The Yarnival of the Animals

Sometimes I get obsessed with a particular type of stitch or technique and I have to work it into everything. Lately, I have been in love with the chevron stitch, which gives a really lovely wave pattern in your work. There is something very satisfying about crocheting to dc together I find. And the chevron stitch makes for a perfect backdrop for some ocean critters <3 I've used cotton SMC Catania yarn, suitable for a 2.00-2.50mm hook.   Ocean waves: In blue, ch a multiple of 12 + 3 (I've done 51 here, 48 for the pattern and 3 for the turn chains). This part of the pattern is crocheted in rows. R1. dc into the 4th ch from the hook (skipped stitches count as 1 dc), then repeat [dc in the next 3 stitches, 2dc2tog, dc in the next 3 stitches, 2dc in the next 2 stitches] until the final ch in which you put 2 dc.  From now on, all rows are crocheted in BLO R2. ch 3 (counts as a dc), dc in last dc of the previous row, then repeat pattern [dc in the next 3 stitches, 2dc2tog, dc in ...

 I re-watched the Jurassic Park films recently and wondered if anyone had made some good amigurumi patterns. And Complicated Knots on YouTube definitely has! She has made a range of different dino types, and all for free <3 The ankylosaur has long been my favourite, possibly because it's basically a weaponised armadillo. I have a weakness for animals that are built for defense (turtles rule) and the ankylosaur just takes this concept to the next level. The use of what Complicated Knots calls the waffle stitch for the armour is simply inspired and it made me fall in love with the front and backpost dc, a type of crocheting I had mostly avoided up to now. 

Right, so I appreciate that this might be a little too niche for most people, but I've been trying to design archaeologically themed amigurumi. In my day to day life, I work as an archaeologist, mostly on finds (little field work for me these days) and I specialise in Roman pottery and small finds.  Roman glass isn't something I know an awful lot about, especially because it is so rare to find, let alone in a complete state. I have always found unguentaria quite charming though, the little medicine bottles that contained oils, make-up and other items used for dressing and treating the body. There are some really fun studies out there that did chemical analysis on remaining contents found in some of these Roman bottles and I've always dreamed of recreating the make-up recipes that Ovidius wrote up in his Medicamina Faciei Femineae (the book shown in the picture). Just a shame that almost all recipes contain things we now know are terribly toxic. Like lead :-) And how on eart...

Unguentarium type 2: Start a magic ring in green. R1. Sc 6 into the magic ring (6) R2. Sc2 into every stitch (12) R3. Sc2 in every 2nd stitch (18) R4. Sc2 in every 3rd stitch (24) R5. Sc2 in every 4th stitch (30) R6-9. Sc into every stitch (30) R10. Sc2tog every 9th and 10th stitch (27) R11. Sc into every stitch (27) R12. Sc2tog every 8th and 9th stitch (24) R13-14. Sc into every stitch (24) R15. Sc2tog every 7th and 8th stitch (21) R16-17. Sc into every stitch (21) R18. Sc2tog every 6th and 7th stitch (18) R19-20. Sc into every stitch (18) R21. Sc2tog every 5th and 6th stitch (15) R22-23. Sc into every stitch (15) Finish round 23 with a slip stitch.  R24. Ch 1, 2hdc in every stitch (30) Finish round 24 with a slip stitch and fasten off. Weave in ends.  Small stopper: Start a magic ring in contrasting colour.  R1. Sc6 in magic ring (6) R2. Sc2 in every stitch (12) R3. In back loops only, sc in every stitch (12) R4. In back loops only, sc in every stitch (12)  R5. Sc2...

Ungentarium type 1: Start a magic ring in light blue  R1. Sc6 in magic ring (6) R2. Sc2 in every stitch (12) R3. Sc2 in every 2nd stitch (18) R4. Sc2 in every 3rd stitch (24) R5. Sc2 in every 4th stitch (30) R6. Sc2 in every 5th stitch (36) R7. Sc2 in every 6th stitch (42) R8. In back loops only, sc in every stitch (42) R9-11. Sc in every stitch (42) R12. Sc2tog every 13th and 14th stitch (39) R13. Sc2tog every 12th and 13th stitch (36) R12. Sc2tog every 11th and 12th stitch (33) R13. Sc2tog every 10th and 11th stitch (30) R14. Sc2tog every 9th and 10th stitch (27) R15. Sc2tog every 8th and 9th stitch (24) R16. Sc2tog every 7th and 8th stitch (21) R17. Sc2tog every 6th and 7th stitch (18) R18. In front loops only, sc in every stitch (18) Weave a separate length of thread through the back loops and pull. Tie off.  R19-31. Sc in every stitch (18) R32. 2dc in the first 17 stitches. In the last, crochet 1 dc and hdc. Close with a slip stitch and fasten off.  Weave in ends....

Unguentarium type 3:  Start a magic ring in light blue  R1. Sc6 in magic ring (6) R2. Sc2 in every stitch (12) R3. Sc2 in every 2nd stitch (18) R4. Sc2 in every 3rd stitch (24) R5. In back loops only, sc in every stitch (24) R6. Sc2 in every 4th stitch (30) R7. Sc2 in every 5th stitch (36) R7. Sc2 in every 6th stitch (42) R8-11. Sc in every stitch (42) R12. Sc2tog every 6th and 7th stitch (36) R13. Sc in every stitch (36) R14. Sc2tog every 5th and 6th stitch (30) R15. Sc in every stitch (30). Start filling the body.  R16. Sc2tog every 4th and 5th stitch (24) R17. Sc in every stitch (24) R18. Sc2tog every 3rd and 4th stitch (18) R19. Sc in every stitch (18) R20. Sc2tog every 5th and 6th stitch (15) R21-35. Sc in every stitch (15) R36. Sc2 in every 5th stitch (18) R37. Sc2 in every 3rd stitch (24) R38. Sc2 in every 4th stitch (30). Fasten off with a slip stitch and weave in tail.  Small stopper: Start a magic ring in contrasting colour.  R1. Sc6 in magic ring (6) ...

A cute little snake from a book on alphabetical amigurumi.  He is made from dark and light green SMC Catania Original (and some left-over red yarn for the tongue) with 6mm brown/black safety eyes. His body contains a pipe cleaner so he can slither properly, although part of the zigzag form is crocheted in.     Text    

Just a cute, evil-looking pumpkin as part of my annual Halloween decorations. The pattern used is by Tessa van Riet-Ernst ( https://woolytoons.com/ ).     If you want to go for a more grown-up look for your autumn decorations, I've written a pattern for some less cartoony pumpkin decorations here .     Text  

My husband is a big fan of all rodents (guinea pigs and capybara in particular), so ever since I started crocheting animals he has been asking for one of those.  It took me a really long time to find a pattern of a guinea pig I liked and this is it. Unfortunately not in the three colour pattern that is my favourite, but still mighty cute.   This cute little rodent is made from 100% cotton by Ricorumi in light brown, white and pink (for the nose) with 9mm black safety eyes. The pattern is by Christel Krukkert (ISBN 978 94 6250 106 5). And for scale: a small Trabant toy car. Of course.

This project was originally conceived as a rainbow-themed handbag, but ended up as a bag that I keep my current crochet projects in. I've been crocheting a lot lately, and it helps keep the living room clean from bits of yarn, half-finished projects and needles.    The bag is made up of separately crocheted circles that are then sewn on top of each other. For each circle, start with a magic ring. All elements are made of SMC Catania cotton yarn for a 2-2.5mm hook.   R1. 10 dc in the magic ring (10) R2. 2dc in every stitch (20) R3. 2dc in every second stitch (30) Fasten off with a slip stitch and weave in ends.    Make as many circles in as many colours as you like.  Sew them onto each other with the rims of the next circle just touching the tops of the stitches in tour 1 of the previous circle. Make two of these swatches, one for each side of the bag. To turn your rectangle of circles into a proper bag, fasten on with white or any other contrasting colour a...

Again, a pattern I picked up on amigurumipatterns.net, this time by YukiYarn Designs ( https://www.amigurumipatterns.net/shop/YukiYarn-designs/Boris-the-Wolf/ ). As Boris turned out the be really quick and easy to crochet and I had lots of yarn left, I decided to make him a friend. This pattern was my first experience with crocheting in different colours (it had always scared my off), but I was surprised at how easy it was.  For extra cuddliness, Boris is made of merino wool (Scheepjes Merino Soft) with a 3-4mm. hook.  Body dark: 605 Hogarth Body Light: 604 Lowry Details: 601 Pollock Eyes: 6mm. brown safety eyes       Text

One of the first things I bookmarked on when I started my crocheting blog on DeviantArt was a pattern for cute little kokeshi doll amigurumi by SuniMam . The free pattern is by someone on Tumblr (to be found here )  and can be adapted in a multitude of ways. I prefer mine blue and relatively simple, but you can add an obi, flowers, etc. Because I'm lazy and completely crap at embroidering details, the eyes are sewing pins :-)  

I originally made this doll to cheer up my office at work, but since I've mainly worked from home these last two years, it hasn't actually spent any time there :-) The pattern used is by Bunnies and Yarn and you can by it on  https://www.amigurumipatterns.net/shop/Bunnies-and-Yarn/Santa-Claus/  (a very dangerous website to go on, they have so many great patterns!).  This project was made with 100% cotton Ricorumi yarn and a 3.00 mm hook. This will make the doll quite massive, so downgrade to a finer yarn if you want a smaller doll that can fit on shelves etc.

My go-to film for comfort watching is and will always be Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. But those shorter films are amazing too and there are few villains in cinema history more evil and intimidating than Feathers McGraw from The Wrong Trousers. He doesn't talk, but those beady little eyes are menacing enough and the way he mistreats Gromit is just downright maniacal. Some brillian mind at Patons came up with the idea of releasing Wallace and Gromit knitting patterns sometime in the late 1980's, including dolls such as this one and some very natty jumpers. They're no longer on sale, but you can find them quite cheaply on Ebay if you really want one. And how could you say no to the opportunity of knitting a red washing-up glove/chicken disguise? Seeing as the Patons yarn is no longer available here in Europe, I made Feathers from King Cole Pricewise DK yarn with regular 4 mm. needles.  Body: 048 Black and 001 White Feet: 3285 Baby Peach (and two pieces of...

This large amigurumi of Domo (the official mascot of Japan's NHK network) is the second pattern I ever attempted to design. He's basically a long cube with legs, so simple enough :-) I'm still debating whether I should give him a small crocheted guitar to play with.  Domo is made of SMC Catania cotton yarn by Schachenmayer (2.5 mm. hook) in the 157 Marone colour. His eyes are 18mm safety eyes and his mouth is made of felt scraps. He's roughly 10 inches tall, so you can scale him up or down by choosing a different type of yarn. Because Domo is so cartoony, I would suggest something smooth like mercerised cotton for a non-fuzzy effect.   Body: In brown, chain 46.   Row 1: sc in every ch (45) Row 2-12: sc in every stitch, ch 1 and turn (45)   From this point on, start crocheting in rounds.   Round 13: sc in every stitch of row 12, sc 3 in the corner, sc 11 in the short sides of the first 12 rows, sc 3 in the corner, sc in every ch, sc 3 in the corner, sc 11 in ...

One of my favourite Christmas tradition is reading/watching the Lord of the Rings. It's just perfect comfort material and escapism for me to periodically dive into that incredibly crafted world. Luckily my husband is heavily into his fantasy stuff too, so it's something we can enjoy together. Heck, I even gifted him a set of Games Workshop miniatures of the Fellowship as a wedding present! You find his amazing paintwork on his blog here <3 So when I came across this knitting pattern for a scarf with the text of the One Ring on it, I knew I had to make one. Now my knitting is terrible, thanks to my left-handed grandmother teaching it "in reverse" to my right-handed mother, who in turn taught me, a lefty, to knit the right-handed way. And the knitting with two colours was something I really had to get used to! It only took me four false starts, but I finally managed to make a decent looking scarf. The green one was my first attempt and was a gift for my husband. I ...

When trying to find out how to crochet an open mouth on another amigurumi, I came across Ami Amour's channel on Youtube. She has designed this incredibly method of crochet an open mouth for little dragons, pac men, Bulbasaurs etc.  She also has an amazing website where you can find the patterns for these for free!  https://amiamour.com/dragon-amigurumi-pattern/

This cute little triceratops is made from a free pattern made by Club Crochet. Apart from the horns, the whole body is made all in one go. You can find a video of the pattern on YouTube ( https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=triceratops+crochet ).  This amigurumi is made of some scrap DK polyester yarn with a 3.0mm hook and 6mm black safety eyes.  

Ever since we first discovered John Finnemore's radio sitcom " Cabin Pressure " on BBC Radio 4, my husband and I have been playing the Travelling Lemon at home. The advantage of using a crocheted lemon is that it doesn't go off if either of us don't find it quickly enough.   The pattern used is by Martine de Regt , although I made some small adjustments to the leaves on top and to the face. Her original pattern also had the lemon open up at the back to accommodate a shopping bag, which I left out. The yarn used is SMC Catania in bright yellow (280), light green (205) and a bit of black (110) and pink (246) with 6mm black safety eyes and a 2.0mm hook.