different pattern. The dumbo octopus pattern, though, is the super star of this set, and I love how cute it looks!

As stated above, these little guys are very small and $26 for a kit to make just three of them is a little expensive, but this kit included enough material to make each pattern in all three colors, for a total of nine amigurumi plushies!

I did have to supply my own safety eyes for six of the plushies, but all the yarn and stuffing came from the kit, so nine plushies for $26 is not a bad deal. (The pink octopus has six legs (as the pattern is written), the orange octopus has seven, and the blue octopus has eight).

I do think the whale pattern is the weakest in this kit but not because it's a bad pattern (the plushies I made with it are cute and look like whales), it's just really common and there are very, very similar patterns that I like better.

Even after making 6 additional plushies, I still have plenty of yarn left over. I don't have enough stuffing to make any more, but that could be because I like to stuff my amigurumi very firmly (and also because the kit only needed to include materials for three plushies, so everything else is a bonus).

Overall, this was a good kit for those looking to make something simple and cute, or for a beginner just getting into amigurumi. I'm not sure if this kit will be available for purchase again (it's not in their Etsy shop right now, nor on their website), but the patterns are! If you're interested, I highly recommend checking out the dumbo octopus pattern since it's cute, easy to make, and not super common.

Thank you for reading! <3