How to make a mini amigurumi pear

Do you want to make a pear just like the one April has in her bag? If you do you've come to the right place!

These are the stitches used: you can click on any of them for a video demonstration.
Ch – chain
Sc – single crochet
2sctog/dec – decrease

The numbers in brackets indicate how many stitches there should be in that round.

The first step is the one I have illustrated in my blog post ‘the not magic ring’

Use 3mm hook and green wool.

Amigurumi crochet works in un-joined rounds.

• Ch2, 4 sc in second chain from hook (4) – see picture a
• 1 sc then 2 sc in next stitch – repeat 2 times (6)
• 2 sc then 2 sc in next stitch – repeat 2 times (8)
• sc in each stitch (8)
• *2sc in one stitch, 3 sc* – repeat twice (10)
• *5 sc, 2sc in next stitch* - repeat twice (14)
• *7 sc, 2sc in next stitch* - repeat twice (18)
• sc in each stitch (18)
• sc in each stitch (18)

Put the pear to one side

Stalk: take a 5cm length of brown wool and hold it one end in each hand and twist it. Then let it fold in on itself so that it creates a double twisted cord. Tie a knot so that the twist doesn’t come undone – make it quite a fat knot. - see picture b

Leaf: use 3mm hook and dark green wool. This is not amigurumi technique, this is straight crochet.leave a long tail at the beginning.
• row 1: ch 5
• row 2: ch 3

Thread the stalk up through the top of the pear using a tapestry needle – the fat knot should keep it in place.

Sew the leaf onto the top of the pear using a tapestry needle. - see picture c

Resume crochet
• *2sc, 2sctog* - repeat 4 times, 2c (14)
• 2sctog 7 times (7)

Stuff the pear

• 2sctog until the hole is almost closed up.
Fasten off leaving a long tail and using a tapestry needle finish off closing the hole.

Plush in the Post from Mexico

A while ago I got a treasury on etsy and included in it a red n white carminita matryoshka doll made by Rosy from Micasita House. She wrote me a sweet message thanking me for including her in my treasury and asked for my address as she wanted to send me a gift to say thank you. How nice is that! Today I recieved the gift and I have photographed it for all to see. The stamps on the parcel are fab and the little doll is sooo cute. It's taken quite a while to get here - but then Mexico to Bosnia Herzegovina is probably not a common route for post. So a big thank you to Rosy and Micasita House and make sure you check out her etsy shop and her blog for more cuteness.

I've never seen Star Wars

Believe it or not I have never seen Star Wars! I know that is unusual amongst people of my generation but then I think in many ways I am unusual. I grew up without a TV for a start...

Anyway, a friend of mine has some nephews who really love Star Wars and they have been living in another country with their family this year because of their Mum's job. The whole family is coming home this weekend and so my friend asked me to make a couple of Star Wars amigurumi characters to give to her nephews as welcome home presents.

I'm quite pleased with how Yoda turned out - I didn't have a pattern to follow, I just looked at some pictures of him and made it up. His coat was the hardest thing to make - but I did it, hood and all!

The other character I made was R2D2 but I forgot to photograph him. I made him using a pattern from LucyRavenscar Crochet Creatures.

So all in all for someone who has never seen Star Wars I think I did a pretty good job!

Eco Bunny and the Land of Plastic Bag Trees

'Welcome to Bosnia and Herzegovina - the land where plastic bags grow on trees!' was what someone said to us on our first visit to this country - which is now our home.

When we left the UK 18 months ago we were in the habbit of taking our 'bag for life' with us to the Supermarket, paying for plastic bags in some shops or just not using a bag at all - especially if you're buying something small.

Here in Bosnia Herzegovina they love plastic bags! The first time I went into a shop here and bought a bar of chocolate I went to leave the shop and the shop-keeper started calling after me, 'you need a plastic bag!' and no matter how many times I explained that I didn't, they wouldn't let me out of the shop without a bag! I'm kinda used to it now and I dutifully take the plastic bag.

The problem is that as a result of this there are plastic bags everywhere -and there really are places where you could be forgiven for thinking that they do grow on trees.

Eco Bunny is made with and stuffed with plastic bags that I have collected from all my shopping trips! He is pointing the way to a new future where plastic bags will not grow on trees and pollute the environment. He is available in my etsy shop.

How to make hair for your amigurumi

I have 3 different ways that I make hair for my amigurumis.

The first is to use eyelash yarn - as in the picture above.

Here is the pattern I use to make hair for the size of amigurumi head I did a tutorial for in this blog post


Use 3.5mm hook and eyelash yarn in a colour of your choice.


Amigurumi crochet works in un-joined rounds.


These are the stitches used: you can click on any of them for a video demonstration.
Ch – chain
Sc – single crochet

This is the pattern:
The numbers in brackets indicate how many stitches there should be in that round.
The first step is the one I have illustrated in my blog post ‘the not magic ring’
for this pattern crochet in the front loops only.
• Ch 2, 6 sc in second chain from hook (6)
• 2 sc in each stitch (12)
• 1 sc then 2 sc in next stitch – repeat 5 times (18)
• Sc in first 2 stitches then 2 sc in next stitch – repeat 5 times (24)
• Sc in first 3 stitches then 2 sc in next stitch – repeat 5 times (30)
• Sc in each stitch(30)

and then from here add as many rows as you want - depending on how you would like the hair to look. Experiment with different things - have fun!



Curly hair - to make curly hair chain for as long as you want the hair to be - for example 40 stitches and then go back and single crochet back along that chain for 40 stitches and fasten off. Somehow this turns into ringlets! I dont' know how, but it looks great. Once you have enough to cover your doll's head sew them on.



Straight hair - this is the simplest way of doing hair. Just cut lengths of yarn double the length you want the hair to be. Fold the yarn in half and loop it through the head and through itself. Continue until the whole head is covered. Then you can style the hair however you want - pigtails, plaits etc...

I love the '80s - Neon Man

Here is Neon Man - the result of my crocheting with 100% cotton yarn. His clothes are made from the 100% cotton yarn and then his head, hands, legs and feet are made with acrylic yarn. His hair is eyelash yarn. The cotton yarn comes up a bit thicker than the acrylic yarn so he's a little bit fatter than some of my other amigurumis, his arms are a little bit longer and his trousers have less rows in them!

Neon man is bringing back the beats of the '80s as he walks the streets in his neon clothes and carrying his Boombox with his music blaring out. Everywhere he goes people are drawn to him and he is often seen with a crowd of people following him. People just love the 80s! Are you one of those people? Neon man is available in my etsy shop.

Trying something new

Last Friday I went to the Mostarski Sajam which is a kind of trade fair thing. It is quite random, showcasing cars, boats, armchairs, clothes, books, mobile phones and... yarn! This yarn is 100% cotton. I've never used that before - and I love the fluorescent colours so I decided to buy some and give it a try. It is very different from using acrylic yarn - it has quite a hard texture, more like string. I'm working on an amigurumi at the moment using this yarn so as soon as I'm finished I'll let you see how it turns out.

How to make a mini amigurumi carrot

Do you want to make a carrot just like the one April has in her bag? If you do you've come to the right place!

These are the stitches used: you can click on any of them for a video demonstration.
Ch – chain
Sc – single crochet
2sctog/dec – decrease

The numbers in brackets indicate how many stitches there should be in that round.

The first step is the one I have illustrated in my blog post ‘the not magic ring’

Use 3mm hook and orange wool.

• Ch2, 4 sc in second chain from hook (4) – see picture a
• 1 sc then 2 sc in next stitch – repeat 2 times (6)
• 2 sc then 2 sc in next stitch – repeat 2 times (8)
• sc in each stitch (8)
• 2sc in first stitch, then 7 sc (9)
• 5 sc, 2sc in next stitch, 3 sc (10)
• sc in each stitch (10)
• 2sc in first stitch, then 9sc (11)

put carrot to one side – see picture b

take a 5cm length of green wool and hold it one end in each hand and twist it. Then let it fold in on itself so that it creates a double twisted cord. Tie a knot so that the twist doesn’t come undone – make it quite a fat knot. – see picture c

Stuff the carrot

*sc2tog, sc* – repeat 3 times sc2tog
stuff the green twisted cord into the small hole remaining at the top of the carrot – knot it first. see picture d

fasten off leaving a length of wool (tail) and then using a tapestry needle use this tail to sew up the hole at the top of the carrot so that the green twisted cord cannot fall out.

Leaf:

use 3mm hook and dark green wool. This is not amigurumi technique, this is straight crochet.
leave a long tail at the beginning
row 1: ch 5
row 2: ch 3
fasten off leaving a long tail
fix the leaf to the top of the carrot.

a tutorial on how to make the pear will be coming sometime soon... so keep reading!

The Adventures of Valentina

Continuing in my 'Adventures of' series - here is a photo of Valentina in her new home with NancyvdBloom in Holland. I love it when people send me photos of my amigurumis in their new homes!

How to make the face of your amigurumi

The head of your amigurumi is the most important bit to get right. The head with the combination of how you do the face and hair is where all the personality for your amigurumi comes from. I often just start making a head, doing the hair and the face and then when that is done I decide what the rest of the body will look like because then I know the personality of my amigurumi! So one of the most important things for the face is the eyes. I recommend buying safety eyes from EnamiEyes on etsy. They are fantastic quality and come in all shapes, sizes and colours. You can see on the picture how different colours and different sizes of eyes really change the personality of the amigurumi. I often use felt to add extra detail to the eyes as you can see in the last picture here. If you look at my flickr account you can see a lot more examples of different ways of doing the eyes. I very rarely give my amigurumis a mouth, but when I do I use embroidery floss and keep it very simple. Click here to see an example. Then finally the nose - as you can see I also keep the nose very simple. I just take the same wool I have used to make the head and sew 2 or 3 stitches on top of each other or next to each other depending what kind of nose I want. Experiment and see what works for you.

April

Spring has sprung and April is loving every minute of it. She's got friends coming round for dinner tonight and they're going to sit in the garden to eat. She's just been to the farmer's market to buy organic fruit and vegetables and she's on her way home to prepare the meal.
I plan to put tutorials up for how to make the carrot and the pear (the contents of her bag!) sometime very soon - so keep reading the blog :)

How to make a head for an amigurumi doll

Use 3.5mm hook and a colour of your choice.

Amigurumi crochet works in un-joined rounds.

These are the stitches used: you can click on any of them for a video demonstration.
Ch – chain
Sc – single crochet
2sctog/dec – decrease

This is the pattern:

The numbers in brackets indicate how many stitches there should be in that round.

The first step is the one I have illustrated in my blog post ‘the not magic ring’

• Ch 2, 6 sc in second chain from hook (6)
• 2 sc in each stitch (12)
• 1 sc then 2 sc in next stitch – repeat 5 times (18)
• Sc in first 2 stitches then 2 sc in next stitch – repeat 5 times (24)
• 4 more rounds of 24
• Sc in first 2 stitches, 2sctog – repeat 5 times (18)
• Sc in first stitch, 2sctog – reapeat 5 times (12)
• Stuff the head

The Bunny Factor

Whenever I list something in my etsy shop or post here on my blog I submit it to stumbleupon by clicking the 'I like it!' button because I read somewhere that this is a good way of getting increased views on your sites. It has brought me quite a lot of views - but there is a pattern emerging which you can see in the picture above. Whenever I list a bunny in my etsy shop I get loads of views through stumbleupon, but whenever I list anything else I get very few views. So what is this bunny factor all about? My husband has his theory, which was further supported by the fact that the other amigurumi listing which got loads of views through stumbleupon was Schoolgirl Sally... What do you think causes the bunny factor?

Fitness Bunny

Fitness Bunny is loving this spring weather. She has totally got into her power walking routine again. Every morning, 45 mins round the park and then home for a shower and breakfast before she goes off to work. She is available in my etsy shop.

The not magic ring

The question is how do you start off when making amigurumi?

When I first wanted to learn I found a lot of articles online which said that to start off you need to use a magic ring. I read these articles and watched a few videos and tried to make a magic ring - but I just couldn't get it to work. And then somewhere I came across something which explained a different way of starting off. That way works perfectly for me so I'll share it here with you.

How to make your first round of amigurumi:
a) make a slip knot on your crochet hook
b) chain 2
c) single crochet into your first chain
d) single crochet 5 more times into your first chain and you have your first round of 6 stitches!