Cat Amigurumi

Ravelry Project Page - Kitty

I have always admired the Japanese amigurumi patterns because they have wonderful character and detail. I also love that the patterns are written with stitch charts and lots of photos so you don't need to know Japanese in order to work the pattern. When my daughter Sarah and her husband visited Japan I requested a Japanese amigurumi book and she came back this delight - Cat Amigurumi by Eriko Teranishi

I made the sitting cat and used Knit Picks Palette yarn which is a fingering weight yarn so the cat is small and fits in the palm of my hand. It's the same yarn I used to crochet the wedding amigurumi and wedding hearts

The book has wonderful pictures on the making and assembling of the cats and it is also organized with a very clear and concise layout. I scanned and printed a copy of the charts and downloaded the Google Translate app which helped by verifying what I had already guessed.

She's so cute. I need to find just the right name for her! I'll be making other cats from this book soon.

Wedding Heart - Pattern

This heart has an updated and modern look.

Wedding Heart

Materials
Knit Picks Palette - approximately 10 yards
Size B crochet hook
Fiberfill
Tapestry needle for finishing

Gauge
Gauge is not important for this project. Using the listed materials, my hearts measured approximately 2.5" x 2.5" but just about any size heart can be achieved by adjusting the yarn and hook size.

Stitch Explanation

sc = single crochet

dec = decrease

Regular dec = (insert hook through both legs of the next stitch, yo and draw the yarn through the stitch) twice, yo, and draw yarn through all 3 loops on the hook.

Work even = single crochet in each stitch around.

Notes

1. There are two crochet techniques needed to make this heart look its best - the magic circle and the invisible decrease.

My favorite tutorial for the magic circle:

My favorite tutorial for the invisible decrease:

2. All work is done in a spiral. Do not end rounds by joining with a slip stitch.

3. Fasten down the beginning threads of the humps by working over them when you begin. You can leave the tails to help with the stuffing or trim them.

Heart Humps - Make 2
Round 1 - Work 4 sc's into a magic circle. Mark first sc as beginning of round. (4)
Round 2 - 2 sc in each sc around. (8)
Round 3 - (Sc in next st , 2 sc in next st) repeat around. (12)
Round 4 - (Sc in next 5 sts, 2 sc in next st) repeat around. (14)
Round 5 - Work even.
Round 6 - Work even.
Round 7 - Work even.
Fasten off after finishing first hump (leave a long tail which will be used to close the heart). Do not fasten off the second hump and continue working:

Heart Body
Round 8 - Join the second hump to the first by single crocheting in each of the 14 sts of the first hump (begin where you fastened off) and then single crochet in each stitch of the second hump. You now have 28 stitches in one round to begin the heart body. There will be a gap in the middle, between the two humps, which is where the heart will be stuffed.
Round 9 - Work even. (28)
Round 10 - (Sc in next 5 sts, invisible dec) repeat around. (24)
Round 11 - (Sc in next 4 sts, invisible dec) repeat around. (20)
Round 12 - (Sc in next 3 sts, invisible dec) repeat around. (16)
Round 13 - (Sc in next 2 sts, invisible dec) repeat around. (12)
Round 14 - (Sc in next st, invisible dec) repeat around. (8)
Round 15 - (Sc in next 2 sts,invisible dec) repeat around. (6)
Round 16 - (Regular dec) repeat around. (3)

Fasten off. Stuff heart. Close hole and weave in ends.

Photo credit:ARBR Pictures

Wedding Heart

Photo credit:ARBR Pictures

The final component for the wedding amigurumi was a heart. Not only is the heart a natural symbol to include for a wedding but they are my signature crafting motif.

Sarah wanted an updated and modern look for the heart by elongating the humps of the heart to create a deeper V. I studied and made samples of hearts from published patterns but nothing produced the look that Sarah wanted or met my exacting demands for a polished look. Finally, I wound up writing my own pattern and perfected the assembly so well that I made over 100 of them and they became the wedding favors!

I've written out the Wedding Heart pattern to share and you can find it on Ravelry. Also on Ravelry is the project page with all the details for these wedding heart favors.

  Ravelry Pattern Page - Wedding Hearts   Ravelry Project Page - Sarah's Wedding Hearts

Photo credit:ARBR Pictures

Sarah's father wrote a limerick inviting the guests to take one home for a souvenir.

Though we're saddened that soon we must part,
We can offer a small work of art.
Please select from the heap,
A memento, to keep,
Of our friendship. So, gladly, take heart.

One heart was for the wedding cake.

Photo credit:ARBR Pictures

They are perfectly sized for babies

and cats!

Wedding Amigurumi

Photo credit:ARBR Pictures

Sarah wanted amigurumi wedding cake toppers** for her wedding and asked if I could make them. Yes! I would love to!! She showed me a picture of the style she was looking for and I started searching my pattern collection, library books and the internet looking for inspiration about how to make them. I found the basic building block with this pattern for a Amigurumi Kokeshi Doll.

I made remarkably few changes to the pattern. I omitted the arms, hands and obi, as well as a few rows on the base. I added a ruffle to the bottom of the dress and side bangs on the hair. I also resized the hair bun to be smaller and positioned it further back on the head. That was all it took for the bride. The groom was exactly the same but without the ruffle, bangs and bun and with the addition of a bow tie.

The prototype was worked using size 10 crochet cotton thread and that looked fine and cute but Sarah was looking for something slightly bigger with a softer stitch definition, so I tried Knit Picks Palette which is a 100% wool fingering weight yarn and we were both very happy with the results.

Side-by-side comparison of versions.
Crochet cotton (left) and wool (right)

Sarah has two cats, Stevie and Olive, who are doted on by her and her fiancé. The creation of the bride and groom toppers was going so well she asked if I would also consider making two cats. Of course I would, they're family!

Cats are not well represented in the amigurumi world, maybe because it's hard to translate that "we cats are superior to humans" attitude they have, but Sarah found and really liked this pattern for Pusheen the Cat.

I ordered a new batch of yarn colors in the shades of Stevie and Olive and got busy. Other than different colors, the only changes to the pattern were adding one extra row to the feet and making one cat as a mirror image.

The final detail to the wedding cake topper ensemble is a heart and that project morphed into an even bigger one which has its own blog post - Wedding Heart.

Stevie checks out his amigurumi self.

Photo credit: ARBR Pictures

  Ravelry Project Page - Bride and Groom Amigurumi
  Ravelry Project Page - Stevie & Olive

**Pie and cookies were the desserts for the wedding so Sarah designed and made a special cake form to display everything.

Itty Bitty Monkey

Cute little monkey! She/he (I haven't decided which yet) turned out really well but I had to rewrite most of the pattern in order to use the most important amigurumi crochet technique - the magic circle.

Reading through a pattern before I start working allows me to get an idea of how the project is going to be put together and to interpret any directions I may not understand. The instructions for this pattern were clear and easy to follow but I immediately noticed that it did not use the magic circle to start any of the pieces. The magic circle is a clean way to start crocheting in a circle and is the preferred method used in amigurumi. Even worse, the instructions for the arms, legs and body started at the widest areas and ended by narrowing to a few stitches which were finished off by gathering them together. You can never ever make gathered crochet stitches look as neat and clean as starting with a magic circle.

So before I started crocheting the Itty Bitty Monkey I went through the entire pattern and rewrote the necessary sections to start with a magic circle.

The ears and tail were both fine as written and needed no change.

The head and snout directions were also fine as written but just needed to start with the magic circle.

The arms, legs and body patterns had to be completely rewritten because starting with a magic circle meant the pieces were now being worked in the opposite direction from the written pattern.

The pattern book Itty Bitty Animals By Sheila Leslie is available at Annie's ePatterns Central and my Ravelry project page for the Itty Bitty Monkey is here.

The Itty Bitty Monkey is just the thing for this internet meme!