Amigurumi Totoro Pattern | My Neighbour Totoro

One of my favorite movies is My Neighbour Totoro. Totoro is the coolest dude ever, and he always makes me laugh whenever I watch him. So what better way to convey my love than to make my very own Totoro?! Actually, I made him for my friend, who introduced me to the movie. He has an awesome collection of My Neighbour Totoro Plushies, and I wanted to add to it.

To share the love, I have written up a pattern for you all. Enjoy!

 My Tororo is made from DK 100% cotton, using a 3.5mm hook.

What you will need:
Yarn/wool in a grey colour
Finer yarn/wool in black
2x black plastic safety eyes ( I used 8mm eyes)
White felt
Stuffing
Crochet hook
Yarn needle

Body (using grey yarn):
R1 -  Create a double loop with 6sc.
R2 - 2sc in each (12st)
R3 - (2sc, sc in next) x6 (18st)
R4 - (2sc, sc in next 2) x6 (24st)
R5 - (2sc, sc in next 3) x6 (30st)
R6-9 - sc in each (30st)
R10 - (2sc, sc in next 4) x6 (36st)
R11 - sc in each (36st)
R12 - (2sc, sc in next 5) x6 (42st)
R13 - sc in each (42st)
R14 - (2sc, sc in next 6) x6 (48st)
R15-18 - sc in each (48st)
R19 - (dec, sc in next 4) x8 (40st)
R20 - (dec, sc in next 3) x8 (32 st)
R21 - (dec, sc in next 2) x8 (24st)

At this point you need to attach the eyes. Cut out 2 small circles of the white felt - a little bigger than the safety eyes. Poke a small hole in the centre of the felt circles and stick the safety eyes through that. Once you have worked out where to place the eyes on Totoro, poke them through the body and secure the back on them. 

R22 - (dec, sc in next) x8 (16st)

Stuff Totoro with the stuffing.

R23 - dec all around (8st)
R24 - sc, sk, fasten off.

Arms (make 2):
R1 -  Create a double loop with 6sc.
R2 - 2sc in each (12st)
R3 - (2sc, sc in next) x6 (18st)
R4-5 - sc in each (18st)
R6 - dec x5, sc in next 8 (13st)
R7 -  sc, dec x2, sc in next 8 (11st)
R8 - sc in each (11st)
Fasten off, leaving a long tail to attach.

Attaching the arms:
The arms are designed so that they sit flush up against his rounded body. They have a shorter underside and a longer front when you flatten them. Using your yarn needle and the tail thread, attach the arms on his sides with slst. You want to place his arms about 3 or 4 rows down from where you placed his eyes.

At this stage you want to attach his belly. Believe me, it will make positioning his nose and whiskers so much easier later on.
To do this, cut out an oval shape in the white felt. I suggest you originally cut out a bigger oval than you think you will need. Place it on his belly and then trim it down to size. You do have to make the bottom of the oval quite flat. Glue the felt into place and allow time to dry.

Using the grey yarn, sew the detail on to his belly using the same technique that you would use to sew on a smile. sew two loose stiches and stitch the two loops in place with a smaller stitch.

Sewing his nose and whiskers:
Grab the black yarn. Attach your whiskers by first pulling your needle through a st where his nose will end up, and tying a knot (the nose will eventually cover up all your knots, so this is a good place to put them!) then simply pull the yarn through the position where you would like his whiskers to be and cut to length. repeat for all his whiskers.

Now for his nose. Start by sewing a horizontal stitch in the centre of where you would like the nose to be. Then simply add stitches to the top and bottom until you are happy with the size.

Ears (make 2):
R1 - Create a double loop with 3sc.
R2 - 2sc, sc in next 2 (4st)
R3 - 2sc, sc in next 3 (5st)
R4 - 2sc, sc in next 4 (6st)
R5 - (2sc, sc in next 2) x2 (8st)
R6-7 - sc in each (8st)
R8 - (dec, sc in next 2) x2 (6st)

Attaching the ears:
Flatten the ears like you did with the arms. What is great about yarm is its flexibility - play around with the ears, pulling and tugging at points until you get a good shape. Then simply attach them to the top of his head using your yarn needle and slst.

Tail:
To make the tail, use the same patterm as the arms. However this time instead of flattening it out, stuff it a little so the tail end puffs out. Attach to his back with your yarn needle and slst.

And your done! Now you have your very own little Totoro. I had so much fun making this little guy, and in the end my friend loved it to. He ended up putting him in his work van!

Amigurumi Link | Legend of Zelda

The Legend of Zelda takes me back to my high-schoolie days - Sitting cross legged on the floor of my lounge room, intently staring at the tv screen with a Nintendo 64 controller in one hand and a can of Dr Pepper in the other. My mother vacuuming around the spot I am sitting on. Calling my friend who is inevitably stuck at the same spot I am in some temple, trying to nut out how to get past the seemingly impossible puzzle - "But what if we use the fire arrows to light the torch that will lower the bridge that leads us to the chest with the boss key in it?"
Hehehe, good times...

So, when I saw a pattern for an amigurumi Link on the net, I just HAD to make my very own!!!
The original pattern is by an amazing japanese artist, Becchin. Very kindly, Tanoshimou has provided an English translation for this pattern which you can find here.
Becchin has a fantastic gallery of his Link which you can find here.
There are some great step by step photos of Becchin's pattern here.
Stephanie at All About Ami has also shared photos of her Link creation, and has kindly provided a pattern for Link's Hylian Shield.

A big, huge, ginormous thank you to all those mentioned above! You are all so wonderful!

I made him with 8 ply, 100% acrylic yarn and used 8mm plastic safety eyes. I have pretty much followed Tanoshimou's pattern down to a tee, however I did slightly change a thing or two here and there.

Link's Hat:
Follow the directions up to Row 9.
R10-11 - sc all around (34).
R12 - dec 2, sc 26, dec 2 (30).
R13 - dec 2, sc 18, dec 2 (22).
R14 - sc around counter clockwise.
R15 - sc around clockwise.
R16 - sc all around.

For his hair, I did sc's all the way down the back and chains for his sideburns. I then stitched on his fringe with a yarn needle (Stephanie's blog has great photos for this part!)

Accessories!
What would Link be without his Hylian Shield and Master Sword?
I followed Stephanie's pattern for the Hylian Shield, and created my own Master Sword and sheath:
Sword:
blade (make 2) -
1. ch 15. turn.
2. sc 14. Add an extra sc at the end to make the tip of the sword. Fasten off.
I placed some wire between the two blade pieces and whip stitched them together.

Hilt (is that the right term???) (make 2) -
1. ch 8. turn.
2. sc 7. Fasten off.
Place each hilt piece on either side of the blade approx 3 or 4 stitches from the base of the blade. Whip stitch together.

Sheath:
1. Ch 24. Slst to the first chain.
2. sc around. Fasten off.

For the bit that holds the sword in place-
1. Ch 6. turn.
2. sc 5. Fasten off.
Sew each end on to the sheath.

What I love so much about this pattern is that his head is on a ball and socket joint so you can rotate it into any position. I also love that his boots, hat, shield, sword and sheath all can come off and are not sewed into place. This makes him a great photo-shoot model!

"Never fear Princess Zelda! I will save you from the evil Ganondorf!"

I must confess, I went out to take photos of Link and just before I took my first photo I thought "hey... His sword is in the wrong hand!" So I switched the sword and shield around, took some photos, came inside, looked it up and realised... "Link is a Lefty!!!!"
After all these years, I never once noticed :P
I apologise...

Dr Who Tardis Police Box Pattern

I wanted to make a good friend of mine an amigurumi keychain of some kind. So I pondered for a while on what to make him – we both have a fondness for scifi and a tardis from Dr Who just seemed like the logical choice!

Here is how you can make your own:
(I used 3ply crochet cotton and a 2.5mm hook, but you could use any kind of wool and hook – It’s totally up to how big you would like the finished product to be!)

You will need –
Dark blue yarn
White yarn
Crochet hook
White felt
Blue sewing cotton
Yarn needle

How to make –

Side pieces (make 4 in blue colour)
R1 – 8ch, turn
R2-12 – sc in each, 1 ch, turn (8st)
Fasten off, leave long thread for attaching.

Top and Bottom pieces (make 2 in blue colour)
R1 – 8ch, turn
R2-9 – sc in each, 1 ch, turn (8st)
Fasten off, leave long thread for attaching.

Top round piece (make 1 in blue colour)
R1 – make a double loop with 6sc
R2 – 2 sc in each (12st)
R3 – (2sc, sc in next) repeat 6 times (18st)
Fasten off, leave long thread fro attaching

Light piece (make 1 in white colour)
R1 – make a double loop with 6sc
R2 – 2 sc in each (12st)Fasten off, leave long thread for attaching

Putting it together –

· Starting with the 4 side pieces, line up the stitches on the edge and sew together with the thread tails using a whip stitch.

· Cut out 8 small windows out of white felt and sew on with sewing thread. If you sew in the center of the windows both horizontally and vertically, you will get the appearance of 4 small windows per piece of felt. Use back stitch to attach these – it will give you a nice, clean finish.

· Line up and attach the bottom piece with a thread tail using a whip stitch.

· Line up and attach the top piece with a thread tail using a whip stitch (when you only have one side left to stitch, stuff the box with stuffing and sew up remaining side)

· Center the top round piece on top of your box and attach with a thread tail using a whip stitch (again, stuff when you only have a few stitches left to sew and then sew up what remains)

· Center the light piece on top of the round piece and attach with a thread tail using a whip stitch (this one wont require stuffing, if you stick your leftover white thread tails in here it will be full enough)

I attached a small length of ball and chain with a silver link to turn this into a key ring, but the possibilities are endless –

Attach a magnet and use on your fridge.
Attach a lapel pin and pin it to a hand bag, school bag, or your clothes.
Attach a chain and hang it from your car mirror.

I will let you know how it goes when I give it to my friend!!! I hope he likes it!

Cute Little Flower Pattern

I am having so much fun making cute little cacti amigurumi. And it's all so easy!
The only trouble I'm have at the moment is not being able to find how to make small flowers to put on top of my cacti.

So instead I persevered on my own, and I played around with hdc stitches, and I finally came up with this:


And here is the pattern if you would like to make one yourself:

I used 8 ply yarn (which I pulled apart to create 3 ply piece) and a 2.5mm hook.

1. Make double loop.
2. [Ch2, 5hdc in 2^nd chain from hook. Slst in double loop.] Repeat 5 times for 5 petals.
3. Fasten off. Close up double loop.

Now that I think of it, I will try to post up some tutorials on how to do some basic stitches and loops, for those who are just starting out.

Fuzzy Koala

So, the other day I found this cute amigurumi koala pattern on the US Woman’s Day Website (I'll forgive them for using the term 'koala bear', hehe). The pattern can be found here:
http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Lifestyle/Crafts/Cuddly-Crochet-Creatures-Koala.html

And here is my version -


For my version, I used fuzzy yarn in a mocha colour to give it a more teddy-bear feel, and I altered the nose and the arms slightly too. I wanted the arms to be attached on a pivot, so they could be moved slightly as opposed to having them the same shape and style as the legs. I used dark brown wool for the arms, nose and inner-ears, and I attached black buttons on top of small circles of brown felt for the eyes.

Here is my pattern for the arms:
R1 – Ch 2, 4sc in 2nd chain from hook
R2 – 2sc in each st (8st)
R3 – In back loops only, sc in each (8st)
R4 – R7 – sc in each. (8st)
Turn inside out.
Stuff.
R8 – Sc in both sides to seal the hole. (4st)
R9 - 10 – Sc in each (you may need to adjust how many rows to add in order to get a nice flat surface to attach to his body)
Attach to body.

I finished the arms off with a French knot at the attachment point to give the look of a pivot point.

I had some trouble getting him to sit up without toppling over, so I stuffed his body with some glass beads I had lying around. It worked great, although I am sure poly beads would be a far cheaper alternative. Again, poly beads seem to be something I can’t find at my local craft store, so I will have to source these on the net. I will let you know if I find a good place.

I really am having so much fun creating these guys. What will my next project be????

Unda tha Sea!

I mentioned before about Ana Paula’s amazing blog where she posts amigurumi patterns for free: http://amigurumipatterns.blogspot.com/

Well, I found my second project from there as well. It is a cute as little jellyfish! You can find the pattern here: http://amigurumipatterns.blogspot.com/2007/10/little-octopus-ornament-to-sweeten-up.html

Here is my finished project:


I am still unable to find any safety eyes here in Australia, so it looks like I am going to have to resort to buying in from overseas. If I find a good one I will let you know.

In the meantime, I made this little guy without a face – and he is still really cute, even without eyes! He would look great hanging from a car revision mirror, or if I made one with finer yarn and a smaller hook, a keychain!