Amigurumi
Amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and human-like creatures. The word comes from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning "crocheted" or "knitted", and nuigurumi, meaning "stuffed doll". Amigurumi are usually animals, but can also be artistic renderings of inanimate objects given human features, as is typical in Japanese culture.
I donated this Ami Puppy to my pediatric dentist :) She has toys and dolls in her clinic and I thought it would be a good addition and may help some of her little patients feel at home. Pattern is by Terry Crews.
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CHARACTERS
South Park characters I made with patterns by Aradiya Toys.
FOR THEIR DAUGHTERS
Possibly the most difficult projects I've ever worked on - ordered by friends for their daughters. Inspired by very special young ladies & excited parents, I made everything up as I went along, with only photos to follow and very important deadlines to meet!
Possibly the most difficult projects I've ever worked on - ordered by friends for their daughters. Inspired by very special young ladies & excited parents, I made everything up as I went along, with only photos to follow and very important deadlines to meet!
Custom-made Edward Elrich and Winry Rockbell (Full Metal Alchemist) dolls. It was for her 12th birthday.
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Custom-made Kevin the Minion Golf Club Cover. As a Christmas gift and reward for a well-played tournament.
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Custom-made Princess Elsa and Anna dolls I had to finish in time for Christmas!
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Bride and Groom dolls made from a pattern by Simple Art Planet for Oli and Loz :)
I made Baby Eeyore with Red Heart Super Saver and Caron Simply Soft. Pattern is by Cecilia of siemprejosefina.blogspot.com.
I know they look a bit funny but were the first amis I ever made. I gave the Mini Kitties to a good friend who happens to be a pool player! I gave one Bumble Bee to a friend's wife who is a huge Kitty fan! I made another for one of the girls in the office. The same day I finished and brought the doll to work, she happened to be having a bad day. When i gave it to her, it made her so happy she cried. I knew then that I would continue to make crochet dolls as gifts because they made people happy :)
The Angel Kitty was for my cousin an LA. It sits in her car and travels all over with her :) Unfortunately, all of them are wrong side out but I was still learning how to crochet and had not done much research :p I look forward to making them again right side out!
Patterns are from Get Fun Crochet Shop.
Patterns are from Get Fun Crochet Shop.
I also found free patterns online but they were in Japanese! I found this Japanese crochet symbol chart online to help me interpret the symbols and characters. And for the words I could not find on the chart, I got help from a Japanese friend :) The Cinnamoroll pattern in Japanese (page 1 / page 2) was translated to French. From there, I translated it to English here. The pattern calls for skipping rather than decreasing but you can decrease if you like and just adjust the number of SCs to arrive at the required stitches per round. I made one for my best friend's daughter, and a My Melody for his wife; and made Wedding Kitty and Daniel for my cousin who was a wedding planner.
One of the first resources I found was Stephanie Lau's All About Ami - a lovely blog with beautiful photos and patterns. Stephanie is crazy talented and her patterns are free and downloadable from her site. She also has easy-to-follow tutorials with photos. This was how I learned to work with felt and stitching to add details and features to amigurumi. So whenever I complete one of her dolls, I make sure to send her a photo with thanks for her work. She regularly shares photos from crocheters from all over the world showing projects they've made from Stephanie's patterns. I think I've made it on to her site a couple of times =)
Spring Bunny
I made this over the 2012 Holiday break for a friend visiting from abroad. This Spring Bunny's new home is in California. Pattern here. |
Teddy
For my godson Akio. He brought the first one with him to Singapore but lost it on the Ferris Wheel. So I quickly made this one as a replacement! Pattern here. |
Despicable Me Minions!
I think this is one of Stephanie's best ami patterns! I made this one for my cousin Butch after his dog Fiona passed. So they named her Fiona the Minion!
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I made some variations to Stephanie's pattern to make a shorter, 1-Eyed & and 2-Eyed one and gave them as a presents to my pool & poker buddies Emil and Ben on their Birthdays. I think I still have 3 more of these on my list of things to do! Here's my step by step tutorial for the 2-Eyed Minion.
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Kokeshi

Kokeshi are Japanese dolls traditionally handmade from wood. They're made with an simple trunk, an enlarged head and characteristically lack arms and legs. The Red Chibi Kokeshi pattern is from Susan. I made color and hair variations on my own.
I'm looking forward to making more of these in different sizes and with different hair beads!
Kokeshi are Japanese dolls traditionally handmade from wood. They're made with an simple trunk, an enlarged head and characteristically lack arms and legs. The Red Chibi Kokeshi pattern is from Susan. I made color and hair variations on my own.
I'm looking forward to making more of these in different sizes and with different hair beads!
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