How I got Hooked on Amigurumi

Well at this time of year, as I'm up to my ears in projects that are destined to be presents for loved ones this holiday season, I REALLY want to post about those projects I have on the go... but of course
since most of my family and close friends are readers of this blog, that would certainly spoil the surprises! So I have to be patient and wait until AFTER I've given these gifts, to tell you about them. But rest assured, those posts are coming.

Therefore, I'll have to satisfy my urge to share by telling you about the Amigurumi I've made in previous years.


What the heck is an Amigurumi?

Amigurumi is a Japanese word meaning a crocheted or knitted stuffed toy. As this Wikipedia article says, the "pervading aesthetic of amigurumi is cuteness"  - that is, they are created particularly
because they're adorable! Apparently, the most common items for sale on Etsy are Amigurumi or Amigurumi patterns - so clearly they've become very popular recently, and for good reason. Beyond being adorable, they're very quick to work up, and make great little gifts, especially when it's a reference to something that person really likes, or that you share an interest in. Of course they also make great toys for small children, as you can see in this post.


My First Amigurumi

The first Amigurumi that I made was a creature from the movie Coraline. Deep and I love Coraline - it's such an excellent movie. If you haven't seen it (and I've realized recently that too few people
have seen it!) then I suggest you give it a try next time you're looking for a good movie. It's a clay-mation movie, but it's not for young children, it's actually quite dark and a bit creepy - but definitely excellent.

Anyways, a couple of years ago, when we were watching Coraline for about the 4th time - showing it to another friend who hadn't seen it yet - we noticed a strange octopus or squid-like stuffed animal on the shelf in Coraline's room, with one big button eye. Deep decided that this creature was really interesting, and a few minutes later he announced excitedly that he had found a crochet pattern online to make this creature (you can find it here http://blog.joanofdark.com/2009/02/weird-octopus-cyclops-kitty-thing-from.html). I laughed and said I'd make it for him for Xmas if he wanted, and he was very, very pleased by this idea.


That  December we were moving east from Alberta to Ontario, driving across the country (this was before we got Nikko, so it was a much less painful drive with no stir-crazy kitty in the car) - so I made
sure that I had some lovely bright blue yarn with me in the car, and some stuffing, and of course my crochet hooks and this pattern, so that I could spend the long days in the car working on this creature.
Again, this was my first time making anything 3D (besides little baby hats), so I didn't know what to expect, but I gave it a try. For one thing, I didn't know, as I do now, that with amigurumi patterns, you
don't join the rounds with a slip stitch and then start a new round, you just keep going around and around to avoid making a seam - so there is an awkward seam at the back of this creature as a result.

I had also never heard of the "magic circle" technique before, so I had to look it up online one night at our motel. This is an alternative method for starting crochet projects in the round, that allows you to adjust the size of the starting opening. Googling "magic circle crochet" will provide several video and picture tutorials on this method, which is a great trick to know for amigurumi projects, and anything else made in the round.

AND, I also didn't read the pattern carefully enough to see that this pattern was for a felted creature (which, if your'e not aware, means that you make it out of wool, and make it extra large, and then put
the finished item in hot water afterwards to shrink it and cause the fibres to felt together) - so I was shocked at how large it was becoming - especially since I hadn't made it out of wool, so I couldn't felt it anyways. But Deep thought the extra large size was a bonus, so I kept going. I had just about finished the head/body part (it looked quite a lot like a bright blue misshapen rugby ball), when I realized that I was almost completely out of yarn - again due to the fact that I was imaging a much smaller finished product. So much for finishing this project on the drive!

Once we got to my in-laws place in Ontario, I had to go to a couple of different craft stores before I managed to get more of the same yarn (one place didn't carry it at all, another had the right yarn, but not the right colour..), and I also picked up some Sculpey to make the button eye. I had picked up some overlarge buttons to use for the eye before we left, but since I'd grossly underestimated the size of the creature, they were all clearly much too small.

So I made the legs, and the "ears" (as described in the pattern, which refers to this creature as an octopus-kitty, though another reader pointed out that it's actually a squid, and those are fins, not
kitty-ears), and it was starting to come together. This required learning another new technique - picking up stitches. This is where you literally use your crochet hook to grab a stitch in your already
finished section, and start crocheting into that as if it were your previous row - this allows you to create pieces that stick out from the original piece in one step, instead of making the new body part
separately and sewing it on at the end. As you can see in the pictures below, the legs didn't end up being all the same size, but since it is a quirky creature to begin with, I think that kind of fits with its
"personality"... right?

Finally, I had to make the single giant button eye. I'd never really used Sculpey before, so I was a little apprehensive, but I made a giant button, and put it in the oven.... actually, I tried the toaster
oven first, using the instructions on the side of the package - and it burnt. It came out looking like a burnt button-shaped cookie! Luckily I had only used about half of the package of Sculpey (it's a big
eye!), so I bravely made another button, and used the real oven this time.. and a much lower temperature and watched it like a hawk. Finally I took it out and let it cool, and it was hard! And not burnt! Success!

I used some black yarn to attach the eye, and voila! Here is the finished "Coraline Squid Thing" as we call it:

Also while I was experimenting with the Sculpey, I realized that the package said "Glow in the Dark"! I had intended to buy something that was simply off-white, but apparently that colour I'd selected was
actually glow in the dark - what a bonus. So this strange creature from a slightly creepy movie, gives off an eerie greenish glow when the lights are turned out!

Here is the squid-thing sitting next to Nikko, for some perspective on its final size. You should know that Nikko is a fairly small cat too. I'd love to include a picture of the eye glowing, but I don't think I
could get a good shot of that.

This squid thing now tends to live on a book shelf, and often it gets shown off to people who come over to our place for the first time. You know how people often check out the books at someone's house, to get an indication of their personalities? Well whenever they do that at our house, they see this creepy dude too - It's actually a pretty good indication of how quirky we are!


Some Aquatic Friends for the Squid-Thing

Fast-forward a couple of months, and Deep's birthday was approaching fast. I was trying to think of something small and fun to give him as a surprise, besides whatever it was that he had asked for (asked-for presents are a bit anti-climactic to give since they aren't a surprise). While exploring Etsy with a friend I had just taught to crochet, I stumbled on a pattern for little crocheted Jellyfish! [Whoa
- I just searched Etsy for "jellyfish pattern" to try and find the shop so I could provide a link to it... wow there are a LOT of crocheted jellyfish on Etsy now! Unfortunately I can't find the listing again to post the link here - but here is her website http://aliciakachmar.com/] They were so sweet and adorable, and I thought they'd make some nice litte friends for the Squid Thing, so I decided to make a little pod of jellyfish for Deep for his birthday.

Good thing he is a bit oblivious and doesn't pay close attention to what I'm crocheting most of the time, because I made two out of the three while we watched movies, with me sitting right next to him! I made the third on the morning of his birthday, before he'd gotten out of bed.

They were a perfect little surprise, and they now keep the Squid Thing company on the shelf.

Unfortunately in our most recently move, one of the three little guys has gotten separated from the others, and is packed some where in one of the still-packed boxes so here are the two I could find this
morning:

The pink and turquoise one is made with thinner yarn, either sport weight or baby (I can't remember which now), so he turned out a bit smaller than the red and blue one which was made with worsted weight.

I love the way the little tentacles curl up on their own - it's a long row of chain stitches and then a single row of single crochet, and then you just give them a little twist and they stay that way!

Nikko is clearly too sleepy to be particularly interested in this little guy at the moment. We have to keep them up on a shelf he can't reach, or they get tend to get batted all around the house.

After these two projects, I was definitely hooked on these Amigurumi - one of my favourite things about crochet is how perfectly it lends itself to creating 3D shapes, and how flexible it is, so you can make pretty much any shape you can think of. Of course you can make 3D shapes, including stuffed animals etc, with knitting too, but it requires double-pointed needles and just overall seems like a lot more work (largely because I haven't tried it yet, but it must be trickier!).

As a result, there are a lot of great crochet patterns out there for amigurumi, in books, on Etsy, and on various craft blogs, but it's much harder to find patterns for knitted animals and creatures. A friend of mine, who has recently opened a Zibbet online store (The Elephant Emporium) where she sells the knitted animals that she designs and makes (I'm very impressed), has told me that she is jealous of crocheters because we have so many more great patterns for amigurumi available to us. It's pretty rare that there are more patterns any category for crochet than for knitting, since there are so many more knitters out there; so if you love these amigurumi, it's a great reason to learn to crochet!

More amigurumi posts coming soon...

Keep crafting!