Amigurumi basics - crochet a ball, make an owl or pufferfish

Amigurumi is a Japanese word meaning ‘knitted stuffed toy’. Amigurumi are simple to make, once you’ve learned the basic techiques, and a fun way to use up scraps of yarn.

Today I’ll show you how to crochet one of the simplest shapes, a ball – and to show you just how versatile even the simplest shapes can be, we’ll use the same base to make 2 toys, an owl and a pufferfish. We’ll learn how to make a magic ring cast-on, how to make a single crochet, and how to increase and decrease in single crochet.

You’ll need:

• Yarn – cream, plus small amounts of red and brown for the owl, blue and white for the pufferfish. Each of these toys used less than 1/3 of a skein of medium-weight acrylic.
• Crochet hook – check your yarn label, then choose a hook 2 or 3 sizes smaller than the size recommended. You need the fabric to be quite tight so the stuffing doesn’t show.
• Tapestry needle for closing and finishing
• Stuffing – polyfill is generally recommended, today I used small scraps of T-shirt fabric.
• Googly eyes or beads, plus needle and thread to attach them

Lets begin with our basic pattern.

So what does all that mean? Lets decipher the first 2 lines.

“Round 1: Make a magic ring cast-on, and make 6 sc into loop“. OK, in round 1, we need to make a loop – you do this by rapping the yarn around your finger. Then we need to make 6 single crochet stitches into that loop, and then pull it tight. Finish the round by making a slipstitch into the first stitch – we’ll finish every round this way.

“Round 2: ch1, sc into same st. 2sc into each sc of previous round (12 sts)” . ‘ch’ is a chain stitch – we begin every round with a chain stitch, to bring our first stitch up to the same height as the rest of the round. Next we need to ‘sc’, or single-crochet, into the same stitch – i.e. the first stitch of the previous round the one we slipstitched into at the end of the last round. This is our first increase. Now we are going to increase into every stitch of the previous round – making an increase is simple, we just need to make 2 single crochet stitches (2sc) into each stitch of the previous round. Finish the round by slipstitching into the first stitch of the round. This video takes you through the first 2 rounds.

Now for round 3! “ch1, sc into same st. sc1 (2sc into next st, sc1) 5 times (18 sts)“. The first part is the same as before – start witch a chain stitch, then single crochet into the same stitch to make the first increase. Next we need to ‘sc1′, or make a single crochet into the next stitch. Now we’ve got some brackets – in a crochet pattern, if you see a section in brackets followed by ‘x number’ or ‘number times’, that means you need to repeat all the stitches inside the brackets the stated number of times. So we’re going to make an increase – ’2sc into next st’ – followed by one single crochet – ‘sc1′ – into the next stitch, 5 times. You should now be able to decipher rounds 4 and 5. The next 3 rounds, 6-8, are just single-crocheted plain all round.

Now we come to round 9, and it starts looking complicated again. “ch1, (dec into next 2 sts, sc3) 5 times, dec into next 2 sts, sc 2“. We’ll start the round with a chain stitch as usual. Next, we need to make a decrease by crocheting the next 2 stitches together, followed by 3 single crochets in the next 3 stitches. Watch the video, which will take you through this round and show you how to make a decrease.

OK, if you’ve followed that, you should be able to work out the remaining rounds! The best time to stuff your amigurumi is round about round 10 or 11. Finish off by cutting the yarn and threading it through the last stitch, then using a tapestry needle thread the yarn tail through all 6 stitches of your last round, pulling tight to close the hole. Make a couple of small stitches to secure the yarn, and then thread it inside your toy to hide the loose end.

Owl instructions

Crochet a ball as above in cream or white yarn.

The wings and the feet are made by crocheting 4 small ovals:

Refer to this post for fuller instructions on crocheting an oval.

Sew the brown ovals to the sides, and the red ovals to the base of your crocheted ball. Embroider a beak in red yarn, and sew on the eyes. Take a length of yarn matching the owl body, and secure it with a few stitches close to one eye. Thread the yarn through inside the owl body, coming out close to the other eye. Pull tight so the eyes are set in and the ‘bridge’ of the beak is raised, and secure with a couple of stitches, hiding the loose end inside. Finish by adding 2 small ear tufts of brown yarn.

Puffer fish instructions:

Crochet the first 5 rounds of the ball pattern in blue yarn, then switch to white for the remaining 7 rounds.

With blue yarn, pick up and single-crochet 4 stitches where you want the tail. Turn, chain 1, then make an increase ino each stitch. Turn again, chain 1, and increase into every stitch. Draw yarn through last stitch and weave in ends.

Still in blue, pick up and single-crochet 6-8 stitches in a circle for the mouth. Join the round with a slipstitch. Chain 1 and then single crochet plain for one round, join with a slipstitch, thread yarn through last stitch and weave in ends.

Sew on the eyes, admire your handiwork

We’ll be back with more crochet on Friday, when we’ll be learning double and triple crochet stitches, and making a belt or afghan square inspired by Susan Cooper’s ‘The Dark is Rising’ sequence of novels.

If you enjoyed this pattern, check out my latest pattern book!

You may also like:

1. Crochet basics – Sign seeker belt
2. Designing Amigurumi 2 – tall row shaping with half double crochet
3. How to crochet a Tawashi