Amigurumi Fun

According to Wikipedia “Amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures …they are created and collected for aesthetic reasons. The pervading aesthetic of amigurumi is cuteness.”

And they are. Actually they have some purpose too. You can use them for decorating packages, include them as tiny gifts in a greeting card, make a pin, bracelet or necklace of tiny creatures or add them to a keychain. I am sure you can think of other ways to use them – holiday ornaments, birthday parties, adorn your computer so you can smile every day. Here is our Amigurumi Southwest Halloween complete with adobe house, coyotes and cactus with tiny ghosts, pumpkin and cat.

Patterns are everywhere. There are lots of free patterns on the Internet. Here are a few of my favorite books with Amigurumi characters:

The interesting thing about making these critters is that you can learn a number of new techniques regarding shaping, increasing and decreasing in both knitting and crochet. You can make them larger by using a heavier yarn. They are also just fun to make – quick and no sizing required. This gives some perspective about the size of the mermaid and dinosaur in the island picture. That is a crochet hook in laying across the island. These were done in fingering weight yarn. They would be at four times larger if worked in a worsted weight yarn.

At Kiwi Knitting every Tuesday in June from 10-12 noon we will be knitting and crocheting Amigurumi. Come with a pattern your would like to make–there are lots of free patterns on the internet- and yarn and join the fun. Please sign up so a teacher will be there. Call 520-881-1319. Cost is $20.

If we get enough Amigurumi fans we can start an Amigurumi group at Kiwi Knitting.

Special note: The Madelinetosh lace weight yarn is in. Lace weight yarn makes even tinier critters.