AMY’S GURUMIS MANUAL

version 1 | December 2015 | © amysgurmis

Everything you need to know to assemble your own delightful amigurumis!

This manual does not include instructions on how to crochet. If that’s what you’re searching for, please see the link below and you’ll find a very helpful how-to manual that includes videos teaching basic crochet skills.1

Once you’ve learned how to crochet, please read this manual as well (at least the Tips and Tricks section) before crocheting patterns from Amy’s Gurumis. The other sections, such as Hoods and Manes, are only necessary if you are crocheting a particular pattern such as Felix the Lion, (e.g. Read the section on Hair pieces if you are crocheting Penelope the doll).

This manual will be updated if I have new information for new patterns. I will post an announcement on my blog, so if you’re subscribed you will be notified immediately. If not, please check back at amysgurumis.wordpress.com occasionally for updates.

Thank you and happy crocheting!

1 http://www.freshstitches.com/beginneramigurumi/

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Yarn Weight and Hook Size

…p. 2

Tips and Tricks …p. 3

Magic Loop …p.5

Attaching Limbs …p. 7

Puppets …p. 8

Attaching Ears …p. 9

Hair Pieces …p. 10

Hoods and Manes …p. 13

Little Shoes …p. 14

Felt ‘n Fabric clothes …p. 15

Little Faces …p. 17

Tails …p. 17

2

Yarn Weight and Hook Size I don’t list specific yarns in my patterns because amigurumi is very flexible and a great way to use up leftover bits from your stash. I do specify whether I used worsted or DK weight yarn, but feel free to use whatever type or weight you happen to have on hand when following my patterns. The important thing to remember is to be consistent, using similar weights for each piece. I mainly stick to acrylic and dishcloth cotton yarns. My favourites include:

•! Bernat Handicrafter Cotton •! Loops & Threads Impeccable •! Vanna’s Choice •! Patons Canadiana •! Patons Astra •! Patons Grace •! KnitPicks Dishie •! KnitPicks CotLin DK

For worsted weights I will use a 3.75 mm crochet hook. For DK weights I go down to 3.25 mm. You may need to use a different hook size than the one recommended in the pattern, depending on your yarn weight and gauge. I will also sometimes select a different hook size depending on the brand of yarn I’m using. This is because worsted weight can range from light to heavy, so two different brands that are both labeled as worsted can actually be very different weights. More information about yarn weight in relation to crocheting amigurumi can be found at planetjune.com. Please check out the link below to read her post on this subject.2 She explains how different worsted yarns compare to one another in terms of weight and provides helpful information on popular acrylic yarn brands.

Keep in mind that this issue is not as important when making a toy compared with a garment, (which needs to have certain measurements in order to fit). The important thing is to make sure your hook size is allowing you to crochet a fabric that is tight so polyfill stuffing can’t be seen through the stitches. This is why hook sizes for amigurumi are often smaller than the hook size that might be suggested on a yarn label.

2 http://www.planetjune.com/blog/worsted-weight-yarn-comparison/

3

Hiding the knot Make sure you hide the knot of each piece before assembling them all together. Using a darning needle, thread the end through a stitch next to where you finished off, tugging the knot downwards and inside the piece (Fig. 1−2).

Head and Body Join

In my patterns, I usually decrease for one extra round on the head than on the body. This means that when you sew them together, the last row of the body should be sewn around the second last row on the head. Rather than sewing them together as shown in Fig. 3, it should instead be done as shown in Fig. 4.

Figure 1 Figure 2

Figure 3 Figure 4

4

Tying the Knot When assembling the toy, make sure to secure each piece with a knot. For example, after sewing an arm to a body with a darning needle, thread the end through the arm, but rather than pulling it tight, leave a loop (Fig. 5). Then thread the end through the loop and pull the knot tight, (Fig. 6−7). Finally, pull the end through the body to hide the end and fasten off (Fig. 8).

Figure 5 Figure 6

Figure 7 Figure 8

5

Magic Loop To start each piece of an amigurumi, the following tip is very helpful. A magic loop is an easy way to ensure that the first few stitches of whatever part you are crocheting will remain tight and won’t allow any stuffing to show through in your finished toy.

Make a loop with the yarn (Fig. 9). Use your crochet hook to pull the working yarn through the loop (Fig. 10).

Pull the working yarn through the small loop made in Fig. 10 (Fig. 11−12).

Figure 9 Figure 10

Figure 11 Figure 12

6

Insert the crochet hook into the big loop and pull the working yarn through so there are two loops on the hook (Fig. 13). Draw the working yarn through both those loops and you have formed your first single crochet.

Continue to single crochet 5 more stitches so there is a total of 6 single crochets on the loop (Fig. 14). Pull the tail end tight so that the magic loop is closed (Fig. 15) and begin to crochet your amigurumi. This forms Round 1 of an amigurumi pattern.

Figure 13 Figure 14

Figure 15

7

Attaching Limbs There are two different ways to attach limbs. They can be sewn flat to the body (Fig. 16−17), making the arms and legs more floppy and rag doll like. It’s best not to put any stuffing near the top of the arm or leg for this method because otherwise they won’t lay flat. The other option is to sew the limbs in a circular shape to the body (Fig. 18−19) so they are stiffer and stick out (especially if you want the toy to be able to stand up on it’s own). I use both methods depending on the toy, but you can choose whichever method you prefer.

Figure 16 Figure 17

Figure 18 Figure 19

8

Another method that I use occasionally is to crochet the head, body and legs as one piece. Fig. 20 illustrates joining the body with a slip stitch. Continue crocheting around one half of the body to form a leg and fasten off. Then join the yarn to the second opening in the body and crochet around that to form the second leg.

Puppets Puppets also require a different method of assembly. Two circles are sewn together to form the head, leaving an opening for the neck (Fig. 22). Yarn is joined to this opening and the body is crocheted in the round. The openings for the arms are made by crocheting a chain, skipping several stitches, and joining with a slip stitch (Fig. 23).

Figure 20 Figure 21

Figure 22 Figure 23

9

Attaching the Ears Almost all my amigurumis have ears, whether the long ears of a bunny or the little ones of a mouse. There’s a little trick I use for sewing them on that helps to stand them up straight on the toy’s head.

Before sewing an ear to the head, take the yarn tail and, using a darning needle, skip 3 stitches and thread the tail through the 4th stitch, pulling it tight (Fig. 24−25). Only a few stitches are required to sew the ear to the head, threading the needle through the same area where the 4 stitches were gathered together in order to fasten it to the head (Fig. 26−27).

Figure 24 Figure 25

Figure 26 Figure 27

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Hair Pieces Making an amigurumi doll with hair can be tricky. In my patterns, I crochet a hair piece and sew it to the head. This technique saves time, is flexible, very cute, and has the added benefit of not weighing the head down. Crocheting a hair piece begins like any other part of an amigurumi: with a magic loop and several rounds of increases. But at some point, it will switch from rounds to rows so you will no longer be crocheting all around the circle, but going back and forth on half of it in order to shape the hair or to form bangs. Below are pictures illustrating an example of a curly hair piece, which is the most difficult to crochet. However, these instructions should be useful for all hair pieces in my different doll patterns, whether for boy or girl, curly or straight.

Fig. 28−30 demonstrate the transition from working in rounds to working in rows.

Figure 28 Figure 29

Figure 30

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Fig. 31−32 illustrate how to crochet the first curl. If this hair piece was straight, you would simply continue crocheting in rows as demonstrated in Fig. 30 until you reached the desired hair length. But for crocheting curly hair, once the rows have been completed, crochet a chain and then double crochet up the chain (Fig. 32) in order to form a curl. Once you’ve crocheted the curl, skip a couple sitches (the pattern will specify how many), join with a slip stitch to the hair piece, (Fig. 33) and repeat the process to form the next curl.

Figure 31 Figure 32

Figure 33 Figure 34

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The next two pictures illustrate the hair being positioned on the head and then sewn into place. Using a darning needle and the tail end, stitch along the space between the last row and the curls (Fig. 35), up along the side (Fig. 36), and across the bangs. Fig. 37 demonstrates sewing a straight hair piece to a doll’s head. Straight hair could also be crocheted using the curly method by simply working slip stitches up the chain rather than double crochets (Fig. 38).

Figure 35 Figure 36

Figure 37 Figure 38

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Hoods and Manes Similar to hair, hoods and manes begin like any other piece of an amigurumi, but then switch from rounds to rows. Once the rows are completed and the hood sits comfortably on the amigurumi’s head, a chain is crocheted across the neck and joined with a slip stitch on the opposite side to secure the hood to the head (Fig. 39) For manes there is an additional step of the mane edging that is crocheted separately and must be sewn onto the hood piece (Fig. 40).

Figure 39 Figure 40

Figure 51 Figure 42

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Little Shoes Nothing makes an amigurumi doll cuter than a pair of crocheted Mary Janes! Some of my shoe patterns begin like a regular amigurumi part. Others, such as the American Girl Doll shoe, begin by crocheting a longer chain (rather than starting with a magic loop) and then transitioning to rounds (Fig. 43). In any case, the rest of the shoe follows the same steps. Once the shoe itself has been crocheted, a chain is formed and joined on the opposite side to make a shoe strap (Fig 44−46). There is also the option of sewing a button onto one side of the shoe to dress it up.

Figure 43 Figure 44

Figure 45 Figure 46

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Felt ‘n Fabric Clothes Many of my patterns include templates so that you can cut out and sew or glue together little clothes for your amigurumis. These templates may be too large or too small depending on the finished size of your amigurumi, but they are basic shapes and easily adjusted to suit your own toys. Fig. 47 is an example of a little sweater that has been sewn together using embroidery floss.

Fig. 48 is an example of a basic shirt pattern. The shirt is started as a chain, joined with a slip stitch, and then worked entirely in the round. Sometimes this basic pattern for a shirt is made more complicated by working in rows (Fig. 49) and then transitioning to rounds (Fig. 50) in order to include a slit and a button hole at the back (Fig. 51−52).

Figure 47 Figure 48

Figure 49 Figure 50

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The basic shirt pattern could also be crocheted entirely in rows to make a little cardigan with buttons (Fig. 53).

Sometimes the clothes are so little that they are simply one piece cutouts that are glued to the amigurumi, such as an apron for a mouse (Fig. 54).

Fig. 55 illustrates sewing a skirt piece through the back loops on the body of a doll.

Figure 51 Figure 52

Figure 53 Figure 54

Figure 55

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Little Faces The faces of my amigurumis can be put together using craft glue or a needle and embroidery floss. I usually use safety eyes, which I purchase from an Etsy shop with every shape and colour of safety eye imaginable.3 But you could also use felt, buttons, or even crochet your own eyes. You can dress up a toy with ribbon, lace, and craft roses. You can give your bunny or bear a vintage look with fabric inside the ears (Fig. 56) or instead opt for soft pink felt. Colour lightly on the cheeks of a doll with a red pencil crayon to give the face a rosy complexion. Pompoms make great fuzzy tails and embroidery floss crocheted into a single chain makes a delicate necklace. The possibilities are endless and I encourage you to be creative and have fun with the little faces of your amigurumis!

Tails The final step to explain is the tail of an amigurumi. This applies to lions, mice, monkeys, pigs, etc. I usually crochet a chain, then slip stitch or single crochet (or double crochet for a curly tail) back up the chain. Then I take both tail ends to tie the piece to a stitch on the back of my amigurumi’s body (Fig. 57−58).

3 www.etsy.com/ca/shop/6060

Figure 57 Figure 58

Figure 56