Adelaide's Amigurumi Adventures

I remember when I used to look at a pattern and think ‘how the heck did they come up with this?!’ The creation of pattern to a beginner seems difficult, confusing and something left to the hardcore experts. No way!! Anyone can create their own amigurumi pattern as long as they know four simple things: 1) how to make a magic circle 2) how to increase 3) how to decrease 4) how to read/write a pattern.

But first let’s discuss what amigurumi are. Amigurumi is the Japanese art of crocheting dolls in rounds. If you know how to crochet a three dimensional circle, you can make just about any cute creature you can imagine!

I was made by starting with a magic circle! :3

Now let’s talk about tools! Here are the basic tools you need to make an amigurumi:


Crochet Hook: very important! Most amigurumi call for a G hook, but some call for an F hook.
Yarn: Opinion varies greatly on what type of yarn is the best for making amigurumi, but I personally use a 100% cotton yarn. I like the crisp stitches it makes and there isn’t as much splitting as acrylic yarn. Also, cotton holds its shape a bit better because its stiffer than most acrylic yarns. Ultimately, the choice of yarn is up to you!
Stitch marker: This is extremely important! Knowing where your rounds end is absolutely necessary for following a pattern. You can buy a stitch marker like the one above, or you can use a big safety pin or even a paper clip.
Yarn Needle: A must have for sewing together parts of your amigrumi.
Pins: For pinning on pieces of your amigurumi :)
Stuffing: Preference for stuffing is completely up to you. Some people like a more stiff amigurmi, while others like fluffy amigurumi that can be cuddled and snuggled.

THE BASICS
Magic Circle People usually have 2 ways to create a circle, but I prefer the magic circle rather than joining loops. The magic circle allows for a tighter closure of the starting circle in my opinion. And also, its just more fun to do!

Here’s a video I made to show you how to make a magic circle.

Increasing Increasing by one is simply making two crochet’s in one stitch. If you are working with a magic circle starting with 6 single crochets, you will be doing this 6 times in one round for an even, circular shape.

Two single crochets in a single stitch.

Decreasing To decrease you pull up a loop in the next two stitches for a total of 3 loops on your crochet hook, and pull yarn through all three loops. This decreases the number of stitches in your round by one every time you complete one decrease (dec 1).

A) Pull up a loop for the next two stitches. Three loops total on hook.

B) Pull yarn through all three loops for your decrease (dec 1)

Patterns!
R1: magic circle 6 -6 R2: inc 1 in each stitch -12

R2: *sc 1 inc1 (repeat from * 6 times) -18

R3: *sc 2 inc 1( repeat from * 6 times) -24

R4: *sc 3 inc 1( repeat from * 6 times) -30

R5: sc 30

R6: sc 30

R7: sc 30

R8: sc 3 dec 1 (repeat from * 6 times) -24

R9: sc 4 dec 1 (repeat from * 6 times) -18

I know this might be confusing, but its important that you know how to read a pattern correctly. If you want to make your amigurumi creation accurately again, you have to document the instructions acurately, too.

Let’s look at the above example pattern I just made up.

R responds to the row number. (R1= row one) sc = single crochet: sc 3 means single crochet one crochet in each the next three stitches inc = increasing, which we learned was making two single crochets in one stitch dec = decreasing, which we learned means pulling up a loop in the next two stitches and pulling through all the loops on your hook.

R4: *sc 3 inc 1 (repeat from * 6 times) -30 this means that you will single crochet in 3 stitches, and crochet twice in the fourth stitch to increase by one. You will do this a total of six times for the fourth row, and by the end of this row you will have thirty crochet stitches.

R8: *sc 3 dec 1 (repeat from * 6 times) -24 this means that you will single crochet in 3 stitches, and pull up a loop in the fourth and fifth stitches and pull yarn through all three loops on your hook to decrease by one. You will do this a total of six times for the fourth row, and by the end of this row you will have twenty-four single crochet stitches.



Now that we know how the basics we can get on to the good stuff!

The good stuff


BRAINSTORM! Brainstorming is fun. This is when you come up with a million ideas of what you want to make. A sinister vampire grape? An angry banana? A sleeping apple? An astronut? Go crazy. You can brainstorm with words or pictures, but I encourage both.

Brainstorming!

After brainstorming you can start creating your pattern. Don’t always go with what you write down originally. If you don’t like how it’s turning out, just change the pattern! Is it not fat enough? Add another row of increasing. Is it not long enough? Add a few rows! Is it just perfect? That’s fine, too. My patterns always have a lot of scribbles and additional rows. I like to tinker to get the just right for optimal cuteness. Challenge yourself!

START CROCHETING.

Start with your magic circle and start steadily increasing (like my sample pattern) until you get your width, then start crocheting rows of one single crochet in every stitch to get your length. Don’t be afraid to decrease to make a neck or a tail!

Once you’ve made all your amigurumi’s parts you’ll need to

PIN IT!

Pinning is necessary just to get a feel for the finished amigurumi. You can visualize how it will look and its a great boost for tired hands! Pinning parts down helps to keep them stationary. Sometimes when you sew things can move around a bit.

It doesn’t hurt a bit!

SEW


Sew your parts together using your yarn needle and yarn the color of the part you are sewing on. You can hide the ends of the yarn when you are done by using your crochet hook to pull the yarn into the body cavity.

FINISHED AMIGURUMI!

I’m a chibi chubby dragon! ROAR!