French Knitted Mouse - a different kind of amigurumi

This year, my daughter and I are exploring creating with wool. We've been trying lots of crochet - but a couple of weeks ago we had a go at French knitting.

We had a small knitting doll that we started with, and after starting with plain wool, my daughter decided she wanted to switch to something more colourful - so we ended up with this..

We both made this 'tube' - doing bits now and then when we had a moment.

In a book we found at the library, we found an idea of what to make with these tubes..

We chose a simple, small one to try out - a mouse..

Basically you make a small stuffed form and then wrap the knitted tube around it - stitching in place.

And stitch on small felt ears and nose..

The instructions in the book said we needed around 2 metres of french knitting, but judging by the size of our mouse's tail - I don't think we needed quite that much!

Still, he's a cute little mouse - and my daughter loves it!

She also wanted to try making a bigger tube, by making her own knitting doll...

I think we needed to have the lolly sticks sticking up a bit more as she found it a bit tricky with the thick wool - but she persisted to make a purple 'sausage' and said at least we'll know for the next one we make!

Definitely lots more to experiment and create with here.

She's also trying finger knitting but I'll post about that another time.

Have you tried French knitting?

Crochet amigurumi polar bear

I've been practising my crochet a little bit more and made this little polar bear!

I think he's rather cute - and was nice and easy to make.

Thanks to Elisabeth for the suggestion to use a paper clip as a stitch marker, I found counting my rows much easier that last time when I  made a ducky with uneven sized limbs!!

I also got some big chunky wool and a couple of very chunky crochet hooks that my daughter and I have been playing around with.

My daughter loves the chunky soft feel of the wool and has been busy making things for her toys!

Some simple chains to start with..

That soon turned into..

A hammock..

 Snug as a bug sleeping bag...

and the comfiest bed ever..

I just sat and practised while watching tv, and ended up with this..

Could be a very wide scarf, or a small blanket! It's not very even, but very cosy!

Polar bear likes it anyway..

I'm enjoying playing around with crochet - and seeing my daughter get creative with it!

What new skills are you learning and practising?

Ducky amigurumi!!

I'm very proud to introduce you to...Ducky!!

Yes, I know he's an odd colour for a duck - but my daughter chose the colours and she helped make this cute little guy!

For my daughter's 8th birthday last week, her sister got her some more wool - and we downloaded and printed some amigurumi patterns:

She chose a duck to start with, and although it was bigger than I'd imagined and so took a bit longer than expected, I'm really pleased with the result..

I kind of followed the pattern - but didn't always count my stitches - so he's a little lop-sided! But I think that just adds to his charm!

Following the patterns was reasonably easy. You really only need to know chain (ch) and single crochet (sc) (which I've learnt as being called double crochet - how confusing!!).

The hardest part is the first few 'rings' at the beginning of each part. As it gets larger and wider the 'holes' where you put your crochet hook get much easier to see. My daughter can chain really quickly, and perfectly evenly now, but is still practising with starting the circles! Once I get that done - she's great with the double (or single) crochet too!

So we'll keep going and soon we'll have loads of different and brightly coloured amigurumi!!

From zero crochet skills to this in just 4 months I'm quite impressed!!

One thing I think I might invest in is a stitch marker - I seem to loose count and track of where I'm up to very easily. Any recommendations?

My first Amigurumi!

My reason behind learning to crochet this year with my daughter is mainly to be able to make Amigurumi!

For those of you who don't know,

Amigurumi 

is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting little stuffed creatures. 

Living up here in the tropics of Australia, there is never much need for woolly jumpers, scarves, hats etc, so I've not really thought much about knitting or crocheting.

However, when I learned about Amigurumi - it gave me the idea to learn crochet - and teach my daughters a new skill; particularly my youngest daughter who loves small stuffed creatures. Whenever we go out to the shops she always finds some kind of little stuffed thing that she wants to buy.

Anyway, I showed her lots of Amigurumi pictures and together we have embarked on our quest to learn how to make them by learning how to crochet!

Our progress is slow - basically I've only learned how to do chains and single crochet (think that's what they're called).

Now while practising these basic stitches, I've been trying to decipher tutorials, you tube videos and various how-to books and pictures.  Bits here and there seem to make sense but I haven't found one particular site or video that is really clear to my way of thinking.

So - practice it is and keep on reading, watching and learning.

I am very proud to show you my first little creatures - the first of which has been named - Mr Squishy..

And the second as yet unnamed:

From snippets of video tutorials I figured out how to add eyes etc using beads - and also how to add in an extra colour - see the band of light pink here??

Now I'm sure my actual crocheting leaves a lot to be desired - missed stitches, doubled up bits and there was no counting went on at all!

However - I'm just practising now and getting more comfortable with my hook.

My daughter is delighted with her first little monsters, and is still practising and experimenting herself with her hook and wool!

We'll keep on practising and keep on sharing our progress!

And I'd love for you to tell me....what do you think of my little monsters?