Dusty the Donkey Crochet Pattern Review

This post may contain affiliate links.*

Last week I crocheted this pattern by IlDikko.  You can find this paid pattern here.   This is such a cute little animal!  He was also quite a challenge.  He is the first crochet animal that I have made that has a wire armature.  The armature gives him a better form and more stability.  A delightful benefit is that it also makes him pose-able.

The pattern comes as a download and is 19 pages long with a load of good pictures if you decide to print it out.  While there are no fancy crochet stitches in this pattern, it does help to follow the pattern step-by-step.  First, I crocheted the nose  and lower lip and stitched them together.  Then I attached the grey yarn to the nose and crocheted the head.  Before stuffing and closing the head, I had to cut and form the first part of the wire armature and insert part of it into the head.  Then I stuffed and closed the head, but with part of the armature sticking out for future use.

I then continued to work the pattern in the steps  as written.  I must say that working around the wire armature was a bit awkward at first, but I soon learned to bend the wires out of the way and up close to completed portions of the donkey until I was ready to use them.

Actually, the pattern was pretty simple to follow.  The most difficulty I had was crocheting the donkey's behind, which started in an oval and progressed to rounds of the body.  The tail was incorporated into this portion of the donkey so it seemed a little tricky for me.  Also the holes for the leg wires seemed to be a bit off, so I tried to compensate for that by moving them over a few stitches to what I thought might be a better position.  Upon completion, I realized that I should have stuck with the pattern, as I ended up with the back legs slightly off center.  However, It was not noticeable enough to unravel and redo the entire body.  Lesson learned.  The patterns are usually right on.

The hooves were also a bit tricky with multiple stitch changes.  I like to watch TV while I crochet, but I finally had to turn everything off so I could give my whole attention to  the hooves.  As I put the final touches on this project, I mused that it would have been nice to have had some measurements for the leg lengths.  I felt like the back legs were a bit longer than they maybe should have been.  But with a little posing, I made it work.  If I do this project again, I will likely make the back legs a round or two shorter.

The pattern includes some extras which I chose not to do at this time.  There are baskets for the donkey to wear across his back and also a sweet little carrot for him to eat.  They do add to the donkey's cuteness, but I wanted this guy to just be a barnyard donkey.



I never fail to learn new things when I work up someone else's pattern!  And this donkey taught me to be patient, follow the directions as written and how to use an armature in a crochet project.

All in all, this was a great pattern, and I would not hesitate to purchase another pattern from this talented designer!

Hope you enjoyed this pattern review.

Blessings~
Reny

*We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn a small fee if

you purchase by clicking on a product link.  Hey, it helps pay the bills!