What is Amigurumi?

When 12-year-old Iona wrote to us, offering to write an article for Jump! Mag about Amigurumi, our first question was, “What is Amigurumi?”. She explained and we jumped (ha!) at the chance of having a talented crochet artist bring some colour and cuteness to Jump! Mag.

Hi my name is Iona and I am doing an article about Amigurumi. Amigurumi is Japanese, “Ami” – meaning Crochet or Knitted, and “Nui Gurumi” – meaning Stuffed doll. The “Nui” in “Nui Gurumi” is dropped so it is said “Amigurumi.

I do lots of Amigurumi you can make all sorts of things from little monsters in monster house’s to French rats

 

 

Making a monster house may sound hard but it is really just knowing how to put something into a shape so for example house one the left (avocado) is quite simple it is really just a circle for the base then you just stich as normal to go up then leave a gap for the mouth, (it sounds hard but it is really easy when you do it) then you go up again then reduce quite slowly and cut a circle of felt and put in one of those safety eyes and put on a pom-pom.

 

 

These are the monsters I made (the ones that were in the houses) and they are even easier than the houses there just a small circle then you go up. make a separate circle (the same size as the one you started off with) stuff the tube you m then you sew the disc and tube you made.  Stitch them together then (my favourite part) the decorating! As you can see the second to the left monster has a cow boy hat! With a paper clip in it and for the mouth crochet on the surface (which is also easier then it looks)

 

 

This is me French rat! With a little beret! It is just a tube with a point one end and stubs for feet the ears I made with a leaf pattern and the hat is the bottom of a monster the tail is a long thin tube so if you see what I mean all you need to do is base something down into a shape then of you go!

All of the stuff I have shown you were done using one type of stitch.

 

If you search < free Amigurumi patterns >  and click the second link you will get some cool patterns (even how to make an ood!)

But if you search < how to crochet for free > you can find out how to crochet

(crochet is what I used to make all of the above but knitting will also work)

All you need is a hook (not like captain hooks hook {but that might work to} )

And some wool and to be fair you can get all that from a second hand shop

Or your nan or gran might have some

 

 

If you don’t have a relative who knows how to crochet, you can learn from a book such as this one, or check out YouTube for crochet tutorials. Or ask in your local wool shop if they run classes.