Caught Another Bug

Not the one that makes one miserable, but a good one, the Amigurumi bug 😏.

Though I’ve been not very active knitting-wise (and WordPress-wise as a matter of fact), I’ve found time to dabble in some crochet, thanks to my two youngest. Sometime last year, they started asking me to teach them how to knit. I started with the older of the two, who lost interest with the same speed with which he got the hang of casting on, but my youngest just kept asking. So, after my remembrance poppies success last month, I decided to look into crocheted toys instead, and that led me to the Amigurumi Egg-shaped Cats by Mari-Liis Lille on Ravelry.

This is a free pattern classified as ‘easy’, so I proceeded to order Stylecraft Special Aran (acrylic), and a few hooks. A few days and lots of YouTube videos later, I ended up with the cuddlies above. Instead of  continuously crocheting in a spiral, I used joined rounds (I believe that’s what it’s called) because I wanted a continuous line at the colour changes.

They were quick to crochet, even though I made them over several days, and I thoroughly enjoyed the process. I especially love the fact that it’s much faster than knitting a toy. For stuffing, I used polyester toy stuffing that’s been lying around in the house. Now that I’ve finished them, I’m look forward to making more. They’d be great as gifts for someone like me who has very little time to make elaborate things, and there’ll be a chance my prospective recipients will receive their gifts in this lifetime.

The instructions were easy to follow, and I’m satisfied with my first attempt. One thing I don’t quite like is the line running down their backs that was likely caused by the way I joined each round (I only know this because I stumbled across a video where it was mentioned). Also, I’ll be trying a cotton-acrylic blend for my next attempt because the stitches on these have already started looking fuzzy, and I read they’re good for toys that’d be handled.

After this round of success, I felt motivated enough to buy the book “Cuddly Amigurumi Toys” by the same designer, and have just started making the dude on the far right in the picture below.

All this means yours truly now has a new hobby 😉, and that leaves me in a quandary; which is whether to knit or crochet a Christmas Nativity Scene that I’ve been thinking of making for eons.

Wishing you all a good weekend.

☮️