We all (I hope) know by now about the invisible decrease, to smooth out your amigurumi decreases and make your amigurumi look much neater. But what about increasing? Increasing doesn’t have as much of a problem as decreasing, but forcing 2 stitches into one hole does stretch out the hole and leave a slight gap beneath it compared with the surrounding stitches.

Is there any way to reduce this gap and make your increases less visible? Let’s do an experiment to find out…

The Setup

A standard increase consists of two single crochet stitches, both worked into both loops of the stitch below. But either or both of those single crochets could instead be worked into the front loop (FL) or back loop (BL) of the stitch below. Here are all the possible permutations of loops to work into to make a sc increase:

Option 1 is the standard increase, included for reference as the control: the yardstick to compare against, to see if we find a better option.

We’ll omit Option 9 (both stitches in BL only) from the remainder of the experiment, as I already know that the unworked front loop will leave a visible bar on the surface, so it clearly isn’t an ‘invisible’ candidate. That leaves us with 8 candidates, including the control, to include in our experiment…

The Experiment

I crocheted an amigurumi-style shape with a flat top and bottom, and 8 columns of increases around the sides (one column for each option 1-8). Each column includes 3 sample increase stitches, separated by a non-increased round above and below each increase so I could isolate each specific increase stitch. I noted any difficulty with creating each stitch combination as I crocheted.

Then I stuffed and finished the test piece as though it were a regular amigurumi, and then inspected the finished piece to see which columns of increases were least visible.

Results

You may not be able to see the differences clearly here – my observed results (below) are far easier to see by eye than by looking at the photos.

Conclusions

• To reduce the hole size, one of the stitches must be made through both loops. => #4, #5, #6 rejected
• If either stitch is made through the back loop only, it will leave a visible bar on the front of the work. (Note: Those visible bars may not look too bad in my sample, but would be far more prominent if the increase round and previous round are worked in different colours, as they’d show up as a bar of the wrong colour.) => #3, #8 rejected
• It is easier to work the FL/BL stitch first followed by the both loops stitch than vice versa. => #2 is better than #7

#2 and #7 had the best appearance, but #2 is easier to work than #7, so that gives it the edge and makes it the winner in this competition. But, hang on, is there a genuine improvement over a standard increase?

Introducing… the Invisible Increase!

I know it’s hard to see the differences between all the options in the above photo – they’re much more noticeable when you look at the piece in 3D. To make it clearer that there really is a difference, I’ve drawn around the edges of the ‘hole’ beneath a standard increase and the new invisible increase:

You can see that the hole is much smaller if you use the invisible increase; in fact, if anything, I’d say it’s smaller than the hole beneath a normal sc stitch. Mission accomplished!

So, if you’re looking for a less visible increase for your amigurumi, here’s your answer:

Invisible increase: sc in front loop only of next stitch, sc in both loops of same stitch.

Unlike the invisible decrease, which I recommend you always use for amigurumi (unless there’s a specific reason not to, e.g. turning your work between rounds), I’d definitely call the invisible increase an optional technique, but if you ever notice that the holes below your increases look too large, give my invisible increase method a try and see if it alleviates the problem!

Loved this tutorial? I have so many more amigurumi tips and tricks to share with you!

Boost your amigurumi skills with my latest book, The Essential Guide to Amigurumi, your comprehensive guide to amigurumi techniques and tips.

Do you find my tutorials helpful? If so, please consider making a contribution towards my time so I can continue to create clear and concise tutorials for you:

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Not only fun to roll, stack, throw, and catch, these Polyhedral (‘many-faced’) Balls are very special: they are crocheted versions of the five Platonic solids; the only five geometric solid shapes possible where every face is identical and the same number of faces meet at each vertex (corner). Fun and educational!

Not ready to make it yet? Add it to your Ravelry queue!

Or, buy the Polyhedral Balls crochet pattern right now and download it instantly from the PlanetJune shop 🙂

I carefully designed the component shapes so that (within the limits of 1 round of crochet) the finished balls are all the same size. And my construction and edging methods mean that they don’t turn into spheres when you stuff them – the sides stay relatively flat without any hidden reinforcements, which not only makes them simpler to crochet together, but with no rigid plastic inside the balls, these are totally child-safe toys, made from only yarn and stuffing.

As well as being great as toys for kids to play with, they make good stress toys for adults! Plus I’ve discovered an excellent concentration/relaxation game: try balancing them all, one on top of the other – it is possible (provided the tetrahedron is always on the top), but surprisingly difficult to get all 5 to balance. You’ll see I managed it for my cover pictures – there’s no photo trickery there 🙂

The 5 Platonic solids, L-R: Cube (6 sides), Octahedron (8 sides), Icosahedron (20 sides), Dodecahedron (12 sides), Tetrahedron (4 sides)

If you’re not tempted yet by the fun or math-geeky aspects of these balls, here’s one more fact that might persuade you: these are no-sew patterns. 100% crocheted, you only need a yarn needle to weave in a few ends and you’re finished! And most of the ends are cunningly hidden on the inside, so even the end-weaving is very minimal too.

This pattern includes:

• Crochet instructions for the 5 component shapes
• A step-by-step photo tutorial for how to crochet the special edging
• Right- and left-handed step-by-step assembly diagrams, if you’d like to assemble your balls in the same order I did (leaving the minimum number of ends to weave in)
• Tips for speedier assembly and less yarn ends
• A special technique to improve the look of the finished corners

This is also a modular pattern: although it includes all the detailed instructions you need to be able to recreate these balls perfectly – 16 pages total – if you’d like to save on paper and ink, you can choose to print only the pages with the pieces you need: a) the crochet patterns, b) the general assembly photo tutorial and tips, c) the right-handed assembly order diagrams and/or d) the left-handed assembly order diagrams. If all you want to do is print the crochet patterns for the 5 component shapes, that’s all included on one page! I’m doing my bit for the environment 🙂

Gamers take note!
Now, I don’t know how much of a geek/RPG audience I have, but there’s an obvious application to these balls that is just missing one little piece: with this set, we have a d4, d6, d8, d12, and d20… We’re just missing a d10 to have a complete set of gaming dice! The construction and ridged edging of these balls mean that, as well as being a cute decorative set, they can actually even be used like real dice: they’ll always land on one face. (To actually use one as a die it’s best to throw it up in the air, spinning, and let it land – as it’s large but lightweight, unless you have a large area to roll it across, you’ll get a more random result if you throw it in the air first.)

The only problem is that a d10 is not a platonic solid – its shape is a little more complicated, as each of the 10 sides are slightly truncated kite shapes. I can do it, of course, but it would take a little more time, and trial and error, to figure out a) the right shape for a d10, and b) the right size so that the finished ball would match the rest of the set. So, the question is, would there be a demand for a 10-sided dice ball to complete this set?

If so, I’ll design an add-on to this pattern that would include:

• A truncated pentagonal trapezohedron (better known as a d10 to gamers) ball
• Instructions for how to properly label the sides of all 6 balls to turn them into a set of functional gaming dice (embroidered numbers would look great for this, or fabric painted numbers would be a far easier option if you’re not confident in your embroidery skills!)

So please do let me know in the comments if you’d be interested in buying the add-on pattern. I mentioned it on Facebook yesterday and I’ve already had a small positive response, so I need to know if there are more interested gamers/geeks (or people with gamers in the family – what better Christmas present than a set of giant crocheted gaming dice?!) before I design the d10. I’d do it with my commissions process, but of course I’m not going to charge anyone $6 for an add-on pattern!

But, for now, if you’d like to, you can pick up the Polyhedral Balls pattern in my shop 🙂

Hope you like it!

I have a new Crochet Quickies video for you today, showing how to make clean colour changes for amigurumi. This is the same basic technique I explain in my original Changing Colour tutorial (and you may also want to check out my tutorial Changing Colour: Managing the Yarns for my advice on what to do with all the yarn tails you end up with when you’re changing colour).

In this short video, I demo the colour change technique, and show you what happens if you don’t use this method!

Crochet Quickie: Changing Colour (right-handed)

Click to watch this video on YouTube.

Crochet Quickie: Changing Colour (left-handed)

Click to watch this video on YouTube.

Note: The videos may look a little small embedded in the blog: if so, you can fullscreen them or click through to YouTube to watch them full-sized 🙂

Although I’m demoing with single crochet for amigurumi purposes, you can also use this technique with any other crochet stitches, to give cleaner colour changes. The trick is to always pull through the last loop of the stitch before the colour change with the new colour, no matter which crochet stitch you’re using.

(I’ve made this video now for a reason: you’ll need to know this as background info for a brand new exclusive crochet technique that I’ll be demonstrating in my next crochet video…)

If you enjoy my crochet tutorial videos, please help to spread the word about them, and/or subscribe to the PlanetJune YouTube channel.

Loved this tutorial? I have so many more amigurumi tips and tricks to share with you!

Boost your amigurumi skills with my latest book, The Essential Guide to Amigurumi, your comprehensive guide to amigurumi techniques and tips.

Do you find my tutorials helpful? If so, please consider making a contribution towards my time so I can continue to create clear and concise tutorials for you:

Thank you so much for your support! Now click below for loads more crochet video and photo tutorials (and do let me know what else you’d like me to cover in future tutorials…)

Flattened shapes are a basic in amigurumi for creating rigid, flat elements like ears, beaks, wings, hands, feet, flower petals, leaves, etc. Here are a few examples from some of my patterns that use flattened shapes:

All these amigurumi use flattened pieces in different shapes and sizes (marked here by arrows). Clockwise from top left: flipper, petal, plate, ear, wing.

There seems to be some confusion about how to flatten the shapes after crocheting them (see the comments left on my Plumeria pattern for an example of this!) so I thought I’d spell it out with this tutorial so I can refer back to it whenever people email me for help in future.

For any shape that will be flattened, it’ll start out looking like a cone or cup shape. The exact shape and dimensions depend on the pattern and the required shape for the finished piece; it may be:

• very long and thin or short and wide
• pointy tip or rounded tip
• tube-shaped or cone-shaped or widening and then narrowing

… or something in between! Here are a few examples:

All the pre-flattened shapes in this picture have the magic ring on the left and the open edge on the right.

But, whatever the specific shape, it will always have the magic ring at the bottom, and an open edge (which you crochet around) at the top:

Before flattening – note how the open edge runs around the top and the magic ring is at the bottom.

When you flatten it, you’ll always bring the two sides of that open edge together:

Squash the front and back of the open edge together to flatten the piece.

And then continue to flatten the entire piece, right down to the magic ring.

All the flattened pieces from the top…

…and from the side. Note that, in these pictures, the magic rings are all still on the left, and the open edges on the right.

The magic ring will form the tip of the item (ear, petal etc), and you’ll stitch it to the base piece (head, flower, etc) by the open edge – which now looks like two parallel rows of stitches.

That’s all there is to it! I hope this clears up any remaining confusion about how to flatten and attach these pieces to your amigurumi.

Loved this tutorial? I have so many more amigurumi tips and tricks to share with you!

Boost your amigurumi skills with my latest book, The Essential Guide to Amigurumi, your comprehensive guide to amigurumi techniques and tips.

Do you find my tutorials helpful? If so, please consider making a contribution towards my time so I can continue to create clear and concise tutorials for you:

Thank you so much for your support! Now click below for loads more crochet video and photo tutorials (and do let me know what else you’d like me to cover in future tutorials…)

Here’s my second design commissioned using my new Commissions process: a Platypus! Thank you to everyone who commissioned this design from me – I hope you like the end result…

You probably already know that the platypus is a highly unusual-looking animal. When it was first discovered, the specimen was thought to be a hoax (like a jackalope) assembled from a beaver and a duck!

Platypus Fun Facts

• Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) are only found in eastern Australia.
• They are monotremes (egg-laying mammals).
• Platypus are semi-aquatic. They live in burrows and hunt for their food (insects and shellfish) along river bottoms.
• It’s almost impossible to breed platypus in captivity, which is why very few people have seen one in real life – you won’t see them in many zoos.
• The plural of platypus is sometimes written as platypus, platypuses, platypi, or platypodes!

I thought I had a pretty good idea what a platypus should look like, based on toys, cartoons, and the description of ‘beaver + duck’, but when I started my research I found I was wrong; a google image search shows a huge confusing variety, so I had to learn a lot more about them before I could truly understand what I was looking at. I watched the platypus section of David Attenborough’s wonderful The Life of Mammals over and over to see what they look like in motion, and spent a long time researching platypus features so I could make my design accurate. Here’s what I found:

• Although all 4 platypus feet are webbed, the front feet are hugely oversized and used for paddling. The back feet are smaller and used only for steering while swimming.
• A platypus uses its tail to store fat reserves, so a healthy platypus does not have a flat tail like a beaver’s tail.
• Platypus eyes are located just back from the beak. It keeps its eyes closed while swimming and uses electrolocation to detect food with receptors on its sensitive bill.
• It’s very easy to understand why people thought the platypus was a hoax: the base of the bill has a really interesting shape which makes the bill look like it’s been stuck onto the front of the face and doesn’t belong there.

So I took all these facts and built them into my design to make it more realistic. My design uses a couple of neat tricks for shaping the beak and feet/legs, but it’s still easy to crochet – I always try to find that balance for my patterns.

It turned out to be more of a design challenge than I’d anticipated, but, several beak and foot prototypes later, I’m very happy with the result – the final shaping techniques are simple and elegant, and I think he looks really sweet. As a fun extra touch, his webbed feet are also slightly poseable – you can move them around to make him ‘swim’ 🙂

I wonder which design will be commissioned next… (By the way, I have many more designs I’m also working on, so don’t worry if nothing else from the list is fully pledged for a while – there are other PlanetJune designs in the works!)

If you pledged towards the commission, you should have already received your copy of the pattern. Otherwise, if you’d like to make a platypus of your own, you can now pick up the Platypus crochet pattern from the PlanetJune shop! I hope you like it 🙂

If you’re not quite ready to buy though, how about queuing Platypus on ravelry so you don’t forget about it?

After the magic ring, what’s the one other technique you need if you want to create beautifully finished amigurumi? The invisible decrease (abbreviated invdec) – it’s absolutely invaluable. Nobody likes to look at a lumpy bottom, and that’s true even for amigurumi rear ends! The invisible decrease is as good as its name – you’ll have no more bumpy or gappy decreases once you’ve mastered this technique.

In addition to the obvious use in amigurumi, you can also use the invisible decrease for any piece worked in single crochet, in the round, without turning (e.g. hats). As it leaves unworked loops on the back of the piece, you won’t want to use it for anything where you turn between rows/rounds, or where both sides will be on display.

(If you already know how to invdec, you can skip this video, if you like – there’s nothing extra that I didn’t show you in my original invisible decrease photo tutorial – but I’m building my crochet tutorials video library and that has to include the essential basics as well as clever tips and new techniques. My next video will show you a brand new crochet technique I just developed!)

And now to the video tutorial (in right- and left-handed versions, of course):

Invisible Decrease for Amigurumi (right-handed)

Click to watch this video on YouTube.

Invisible Decrease for Amigurumi (left-handed)

Click to watch this video on YouTube.

Note: The videos may look a little small embedded in the blog: if so, you can fullscreen them or click through to YouTube to watch them full-sized 🙂

UPDATE: If your invisible decreases aren’t quite invisible and still look a little gappy, see my follow-up tutorial for tips to perfect your invdec stitches.

If you enjoy my crochet tutorial videos, please help to spread the word about them, and/or subscribe to the PlanetJune YouTube channel.

Loved this tutorial? I have so many more amigurumi tips and tricks to share with you!

Boost your amigurumi skills with my latest book, The Essential Guide to Amigurumi, your comprehensive guide to amigurumi techniques and tips.

Do you find my tutorials helpful? If so, please consider making a contribution towards my time so I can continue to create clear and concise tutorials for you:

Thank you so much for your support! Now click below for loads more crochet video and photo tutorials (and do let me know what else you’d like me to cover in future tutorials…)

Worsted weight acrylic yarn is what I use and recommend for my amigurumi designs. That’s 100% acrylic yarn, marked as worsted weight, medium weight, or number 4. (Outside North America, it may also be called 10 ply or aran weight.)

That makes it sound pretty locked down, and that any yarn you choose that fits those requirements will be exactly the same. Of course, if you’ve ever touched, let alone used, two brands of worsted weight acrylic, you’ll know that’s not the case. Thickness, loft (bounciness), stretchiness, softness, shininess – all these properties vary wildly between different yarns all marked as worsted weight acrylic, and that’s why I usually recommend that you don’t mix yarns within an amigurumi.

I thought it might be interesting to try to quantify some of this, as scientifically as possible. So, time for a yarn experiment!

The Contenders

I took 8 samples of worsted weight acrylic yarns, choosing a different colour for each so we can recognise them later:

1. Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice (yellow)
2. Caron Simply Soft (purple)
3. Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn! (grey)
4. Patons Canadiana (beige)
5. Red Heart Soft (brown)
6. KnitPicks Brava (red)
7. Loops & Threads Impeccable (green) – Michaels’ store brand
8. Bernat Satin (lime)

Test 1: wraps per inch (WPI)

Yarn thickness is often measured in terms of wraps per inch (WPI). To find the WPI, you wrap the yarn around something (e.g. a ruler) so the wraps are touching but not squashed tightly together, and count how many wraps fit into 1 inch. A higher WPI number means a finer yarn.

Here there are 12 wraps between the 3″ and 4″ markers on the ruler.

My WPI results were consistently higher than the ones I found on Ravelry, e.g. Bernat Satin (pictured above) apparently has a WPI of 9, not the 12 I measured. But as I’m looking for a trend, not the actual numbers, that doesn’t matter – I measured each of my samples using consistent methodology, so the thicker yarns will have a smaller WPI number in my test.

Test 2: crocheted sample

I crochet with very consistent tension, as you can see by how even the stitches look in my amigurumi. So crocheting an amigurumi-style sample was the best way for me to ensure a consistent result for this test, plus it’s more relevant for amigurumi than a flat square swatch would be. I used an E (3.5mm) hook and crocheted a cup shape with each yarn, using the same pattern for each cup, and making sure the sample was large enough to measure the finished single crochet stitch width and height.

As you can see, the samples varied in size considerably:

These two samples were crocheted using the same hook and pattern, but the different yarns make a huge difference to the finished size! The Bernat Satin sample easily fits inside the Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice sample.

I flattened each cup to remove any inaccuracy from the 3D shape (it’s hard to measure an accurate diameter). To get an accurate measurement, I measured over 10 stitches and 6 rows to get my average stitch heights and widths.

An Aside: Watch Out!

Even within the same yarn, I’ve found that there can be slight thickness differences between different colours, but here’s an example of a larger difference: for years I’ve been talking with friends about how Bernat Satin seems thinner than it used to when I first started buying it, so I decided to try the WPI test with a sample of Bernat Satin that I bought in 2007.

After verifying that the change in the yarn was real (old WPI 11, new WPI 12), I checked the ball bands from several skeins of old and new Satin. All Bernat Satin has a weight of 100g, but the older balls were labelled as between 149 and 152m per 100g skein. All the newer balls are labelled as 182m per 100g skein. That’s 30 metres more yarn with the same total weight, which means the yarn really has got thinner (and the gauge information was never modified, although the gauge is definitely different since the change!)

So my little caution is to watch out – even if you’re buying the same brand and type of yarn, it may not have exactly the same thickness.

The Results

I arranged all the flattened samples by size here so you can see the difference visually too – 0.3mm per stitch may not sound like much, but you can see that it really makes a difference, even in a small amigurumi piece:

Flattened samples from the top – the height of the samples shows the stitch width variation

Flattened samples from the side – the height of the samples shows the stitch length variation

Now here’s the table again, this time with the yarns arranged in the same order as in the photos above. Italics show the thinnest yarns, and bold shows the thickest.

But it’s not just weight that plays a part; the yarns’ appearance and feel also vary. Old-fashioned acrylics felt hard and looked matte, whereas many modern ‘soft’ acrylics feel silkier to work with, and have more of a sheen to them. You may prefer a firmer, more rigid yarn for amigurumi, or like the shinier, softer look and feel. For me, I like both, but I’d never want to mix them in one project.

This final table of results is more subjective, but it’s my attempt to classify the yarns by which are similar enough to use within one project, both in terms of softness/shininess and weight. These are just my opinion, and I may have invented the term ‘light worsted’, but I feel it applies for subdividing the ‘worsted’ weight into strata of weights that match each other more closely.

So, I’d use any of the top 4 yarns (Bernat, Patons, Red Heart, Caron) interchangeably – they have a similar weight and sheen to them, and the size difference is no more than that between different shades of the same type of yarn. Of the remaining four, they make 2 pairs in terms of weight, but the KnitPicks and Lion Brand are far softer than the Hobby Lobby and Michaels’ store brands, and have more sheen, so I wouldn’t mix them.

Recommendations

• Although some worsted weight yarns are thicker than others, all make good amigurumi! The only difference is the size of the finished result – they will scale correctly so using the same pattern with a thicker yarn will give you a taller, wider and deeper amigurumi – it will remain in proportion to the original design.
• These results aren’t so important if you’re making simple amigurumi e.g. a brown bird with a yellow beak and feet, but if you’re making multi-coloured amigurumi with colour changes within the pieces, or more complex shaping, I recommend you use my results (and/or do your own test first), to make sure the yarns you’ve selected are comparable in thickness, feel, and appearance before you start.
• Don’t believe the gauge info when you’re comparing yarns for amigurumi! Only half the yarns I tested had crochet-specific gauge info, but according to those that did, you’d expect Vanna’s Choice (one of the heaviest yarns I tested) to be thinner than Red Heart Soft (among the lightest yarns in my test) – that’s clearly incorrect. The other gauge information (for recommended hook/needle sizes and knitting) seemed equally random/incorrect compared with my tests.

I hope you found my little experiment useful! I know it’s answered some questions for me, and now I’ll feel more confident about deciding to mix, or not mix, certain yarns in my future amigurumi projects.

Loved this tutorial? I have so many more amigurumi tips and tricks to share with you!

Boost your amigurumi skills with my latest book, The Essential Guide to Amigurumi, your comprehensive guide to amigurumi techniques and tips.

Do you find my tutorials helpful? If so, please consider making a contribution towards my time so I can continue to create clear and concise tutorials for you:

Thank you so much for your support! Now click below for loads more crochet video and photo tutorials (and do let me know what else you’d like me to cover in future tutorials…)

As I’m a 99% self-published designer, I don’t often get profiled in crochet magazines etc, so my Ravelry group decided to interview me to find out a little more about who I am and what I do – my own PlanetJune Story, if you like! I’ll be posting the answers to some of their questions every now and again, and grouping them by theme if they fit together nicely. Here are the questions I’ll be answering today:

Why Amigurumi? (from Monica, theMarkofSMB)
How did you find out about Amigurumi? (from Monica, theMarkofSMB)
Do you crochet from other designers’ patterns? (from Aleksandra, petrOlly)
How did you get into designing patterns? (from Chrisie, CrochetChrisie)
What is your favorite animal? (from Monica, theMarkofSMB)

In 2005, the online craft scene was very different. Imagine a world with no Ravelry, no Etsy, only a handful of craft blogs (and no way to subscribe to them), no social media… It’s strange to think how much things have changed in only a few years!

Back then, amigurumi was pretty much unknown outside Japan, but when I got bored with afghans and scarves, I managed to find something different in crochet that piqued my interest: thread bears – tiny bears crocheted with thread and steel hooks. Free patterns weren’t common back then, and thread bear design seemed to be a closely guarded secret – there was no free way to find out how to make them. As the idea of working in rounds was completely new to me, I had no idea where to even start on making a crocheted toy, so I bought one pattern from a designer on eBay so I could see how these crocheted bears worked.

Now, I really don’t like to follow patterns – crochet or otherwise. I can’t help myself – I have to tweak and ‘improve’. Even my first thread bear didn’t quite follow the pattern I’d bought, and then I started changing them to make them simpler and cuter (unknowingly, I was creating something closer to amigurumi style!)…

L: loosely based on a pattern I bought; R: my first attempt at a design


Further refinements (all are between 4 and 6cm tall as seated)

I got curious and tried making a regular-sized bear of my own design with eyelash yarn and a larger hook:

Blue Bear – a very early amigurumi prototype, ahead of its time!

…and that was the end of the story for well over a year. With no blog or online community, nobody saw what I was making, and there was nobody to tell me I was onto something and I should keep going in this direction, so I didn’t.

But then things started to change – we had forums like Crochetville and Craftster to share what we were making, and more people (including me) started their own craft blogs. I began to hear about amigurumi, and crocheted toys were starting to get more popular.

I didn’t really like the style of any other amigurumi I’d seen, so I wasn’t too interested in them. Then I remembered my fuzzy Blue Bear – nobody was making anything like that, despite the proliferation of eyelash yarns around that time – and decided to try remaking it from scratch with more structure and better proportions. And look what happened:

Hey, it’s Fuzzy Bear!

I submitted an early version of Fuzzy Bear to the Crochet Pattern-a-Day Calendar, but didn’t hear anything back from them. People on Crochetville and my fledgling blog seemed interested in a pattern anyway, so I thought I’d self-publish it as a PDF and see what happened…

(As it turns out, Fuzzy Bear not only made it into the calendar that year, but also made the back cover! Luckily, by the time I found out, I was already well down this road as a self-published crochet designer.)

It turned out I had a perfect combination of skills for doing this: my science/mathematical background worked well for figuring out all the numbers for patterns, and my technical writing background let me write clear, concise, accurate instructions. And, not only that, but all my other crafty pursuits lent themselves to my designs too:

My love of all animals (and, to answer the question, cats are my favourite ‘pet’ animal and orang utans my favourite ‘non-pet’) and observation skills I used to make my painstaking animal pencil sketches came in handy when I decided to make more realistic animals instead of traditional ‘toy’ shapes.

Some of my pencil sketches: cat with flowers, donkeys

And I’d also done lots of 3D modelling before, both in recreating toys from much-loved childhood TV shows:

Hand-sewn Charlie Mouse from Bagpuss – my own design (inset pic shows the real Charlie Mouse from the show)

…and making polymer clay sculptures:

My versions of the flying pig from an old Telus commercial and Gingy from Shrek

So even though I started down this road by accident, it does make sense, looking back, that I could combine all my skills and interests in this way and find something that was a perfect fit for me – making models of my favourite things is something I’ve always done, many years before I even learned to crochet, let alone knew it could be used to create 3D models. Crochet lends itself to pattern-making more easily than clay sculpture, but, apart from that, the design process is pretty similar for me.

Some (nowhere near all!) of my amigurumi designs

Although I’m still amazed and grateful that I’ve been able to create a career from this, I’d still be making amigurumi even if nobody bought my patterns, because I just love to do it. Finding out about, and spending time with, animals and nature; crochet; sculpting; design challenges; and a good excuse to fill my house with the cutest toys I can imagine – what could be better?

I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing a bit about my introduction to amigurumi. If you have any questions you’d like to add to the interview pool, please submit them on Ravelry or in the comments of this post – I’ll do another interview post in a little while!