The Yarnival of the Animals

My husband is a big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan (see here for his own TMNT project). This fits well with my own love of turtles and tortoises in general, and the fact that in the original film, the suits were made by Jim Henson's Creature Shop is even better. Donatello is both our favourite, because he is the shy, geeky one. And after all, he does do machines... So for Christmas, I secretly made him a crocheted doll of Donny after a brilliant pattern by a lady called Jackie who runs the blog Amidorable Crochet . I'd had my eyes on these for years when they were on sale by Amigurumi.net, but when I got an email from them that the pattern was suddenly free, I simply couldn't postpone any longer! The pattern is incredibly detailed and gives great detail to your turtle. The only weird bit was the back shell, which even upon repeated tries just wouldn't give me the result as advertised in the pictures, but this could very well be due to fact that I was using a different ...

Lately, I've been obsessed with ComplicatedKnots 's YouTube channel, where she shows you how to crochet these incredibly cute and easy (but impressive looking) dinosaurs. The triceratops is always a crowd favourite, and I just love the way she's designed the horns and collar. As you can see, I'm quite rubbish at sewing on limbs and I may have overstuffed the body a little bit. But I'm quite happy with the embroidery on the nails! Go give Complicated Knots some love on YouTube, she's got some amazing patterns out there. Including a Squirtle design that's just begging to be made <3

As part of my Jurassic Park obsession, I've been making some dino-amigurumi lately, and Complicated Knots on YouTube has made some terrific patterns for a variety of dinosaurs.  Her pterodactyl pattern is really amazing and requires no sewing, so that's a big plus for me! The wings curl up on their own because they are lined with sc stitches along the sides, but they're malleable enough to make different arrangements.  These would make for perfect gifts for a dino-obsessed child, but their equally cute just to make for yourself :-) Just look at its little snout!

 Another one of Complicated Knots ' brilliant dino-creations: the mighty T-rex. Although this one looks like he needs a cuddle ;-)  I had some difficulty with the puff stitch, I think this is more difficult to do neatly with cotton yarn (she uses acrylic, which is much more pliable). But they do add a lovely effect to his back. Without the dots, he would be quite plain. He's a little wonky on his feet, because i sewed those on while on a train, but you can manipulate them into different positions, which is cool. And finally, another show of his back, to show off those puff stitches that I just couldn't get right...But I would sooner throw out my hooks than switch to acrylic yarn!

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. 

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    

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.

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

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...

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.  

This ant was the first amigurumi pattern I ever wrote, around 3 or 4 years ago. It is made of simple spheres sewn together to resemble an ant's body. Simple, but effective, if I may say so myself. Whether anyone is interested in crocheting ants is a completely different matter :-) The yarn used was some acrylic DK knitting yarn with a 3.00mm hook in dark brown for the body. The eyes and anteanne are made from SMC Catania cotton in white and black with a 2.5mm hook.   Head and body (make two):   With brown yarn, start a magic ring R1. 6sc in ring (6) R2. 2sc in every sc (12) R3. 2sc in every 2nd sc (18) R4. 2sc in every 3rd sc (24) R5. 2sc in every 4th sc (30) R6. 2sc in every 5th sc (36) 7.-11. 36sc (36) R12. sc2tog every 5th and 6th sc (30) R13. sc2tog every 4th and 5th sc (24) R14. sc2tog every 3rd and 4th sc (18) R15. sc2tog every 2nd and 3rd sc (12) R16. sc2tog every 1st and 2nd sc (6)   End with a slip stitch in the 1st sc and fasten off. Leave plenty of yarn f...

I've always wanted to learn how to crochet flowers, and when I did recently it occurred to me they'd make a pretty cute carapace (upper shell) for a tortoise (my favourite animal). So naturally, i had to try and make one. She's a little over-stuffed, but other than that she's alright!   For this patterm you'll need 4 colours for the top bit of the shell. One of these is also used for the bottom part (plastron). I've made the legs and head in a colour that also appears in the flower, but you can use a separate one if you like. I've used cotton SMC Catania yarn, suitable for a 2.00-2.50mm hook. Head: In colour 1, start a magic ring. R1: sc 6 in the ring (6) R2: 2sc in every stitch (12) R3: 2sc in every 2nd stitch (18) R4-6: sc in every stitch (18) R7: sc2tog every 2nd and 3rd stitch (12) R8: sc2tog 1st and 2nd, 3rd and 4th, 5th and 6th and 7th and 8th stitch; sc 4 (8) R9-12: sc in every stitch (8)   Stuff the head with polyf...

Another alphabetical amigurumi, this time of the letter W for whale. This one was made of some small test balls of cotton yarn I received as a gift. And although they were only 10 grams each (suitable for a 2.00-2.5mm hook), they were perfectly suited to this cute little whale, both in the length of yarn needed and the colour.     The pattern is by Christel Krukkert and the ISBN of the original book is 978 94 6250 106 5.