amigurumi

The making of Benjamin the Bunny

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Do most of you get your yarn in person at a store or from online orders? I usually go in person but as you’ve probably experienced, stores can have quite a limited selection in terms of brands and colors. So I’ve been slowly getting my feet wet with ordering online! I was so excited to receive this particular yarn in the mail a few weeks ago! If you’ve followed my creations, you might know that I’ve been dabbling with cotton yarn most recently, but I’ve mainly only worked with a Category 2 weight, which is also finer than what I usually use. I’ve been really looking to try something slightly thicker and decided to test this Cotton Sprout line (DK weight) by Premier Yarns! I ended up loving the feel of this particular yarn line and I think I’m going to buy up a bunch of their other colors very soon. If you’re interested in learning more about this line, please click HERE to learn about Cotton Sprout and see all the available colors!

So what was I going to do with this new yarn? Since this happened right before the Lunar New Year, of course I had to attempt a new bunny! 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit after all!

I selected Beige as the main color of my new bunny and I love, love, love this shade! It’s slightly darker than what I expected “beige” to be but it’s beautiful and I know it will pair wonderfully with any accessory color out there.

I quickly made up this little bunny but had the most trouble with the ears. I wanted a one-piece ear design that incorporated an inner white patch. It’s always tricky getting edges to line up when it comes to color patches… don’t even ask how many ears I had to make to come up with the final look. Not only was I working on the color changes but also the length of the ears and the attachment to the head. Thank you to the many individuals that gave me constructive feedback via Facebook and Instagram! I always love reading everyone’s comments and I like to take it all into consideration!

And though I don’t have a lot of experience making clothes for dolls, I decided to give it a shot and attempt a jacket for this little guy. I had a lot of fun testing out different things here… I’ve included the instructions how to make the jacket in my pattern. You can also leave off the sleeves and make a vest instead – I think this is a super cute look too! So again, with a seemingly simple design, I actually learned quite a bit while making this doll! 👍

My Benjamin Bunny pattern can be found in my usual shops – ETSY and Amigurumi.com Please pop over to take a look!

I toyed with creating a girl bunny as well but haven’t decided whether I’ll make an official pattern for it.

Again, for those interested, the yarn used to make this main doll is Cotton Sprout Yarn by Premier. Colors used include Beige, White, “Bark” for the trousers, and for the blue jacket, I used “Cornflower” and “Gloaming” for the edging. For the green jacket, I used “Leaf”.

I hope to see lots of Benjamin Bunnies pop up, especially since Easter isn’t that far away! Looking forward to seeing all the customized colors and personalized touches that make each doll unique! Have fun, everyone!

Free Small Kitty pattern available now!

Hooray!! I am so thrilled that Spring is finally here! I know I can’t really complain too much because I live in California where the winters are quite mild compared to many other places in the world. No snow, no blizzards, no freezing temps… but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve also become more sensitive to the cold around here so I’m still looking forward to warmer temperatures and all things Spring!

Luckily for me, my crochet workspace has a large window that looks out onto my front yard and currently I have an amazing view of abundant blossoms on our cherry trees! My beautiful Springtime view has really uplifted my whole mood lately and has inspired me to be generous with my crochet. 🙂

On that note, here’s another freebie for you to enjoy! 🙂 Click HERE to go to the free pattern!

In honor of the season, I’ve used these soft pastel shades to make this bunch of buddies. These are some of the smallest amigurumi that I’ve created to date. They’re super cute and can be used in many different ways, from ornaments, to desktop decor, to key chains! The pattern is easily adjustable for you to create other characters as well.

2021 – Happy New Year!

May this coming year bring us all some peace and serenity and of course good health! I hope you are all keeping safe out there! I wanted to share a few of the projects that I’ve been working on… My most recent completed one is Charlie the Chick!

I realized that I don’t have a chicken doll in my shop inventory, so I set about re-working the Chinese New Year chicken that I made a few years back. I never did write up the pattern for it, so I took it out for inspiration as I made Charlie!

The Year of the Rooster, that was back in 2017! Seems like eons ago now. Looking at the original doll, I knew I wanted to make some changes – I headed towards a more “kawaii” path and changed the proportions. The final design is quite simple – the most difficult part was figuring out how to do the feet and how to write it down properly in a way so people can follow along with my pattern! A cute striped jumper and an extra big head finishes his look. 🙂 Charlie’s pattens has been added to Etsy! Click HERE to visit my shop!

Now you might be aware that the Lunar New Year is once again fast approaching. This year it falls on February 12 and it’s going to be the Year of the Ox/Cow! It’s special for me since I was born under this zodiac sign. 🙂 So I came up with a cow as a buddy for Charlie! I plan to name it soon and release its pattern as well. I’m putting the finishing touches to it and it’ll definitely be up before the Lunar New Year! I’m also working on other farmyard friends so keep an eye out for those patterns in the future as well!

Bucky the Beaver joins the shop!

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I started making this doll about a year ago but for some reason never did get around to finishing it up. I think I wasn’t happy with the overall proportion of the body and I ended up shelving it away. I was delighted to discover him the other week. I pulled him out, dusted him off, and after a bit of re-working, I’m happy to present Bucky to you all! 🙂 The pattern can be found HERE.

Somehow it makes me smile every time I see his little face… it must be that big tooth poking out! Did you know that beaver teeth grow forever? They have to gnaw on wood to control the length, otherwise their teeth can grow up to 4 feet a year!!

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Beavers are woodland creatures and it just so happens that my husband and 2 of my boys actually saw one during their backpacking trip over the summer. They hiked and camped out for 5 days in the forests of Northern California (before the wildfires started) and they saw a beaver and his dam! It immediately brought up images of the kind hearted beaver character from the woods of Narnia in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” Who remembers with me?? 🙂

My backpacking kiddos are both Boy Scouts (Dad is an Eagle Scout!) and they love being out in nature and learning all about the outdoors. They’re also exposed to all kinds of fascinating things while they earn their merit badges! It’s been fun for me because I’ve learned about all kinds of stuff too! I can now identify the hoot of a Great Horned Owl (it kept me up the other night!) and a variety of different birds and insects. I can (sort of) weave a basket and tie some basic knots! Therefore I thought it fitting to honor the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) by having showing Bucky as a Beaver Scout! lol 🙂

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Merit badges are so pretty, in my opinion! They’re so colorful and I love all the different images that represent the subjects! Admittedly, I was a little disappointed that “Needlecraft” isn’t one of the areas of study! I could totally be a Scout Leader for that! 🙂

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!

Cha Siu the Pig!

Yup, it’s that time of year again – another Lunar New Year! This time it’s the Year of the Pig and you know how I like coming up with new designs to celebrate this festive holiday! I wanted to make this Pig look like it’s wearing a traditional Chinese outfit and after MUCH experimentation, I settled on this look. You have no idea how many attempts it took trying out different looks on the jacket trim, button details, and making those piggy toes! Out of all of my previous designs, I feel that I worked the longest on this pattern! Hours and hours of crocheting and frogging… I am so happy to finally(!) present this pig to you all! You can find it for sale in my Etsy shop and on Amigurumipatterns.net!

Doesn’t this pig look spiffy in his jacket? I was going for a traditional Chinese outfit look, so initially I looked into making some elaborate braided buttons. After a bunch of trial and error, I settled on this simple faux button closure that I think resembles the old fashioned frog fasteners that are often found in traditional Chinese outfits. More elaborate frog closures were common in old time military uniforms as well so this doll can even be customized to look like a toy soldier! Add some epaulettes and a hat and this pig will look like an extra in a Nutcracker production! 🙂 Hmmm, that’s not a bad idea! I’ll have to remember it!

I worked really hard to finish this doll before my self imposed deadline of February 5, which was the first day of the Lunar New Year in 2019. I was proud to complete it about a week before my deadline but writing up the pattern itself took so long that I didn’t release it until the 2nd day of the year! With all the typing and formatting involved, the pattern took nearly as long as the crocheting! For those who get the pattern, I hope that you guys can tell how much work and effort went into the 12 page PDF file! 🙂

So I wish everyone an auspicious New Year full of wonderful moments and good health! Did you know that the Pig rounds out the animals of the Zodiac? It is considered the last of the 12 animals and in 2020, the Rat will begin the cycle anew!

I also wanted to let you all know that I have been more active on my social media accounts now and will be adding many photos of my works in progress and updates…if you’re interested in following my projects, please follow my Instagram (@littlemuggles) and Facebook accounts (littlemugglesworld)! Don’t laugh, I haven’t gotten the hang of twitter yet but plan to work on that too! 🙂 🙂

I’m already hard at work on my next doll! Pop over to see what it is! XOXO!

Zoomigurumi 6 – Look who’s on the cover!

Look who made it as a cover model for the newest installment in the Zoomigurumi series!! I can’t believe that it’s the SIXTH Zoomigurumi book out there! It doesn’t seem so long ago when the first one was in the works! I’m so proud that Rudy the Red Panda is included in this edition!! Many people have asked me about this Red Panda pattern and it is only available in this new book! The pre-sale started just a couple of days ago and if you order before February 25, you can get your copy for only $20.95 – what a fantastic price because it includes worldwide shipping! As an added bonus, anyone who purchases the book now will receive the PDF version IMMEDIATELY! This means you can start crocheting your favorite character right away! So cool, right!? For those of you who only want the PDF, that is an option too. BUY HERE!

For anyone who’s been following me for some time, you will recall that it took me a really long time to finish this pattern. I think it literally took me over a year to complete it. It’s very different from my previous animals and the biggest challenge for me was figuring out how to make and write up the body and legs. I can tell you there were multiple attempts and failures which often led to long non-crocheting periods where I was too discouraged to continue. Thankfully I was able to finish it up and tweak it to my satisfaction before submitting it to be a character in the newest Zoomigurumi book. I am so thankful to Joke Vermeiren for inviting me to be a part of her absolutely amazing series. Just take a look at the adorable dolls that you can crochet from Zoomigurumi 6!!

2017 Lunar New Year

Greetings, all! Here’s to yet another year! The Lunar New Year starts on January 28 and this year is extra special to me since my twin boys were born in the Year of the Rooster! Hard to believe they are turning 12(!) this year!!! It really doesn’t seem so long ago when they were just little babies, babbling and learning to crawl. It’s scary to see how fast time is passing by. Since it’s become a tradition for me to come up with a new character for the Lunar New Year, I present to you my latest creation – my little New Year rooster! He’s sitting among mandarin oranges and gold coins, all which represent good fortune for the upcoming year. Here’s to a new year of peace and happiness to you all!!

Many of you are probably wondering if there will be a pattern released for this little guy. The answer is “yes!”, but it is at the end of a long list of other things I need to do first. I am still planning to write up and release the individual pattern of Hanna the Hippo into my shops and I have an illustration project on the side that I need to finish up as well. I do appreciate your support and patience – I wish there were more hours in the day to juggle all my tasks! One of my resolutions is to better organize my time so that I will be able to fit in everything I want/need to do!

So I’m off to finish some projects, and I promise to update this site more frequently this year! (resolution#2?) Happy crocheting and Happy New Year!

Knit amigurumi with Free Pattern!

A dear friend of mine gave me a present over the holidays which I have been enjoying tremendously ever since! I’ve posted about it on Facebook already, but it’s the video game “Yoshi’s Woolly World” for the Nintendo Wii U. All the characters and backgrounds are made entirely of yarn – this is seriously my kind of fantasy world! You should visit this official WEBSITE to take a look at the mind blowing creativity of this game! I’m not kidding – your eyes will widen and your jaw will drop from the stunning details and vibrant colors!

The same dear friend who gave me the game (and game system), recently gifted me with these adorable Amiibos! They are the cutest things ever and actually interact with the game system itself!

Looking at these little cuties, I was inspired to try my hand at knitting an amigurumi for the first time. I did a bit of research to see what kind of easy patterns I could find and I was immediately drawn to all of the cute creations by the very talented Amy Gaines!!

I found a simple little design which I figured I could manage! After all, one of my resolutions this year is to expand my yarn skills so what better time to try something new?

I do have a little bit of knitting experience in that I can do some basic stitches and I do own a few knitting needles…I dug them out and dove right into this FREE PATTERN. I was amazed at how quickly it all came back and I had a lot of fun! I just love the stockinette stitch, which is what this pattern calls for. The rows end up looking so nice and tidy and professional! My biggest challenge was sewing the seams. I definitely have a lot to learn there. A huge difference between this doll and my usual creations is that the knit amigurumi is SUPER SOFT! I love squeezing it – I wish my crochet dolls could come out this plush!

Overall this bunny was a fun little project. I find it much harder to knit amigurumi vs. crocheting them so I’m not planning to hang up my crochet hook anytime soon!! I may venture to make another knit amigurumi in the future but for now, I’ll continue with crochet!

Hanna the Hippo wins 2nd place!

Amigurumipatterns.net held a Circus amigurumi design Contest a short while back and Hanna the Hippo was my entry! I’ve been thinking about doing a hippo for a while now and the contest was the perfect motivator to get to me to finally design one! I did a bit of research and settled on trying to make a hippo with an umbrella.

I actually had a hard time deciding what color the hippo should be. I really wanted to make a purple one, but seeing as I did not have a soft lavender yarn that I like, I opted for a pale blue hippo instead. I generally gravitate toward soft pastel colors, but I think a bright, bold shade like a hot pink would be really fun too! 🙂 Once the pattern comes out, I will wait and see what you guys do with it! I love seeing my designs made in various colors – many are colors that I wouldn’t think to choose but end up looking wonderful!

I was delighted with how my hippo turned out and I had a lot of fun with the photo shoot as well. Here is the final shot that I entered into the contest!

After I entered my design, I took a peek at what some of the other entries looked like. I was blown away by so many detailed and amazing creations! Honestly, I didn’t think I stood a chance after viewing everyone’s submissions! (See all entries here!) I am completely shocked, thrilled and honored to have placed 2nd and I thank everyone who voted for my hippo! My prize box came on Christmas Eve and it was so much fun opening it up! The 10 yarn balls behind Hanna in the top picture were found in the box. They are Stylecraft yarn balls of DK weight, and are made of 100% pure premium acrylic. You can’t tell, but they are super duper soft!! I will have fun coming up with things to make with this yarn!! I love the colors that were sent to me!

I also received a fantastic set of Clover crochet hooks, a box of safety eyes/noses, the full set of published works by Amigurumipatterns.net, and a beautiful yarn bowl by Barruntando, a shop that offers unique and original pieces of pottery made of honey! Their Etsy shop is absolutely fabulous – I am tempted to order some other pieces to have around the house! I have never seen a yarn bowl before and was delighted to try this one out! The beautiful bowl is a soft aqua color and has cute little star cutouts on the side.

Check out some of their products! Aren’t they too adorable???

Wait! There’s more! I also get a super fabulous crochet hook designed by Furls Crochet! I have only ever seen these in ads – they are so beautiful!!

I haven’t actually gotten the hook yet so I can’t tell you how amazing it really is, but I’m looking forward to holding one of these babies in my hands!!

And finally, I got a year subscription to Inside Crochet magazine, a really cool UK publication that has plenty of projects and designs for me to try in the new year! I just might have to try my hand at some non amigurumi related things (gasp!) to learn some new stitches and skills!

This has been a wonderful close to a wonderful year. I didn’t come up with as many new designs in 2015 as I would have liked, but I plan to change that for 2016. I’ve got a number of ideas in my head of things to make, so definitely keep your eyes open for new Little Muggles creations in the future!!

Best wishes to you all for a Happy, Healthy, and Fantastic New Year!!!