There are millions of teddy bear designs out there, but what about bear-shaped bear patterns? I think real bears deserve some appreciation too! I already have my Polar Bear pattern, but they aren’t shaped like other bears, so I decided it was time for a series of realistic bear designs:

Which bear is your favourite: Black, Polar, or Brown?

(Ready to buy already? Pick up the 3-for-2 Bears Multipack, or the Brown/Grizzly Bear, Black Bear and Polar Bear individual patterns. Or keep reading to find out more…)

Spot the Difference?

I must confess that I wasn’t much of a bear expert, going into this project. I had no idea of the differences between Black, Brown and Grizzly Bears, apart from the obvious (colour) – and it turns out I didn’t even get that right… For a start, Brown and Grizzly are two names for the same bear – you can use them interchangeably. And here’s where it gets really surprising: despite their names, you can’t reliably tell Black and Brown Bears apart by their coat colouring; both are found in a wide spectrum of colours.

If Black Bears can be brown, and Brown Bears can be black, how do you actually tell if you’re looking at a Brown Bear or a Black Bear? I took an online course (actually intended for hunters – boo – but I had a much nicer reason for my study!) and here’s the lowdown:

Bear Identification Tips

1. Ears

Brown bears have short round ears.

Black bears have taller, pointier ears.

2. Face

Brown bears have a dish (concave) face shape when viewed in profile.

Black bears have a straight face in profile.

3. Shoulders

Brown bears have a very prominent shoulder hump.

Black bears have no shoulder hump.

My Bear Designs

Put all that together, and here’s the result:

Realistically-shaped Brown/Grizzly Bear (top) and Black Bear (bottom) – mine are coloured the way you’d imagine they should be!

What about Polar Bears?
Polar Bears are more closely related to Brown Bears than Black Bears, but their bodies have adapted for their carnivorous diet and lifestyle in the frigic Arctic:

• small, low-set ears
• large feet with short claws
• sharp teeth (not included in amigurumi bears!)
• a more streamlined shape (for swimming)
• dense white fur with black skin beneath (to keep them warm)

Got all that? Then you’re ready to properly appreciate all three of my bear designs!

Adult and Baby Bears

One pattern, two sizes of bear: bulky weight yarn option (left); worsted weight yarn option (right)

The smaller Polar Bear you see in the photos above is made with the worsted weight option from my bulky weight Polar Bear pattern. You can easily make any adult bear and cub in the same way, by using a larger hook and thicker yarn for the mother bear, and a smaller hook and finer yarn for the baby bear. (See my Resizing Amigurumi article for more information.)

Tip: Using proportionately larger eyes for the smaller bear, as I’ve done here, will give it a cuter, more babyish, cub-like appearance.

Special Deal!

I’ve set up an amazing deal for these bears: the Multipack is only $10 – that’s buy two bear patterns, get the third free!

Note: If you’ve already bought the polar bear, you don’t have to miss out on this deal! Just buy the Multipack (or the remaining 2 bears in one order), then email me with 1) your bears order number and 2) the order number (or date) from when you bought the polar bear, and I’ll send you a coupon for $5 off your next order of $10 or more. (The coupon will remain valid for a whole year, so don’t worry if there’s nothing else you want to buy right now!)

Or if you only want your favourite bear, you’ll find each pattern individually in my shop too 🙂

Handy Links:

• 3-for-2 Bears Multipack
• Brown/Grizzly Bear pattern
• Black Bear pattern
• Polar Bear pattern
• Black Bear on Ravelry:
• Brown/Grizzly Bear on Ravelry:

Yay for toy bears that look like real bears – I hope this may be the start of a new trend in toys! Which bear design do you like best?

It’s Donationware time again! Celebrate summer with my Amigurumi Citrus Collection:

Make your own amigurumi fruit bowl with an entire collection of life-sized and realistically shaped citrus fruits: orange, lemon, grapefruit, lime and clementine patterns. Crochet a realistic fruit selection, or make a cute fruit family by giving each fruit a face – the choice is yours. As these are one-piece patterns, they work up really quickly, and are equally perfect for decoration or play!

Each amigurumi citrus fruit is the size and shape of its real counterpart.

This generous super-sized donationware pattern is a special thank-you from me to you for sticking with me through my challenges this year 🙂

As I like to reward people who chose to donate for my donationware patterns, the PDF version of this pattern includes a bonus citrus leaf pattern, in both written and stitch diagram versions, with full instructions on how to add a crocheted leaf to any of your citrus fruits! As always, the pattern is free for you to use, and you need only donate if you’d like to thank me for my time in creating it, or if you’d like the easy-to-print PDF version.

Send me a donation and you’ll get the citrus leaf pattern as a bonus reward.

I hope you enjoy my fresh and fruity Citrus Collection pattern!

Go to the Amigurumi Citrus Collection pattern >>

My latest commissioned design – Red Panda – is ready at last! I’d like to thank my commissioners for their patience when unforeseen personal circumstances meant I couldn’t complete the pattern writing as quickly as I’d hoped to. I hope you’ll think the end result was worth the wait…

Red Panda Fun Facts

• Red Pandas live in mountainous regions of China and the Himalayas.
• Like their Giant Panda namesakes, Red Pandas primarily eat bamboo.
• Red Pandas are more closely related to Raccoons than to Giant Pandas!
• Red Pandas are about the same size as a large domestic cat.
• Their thick fur and bushy tails help to protect them from the cold.

Real red pandas have at least 6 colours (white, cream, light red, dark red, brown and black) but I’ve intentionally simplified the colours to use only the bare minimum of three – the fewest I could get away with! Of course, you can also substitute black and a paler orange/red for some of the brown and red areas, just as you’re welcome to modify any of my designs to add extra details or personalise your creations.

I think my design gives you the best of both worlds – the distinctive look of an adorable red panda without too much colour changing; I’ve limited the detailed colour changes to 6 rounds that make the all-important face patterning – it’s not a red panda without those face colours!

Once you’ve finished those, you should be able to fly through the rest of the crocheting and enjoy the clever leg construction and overall shaping. I opted to make my panda nice and chunky to imply the fluffiness without needing to brush him, but of course you can make yours extra-fluffy by brushing the tail, or the entire panda, if you like.

A tip for finding a good shade of red yarn: I spent weeks looking at photos of red pandas in preparation for my design, and I’ve realised that they come in all different shades from pale to dark, and from very red to orange to almost tan or brown. So don’t worry about finding a yarn to match the shade I used; you can make a red panda in any natural-looking shade of red, orange, rust, or reddish-brown you can find and it’ll be recognisable and realistic – and lovely!

I hope you’ll enjoy my latest pattern! Are you ready to get started on your Red Panda? If so, you can pick up the Red Panda amigurumi crochet pattern right now from my shop. Or, if you’re not quite ready to buy, why not favourite/queue it on Ravelry so you don’t forget about it?

To celebrate my return to full-time PlanetJune work, I have a fun new release for you today: an Expansion Pack for my Poison Dart Frog pattern, so you can turn it into a ‘singing’ frog with inflated vocal sac! (I’ve also re-released the Poison Dart Frog and Gecko patterns today – see later in this post for details.)

Ribbit, ribbit…

I made my frog in a bright golden yellow to match the beautiful Golden Mantella frog from Madagascar, but, of course, you can make frogs in just about any colour. You can also mix and match between the original Poison Dart Frog and this Expansion Pack, to make a singing Poison Dart Frog, or a non-singing single-coloured frog.

What is an Expansion Pack?

• An Expansion Pack is an add-on to an existing PlanetJune pattern.
• The Expansion Pack lets you modify or add to the original pattern to create something else.
• You cannot use the Expansion Pack alone – you must also purchase the original pattern in order to be able to complete the pictured items in the Expansion Pack pattern.

You can buy the Singing Frog Expansion Pack for only $2.50 individually from the shop, or, if you haven’t yet bought the Poison Dart Frog pattern, you can select it as an add-on to that pattern before you add it to your shopping cart, and save 50c on the pair.

Launch Discount

If you’ve already bought the Poison Dart Frog, you won’t be able to save that 50c. But, for 7 days only, add the Singing Frog Expansion Pack pattern to your shopping cart, together with anything else (totalling $5 or more), then use the code FROGLOVE at checkout and you’ll still get your discount! (Valid until next Thursday: 20th June 2013.)

Note: If you don’t need anything else right now, this also applies to Gift Certificate purchases, so you can pick up a $5 gift certificate now, get your discount, and have $5 in your PlanetJune account ready for your next purchase, or to send to a crocheting friend!

Pattern Re-releases: Gecko & Poison Dart Frog

I’m updating my entire back catalogue of patterns with extra information and tips and a new space-saving layout, and re-releasing them in batches as they are ready. Please see the Pattern Re-Release FAQ for more information.

Reptiles & Amphibians: now you can crochet a singing frog for this CAL too!

I realised that only 2 of the 23 patterns in the Reptiles & Amphibians CAL hadn’t yet been updated, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to rectify that. If you’ve previously purchased the Gecko and/or Poison Dart Frog pattern(s), the update(s) are now ready for you to download in the new format!

Log back into your PlanetJune account at any time in the next 2 weeks and you’ll see the download buttons for these pattern purchases have been re-enabled, so you can click and download the new versions.

I hope you’ll be tempted to join the crochet-along, if you weren’t already… Happy reptile- and amphibian-making!

PS – Yay! It feels so great to be back in action 😀

I’m updating my entire back catalogue of patterns with extra information and tips and a new space-saving layout, and re-releasing them in batches as they are ready. Please see the Pattern Re-Release FAQ for more information.

Continuing with my pattern re-release project, all the old-style AquaAmi crochet patterns have been reformatted, and any of these patterns you’ve previously purchased are now ready for you to download in the new format!

Log back into your PlanetJune account at any time in the next 2 weeks and you’ll see the download buttons for all your past AquaAmi pattern purchases have been re-enabled, so you can click and download the new versions.

Here are the patterns and sets included in this batch:

• Dolphin
• Sea Lion
• Beluga Whales
• Sea Turtle
• Polar Bear
• Emperor Penguin
• Baby Emperor Penguin

and the multipacks AquaAmi Set 1 and Emperor Penguin Family.

N.B. The 2013 AquaAmi releases (Baby Cephalopods 1 & 2 and Orca/Killer Whale) were published in the new style, so those patterns haven’t been re-enabled in your PJ account as they are unchanged.

If you have any questions about the pattern reformat project, or you received the patterns through a different mechanism (and so don’t have an order for them in the PlanetJune shop) but you’d still like the new versions, check the Pattern Re-Release FAQ for more information. I’ll keep the FAQ updated throughout this project and add any further questions that arise.

Time for another geeky-fun geometry-inspired pattern! The Cuboctahedron is one of the Archimedean solids – a group of polyhedra made from two or more types of regular polygons, where every vertex (corner) is identical. The 13 Archimedean solids have up to 92 faces each, but the Cuboctahedron is perfect to crochet because it has only 14 faces and the resulting shape is a nicely balanced, satisfyingly large ball.

Cuboctahedron is a faceted geometric ball – how fun is that?!

I’m releasing the Cuboctahedron as an expansion pack for my Polyhedral Balls pattern, so you can extend the value of of that pattern if you’ve already bought it, without having to pay the full price again for something similar.

What is an Expansion Pack?

• An Expansion Pack is an add-on to an existing PlanetJune pattern.
• The Expansion Pack lets you modify or add to the original pattern to create something else.
• You cannot use the Expansion Pack alone – you must also purchase the original pattern in order to be able to complete the pictured items in the Expansion Pack pattern.

Cuboctahedron, in particular, includes:

• All the modifications required to crochet and assemble a cuboctahedron.
• Tips for colour selection to give your ball the most impact.
• Full right- and left-handed step-by-step assembly diagrams as separate appendices, so you need only print the pages you need.

Cuboctahedron dwarfs my other Polyhedral Balls! It makes a lovely toy as it’s 6″ (15cm) in diameter:

Cuboctahedron with its smaller Polyhedral Ball cousins

You can buy the Cuboctahedron Expansion Pack for only $2.50 individually from the shop, or, if you haven’t yet bought the Polyhedral Balls pattern, you can select it as an add-on to that pattern before you add it to your shopping cart, and save 50c on the pair.

Launch Discount

I know you’ve probably already bought Polyhedral Balls, so you won’t be able to save that 50c. But, for this week only, if you add the Cuboctahedron Expansion Pack pattern to your shopping cart, together with anything else (totalling $5 or more), then use the code GEEKYFUN at checkout and you’ll still get your discount! (Valid until next Monday: 6th May 2013.)

Note: If you don’t need anything else right now, this also applies to Gift Certificate purchases, so you can pick up a $5 gift certificate now, get your discount, and have $5 in your PlanetJune account ready for your next purchase, or to send to a crocheting friend!

I really like this cuboctahedron – it’s interesting and unusual, and it doesn’t take too long to crochet and assemble. I’m not sure if I’ll make any of the other Archimedean solids though: the other small (few-sided) ones are too unbalanced to make good balls, and, discounting the 64- and 92-sided ones, the remaining interesting ones still have at least 26 faces!

(I assume a pattern for a polyhedral ball with 26, 32, or 38 faces would be off-putting, but do let me know in the comments if I’m wrong about that – I’d be happy to make more of these geometric designs if there’s demand for them…)

Happy geometric crocheting!

After I completed my Orca pattern, my designing brain felt a bit tired – all those colour changes make for a fabulous-looking whale, but if you think it’s a bit fiddly crocheting the colour changes, try designing them at the same time – it’s 10 times more difficult, and quite a brain-bender to get size, shape and colour all working together at once! So, before I jumped into the next commission (Red Panda – awww!) I needed a little palate cleanser: a design with no colour changes, so I could concentrate on my favourite part: the shaping.

I wanted to make something truly original, and I’ve been watching Once Upon a Time so I had fairy tales on the brain. I thought a magic lamp would make a fun toy for kids wanting to play Aladdin and the Genie, and an elegant decorative piece for anyone else! So I set out to create a beautifully-shaped life-sized magic lamp, and here’s the result:

Fun Fact time: I’d always wondered why Aladdin’s magic lamp is called a ‘lamp’ when it really looks more like a metal teapot. In case you’re wondering too, this is an ancient type of oil lamp. The oil was poured in through the lid at the top, and a wick inserted through the nozzle (that’s the bit that’d be the spout if it were a teapot). The oil is drawn up through the wick and the flame burns at the tip of the nozzle when you light it. So there you go!

I’ve designed a decorative raised diamond pattern for the lid and base of the lamp (and I’ve developed a new technique for creating these details without leaving big spaces around the taller stitches that will gape when the pieces are stuffed). I think they add something special to the design; I hope you agree!

I spent a happy evening making the paper gemstones for these photos 🙂

These details are slightly trickier than your standard “all single crochet, all the time” amigurumi, but the additional crochet stitches are fully explained, and I’ve documented the entire process of creating the diamonds with step by step photos, for both right- and left-handers (in separate appendices, so you can save ink by printing only the page you need, or neither!)

But if you’re still daunted by the diamonds, I’ve also given an option in the pattern for a simplified lid and base. The undecorated pieces omit the diamonds, but still have exactly the same shaping as the standard lid and base, so your lamp will still look elegant and shapely.

I designed this lamp while I was stuck with no internet for 2 weeks last month. As I crocheted it, I wished that my internet connection would be restored, and lo! it was! Maybe your Magic Lamp will grant your wishes too… While I can’t promise that, it will, at the very least, be something interesting and different to crochet 😀

If you’d like to make a lamp of your own, you can find the Magic Lamp crochet pattern in my shop right now! If you’re not ready to get started, how about a little ravelry love? Click to favourite or queue my Magic Lamp design:

So tell me: do you like my magic lamp design? I really hope you do! It’s always nerve-wracking to come up with something so unusual – I really can’t predict ahead of time if it’ll be wildly successful or a massive flop…

It’s time to release another commissioned design!

The Orca, or Killer Whale, was a design challenge I was looking forward to – the distinctive black and white markings weren’t going to be easy to replicate. Biased (slanting) stitches just wouldn’t cut it with this design, and neither would zig-zag colour changes, so I’ve spent weeks swatching to refine and improve my colour changing techniques to give smooth, symmetrical colour changes over practically the entire length of the orca’s body. Here’s the result:

I have to state right now that this is definitely an intermediate-level pattern: although it is worked in pure amigurumi-style (it uses only single crochet stitches with increases and decreases), it includes a lot of colour changing to create the beautiful smooth killer whale markings down the entire underside of the body. So, while it isn’t difficult in terms of crochet stitches, it is vital that you pay close attention to the pattern in every round that includes a colour change, and make the increases and decreases in the correct places, otherwise the colour pattern will shift. This is a pattern that requires concentration!

While we’re looking at details, I’m also debuting a new technique that makes a perfect whale tail – this one is really quite magical, and took me 5 attempts to perfect, but, if you just follow the pattern carefully, it’s easy to replicate this amazing shape.

If you’re up for the challenge, I think you’ll find this pattern is worth it – the end result has a level of detail in colour and shaping that makes it a truly special amigurumi. Plus, I think this orca is really cute; she’s definitely one of the nice fish-eating killer whales, not the scary seal-eating kind…

I’d like to thank everyone who commissioned this design – thank you for trusting me to do justice to something so complex! I hope you’re happy with the result and you’ll enjoy making your own spectacular orcas.

How about a little ravelry love? Click to favourite or queue my Orca design:

And, if you didn’t get in on the commissioning action but you’re ready to get orca-making, you can pick up the orca (killer whale) crochet pattern from my shop right now!

(The next design that was commissioned is the Red Panda, and I’ll be collecting the pledge monies shortly. I can’t wait to get started on that one; red pandas are adorable…)