Wild and Woolly Knitted Animals: A Naturalist’s Notebook

Designer Kellner (Knits for Kitties) blends nature guide with knitting know-how in this fun collection of stuffed animal knits for seasoned crafters. “Animals make our world a better, more beautiful place to live in,” the author writes, and her 25 projects highlight common creatures along with “some you’ll probably never get a chance to see in real life.” There’s a pale green speckled rainbow trout, a vibrant red squirrel (and its more common counterpart, the eastern gray squirrel), a mallard duck with spot-on details down to the webbed feet, a black-headed bunting’s nest complete with eggs, and a timber wolf in a howling position. Each project comes with a sketch of the subject and naturalist notes, in which readers learn, for example, that baby elephants lose their first set of teeth and tusks “just like humans,” wood pigeons store food in a pouch on their chest, and western meadowlarks tend to build their nests on the ground. Newbies should be advised that the training wheels are off here; the instructions are detailed and Kellner jumps straight into the projects without offering a tutorial on basic techniques. Knitting pros with a penchant for the wild will find this a treat. (Oct.)