Working with Velvet Yarn

I’d been seeing images of beautiful amigurumi worked up with all sorts of different yarns…Now, I’ve worked with fluffy yarn in the past, such as Bernat Pipsqueak and Red Heart Baby Clouds, but I found the look of velvet yarn so appealing and I was itching to try it out for myself! It just looked so plush and soft! I headed over to my local JoAnn’s craft store and and found Bernat Velvet yarn which I got in 2 different colors! The skeins are quite large and the recommended hook size is 6.5mm but since I’m making amigurumi, I went with a 5.0mm hook size and it the stitches worked up perfectly for me!

I decided to work up a cat and came up with my Luna Kitty design! I have to admit, it took me a bit of practice to get used to the feel of this yarn, given the extra chunkiness and the fluffiness that I’m not used to when making my usual amigurumi dolls! The stitches were a bit harder to discern and at times, I had to just go by feel and trust in my crocheting instinct to know that I was hooking into the correct stitch! But speaking of feel, it’s hard to put into words how smooth and buttery soft this yarn is! It’s amazing how it glides along – you should definitely try it out at least once if you’ve never worked with this before!

This kitty is plush and cuddly and the perfect size for a little one to hold and drag around! 🙂

In case you’re wondering, I was able to make 2 complete gray Luna kitties and one complete pink one with the 2 skeins of yarn I showed you at the beginning of this post! I still have a good amount of pink leftover too, but I used up all the gray.

Aren’t these the cutest? They would make wonderful baby shower gifts!

by Sharie
by katienyheim
by M.Apple

Here are some shots that have been shared by other crocheters! It’s so much fun to see dolls made from my patterns! I just love seeing your own individual touches, whether it’s a color change, added eyebrows, adorable embellishments…Keep sharing your pics because they really brighten my day! I’ll also try to include them in my posts from time to time!! 🙂

Ollie the Corgi

Greetings, all! I took a long break from crocheting but I’m proud to report that I’m still here and I present to you my latest doll! This pattern seriously took me many, many, many months to complete. I started it at the beginning of our Shelter in Place for the current pandemic and that was 6 months ago! I went through at least 3 different versions before coming up with this final design and I hope you guys like it!

Corgis are such adorable little dogs! Their body proportions are so unusual, with their long backs and large head and ears…the puppies are the cutest! This is definitely a corgi of sorts – I totally get that there are some glaring differences with the real thing, but hey, everyone will just have to accept that this is my unique Little Muggles rendition of a corgi! 🙂 My young son thinks it looks more like a Chihuahua and I’m ok with that too. Maybe I should just write “amigurumi doggie” instead of a specific breed… 🙂

Why is he wearing a party hat? Well, I have the great fortune of being included in the upcoming publication of Zoomigurumi 10 and this little guy is my contribution! I’ve had the honor of having patterns in almost all of the Zoomigurumis and I still remember how exciting it was to join up with the publisher for the first book all those years ago! Seems like yesterday! I’m delighted to see how huge the amigurumi community has gotten over the years! It’s changed so much from when I remember starting out! Back then, something called “Instagram” wasn’t around yet. 🙂

You might notice the yellowish lighting of these pictures. This pic was taken in the Bay Area on the day we woke up to a burnt orange sky, looking like we had somehow traveled to Mars in the middle of the night. The west coast wildfires had created enough ash and smoke to literally block out the sun. It truly resembled what you might picture Armageddon looking like. Very unsettling. Prayers to all who have been affected by the fires!

At this very moment, Ollie is en route across the Atlantic Ocean, heading to Belgium! Probably one of the few “Americans” that will be welcomed abroad during this time! He will join the other creations that will be included in Zoomigurumi 10 and will have all sorts of fun photo shoots to look forward to! Bon Voyage, Ollie!