An owl and a monkey

I have had a lot of fun recently following Vanessa Mooncie's patterns and making crocheted animals! I bought Vanessa's book 'Crocheted Wild Animals' about 6 months ago and so far I have made the elephant, the giraffe, the owl and the monkey. I find the patterns very easy to follow because they are in both written and diagram form.

finished owl

The owl was particularly fun to make because it involved various different stitches. I loved making the shell pattern body!

I decided to make the monkey as a surprise birthday present for my husband this week. His birthday was yesterday and despite him catching me working on it a few times he did not suspect it was something for him. I chose darker wool than the pattern suggested, mainly because that is what I had in my stash. For both patterns I used King Cole baby alpaca DK and the finished animal is so soft and squishy!

finished monkey

If you would like to see more of Vanessa Mooncie's crocheted and knitted animal patterns take a look at her Ravelry page http://www.ravelry.com/designers/vanessa-mooncie