Amigurumi is a Japanese craft style of crocheting little animals or dolls out of yarn. The creation of amigurumi is a popular choice among beginner crocheters, as the possibilities and yarn patterns for creating characters and critters are endless.
What You'll Need
For this crochet project, you'll need paper clips for stitch marking, a crochet hook, a ball of yarn, a darning needle, and buttons for eyes.
Round 1: The Magic Ring
Take your yarn and make an X across three of your fingers. There should be two parallel lines on the other side; insert your crochet hook here. Yarn over, and pull up a loop to make a circle. Insert 6 single crochets into the magic ring.
Round 2-5
For round 2-5, keep working around the magic ring, increasing the amount of stitches each round.
Round 6-8
For rounds 6-8, crochet using only single crochets, until you have a bowl shape. Then, mark the placements for the fins and tail for the next round.
Round 9: Fins and Tail
Work your way around the rim, using chains of 3 and 3 single crochets to create the fins and tail.
Eyes
Halfway there! Now we attach the eyes. You can use buttons you have laying around, or you can get fancy and use shiny black safety eyes. Anything goes!
Round 10: Color Switch
It's time to switch colors for the whale's underbelly. Cut the original yarn and tie a slip knot to secure it. Next, grab your second yarn color and make a single crochet where the other color left off. Continue making single crochets until you finish this round.
Round 11-14: Decrease
For this round, use a combination of single crochets and decreases to slowly close the bottom of the whale. Make sure to leave a small gap for the next step: stuffing!
Stuffing
Stuff your whale and watch it come to life! Polyester fiberfill is the most common stuffing for amigurumi.
Round 15: Finish Off!
One last step! Snip the yarn but leave a decently sized tail. Take your darning needle and weave it into the last row of the whale, then pull the tail to tighten and tuck it into the body to hide it. You're done!
