Amigurumi Christmas

By Sarah-Jane Hicks

Do you love to decorate your home and make wonderful Christmas decorations for all your family and friends to enjoy? Then this is the book for you. It will delight and surprise with its fantastically cute, kawaii-style crocheted Christmas cuties. There are 20 great projects to make, including a wonderful Santa Claus accompanied by a lovely Mrs Claus; a cute penguin, polar bear and gingerbread man; Brussels sprouts, Christmas angel and even pigs in blankets! With a short techniques section at the beginning to explain the basics, these projects can be worked up quickly and easily using small amounts of yarn in your stash. You can even customize some of the projects if you wish and make Santa, the elf or the snowman's head into baubles with a short piece of yarn to hang them up. Whether you make these for your family or as gifts for friends, now is the time to pick up your hook and get crocheting amigurumi style!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Aug 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781781269077

Book preview

Introduction

This is my first book and I hope you enjoy it. I’m passionate about crochet and hope to inspire others to feel the same. I learnt to crochet at a young age, taught by my mum and nan. I love the thought of a skill being passed down the generations. But no matter how you learn, I think it is important to have a hobby – something creative you enjoy that makes you happy.

My intention was to write a book containing crochet projects and novelty items to make you smile. This book contains 20 cute Christmas amigurumi projects which are simple, fun and easy to make and suitable for someone with a basic knowledge of crochet. Most of the patterns are worked using simple crochet stitches. Colourful and quirky, the finished items can be used as toys, standing or hanging decorations. They can be kept for yourself or given as gifts to family and friends, both children and adults. Please note that if you are giving one of these projects to a child under the age of 3, it is safer to embroider the eyes instead of using safety eyes.

Use your imagination and adapt the projects by changing yarn or colours, add pink earmuffs to the Penguin or crochet the Snowman a Christmas hat; decorate presents with the Holly Berries; string the Brussels Sprouts and Pigs in Blankets together and turn them into a novelty garland; or turn the heads of the Snowmen and Elves into Christmas baubles.

Whatever you decide to make, have fun!

Happy crocheting x

Materials & tools

Yarn

I used 20g or 25g balls of DK (8-ply/light worsted) cotton yarn for the projects in this book. These are the perfect size for small amigurumi projects. Other DK yarns can be used, though the projects may differ slightly in size due to the varying thickness or elasticity of different types of yarn. For smaller or larger results, substitute the yarn with one of another weight, for example, 4-ply (fingering) or aran (10-ply/worsted) yarn, remembering to adjust your hook size to suit. A small amount of gold and silver DK lamé yarn was used when making the Angel and Polar Bear.

Crochet hooks

A 3.5mm (UK 9/10, US 4) hook was used throughout, but if your tension (gauge) is a little looser and the stuffing starts to show through the stitches, then switch to a smaller hook. Hooks are made in a variety of materials, so choose a hook of your own preference that has a comfortable grip.

Other materials and tools

Toy safety eyes in sizes 6mm, 9mm and 10mm were used to bring the projects to life. The eyes and washers, once pressed together, are sturdy and child safe. However, if you are giving a project to a child under 3 years old, always embroider the eyes on instead.

The projects were stuffed with polyester toy stuffing, which is soft, clean and washable. Use a recycled polyester toy filling or, if you prefer, a natural wool filling, which is hypoallergenic and biodegradable.

For the embroidered features, I used six-strand cotton embroidery thread in black and red. The strands were split into half and three strands used to embroider mouths, eyelashes and eyebrows, with a sewing needle.

The Elves’ hats were finished off with 10mm (⅜in) metal bells in gold and red, and red bells were used for the Robin’s feet.

A 35mm (1⅜in) pompom maker was used for the Snowman’s bobble hat.

A tapestry needle was used for sewing the projects together and a pair of sharp scissors are essential for snipping yarn.

Stitch markers come in handy when working in continuous rounds to the mark the end or beginning of a round.

UK/US equivalent crochet terms

The patterns in this book are written using UK crochet terms. Some US terms for crochet stitches differ from the UK system, as shown below.

Basic crochet techniques

Hints and tips

1 The most commonly used stitch in amigurumi crochet is double crochet (US single crochet): insert hook through next stitch, yarn over, pull loop through (two loops on the hook), yarn over and pull through both loops; stitch is completed. This stitch is used because it forms a neat, close-textured fabric and the toy stuffing is less likely to show through the stitches.

2 The projects in this book are worked in continuous, spiral rounds unless stated.

3 You can hide the yarn tails inside your projects when you sew them together and stuff them, so you have fewer ends to weave in. See the section on Sewing an opening closed on pages 14 and 15.

Back post double crochet (bpdc) and front post double crochet (fpdc)

These stitches are great for creating texture in a piece of crochet. I used them alternately when making the Polar Bear. The 'post' is the vertical part of a stitch.

Back post double crochet (bpdc)

1 First work one round of double crochet using green yarn.

2 Insert the hook from the back of your work and around the post of the stitch in the round below.

3 Now insert the hook from front to back so the hook is positioned across the front of the stitch.

4 Wrap the yarn round the hook.

5 Pull