Create With Crochet: Soft Toys

Amigurumi is the Japanese art of crocheting small, stuffed creatures made of yarn. Literally speaking, ‘ami’ means ‘knitted’ or ‘crocheted’ and ‘nuigurumi’ means ‘stuffed doll’. It has become vastly popular over the last decade, with people able to sell finished products for over £100! More often than not, you will come across adorable translations of your favourite characters, or cartoon versions of real-life animals that make them even cuter than you could possibly imagine. Then, of course, there’s the other end of the spectrum, with people taking inanimate objects and giving them same treatment. Really, the possibilities are endless, and it’s super simple, worked mostly in double crochets in the round. With over 30 projects to choose from, there’s enough in here to keep you busy for a long time.…

To begin crocheting, all you need are two essential pieces of equipment: a crochet hook and a ball of yarn. The yarn that you decide to use will play a part in determining which hook you will work with, so let’s start by looking at the many types of yarn available to you. Yarns are made with a wide variety of fibres; most are natural, some are synthetic, and others blend different fibres together. All yarns have different textures and properties, and will affect the look and feel of your finished project. For example, wool is stretchy and tough, alpaca is soft and luxurious, while natural and synthetic blends are durable with other enhanced properties. When choosing a yarn you also need to consider its thickness, usually called its weight.…

Hook sizes Hook sizes are measured in millimetres, measured by the width across the shank. They are available from as small as 2mm to as large as 20mm or bigger. The size of hook you will need is related to the thickness of yarn that you use – thicker yarns need larger hooks. It is suggested that you use a smaller hook than recommended for amigurumi projects – the patterns will tell you. Hook size table: Hook materials As well as varying in size and style, crochet hooks also come in a variety of materials, most commonly metal, plastic and wood – each with their own set of pros and cons. You can also get hooks that come with a rubber handle which provide a comfier grip for larger projects.…

When you’ve decided on what you want your first crochet project to be – whether it’s a simple scarf or an amigurumi character – you will most likely follow a pattern to create it. Patterns are the instructions that tell you what stitches to use and how to combine them to make the item you’re working on. You can find amigurumi patterns from page 56 in this book. As crochet patterns are written in shorthand, to the untrained eye they can just look like meaningless lists of jumbled letters, but they’re actually pretty accessible once you’ve mastered the terms. They are written this way so as to not take up too much space on the page, and also to make them easier to follow. Instead of a long list of…

Make a chain Start your very first stitch 01 Start with a slipknot The first step is to create a slipknot on your hook. 02 Yarn over Move your hook underneath your yarn to create a yarn over. 03 Pull through Move the hook back through the loop already on your hook, making sure to catch the working yarn. You have now made your first chain. 04 Keep going Repeat Steps 2 and 3 to make more chains. Hold the stitches you’ve already made in your left hand close to the hook for stability. Your pattern will tell you how many you need to chain. Make the chain correctly Don’t let it get tangled 01 Even stitches Try to make all the chains a similar size to ensure you are…

To work into the row you’ve just crocheted, you will first need to crochet a turning chain (t-ch), which you can learn how to create on page 17. When you’ve made this the length suggested on the pattern for the stitch that you are working, you will then crochet into the row you just created in a very similar way to working into the foundation chain. When looking at the top of the row you will see the Vs of the stitches. To work into the next row, you can either crochet under the back loop, under the front loop or under both loops of the stitch on the row below. If your pattern doesn’t specify which loops to work into, the standard way is to insert your hook under…