What Is Amigurumi
Amigurumi is a Japanese word that means “Crocheted or Knitted Stuffed toys” Isn’t it lovely that they condensed that whole phrase into one word. Ok, so it SUCKS to try to pronounce just reading it for the first time… but at least you don’t have to say “yes, this is my … stuffed rabbit” ( OMG I SHOULD MAKE A RABBIT!) “Stuffed Rabbit” just doesn’t seem to display all the fun and hard work it took to make the aforementioned rabbit…. that I should totally make someday. But Amigurumi… sounds TOTALLY cool… Its like Sudoku. When it first came out it was called a “number puzzle” no one cared, but when it moved to Japan and started being called “Sudoku” EVERYONE loved it (including me). So, yeah, if you knit or crochet a stuffed toy (be it animal, vegetable, or mineral) its amigurumi.
How Amigurami Is Done?
I have no clue how people manage to get spherical things with knitting, but with crochet you simply make a lot of Single Crochets. OK, so that’s an over-simplified version. Generally, Amigurumi is worked in a spiral. You can work in a round if you wish (most doilies are worked in a round), but that leaves a weird seam most of the time so I prefer a spiral. You don’t join, you just keep going and mark your beginning stitch with a stitch marker and voila, you’re making a circular, spherical, tubular, awesomeness.
Why should I care?
You shouldn’t. But its fun to care about it! I started out just playing and figured it out, THEN I found patterns. THEN I started making my own patterns. SO much fun! It’s a wonderful, fairly cheap, and infinitely expandable hobby that you can utilize for loads of different occasions. For example, My niece was born; I made a couple of elephant rattles! My other niece came to live with us; I made a lady bug. My Nephew wanted a dog, out from my crochet hooks pops snoopy. My other, quite a bit older, nephew is in love with Harry Potter and I didn’t have a Birthday Present for him, So I sat down with my hooks and some white yarn and black thread and made him his very own Hedwig. Crocheting has always been fun for me, but now that I can make creatures, the fun has expanded!