Sue Zann Toh

Amigurumi is a form of crocheting toys in a continuous spiral using mostly single crochets. It comes from Japan and it’s quite easy to pick up.

I’ve never crochet before and managed to make a few amigurumi toys, so it really isn’t very hard. I learnt from an online tutorial provided by Hook and Needles. There are a series of videos that teaches you everything you need to know, starting with the basics. I’ve had a look at a few tutorials online and found this to be the best one.

The first thing I made was an Octopus. I didn’t have any eyes so I stitched on Japanese style sleepy eyes. I liked this pattern because it was all in one pieces, so no joining needed.

Next I made a heart (the larger one in the photo below). I then realised I was crocheting incorrectly by only using the back loops! So I made a second heart, where I was doing single crochets properly and was really trying to keep the stitches tight. I think I went a little overboard with the “keeping stitches tight” because the second heart looks more like a bum than a heart!

Next I tried out the corpse bride. I didn’t make her a bride I just made her a corpse girl. I added the flower choker and changed the hair from the original pattern. I don’t think I’m done with her hair yet, I may add to it in the near future.

My latest completed amigurumi is my favourite so far. It’s an adorable frog. I used the pattern for the head, eyes and body, but modified the arms, feet and the black and white bits of the eyes. I’ll post the pattern I used for the arms and eyes later on.