Amigurumi pieces are some of my favorite things to make. They are so cute and a ton of fun. The patterns are usually pretty simple and you can pretty much make anything you want.
But what is amigurumi? They are crocheted or knitted stuffed animals! The possibilities of what you can make are endless. The word amigurumi is derived from compound Japanese words including, 編み ami, meaning "crocheted or knitted", and 包み kurumi, literally "wrapping", as in 縫い包み nuigurumi " stuffed doll" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amigurumi).
My very first amigurumi piece was a teddy bear I made in the summer of 2018. It turned out to be a bit bigger than I thought it would be but it was still super cute! To make it, I followed a tutorial video from WoolyWondersCrochet on YouTube. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjF0OgCLYJs)
Up to this point, I had only made flat designs like blankets so I had no idea how to crochet something 3D. The video provided a really easy pattern to follow and I was very satisfied with the results. I made the blue bandana from some fabric scraps I had from a previous project. After I finished I made another one with a camo bandana which I had to buy some fabric for. When I was done, I gave them to my two newborn second cousins for Christmas!
Both of these teddy bears were made with the Yarn Bee Soft Secret Yarn from Hobby Lobby. I believe I used the Mushroom color. I also used a premium polyester fiber fill to fill them. The eyes and noses were stitched on using a black yarn with appropriate knots to ensure they would not come loose.
Overall, it doesn't take much money to create an amigurumi piece. Unless they are huge piece, they don't require too much yarn or filling. Between these two, I paid about $8 for the brown and black yarn and $3 for the fiber fill. However, some designs can take several hours or days to complete. These took me about 10 hours each but it was my first time so I could probably make them a lot faster now. I've had some amigurumi pieces that have only taken 4 hours to complete and others have taken 20+ hours over several days to complete. It really just depends on how detailed the piece is and how many different parts you have to make and then sew together.
I think out of all of the things I have crocheted, these are definitely one of the best things to make. The results appear pretty fast and you can give them a little bit of a personality based on how you sew everything together. I have made several of these for family members, friends, and some of the kids at my church and they all love them. Just seeing how excited they get when I give them one is one of the best things about making these.
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