I’m excited to let you know that I’ve released 2 new YouTube crochet videos. In both of these videos, I share lots of tips and tricks to help you be successful in crocheting amigurumi animals.
In Part 1, you’ll learn how to read amigurumi patterns, crochet the pieces and do color changes.
In Part 2, you’ll learn how to stuff the pieces (how much fiberfill is enough?), 2 ways to sew the pieces together and how to embroider faces, spots, etc onto your amigurumi animals.
These are so much fun to make a play with! My grandchildren, grown children and I love them!
Just click on the video images below to watch these new videos!
I’ve enjoyed crocheting amigurumis for many years, especially during the past 4 years of crocheting for my grandchildren! Here are a few of the amigurumis that I’ve crocheted for my grandchildren, children and myself:
4 animals for my 2 grandchildren
Beach Bear and accessories for Ruru
Into the Jungle
Baby Yoda
Devin the Deer for me
Have you ever crocheted amigurumis? Do you enjoy crocheting them? Are you successful in crocheting them? If you’ve never crocheted amigurumi animals before or you don’t like how yours turned out, check out my 2 new videos to help you be successful with these adorable crochet projects!
I’ve been busy working on more crochet patterns for you. Introducing my newest crochet pattern, “Bear Mitts”. Right now, this pattern is only sized for teens through adults (it’s not available in a child’s size yet, but I’ll work on that as time allows). What teenager or young adult (or “young-at-heart” adult, for that matter) wouldn’t love some adorable bear mitts in their stocking this Christmas? Without further delay, here is my bear mitts pattern for your crocheting pleasure:
Bear Mitts
I’d like to tell you a little about this crochet pattern. I got the inspiration earlier this year when my middle son and his wife were here visiting from China. My daughter-in-law brought some adorable bear mitts with her from China and once I saw them, I fell in love with them! Here’s a photo of the original bear mitts from China:
Chinese Bear Mitts design inspiration
Aren’t they adorable? I think they’re so cute! Anyway, I decided within a few minutes of seeing them that I’d design some crocheted bear mitts similar to them. And I’m glad I did.
These bear mitts are a lot of fun to make! The head, muzzle and arms are made just like amigurumi pieces and are stuffed to keep their shape. The mitt body piece is made from the top to the bottom with the yellow dress on the front worked at the same time as the brown body. The skirt ruffle and collar are worked separately, then sewn onto the body afterward. The head and ears are separate pieces, too. Because the original Chinese bear mitts had the top of the arms sewn to the side of the face, I decided I’d do this, too, so they don’t flop around while being worn. I didn’t like the way the feet were coming out in crochet, so I decided my crocheted bear mitts didn’t need feet (besides, the fingers sticking out at the bottom can be the bear’s “legs”!). I chose to use safety eyes and noses because I like the look of them, but you could embroider the faces on your bear mitts, if you choose. This is how they look worn:
Bear Mitts worn
They’re really fun to wear! If you don’t care for the yellow dress, you can simply make your bear mitts with a different color of dress (it’s absolutely your choice on that part of the pattern)! And if you’d like to embellish your bear mitts with buttons or bows, I think they’d look great with those, as well (I think a bow at the top of the head or off to one side would be adorable!).
The 16-page written pattern for these Bear Mitts includes many photos of the individual pieces for ease of identification and construction.
As always, if you have a question about one of my patterns, I provide free pattern support for all of my patterns here at The Crochet Architect. I learn as much from my customers’ questions as they do from my answers (and I always welcome questions). That’s how we all learn, right?
If you’re an intermediate crocheter (or an adventurous beginner), I hope you’ll give these bear mitts a try. They’re great for helping to keep your hands and wrists warm! And they’re very stylish, too! You can find the pattern right here for sale on our pattern page.
Have you seen the new Annie’s book called “Amamani Puzzle Balls” by Dedri Uys? I couldn’t resist adding this book to my collection! Here’s a photo of the front cover:
Amamani Puzzle Balls book front cover
I LOVE this book! It has the cutest crochet animals I’ve seen in a long time! There are 6 designs to make from this book and they’re all absolutely adorable! Each one is made up of 3 pieces that fit together like a puzzle. I can’t wait to finish up some designs for publication so I can make one of these adorable animals for a future grandchild, since my kids are all grown up and out of the house! I’m a puzzle lover and a crochet lover, so marrying these two loves is right up my alley! Let me show you the 6 animals in this book.
Dexter the Dinosaur
This is Dexter the Dinosaur. Isn’t he cute? This is what he looks like taken apart into the 3 pieces I was telling you about:
Dexter the Dinosaur pieces
It’s hard to tell exactly how to put him back together, isn’t it? To see how that happens, you can watch the video on the Annie’s website showing the puzzle ball coming apart and going back together again here.
This is the description of the book, directly from the Annie’s website:
“Amamani is short for Amigurumi Amish Puzzle Animals. They are based on the traditional Amish puzzle ball and, as such, come apart into three segments or rings, which have to be assembled to form the animal. Gauge isn’t important in these projects. However, it is important that you work as tightly as you comfortably can. Helpful tips and step-by-step photos are included. Each of the six projects are made using Deborah Norville Everyday worsted-weight yarns. Projects include a dinosaur, elephant, giraffe, turtle and two versions of the lion.”
Here are photos of the other 5 animals in this book:
Eleanor the Elephant
Gemina the Giraffe
Skillie the Turtle
Brill the Lion
White Lion
There are 62 pages in this book. The first 15 pages are instructions and photos for making the basic pieces of the animals. This book has written instructions and lots of step-by-step photos to show you how each of these animals is crocheted and put together, which is very helpful, since they’re somewhat complex to make! I’m looking forward to making one of these very much (as soon as I get some free time)! The book retails for $10.99 and can be purchased on the Annie’s website here.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at “Amamani Puzzle Balls” as much as I’ve enjoyed looking at the book. I’m itching to make one of these toys, aren’t you?
