Amigurumi of 2015

I have definitely slowed down on crocheting amigurumi since I accepted the fact that it makes my hands ache, but the benefit of waiting 8 months in between blog posts featuring amigurumi is that it looks like I am somewhat prolific!  Here are the amigurumi I have created since February:

Summertime Dolls #3 and 4

Spring Bunny

Kwazii, Kwazii, and Dashi (these patterns are amazing and worth every penny!!)

Frog (I just heard that a dog munched on this and I am going to attempt some repairs...)

Race car (I'm not happy with how the wheels turned out, but it was totally user error and not the pattern's fault!)

Hippo and Lion Loveys (both of these patterns are SERIOUSLY AMAZING and were written by genius pattern designers)

Yoda (from the incredibly awesome Star Wars crochet kit!!)

Chipmunk (Holy cow, how cute is he?!?)

And presenting.... MY FIRST KNITTED AMIGURUMI!!!!!  Wow, this bunny was hard for me.  Well, harder than crocheted amigurumi, anyway.  The bunny's dress marked the first (and still only time) I have attempted any sort of color work with knitting.  I think she turned out pretty nice!

I discovered, sadly, that knitting amigurumi also hurts my hands.  So, I have determined that I need to stop knitting and crocheting items in which the yarn needs to be pulled tightly.  Sad face.  I might try another knitted amigurumi with worsted weight yarn sometime with the hope that knitting this bunny hurt my hands because I was using sport weight yarn.  Hope springs eternal.

Puzzle Balls, a Doll, and an SNL Character (oh, no!)

I received a copy of Dedri Uys's incredible Amamani Puzzle Balls book for Christmas, and I am IN LOVE with these patterns.  They are complicated to make, but Dedri's tutorials are amazing and I think all crocheters should give these a try.  I just can't believe how adorable these amigurumi puzzle balls are!!

Elephant Puzzle Ball:

Dedri designed the pattern so the entire thing is crocheted (NOT WHIP-STITCHED!!) together.  Even the adorable ears and the cute little tail. I don't mind whip-stitching here and there, but like most crocheters, I would much rather use my hook than a sewing needle.

The cute little feet make me smile.

Here is the "puzzle" aspect of the puzzle ball: it comes apart into three pieces!  It's a little complicated to put together, so before I give this to someone as a gift, I think I might make a YouTube video showing how to do it.

Because the entire puzzle ball is crocheted together, as long as you use tough yarn (like 100% acrylic), these puzzle balls can withstand a lot of pulling and smooshing as you disassemble and reassemble them. Amazing!!

Turtle Puzzle Ball:

How handsome is this dude?  I didn't get a great picture of his nose to show the absolutely perfect shaping (there's a slight point at the tip), but trust me when I say that Dedri must have studied the turtle form for a long time while designing this guy.  So stinkin' cute!

One of my mother's life-long friends, Sharon, commissioned me to make another of Nipiti's My Summertime Dolls, and I think it turned out SO adorable. Sharon chose great colors and I really enjoyed watching this little doll take shape.  Nipiti's pattern is so fabulous!  I have a third My Summertime Doll about 75% done and will post pictures of it when it's finished.  It might be the cutest one yet!

Weeeeeeell, this last amigurumi isn't all that recent, but I'm going to mention it anyway.  This past summer, to thank my dad for all the work he did on our new (to us) house, I free-handed an amigurumi of one of his favorite Saturday Night Live characters of all time: Mr. Bill.  The reason that I haven't posted pictures of this little dude yet is that I wrote down the pattern and have big plans to present it for free here on Roonie Ranching, but I haven't yet sat down and typed it up.  I'll get on that soon, I promise.

Amigurumi for Christmas

This Christmas, a lot of my amigurumi made their way under the Christmas tree.  I've already posted about a bunch of them, but I realized that I have even more to share!

I crocheted this Dorothy & Toto from the AmiguruME book, which is an incredibly amazing collection of patterns to mix & match to make whatever kind of human amigurumi you want.  The author, Allison Hoffman, even includes a few little animals (like the dog I used for Toto).  Her patterns are written perfectly and it is so easy to navigate your way through the book and combine the various patterns.  Dorothy & Toto were a gift for my beloved niece, Charlotte, and I think she really liked them!

I'm still not 100% happy with how the smile turned out.  Niki, if you think it doesn't look charming enough, rip that smile out and embroider a new one with some red floss!  I used red crayon to give Dorothy her little blush.  Sonia was absolutely tickled by the fact that I colored with crayon on this amigurumi! You can't tell in these pictures very well, but I used Red Heart Shimmer for the ruby slippers, so they sparkle just a bit.

Isn't Toto handsome? I love his little nose.

This USS Enterprise (from Star Trek) was made for my friend's husband, and when I set out to find a pattern, I asked my friend which Star Trek series her husband preferred.  He, like me, prefers Star Trek: The Next Generation, but I couldn't find any patterns for that version of the Starship Enterprise (the NCC1701-D).  I didn't have time to design my own pattern, so I went ahead and crocheted an NCC1701 from a really great free pattern and just used slightly different colors to style it more like the NCC1701-D.  I think it turned out really cute!

(just ignore the fact that you can see my trash and recycle bins in this picture)

My nephew, Nicholas, received this Mario for Christmas.  I was really happy with the pattern (Wolfdreamer is my pattern-writing hero!!), but my yarn choices caused Mario's head to be too small in comparison with the hat.  Weirdly, worsted weight Red Heart Super Saver yarn differs in thickness from one color to the next, and the Cherry Red is significantly thicker than the Buff (which I used for the skin color).  So, if I do this pattern again, I will increase the size of the head to compensate.

Sonia is not a fan of the eyes....  She actually used the word "freaky" when she first saw the finished Mario.  I used felt for the eyes, as was called for in the pattern, and I am just not good at crafting eyes out of felt.  Oh well.

The hat is so perfectly designed!!!  I had to see if Bobo Cat would look good in it.  He, as usual, was not impressed.

And finally, the pièce de résistance, Jordan's motorcycle and cat!

I used Ana Yogui's absolutely perfect pattern to create a motorcycle similar to the one that Jordan himself rides, The Displacement.  Because I left off the sidecar part of the pattern, I had to use toothpicks to help this motorcycle stand up for its glamour shots.

Jordan says he has plans to suspend this motorcycle from the ceiling (kind of like a mobile) in the future.

The cat's goggles turned out a bit odd-looking due to my color choice (it probably would have looked better with a darker color of blue, or perhaps gray).  But other than that, I'm happy!

An Amigurumi Explosion

I have been crocheting a lot of amigurumi lately, too....  Even though hats are fun, afghan blocks are intriguing, and the occasional potholder is useful, making stuffed creatures is my true crochet love.

My friend, Valerie, asked me to make these ridiculously adorable baby giraffes for her ridiculously adorable daughters:

How hilarious is this dog and airplane that I made for my little buddy, Alex?

The airplane pattern actually came with a cat instead of a dog, so I swapped the cat out for the dog in this pattern.  Alex can take the dog out of the airplane and play with him!

Look at the cute little wheels....  I love it!

The dog and airplane were designed by the same awesome crochet designer who designed Alex's fox and race car.

Using the wonderful Superman pattern, I was able to fashion a Captain America and a Batman for my little buddy, Zach:

You can remove the good captain's helmet and shield!

My cousin, Emma, will be getting this adorable little whale for Christmas:

Sonia gave this little bigfoot monkey to a friend for her 6th birthday:

More to come.... So many crocheted items finished, so little time to blog!  Christmas Crochet Season is in full swing, and boy, are my fingers getting tired.  But it's worth it!