These past two weeks I reviewed a Disney Stitch Crochet Kit from Hobby Lobby. This is an amigurumi crochet kit sold in the needle art section at Hobby Lobby. I originally purchased this kit because I thought it would be something super cute to make for my nine year old daughter, Fiona. I also thought to myself, “Why not kill two birds with one stone?” and do a review for you on the quality of this kit. Then, I could tell ya if I would recommend it or not. I had no idea this Stitch Crochet Kit would take me down such a journey.
Two Sundays ago I thought it was a perfect time to relax, turn on the camera, and start working on this Stitch. I initially thought the packaging was nice, The crochet hook and materials looked alright to me. It also looked like I would have sufficient yarn to complete the project, so I began.
Boy, I ran into an issue straight from the beginning! The dark blue yarn needed for Stitches body was in such a way it needed to be wound before I could begin crocheting. I had to do this to prevent tangles and knots throughout the project. I ran into a knot only about 20 feet into my winding process. I had to restart my winding twice.
Next, I began with beginning to crochet Stitch’s head. I quickly ran into another problem, by round 3 my yarn shredded and I had to start over yet again due to the quality of yarn in the kit.
Like I said, this was just the beginning. If you would like to see a detailed review and process of all of my encounters on Stitch and the pattern, as well as all the other kits in this line. Go ahead and watch my YouTube video here.
Despite a few restarts due to faulty yarn, I made my way around crocheting Stitch’s head all the way to the decreases. This is where I ran into the HUGE MISTAKE in the Stitch Crochet Kit Instructions.
The mistake is so Big, I believe this Stitch Crochet kit needs to be removed from Hobby Lobby’s shelves immediately.
Firstly, the crochet stitch abbreviations do not include what DEC stands for, which is decrease. Nor does it explain how to decrease in this pattern. Secondly, there are no stitch counts provided in each round. Thirdly, this pattern does not tell you how to end your round or start your round. Next, it does not tell you to repeat the pattern instructions in the round.
Now, here is the first time I encountered the BIG mistake in the Stitch Crochet Kit is in the Head. We will then follow the rest of the pattern to see how many more times they make the DEE abbreviation mistake.
HEAD
Round 15 and 16 it has the crochet abbreviation DEE instead of DEC. The DEE Should be DEC, and has both DEE and DEC in the instructions for these rounds. DEE does not exist. This is the biggest error.
BODY
The DEE error continues again the Body rounds 9, 11, 13,
ARMS
No decreases, no error
FEET
No Decreases, no error
NAILS
DE in stead of DEC
RIGHT EAR
What is interesting is now they start to say sc2tog instead of DEE or DEC. They literally changed their verbage mid pattern.
This has got to be the worst crochet pattern I have ever seen. These instructions and kit have been mass produced and are currently on the shelves of Hobby Lobby. I am dumbfounded by this.
So what did I do upon seeing this mistake? First, I reached out to my friends on Instagram and asked them for help. Did they agree they thought DEE was a mistake for DEC? The consensus was yes.
From there, I finished crocheting Stitch using the DEC every time it said the error DEE. I was able to complete Stitch’s head, though I am not happy with my result.
Afterwards, I purchased the other two kits from this company which is Innovative Designs, LLC. Hobby Lobby had a Winnie the Pooh and Star Wars kit. I ended up purchasing both to cross examine the instructions provided in the available crochet kits.
What I found is the Winnie the Pooh kit had better instructions, but still sub-par instructions to complete the project. Star Wars, however, seemed to have had the most comprehensive instructions and is the only kit to have included stitch counts for each round. Neither kit had the DEE error.
I did not try crocheting either of these kits, that would have been a waste of my time. However, I was able to get the information I needed out of those kit instructions to provide you with my full opinion. Which, if you have not watched my video review, I will then transcribe my final thoughts here.
These kits are disappointing and I would highly recommend everyone to NOT purchase these. I think the Stitch Crochet Kit should be removed from shelves immediately. The instructions are written for a person who has crochet experience, and is an experience crocheter. I think if someone learning to crochet were to pick this up, they would get frustrated, quit the project and may even quit learning to crochet or do amigurumi all together. That is really such a sad thought.
Craft kits should provide the consumer the opportunity to achieve success. This Crochet kit will lead to failure to even the best of us crocheters out there. I am astonished such a copy editing mistake could be left in the instructions for Stitch, and that the Pooh instructions are so bare. In amigurumi, more instructions are always better. Always. Each new amigurumi pattern is a unique experience to the creator. The creator needs all the help they can get to attempt the perfection they see on the pattern they purchase. That is the responsibility of the pattern maker and company.
[ I would also like to mention, I found a FREE Crochet Stitch Pattern online. You can go check it out here at LovelyCraft.com. I used her free pattern as a resource while verifying the mistakes in this pattern ]
If you enjoyed this review, you may also enjoy some of my other Crochet Pattern Reviews:
Crochet Amigurumi Orca Whale Pattern Review
I’m trying to complete this kit for a friend who was given it as a gift. She is a very beginner crocheter and couldn’t do it. I’m pretty good at amigurumi so I said no problem, I’ll do it for you but this pattern is horrible!! I’m working on the ears and cannot understand it for the life of me. The right ear has 19 rounds while the left only has 9?!?! This makes absolutely no sense at all!!
I’m now regretting buying this kit. I just got it for the scrump doll but I haven’t looked over the pattern yet.
I’m currently working on Pooh and found an error in the instructions. For the body, it doesn’t tell you when to switch to red yarn since the shirt and body are the same piece. Based on the vague image, I can’t guess which row is the change but I’m guessing row 7 is when you change yarn until row 12 is back to yellow for his neck. Do you see the same issue on the pattern from the Winnie the Pooh kit?
I bought this kit on Black Fiday this year. It looks like they fixed a lot of the issues you mentioned. I saw your post before I started making it, so I used a smaller hook I had rather than the one that came with it, but I definitely have an excess of yarn. And the DEE typo has been fixed. Still missing stich counts, and changes to sc2toh for some reason. However, they did add an additional instruction page to explain the stitch abbreviations and explain how to change yarn colors, etc. At least they took the criticisms and made some changes.
Is there a version of this stitch and scrump crochet pattern I can get with no mistakes in it rather then buying the kit with the pattern having mistakes and typos in it