Thanks to all of you for reading my blog. I just wanted to post that one of my tutorials, The Sakura Brothers – Amigurumi Tutorial #1 for Knitters, has now reached more than 15,000 hits! Amazing that so many people have read and linked to this post.
Promise that when I have time I’ll update my post on how to make amigurumi shapes and post a pattern or two.
Here are a couple of more FOs — the baby blanket and an amigurumi…
Alex’s ‘Bouncin’ Baby Blanket
Nemui (Sleepy) The Turquoise Turtle
I usually make amigurumi for my friends, but it’s been hard to plan for a baby and make the time to make them for myself. But, a couple of months ago I asked Doug what kind of animal he thought I should make for Alex that was somewhat unusual. He thought for a moment, and then said,
“A platypus!”
Since I’m not really a fan of patterns, I had to wait for a time when I could think about how to design and think of a way to make a platypus. I tried some fuzzy yarn but then realized that it would be harder to wash and for kiddo to chew on. I started and stopped several times because of holiday knitting. But, finally a couple of weeks ago I finished Polly the Purple Platypus.
Polly
I then wanted to make a zany zebra with some leftover yarn from Alex’s baby blanket. I quickly crocheted up the head and the body. As I was working on the mane and ears, though, I realized that this amigurumi was destined to be something else — either a dragon or a martian. I put it to Doug, and he immediately said,
“A Martian!”
So, a Martian it is. Don’t have a name for him yet, but have been kicking around a few. For now he’s just Little Martian.
Little Martian
Have another knitted amigurumi I’m working on. Might even have time to post the pattern (if kiddo doesn’t come within the next week or two!).
There are some really fun knitting/crochet blogs that I love to keep up with (see the blogroll for many of them, others yet to be posted…). It’s fun, though, when someone tries your pattern. Joan at the Local Needle in Florida posted a picture of her knitted kumochan amigurumi, ‘Vera BRATley’. Vera’s a cute little spider putting her many arms to good use — with tons of shopping bags!
Some of the other blogs I have seen with great amigurumi:
I know that there are tons of great amigurumi bloggers out there who create really cute things and are also willing to share their patterns. If you know of any or if you would like to share your amigurumi creations, feel free to post a link!
As promised in the tutorial, here is the Kumochan (little spider) knitted amigurumi pattern.
Yarn: Naturespun Worsted (but any worsted acrylic, wool, cotton or blended yarn will do)
Needles: 4 DPN sizes 6 & 3
Head
Size 6 DPN
CO 6 sts, place 2 sts on 3 DPN
Rnds1 & 2: k6
Rnd 3: M1 every st (6 inc made, 12 sts)
Rnd 4 & every even rnd: k
Rnd 5: k1, M1 6 times (18 sts)
Rnd 7: k2, M1 6 times (24 sts)
Rnd 9: k3, M1 6 times (30 sts)
Rnd 11: k4, M1 6 times (36 sts)
Rnd 13: k5, M1 6 times (42 sts)
Rnd 15: k6, M1 6 times (48 sts)
Rnds 16-22: k
Rnd 23: k2tog, k6 6 times (42 sts)
Rnd 25: k2tog, k5 6 times (36 sts)
Rnd 27: k2tog, k4 6 times (30 sts)
Rnd 29: k2tog, k3 6 times (24 sts)
Rnd 31: k2tog, k2 6 times (18 sts)
Rnd 33: k2tog, k1 6 times (12 sts)
BO
Body
Size 6 DPN
CO 6 sts, place 2 sts on 3 DPN
Rnds1 & 2: k6
Rnd 3: M1 every st (6 inc made, 12 sts)
Rnd 4 & every even rnd: k
Rnd 5: k1, M1 6 times (18 sts)
Rnd 7: k2, M1 6 times (24 sts)
Rnds 8-12 : k
Rnd 13: k3, M1 6 times (30 sts)
Rnd 15: k4, M1 6 times (36 sts)
Rnds 16-18: k
Rnd 19: k2tog, k3 6 times (24 sts)
Rnd 21: k2tog, k2 6 times (18 sts)
Rnd 23: k2, M1 6 times (24 sts)
Rnds 24-26: k
Rnd 25: k2tog, k2 6 times (18 sts)
Rnd 26: k2tog, k1 6 times (12 sts)
BO
Legs (8)
Size 3 DPN
CO 3 sts
Work i-cord for 3 inches
BO
Finishing
Stuff body and head with polyfil or cotton batting. Join with mattress stitch. Using 2 small round black buttons (or safety eyes) sew eyes on side of head 2/3 from top). Embroider mouth and eyebrows. Attach legs to body.
Technorati Tags: Knitting, Amigurumi,Amigurumi spider,Japanese soft toys
‘Zen’ Kumochan (Little Spider)
While cleaning tonight I found this little guy sitting in my flowerpot. At first I was so shocked to see such a huge spider in my living room! But, he had such a nice expression and was so Zen-like, that I just knew that he was the sort of guy who wouldn’t ‘hurt a fly’. I hope he decides to ‘hang’ around for a while….
I had promised last week in the tutorial about heads that I’d add another one this week about making bodies for knitted amigurumi dolls, and here it is…
Amigurumi Knit Tutorial #2 – Bodies
A characteristic of most amigurumi (from what I’ve gathered from Japanese craft books) is that the head is larger than the body, which gives them a sort of anime-character look. Generally when adding a body to this type of toy, the stitches on the head are cast-off when there are 12 sts remaining (and the tail is not threaded through the remaining stitches and tightened). When the body stitches are cast off, there should be the same number of stitches as the head.
There are so many different variations of body-types, but in this tutorial, I’ll describe how to create 4 main ones. Each one is based on one basic type and then ‘tweaked’ to give different shapes.
First type – Round Shape
The round type is similar to the earlier crochet/knit dolls of yore. It is basically a round shape that (if updated to be more contemporary) is slightly smaller than the head.
If we take Kumo-chan as an example, since his head is 48 sts in diameter, we’d follow the same pattern for the head, but make the body only 24 or 36 sts max in diameter. (See head post for pattern.)
Second type – Cylinder Shape (Crochet example of shape: Dragonfly)
Making a cylinder is the most simple of all the shapes. It is simply one or two increases knit in the round until the desired length is reached.
CO 6 sts
Rnd 1: k
Rnd 2: k
Rnd 3: M1 every st (6 increases made, 12 sts)
Rnd 4-end: k
BO
If greater width is preferred, follow head pattern until the desired number of stitches is reached and then k every rnd until end.
Note: Make certain that the number of sts that are BO are the same as the BO number of head sts.
Third type – Vase Shape (Crochet example of shape: Bumblebee & Butterfly)
This is simply a variation on the cylinder shape. For this type of body, simply increase to 18 [24] sts following the head pattern for increases until desired length for bottom of body and then:
Dec Rnd: k2tog, k1 (6 times, 12 sts) [or k2tog, k2 (6 times 18 sts)]
k every rnd until desired length
BO
Note: Make certain that the number of sts that are BO are the same as the BO number of head sts.
Fourth type – Insect Shape (Kumochan)
This is a variation on the vase shape. Working with an increase of 24 sts based on head pattern, after desired length of bottom half of body:
Rnd 1: k
Rnd 2: k2tog, k2 (6 times, 18 sts)
Rnd 3 (for more dramatic mid-section shaping, otherwise skip): k2tog, k1 (6 times, 12 sts)
Rnd 4: k (if greater mid-section shaping is desired, k another row)
Rnd 5: k1, M1 (6 times, 18 sts)
Rnd 6-end: k
Note: Make certain that the number of sts that are BO are the same as the BO number of head sts.
Finishing
Stuff head with cotton batting or poly-fil. Mattress stitch head to body matching head sts with body sts (whip-stitch will work, but your creature might look a little Frankenstein-ish..). Tuck in ends.
You can:
…to make your own amigurumi creation.
That’s pretty much it! With these basic shapes, there are endless possibilities, so I hope you let your imagination run wild!
Have fun and feel free to post a link with your creations!
(See here for Kumochan’s complete directions…)
Technorati Tags: Knitting, Amigurumi, Tutorial,Amigurumi spider,Japanese soft toys
The coming of spring where I grew up (outside of Washington, DC) always meant cherry blossoms. They signaled that the winters were over and that there were only about 2 more months left of good weather before the hot muggy summers began. In Japan I loved cherry blossom season, walking along the banks of the Shukugawa River under the bowers of the cherry trees, the blossoms carpeting the ground like a blanket of soft pink snow.
Since there aren’t many cherry trees here in LA, I thought I’d create something to remind me of the energizing transition from winter to spring that I often long for (here in LA most of the year is spring…). And thus, the Sakura (Cherry) Brothers were born.
The red cherry, Suppai-kun (bitter) 
is a little upset since he was made with really old yarn from my first knitted sweater project 16 years ago. His little brother, Amai-kun (sweet), however, is a much happier fellow hanging around without a care in the world being made out of a bright Naturespun wool.
I had been wondering how I could translate a crochet amigurumi pattern into a knitted one. After seeing the envious faces of the knitters in my Tuesday night Stitch and Bitch group who don’t crochet, I thought it would be good to write up a few basic patterns, which are more like tutorials, for designing knitted amigurumi. Many of the vintage patterns I have can be a little hard to follow for beginners, and the design principles of amigurumi are pretty basic. It’s just a matter of getting a few simple shapes down and the rest is simply creating more rows between increases and decreases to generate new shapes and sizes.
So, here it is – Amigurumi Knit Tutorial #1 – Heads
Most amigurumi are knit in the round and based on a circle that’s been divided into 6, so the number of stitches for each increase or decrease should be a number that is divisible by 6. The width of the head simply depends on the type of yarn used, the size of the needles and the final number of stitches at the circumference (most larger toys are generally 48-60 stitches). Even though I had followed a lot of patterns before, it wasn’t until I saw a diagram in a Japanese book that’s similar to my very basic one below that I finally ‘got’ how many stitches to increase and decrease and when…
Each small circle represents the total number of stitches on each odd numbered round after the increase, based on 6 increases per round. To make a larger head, simply knit more stitches before each increase (30 would be K3, inc 1; 36 K4, inc 1, etc…). The decreases are simply the reverse of the increases except that the decrease is made before the knit stitches.
So, here’s the basic pattern in knit-ese for Suppai-kun. (Amai-kun was simply knit on smaller needles with one less increase…)
Yarn: Wool, Wool-Blend, and Cotton-Acrylic blends. Also acrylic yarns with a little fuzz work well for knitted objects (makes the increases and decreases look more subtle).
Needles: 4 DPN size 6 or 7
CO 6 sts, place 2 sts on 3 DPN
Rnds1 & 2: k6
Rnd 3: M1 every st (6 inc made, 12 sts)
Rnd 4 & every even rnd: k
Rnd 5: k1, M1 (6 times, 18 sts)
Rnd 7: k2, M1 (6 times, 24 sts)
Rnd 9: k3, M1 (6 times, 30 sts)
Rnds 10-12: k
Rnd 13: k2tog, k 3 (6 times, 24 sts)
Rnd 15: k2tog, k 2 (6 times, 18 sts)
Rnd 17: k2tog, k1 (6 times, 12 sts)
Rnd 19: k2tog 6 times (6 sts)
Cut yarn, leaving a 2 inch tail. Stuff with batting or polyfill. Using yarn needle, thread tail through rem sts & tighten. The head is done!
The stem was simply a 3 st i-cord tied into a knot and sewn onto the top of the head.
Add felt, crocheted or pipe cleaner/wire arms and legs. Embroider a face or use buttons/felt or googly-eyes to embellish. The ends can easily be hidden away inside of your creature, and that’s it! (Remember to embroider embellishments if you are giving these away to small children.)
With just this basic shape, it’s possible to make a variety of little guys, adding embellishments and such to give each its own character.
Technorati Tags: Knitting, Amigurumi, Tutorial, Knitted Toys
I love geckos. (Probably pretty obvious given the moniker for my blog.) Even though I have a cat, the gecko is my favorite critter. There is something soothing about the clik-clik-clik they make while I’m sleeping in a thatched bamboo hut on a South-East Asian beach knowing that they are dining on all the pesky mosquitos that might otherwise dine on me. It’s nice coming back to a place being greeted by these little creatures who so unassumedly take care of me.
I always feel lucky whenever I find a gecko or anole in my house.
Once when I was living in Florida, a lizard fell on my head in the shower. I shrieked, but was happy knowing that it was there. Another time in Japan I noticed my cat playing with something (I thought it was a string or a cat-toy). Upon closer examination, it was a gecko. Machan (the cat) had laid into him, biting off his tail. There was blood on the carpet. She just didn’t get that the gecko was a friend — keeping the demon-like spitting mukade (poisonous centipedes) and mosquitos at bay. Luckily I found him in time, gently putting him outside and hoping for his recovery. I kept seeing him around my front door that summer, somewhat battered –but still alive– and I never had one single mukade the entire summer.
If there is such a thing as an animal totem, the gecko (or lizard) is defintely mine. They are said to be intuitive, sensing things that happen around them which may not be readily apparent. They are creatures of change, growth and dreams. What to one person may seem a slithery thing, to me is a sleek and shimmering animal of beauty — agile, knowing and patient (qualities which I don’t necessarily posses, but rather aspire to).
For years I had been drawing little geckos in notebooks without really thinking. I love having anything gecko around me (as long as it’s not Southwest-style kitsch). When I decided to get a tattoo about 10 years ago. I thought about it deeply. Ankh or yin-yang symbol — too common. Japanese kanji (character) — not quite right. Then one day I saw a temporary gecko tattoo and it just felt right. If I was going to get permanently inked, the gecko was it — we ‘cliked’. Now with the gecko permanently affixed to my left shoulder, I know that it is my animal, that if it is at all possible, we are linked in spirit.
I’m not one to have super cutsy things in my house. Although I love designing toys and such, they are usually meant for others. But, just once, I wanted to create one just for me, something that would follow me throughout the day, and my latest amigurumi, Yamorichan, (‘little lizard’ in Japanese) was born. He rests on my handbrake, reminding me (although often unsuccessfully!) to remain patient and aware. Keeping me safe from the blood-sucking LA drivers, bringing me back to the peace and tranquility I found on the beach in a thatched hut.
(Yamorichan Handbrake Cozy)
One of my closest friends is having a baby. So, when I found out in May I started working on a lap blanket for her. I initially tried to follow a pattern in Debbie Stoller’s the Happy Hooker but then just decided to make a simple, striped, blanket out of TLC Cotton Plus.
I love the sheen of this yarn and I had a lot left over, so I indulged in one of my latest obessions — amigurumi.
Amigurumi, from the Japanese meaning knit or crocheted dolls, are nothing new. I remember my mom getting me a pattern book back in the 80’s with all sorts of crocheted animals. Back then, though, knitted toys were really uncool. So, I never really considered making any until about 4 years ago when a friend of mine had a baby. I found a pattern book with critters similar to the ones from the 80’s, but somehow they seemed cooler than when I was a kid (which might have been the resurrection of 70’s-inspired fashion and the retro boom rearing its head). So, I started making animals from patterns and giving them as baby presents.
Only once did I try to make up my own pattern — a duck. It turned out so funky, that I thought I would have to always follow a pattern (something I really have trouble doing…). That is, until I started reading about the amigurumi craze in Japan.
The Japanese have updated crocheted dolls so that they are much more anime- or character-good like. They are part of the latest vinyl doll craze and there is something about the larger heads and smaller bodies that make them look so much more fun and funky than the earlier dolls. There are a few websites devoted only to amigurumi and a tutorial . I also saw a lot of really cute patterns for sale online, but really wanted to know how to design them so that they’d look more fun and creative. So, during Christmas break, my boyfriend and I went to Kinokuniya (a book store) in Little Tokyo and I got a book about amigurumi with a lot of cute patterns. I don’t know what it is, but the way the book was laid out and the diagrams really made it clear not only how to make these but also how to design them so that they won’t turn out too strange or lopsided. I think that the books I saw would be accessible even for people who don’t know Japanese, although it helped that I remembered some of my now fast-dwindling nihongo (Japanese).
The first pattern I made was a little bear from the book. He turned out really well and is sitting on Doug’s desk at work. I decided that none of the other patterns were really things I wanted to make just yet, so I used my new-found skills to make a few toys for my friend’s soon-to-be new baby using the leftover yarn.
Nowadays people are freaked out about the small bits on crocheted toys, so I always embroider the faces to reduce the smaller parts. But one thing I noticed is that many of my friends put the toys up on the dresser — they look cute but have no real purpose. So, I decided this time to make three little bugs (mushi, in Japanese) and put them together in a mobile.
The first one I made was a bumblebee…
the second a butterfly
Making these guys was the easy part. Trying to figure out how to balance them on a mobile was a little more challenging. I tried wrapping wire in yarn, but realized that it the wire would poke through. I then put the wrapped wire in a small tube I crocheted in the back loops. I tried both 20 gauge wire and pipe cleaners — the 20 gauge wire doubled worked best. A crocheted chain was too heavy-looking to hang each doll and thread or fishing line wouldn’t look right, so I just used plain cotton yarn (embroidery floss would work as well) and finally found a way to balance them on the single yarn-rod with a simple loop at the top for hanging and a few crocheted flowers for the butterfly and the bee.
It turned out pretty well — I don’t really want to give it away!
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