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Making this Chinese dragon amigurumi was like making a mini-Bowser.  I never really realized it before, but Chinese dragons have deer antlers – did YOU know that?  What do they need antlers for anyway?  I just crocheted small tubes and sewed one perpendicularly in the middle part of the other and attached the combined unit to the head.

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What I like best about this Chinese dragon amigurumi is the felt work.  My sister had to cut out so much felt for the dragon’s mane, eyebrows, and fins.

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The redness of the fins and mane make the dragon amigurumi look like it’s on fire!!  It looks pretty fierce thanks to my sister who likes to put her own scary spin on my cute amigurumis…making it’s eyebrows slanted so it looks like it’s frowning, and giving it fangs. It’s ok, for this dragon amigurumi, a little bit of scariness is just what it needs so I’ll let it go this time around.

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It almost reminds me of a dinosaur at this angle!

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Here it is posing with a Chinese girl amigurumi my mom crocheted.  For the whiskers, I just crocheted a chain and attached it to the sides of the snout.  Later, my mom sewed a golden thread into it too to give it some extra shine.

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I do have a pattern for this Chinese dragon amigurumi too, but just haven’t written it up yet.  It will be up soon for sale on my Etsy.  Please wait for it!

That’s it for our Chinese dragon amigurumi!  Hope everyone who celebrates it had a great Chinese new year, and we wish everyone a prosperous and healthy year!

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I also submitted a pattern for a polar bear my sister fondly nicknamed Polar Lucibear, and it got chosen for the month of December too!  Never had the chance to take nice pictures of it before I had to send it in for the contest, but oh well, the professionals did a good job anyway!

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Visit here to take a look at the ebook.

Visit here to take a look at the calendar.

According to the site description, the patterns for the monkeys will be released for free download at CrochetMe.com during the first week of the month for which they appear in the calendar (my monkeys were chosen for the month of June).  If you don’t want to wait, you can always download the ebook now with all the patterns in the calendar at the link above.

Can’t wait to order some more calendars myself!  Definitely excited to give them away as presents to friends and family!   Thanks to everyone who gave me such nice feedback and for showing interest in my monkeys, it really means a lot to me.

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What makes this Easter Monkey Amigurumi, well, Easter-y, is the nest of eggs on its head.  The nest is just a small cap-like shape, and the eggs I crocheted out of that super thin yarn I got from Taiwan (the same yarn I used to make the baby whale amigurumis).  My sister and I trialed with so many different types of eggs before we settled with that nest of eggs!  We first tried a felt plushie egg, but despite stuffing it, it still didn’t quite look three dimensional enough to look like an egg.  Then we thought about crocheting a big egg with worsted weight yarn, but found it hard to make the Easter Monkey Amigurumi pose with such a large egg!  So, finally my sister suggested I crochet three small eggs and put them in a nest on the Easter Monkey Amigurumi’s head.  I was hesitant at first, because that’s a lot of work!!  It doesn’t look like it, because they’re so small, but it’s actually a lot of stitches…just to crochet some eggs…BUT it did work out the best, so I shouldn’t have been so lazy heh.

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Can you guess what else makes this Easter Monkey Amigurumi so special??  You probably can’t tell from the pictures so far, but…

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TADA!  It stands!!  All on its own…awww…kinda like seeing your baby stand for the first time, huh?  Haha not quite, but something like that.

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As you can see, it relies solely on the garden wire stuffed in its tail to stand, which is amazing to me because this Easter Monkey Amigurumi sure is mighty plump!  I used my original pattern to crochet the body, and after I finished I realized that the body is way too big for a standing monkey.  Future note to self, if monkey is to stand, give it lipo…

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And, just for kicks, let’s make the Easter Monkey Amigurumi look like Godzilla!

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I told my sister to take nice pictures of the Easter Monkey Amigurumi for me because she usually takes really good pictures.  I was thinking white picket fence, grass, nice sky blue backdrop, some flowers…I got most of what I asked for, but somehow I also got small buildings that make the Easter Monkey Amigurumi look more like King Kong than a cute Easter-themed monkey…what can I say, she always likes to put her own little “cute but dangerous” twist on things <slaps forehead and rolls eyes>…

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Although, after looking at them for a while, they are nice pictures after all.  As I say this, I just know she’s rolling her eyes at me too and thinking that I have “such common taste” with that all too familiar disgusted look on her face haha!

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Nice houses too.  The house on the left was a birthday present from my mom, and the one on the right was a souvenir from San Francisco.  So random that we have these things lying around the house!

The Easter Monkey Amigurumi is available for purchase at my Etsy.  That’s it for now!  Thanks for looking~!

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Here I made the rabbit amigurumi celebrate against a Chinese New Year-inspired backdrop.  The fancy decorations in the background are actually red envelopes, and to top it off I added a little Chinese chocolate gold nugget too.  May the new year bring much luck, happiness, and prosperity to us all!!

I think the most important part of this rabbit amigurumi is the shape of its ears.  I basically crocheted a test tube shape (please excuse the crude image comparison, lab geek talking here), pinched the bottom open end of it to create a concave shape, and sewed it in place onto the head.  I wanted to achieve a 3-D effect, rather than just a flat shape for the ears.  To finish off this rabbit amigurumi’s ears, I cut out a smaller test tube shape from pink felt, lined the inner ears with it and glued it in place.  Sounds pretty simple, but actually sewing the ears in place with that concave shape is kind of difficult, so if you’re ever going to do something similar, it may take a few tries but it’s so worth it!

Which reminds me, someone once asked me what kind of glue I use for my amigurumis.  The answer is Aleene’s tacky glue, which I buy from either Michaels or Joann’s, whichever store is having a sale or gives me a coupon.  The only reason I use it is that’s what was lying around the house at the time I started crafting.  It is definitely much better than using regular school glue, a mistake I once made when I used school glue to stick felt polka dots onto a mushroom amigurumi I made for a friend’s birthday, only to find that all the dots fell off within 2 hours (that, and my friend wasn’t exactly “gentle” with my handiwork either…)!  Just a little bit of tacky glue goes a long way too, because when you slather on a bunch onto a small piece of felt it soaks through to the other side of the felt and doesn’t stick very well because it’s so wet.  The felt piece also hardens as it dries with too much glue, and maintaining the softness of the felt is important for both visual and tactile purposes.  I’ve always wanted to try hot glue, but never got around to it.  If anyone has better suggestions, please share!

Ok, I’ll stop talking about glue now.  You’re probably thinking, “Gosh how much can someone talk to me about glue?!”  I know I can be pretty wordy, but I just wanted to share my experiences with glue with you. 

Back to the rabbit amigurumi…of course with Easter coming up and all, I couldn’t resist making this rabbit amigurumi an Easter rabbit too!

The eggs were cut from felt, stuffed and sewn together, and then decorated with some glittery glue.  My sister’s handiwork – she’s so good with small details.

Oh, and the tail was crocheted from Joann Sensations Beautiful Yarn.  It’s super soft, and so fuzzy – perfect for creating contrast with the worsted weight yarn I used for the body.  I know it sounds wrong, but I find myself pinching the tail a lot because it’s so soft!  Don’t worry, the rabbit hasn’t turned around to bite me yet so it’s all good.

Here’s a side view.  Notice how the ears are sewn on in a concave shape.

After I made this rabbit amigurumi, I liked it so much I decided to make another type of rabbit – a floppy-ear rabbit amigurumi!

The body and everything else is exactly the same as the other bunny.  The only difference is the ears.  The ears on the floppy ear rabbit amigurumi are huge!  If I were to ever make it again, I would definitely use a sport weight yarn instead of worsted weight yarn just for the ears.  But it’s ok, the floppy ear rabbit amigurumi still has a special place in my heart, even if other people think it looks like a dog!

And here the rabbits are very happy together.  All of a sudden, I can’t wait for spring to come!  If you’re interested, you can purchase a plush rabbit amigurumi of any color you’d like at my Etsy.

As always, thank you for looking!  Please stay tuned as I attempt to make all the animals of the Chinese zodiac!  So far, I have more than half done and will be posting them as time permits.  Oh, and one last bit of info – my monkey amigurumis were chosen for the 2012 Crochet Me Amigurumi Calendar!  The patterns for the monkeys, and also a pattern for a polar bear (fondly named Polar Lucibear) will be included in the calendar!  Thank you very much to all who have expressed interest in a pattern for the monkeys.  Please wait patiently with me for publication of the calendar to get your copy of the pattern!  I’ll be sure to update you on the calendar’s status.

This brilliant idea wasn’t mine actually…it was a custom order!  I would never have thought of making R5D4, but he definitely makes the cutest counterpart for R2D2! 

Making him was pretty difficult.  I had to start over so many times to get the head shape right.  I even made an extra body using an off-white colored yarn, because for some funny reason, I thought R5D4 was an off-white color…but actually he’s white.  It only looked off-white because of the reflection of the sand on his body.  Ha ha ha…I should have looked at him more carefully before I started darnit….

AND…R5D4 is so much fancier than R2D2!!  Look at all his fancy embellishments!  Those decked out disco-light neck squares, 3 eyeballs instead of 2 (and a glassy crystal eyeball too!), fancy rectangles on his body, and 4 different colors instead of 2 ooooh so special!  When I finished and compared him to R2D2, I almost felt sorry for R2D2 because he looked so empty and, well, naked all of a sudden!  Maybe we got a little carried away with our decorations on R5D4.  Oh well, it’s ok R2D2, you’re still our favorite!

Unfortunately, I didn’t write anything down so there’s no pattern, in case anyone’s wondering.  He was too hard to construct, and making a pattern with nice pictures and step-by-step instructions just seems too daunting for me!  Perhaps in the future when I have more time…

That’s all for now!  Went through quite a dry spell of not posting for a while, but I’ll be making more posts soon, so please visit again!

Who doesn’t like chi-hua-huas?? So, here is a free pattern for how to make an amigurumi of one!! Enjoy!!! If you do take time to make one from my pattern, send me pictures!!! I’d love to see!

Palm-Size Pup: Chihuahua

Materials:

• Size D/3 (3.25 mm) crochet hook
• Worsted weight yarn in cream and tan
• 1 pair of 9 mm plastic safety eyes
• Small pieces of tan, black, and pink craft felt
• Black crochet thread
• Sharp needle for crochet thread
• Tapestry needle
• Craft glue
• Stuffing

Head

• Color: CREAM yarn
• R1: Ch 2, 6 sc in second ch from hook – 6 sts
• R2: 2 sc in each st around – 12 sts
• R3: (1 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 18 sts
• R4: (2 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 24 sts
• R5 – 8: sc in each st around – 24 sts
• R9: (2 sc, dec 1) repeat around – 18 sts
• R10: (1 sc, dec 1) repeat around – 12 sts
• Fasten off
• *Attach the 9 mm plastic safety eyes to the head. Eyes should be inserted between R7 and R8. The most ideal distance between the eyes is about 5 stitches, but it’s up to you!
• *Stuff the head with fiberfill

Snout

• Color: CREAM yarn
• R1: Ch 2, 3 sc in second ch from hook – 3 sts
• R2: 2 sc in each st around – 6 sts
• R3: (1 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 9 sts
• Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing to the head

Nose

1. Cut out a nose shape from black felt.

2. With black crochet thread and a sharp needle, sew the nose felt piece on the tip of the snout, as shown in the picture below. DO NOT sew the nose piece in the center; leave enough room to sew a mouth.

3. Right below the nose felt piece, continue sewing a mouth

4. Cut out a small tongue shape from pink craft felt, and set it aside. Gluing the tongue to the mouth should be the last step to prevent it from falling off while working on other parts.

Ears – make 2 of these

• Color: TAN yarn
• R1: Ch 2, 3 sc in second ch from hook – 3 sts
• R2: 2 sc in each st around – 6 sts
• R3: (1 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 9 sts
• R4: (2 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 12 sts
• R5: (1 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 18 sts
• Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing to the head
• *Cut out 2 ear shapes from pink felt. Set aside.

Body

• Color: CREAM yarn
• R1: Ch 2, 6 sc in second ch from hook – 6 sts
• R2: 2 sc in each st around – 12 sts
• R3: (1 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 18 sts
• R4: (2 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 24 sts
• R5: (2 sc, dec 1) repeat around – 18 sts
• R6: (1 sc, dec 1) repeat around – 12 sts
• R7: sc in each st around – 12 sts
• Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing to the head
• *Stuff with fiberfill

Arms – make 2 of these

• Color: CREAM yarn
• R1: Ch 2, 4 sc in second ch from hook – 4 sts
• R2 – 5: sc in each st around – 4 sts
• Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing to the body

Legs – make 2 of these

• Color: CREAM yarn
• R1: Ch 2, 4 sc in second ch from hook – 4 sts
• R2 – 3: sc in each st around – 4 sts
• Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing to the body

Putting Everything Together

1. Using a tapestry needle, sew the snout to the head. The top of the snout should start at R8 on the head. Make sure to keep the snout as centered as possible between the eyes.

2. Sew the ears onto the head. Pinch the ears so that they become flat. The ears should be placed starting at R2 and ending at R5. Next, glue the pink ear felt pieces onto the ears.

3. Sew the head to the body.

4. Sew the arms vertically onto the body. The arms should be positioned right below the eyes. Arms DO NOT need to be stuffed.

5. Position the legs horizontally and sew it to the body. Legs DO NOT need to be stuffed.

6. Cut out a tail shape from tan felt. Glue the tail between the legs on the back of the body.

7. The final step is to glue the pink felt tongue onto the mouth. Simply line the top edge of the tongue with craft glue and place it in between the 2 black lines of the mouth. Hold in place for about 10 seconds and allow enough time for it to fully dry.

8. Decorate your new pup and enjoy!

You can use the same pattern to make different dogs a well. Just change the ears and cut out different felt patterns for coloring. These are some other dogs I’ve made using the same pattern.

A Doberman Pinscher:

A Golden Retriever:

The possibilities are endless!! Hope you enjoyed them!

I like the last picture.  The colors are so nice!  That’s what happened when I used a hot pink colored background against the light of the setting sun. 

You can find the pattern for the strawberry milkshake on my etsy.

And of course, a strawberry milkshake just isn’t complete without a chocolate companion!

Chocolate milkshake got to have a more dramatic look!

Now, both of them together!

Chocolate vs. Strawberry.  Who’s gonna win?!

BOBA WINS!!

You can find the pattern for it at my etsy.

My sister is a major boba fanatic – much more so than I am.  When I finished making it she was ecstatic!  Yet, as it sat around for a few more days, staring at her every time she walked by, tricking her more than thrice that it was the real thing, and constantly reminding her of her boba craving…she went crazy!!  Now she resorts to holding it like she would a real boba cup and slurp invisible boba out of the straw.  Maybe she’s hinting that I go buy her the real thing…I guess she deserves one, especially because she helped me cut out the felt pieces and arrange them.  Noo…guilt tripping myself!  Ok, off to the boba store!!

I must admit, it is kinda scary seeing so many Artoos.  It’s like having an army of Artoos, except they’re made of yarn and their main weapon is their cuteness.  Don’t worry, worse comes to worse, just throw ‘em at your enemies!  That’ll catch them off guard for sure!

Tea party with Artoo anyone?

Here’s a dramatic shot!

What have I learned after making THREE Artoos?  Just because you’ve made it “n” amount of times doesn’t guarantee you’ll get the same exact thing each time.  I would say I like the later 2 Artoos better, because my techniques got better.  Although my brother said he likes the original the best still.  To each their own, I suppose!