Let’s talk…amigurumi, the japanese art of little crochet/knit stuffed animals.
My 7 year old daughter, Audrey, loves all things kawaii and has never met a stuffed animal that she doesn’t immediately fall in love with. And she wanted so badly to make stuffed animals of her own. She was able to learn how to rainbow loom by watching youtube videos and I figured hoped she could learn amigurumi the same way, because I had no clue how to crochet. She spent almost two hours on youtube trying and ended up nearly in tears when she wasn’t able to get her animal started.
So I did what any mom would do in this situation. I learned how to crochet the magic circle so that I would be able to sit down with Audrey and coach her through it. And then something unexpected happened. I found myself enjoying it and now I’m completely obsessed.
This panda is my first semi-successful amigurumi attempt. The mouth is sewn on crooked (not intentionally) and there are so many other things wrong with it but I love it just the same.
As you can see, I still haven’t gotten the hang of attaching the body parts. The sneaky thing about amigurumi is that each next step is harder than the prior but by the time you realize this you’re far too invested to abandon the project. I thought the magic circle was hard until I had to make the tiny limbs. After I stumbled through that, I realized that I’d have to figure out how to attach the darned limbs! (I am one of those knitters that dreads having to weave pieces together). And just when I think the worst is over, I find yourself starting at a blank face. The face will make or break your project. Embroidery is an art I may never master. Maybe one day, just for laughs, I’ll post the pooh bear tsum tsum I attempted. It was looking really promising…until I embroidered the face. To quote my daughter, “It’s a one of a kind Pooh Bear. It looks like a minecraft character.”
For this project, I used :
- Pug Pattern by Mohu (for body and legs)
- 3.75mm hook (for body and legs)
- didn’t follow a pattern for the ears just played around until I got a shape I liked
- 3.25mm hook (for ears)
- red heart acrylic yarn
- 6mm safety eyes
- black felt and black embroidery thread
- polyester fill
If you’re interested in getting started with amigurumi I highly recommend checking out Planet June Video Tutorials on youtube. I watched a lot of how-to-make the magic ring tutorials and it wasn’t until I watched hers that it finally clicked for me.
What a cute little panda! I went through an amigurumi phase several years ago too. It’s such a fun hobby and you get a wonderful feeling of accomplishment when you finish a piece. Just remember to be good to your hands and stretch them a lot. It can get tough on your fingers otherwise!
Yes, that feeling of finishing a piece is so very satisfying! Thank you for the words of caution as I’ve already started experiencing the hand pain. I’ll try to be mindful about taking breaks. Also, I just splurged on an ergonomic hook. Crossing my fingers that it helps!
A cheap alternative to ergonomic hooks are pencil grips. Figure out where you grip your hook and then fatten up that spot by wrapping it with medical tape. Put a pencil grip over the tape and you now have a nice cushioned grip! I liked the gel kind the best – http://amzn.com/B00TBKSAR0. The fact that they came in fun colors and glitter was a bonus. 😉
I think the crooked mouth is so sweet! I haven’t heard of amigurumi but it seems like a puzzle! Must be really satisfying once you finish the animal- they are so cute!
I know exactly how this happens. My daughter wanted me to teach her, bailed after 3 attempts and I am now several critters in (over my head)! Great website for more, ’cause you will be making more: http://www.amigurumitogo.com/ Have fun!!! (Yes the pencil grips work great. I needed to put rubberbands under mine to make it stay in place but now it is the perfect, most glittery grip.)