MCG Textiles Huggables Animal Lion Latch Hook Kit

Arrived in great condition, everything you need is in the box and the instructions are fairly easy to follow. I have not started it yet, but I am excited for the challenge. I am leaving the exact same review on this product as I did on the Huggable Monkey product because I think it will help those who have never done a Huggable latch hook project before (I've done two so far, the blue and pink personalized bears for new babies for my cousins. So much fun, but you need to follow the instructions and pay attention to what you're doing). Based on some reviews I've read on other Huggables products, a lot of buyers don't seem to know what exactly they're getting into. If you've never done latch hook before, this might not be the best first step for you. Buy a simple/small latch hook rug/pillow/wall display kit and a latch hook tool, of course, and start there first. The Huggables kit comes with all the yarn you'll need and a latch hook grid, but the pieces are NOT pre-marked. It comes with instructions and a display to show you how the pieces fit on the grid, so you need to count the squares, mark the pieces and cut them out yourself. My strongest recommendation is to mark EVERY piece on the grid first before you cut. The grid isn't always perfect and if you don't check it by marking everything first, you could give yourself quite the headache. The places to put the yarn on are not marked on the grid itself, but they are on the blueprint/guide, so pay close attention when you start latch hooking, especially with multiple colored projects. Some people latch hook the yarn on all the pieces on the grid first, before cutting them out and others (like myself) cut the pieces out and then latch hook them. If you do the latter, be sure to label which piece is which (I use post-it note tabs or painters tape on the bare grid parts of each piece). Putting it together can be tricky...it took me a few tries with the first bear I did, but follow the instructions and practice and you will pick it up easily. Try to be gentle, because the grid can break and be sure to reinforce your yarn attatchments by going through the sewing path a few times. This is definitely no overnight project and, for me, not a weekend project either. But that's why I like it. Go at your own pace, be patient, and have fun (because it really is) and everything will turn out great! :)

A huge drawback to this project is the misrepresentation of how it will look when complete. The nose on the box is a cute plastic preformed nose but what is in the box is some yarn and you are supposed to "stitch" a nose. Definitely boy happy about that.

Fast shipping, great service, just not what I was looking for. I thought that it would be color coded but it wasn't and i am looking for an easy latch hook that is color coded. this is for someone with experience and I am just starting out and not that crafty. If I knew what I was doing I woould love it.

difficult to assemble

Just what I was looking for. Almost done with him! Will be a gift for me new niece or nephew.

lion reviewThis has been an incredibly difficult project to take on, and while I am glad I did it, I did not expect to have to modify multiple steps in order to get it to work:1. After sewing the head pieces together, I tried to stuff the ears into the ear holes as instructed, but I discovered that the canvas of the ears is twice as long as the holes you have to stuff that canvas into. first I tried prestuffing the ears and sewing them closed in order to taper the canvas, but I still couldn't get them stuffed into the holes. I then tried to take apart the work on the head I had done to make the ear holes bigger, but by this time i had folded and pulled on the canvas sewing ends so much they were coming apart. I had to order extra canvas and redo the ears entirely in order to finally get them into largened ear holes--I called the manufacturer to ask them which canvas was the correct size and they said they could just send it to me for free.2. I ended up having to add extra latch hook yarn all over the place where the yarn was too sparse and the canvas was showing through, especially in areas where I sewed the pieces together.3. After reading ahead I discovered you are supposed to "brush the mane hair out to make it fuzzy," but only discovered this after finishing the head. It would've been so much easier to do this before sewing the pieces together, because then it's harder to accidentally brush the non-mane parts and maneuver everything. I was NOT going to do the ears again, and because simply brushing the yarn did nothing, I had to go row by row untangling the individual strands of the yarn so that I could brush those out. It took me weeks!4. The kit does not come with a nose. The instructions say to sew a black oval on top of the face, flattening the latch hook threads, and then to fill it in with more black thread and to make a little smiley mouth V under it connected by a line. I tried multiple times to do this but just couldn't get it to work. In the process, the latch hook threads from the face started to fray, making everything look much messier. I ended up giving up and decided to buy a 30mm plastic doll nose here on Amazon, and while I found one that looks remarkably similar to what is pictured, I don't know why they couldn't have just provided it to us so I wouldn't have to purchase one. And since the picture doesn't show a mouth, and I had so much trouble sewing a nose, I skipped the mouth altogether.5. As I was sewing the tail I realized it is much too small to stuff after assembly, so I ended up putting a bit of stuffing in after every stitch instead.6. The instructions say to leave a hole on the back to stuff the entire lion through, and to do this before even putting the head on, but I could tell that hole was not big enough to stick my hand through all the way to the inside of the head (as instructed). I had to edit it to make the hole larger, but this put stress on the junction where I joined the back of the head to the back of the body. The canvas started coming apart at that spot, and I ended up having to weave it back together and reinforce it with multiple knots.7. When I finally got the head sewn on, i discovered that the head was weighing the rest of the lion down. The picture shows the lion standing on all 4 legs, but MY lion keeps tipping over. Even if I spread the back legs out more to make it stand properly, the head is still pointed down towards the floor instead of up at you. I am now having to mess with ways to weigh the hind legs down and to put a tension line from the head to the back to pull it into a higher position. It is not working and I'm afraid of ruining the canvas sewing ends even more than I already did immediately behind the head.It's hard for me to understand how a kit can require so much modification in order to get it put together at all. It is hard enough to follow directions for difficult projects, but most people are bad at making up extra steps. I don't think I'll ever try to make one of these again once I'm done with this!