All About Ami

Last week, I blogged about an “Elephant Ballerina” I made for a little girl who was moving overseas with her family.  Her older sister’s favourite animal is a hedgehog, and Ana Paula Rimoli’s “Amigurumi World” happened to have a pattern for such a unique animal.  In fact, the patterns for the Elephant and the Hedgehog can be found on consecutive pages in the book!

Making the hedgehog was fun because it involved using some new amigurumi techniques.  First of all, the body shape of the hedgehog was different than the typical round ball shapes I’ve grown accustomed to making for the teddy bears and bunnies.  I also crocheted a round muzzle and sewed it onto the body.

Once I closed up the head, I attached cute mouse-like ears and then arms to the body.  At this point, the hedgehog reminded me of the “Naked Mole Rat” from Kim Possible :)

Next came the new part: crocheting on the prickly coat.  This was quite the process, but I love how it came out so bumpy and textured.  

I find this series of pictures from the front view hilarious!  Hedgehog goes from being bald, to having thick sideburns, to having a mullet!

This is what Hedgehog ended up looking like with the completed prickly coat extending further down the face.  Deciding where to begin and end each row of the prickly coat required some discernment (e.g. curving upwards around the arm and around each ear along the sides).  At first, I crocheted the prickly coat straight across the forehead, but the hedgehog appeared angry and too manly (after all, I was trying to make this hedgehog a girl!).  And so, I undid my work and this time crocheted curving upwards in the middle, giving her a softer look.  Much cuter now!

Since her younger sister’s Elephant Ballerina had a flower in her hair, I made sure to give this hedgehog a flower as well!  The older sister’s favourite colour is actually chartreuse (once again, their vocabulary is extensive!), but I had no chartreuse yarn.  Her second favourite colour is magenta, so I used the same colour as the Elephant’s tutu for the flower.

Here she is all ready to give you a hug!

She looks pretty cute with her arms tucked in too.

And one more picture with some pops of colour :)

This is how we packaged the Elephant Ballerina and the Hedgehog for the two sisters:

And here is what the two look like together:

The older sister immediately named the Hedgehog “Chuckla” (such a unique name!) when we presented it to her.  Over the weekend, the older sister came up to me and told me that she uses hair scrunchies to give her hedgehog a tutu (in order to match Elephant Ballerina’s tutu).  I thought this was such a clever idea since it would be removable (I didn’t want to crochet a permanent tutu around Hedgehog given her prickly coat).  Thus, I crocheted around an elastic band (first two rows of single crochets, then {Ch 3, Sc} in each Sc around for third row) using the same fuscia colour.  Now, she can wear this in her own hair or use it as Hedgehog’s tutu.  Needless to say, she was delighted when I gave this to her!

I don’t have any pictures of Hedgehog wearing the tutu, but hopefully it looks alright!  Their parents told us that the girls sleep with their amigurumi stuffies every night.  It warms my heart to know that something I made with so much love is being dearly loved in return :)

Some dear family friends of ours are moving overseas, so I wanted to make some special gifts for their two young daughters.  I have watched these girls grow up over the years, and they often remind me of my own sister and I with their playful interactions and collaborative stories they come up with.  These sisters are also very crafty, and they absolutely fell in love with my amigurumi and amigurumi books when they paid us a visit.  As they flipped through “Amigurumi World” by Ana Paula Rimoli, the younger one squealed with delight as she saw the elephant, stating it was her favourite animal!  I knew immediately that I would try and make one for her.

These sisters are very bright with an extensive vocabulary.  The younger one told me that her favourite colour is “periwinkle” (so specific compared to the typical responses of “blue” or “red”!), so when I saw a yarn named “periwinkle” at my local crafts store, I quickly picked it up and started crocheting away!

I first started with the trunk.  To give the trunk a slightly bent look, we sewed some stitches in the middle together so it would stay bent.

Next I worked on the head, added eyes, and then sewed the trunk to the head.

I then crocheted the rest of her body parts.  Notice the line of stitches along her body?  This was created by doing single crochets in the back stitches only (leaving the front stitches showing).  This is where I attached the tutu as you’ll see later on.

Then I attached the body, the ears, the arms, and a pretty flower!  This flower was actually one of the test flowers I made for the girl Spring Bunny (I ended up making the bunny a bigger one).

Next was my favourite part- adding the fuscia tutu!  I absolutely adore this colour.  My wedding flowers and shoes were also this colour :)

In order to make her tutu wavy, I simply used my fingers to curl certain parts of the tutu up and down. 

This is what it looks like after the waving- much more dynamic and fun now!

We cut out these toe shapes from felt and added them to each foot.

Then we attached her legs to her body with one sticking straight down and one going straight back.  Here she is doing her arabesque:

And from a few different angles as well:

She is so sweet and cute!  When I finished making her, I was reminded of the “heffalumps and woozles” song from Winnie the Pooh where the elephants dance around in tutus!

I had to do one more shot of her in front of my pillow that has the same beautiful fuscia colour!

These sisters take ballet as well, so I knew they’d appreciate the elephant’s tutu.  Within minutes of my giving the younger sister this gift, she came up with a name for her: Lucy the Ballerina Elephant.  They could not stop smiling :)  Stay tuned to see what I made for her older sister!

Whenever I go to California or New York, I always have to stop by Pinkberry to get my frozen yogurt fix.  I’ve tried other frozen yogurt places (although I’ve yet to try Yogurtland), but Pinkberry is still my favourite!

Toppings, toppings and more toppings…

On this particular visit, I tried their lychee yogurt with strawberries, mango, and mochi!  Oh, how I love the chewiness of mochi :)

I was soo ecstatic when Ryan and I started making our own frozen yogurt after we got the ice cream maker attachment for the Kitchen-Aid mixer.  It tastes pretty darn similar, and it’s a whole lot cheaper!  Now I can have delicious frozen yogurt whenever I want :)  It’s always a hit when we have guests over!

I start off with Greek/Balkan-style yogurt because it is creamer and thicker than normal yogurt.  This is the exact brand that I like to use (purchased from Safeway).

You mix sugar and vanilla extract into the yogurt and refrigerate for one hour.

Then your pour the yogurt into the ice cream maker and churn for 30 mins. 

Next, you pour it into a container (I like to use a flat one so it’s easier to scoop later on) and freeze it for a few hours.  You can actually start eating the yogurt right away if you like it soft, but I like it when it’s firmer.

This is what it looks like after a few hours or overnight, all ready to be scooped!

And now to add our favourite fruits :)  I need to figure out how to make mochi to complete this delicious dessert!

Here is my recipe, adapted from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop.

Recipe: Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

Ingredients:

- Two 650 g containers of Greek or Balkan style yogurt

- 2 1/4 cups of sugar (adjust to your liking- we like our yogurt sweet!)

- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (be sure to use real vs. imitation)

Directions:

1. Mix the yogurt, sugar and vanilla extract together until the sugar has dissolved.

2. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

3. Pour mixture into ice cream maker and churn for 30 mins.

4. Enjoy soft yogurt now or freeze for a couple of hours or overnight.

5. Add favourite toppings!

It is so simple to make homemade vanilla frozen yogurt, and you can add so many toppings, from fresh fruits to delicious chocolate chips.  I know I’ll be getting a lot of use out of my ice cream maker as the summer approaches- I can’t wait to try different flavours!

When Craftzine asked me to make a Spring amigurumi pattern for them, I excitedly jumped at the opportunity.  Several months ago, I was inspired by a photo I saw on tumblr (there was no source at the time) of a floppy-eared bunny with big feet adorned with a pretty flower.  As soon as I saw that photo, I knew I wanted to try making something similar.  I recently found out that the bunny was made by Lue and Sue who does absolutely beautiful work.  Ryan and I had an idea to use the same pattern to make two bunnies: a boy bunny with ears sticking straight up, and a girl bunny with floppy ears.  The boy bunny could be holding a carrot in hopes of wooing the girl bunny!  Here is the sketch that Ryan drew up:

I first worked on crocheting a wide head with big eyes positioned towards the bottom of the face. 

Instead of doing the typical nose I’ve done previously for other bears and bunnies (sewing a small nose on a piece of round felt), we were inspired by the cute noses found on the adorable stuffed animals by Jennylovesbenny where many of the noses extend all the way down the bottom of the head.  Here is a close-up of the nose (detailed step-by-step sewing instructions drawn by Ryan can be found on the Craft blog post).

Instead of using felt for the lining of the ears, I decided to try using a pretty fabric as other amigurumi crafters have used.  It was fun going to my local fabric store in search of the perfect fabric.  I had to find one with a small enough pattern that would show up (fabric with big patterns would not work very well!).  It was funny as I asked the sales associate to cut me the smallest amount of fabric possible.  She asked me what I was using this for.  I answered, “the lining of a bunny’s ears”.  She laughed.  Most people in there were buying yards and yards of fabric for clothing and and curtains!

For the feet, I decided to still use felt to contrast the fabric.

Once all the pieces had been crocheted, I was ready for assembly! 

I attached the body to the head, the ears to the head (and bent one ear to give him an extra cute look), and then the legs to the body. 

And here he is all complete!

I then crocheted a little carrot for him.

He’s all ready to court the girl bunny!  Now it’s time to make her…

I used the exact same pattern to make this girl bunny, except I positioned her ears pointing down.  I think it’s sweet how they have matching fabric for their ears!

You can see where I positioned the ears better in this photo…

Now it was time to make her decorative flower!  I absolutely love crocheting flowers, and I can’t wait to use them in other ways (I want one in my hair too!).  I crocheted this round pattern and then rolled it up inwards in a clockwise direction.  I then secured the layers by running a sewing needle through them.  The result is a beautifully layered flower!

And now to attach the flower to the side of her head.  This decorative piece reminded me of trendy birdcage veils or flowers on floppy derby hats that are found on the side of the head too!

They’re both done!  I was so excited to place them side by side!

Here they are from the back with their cute little tails to give them balance, enabling them to sit more easily…

And here they are from the side.  I think they look so adorable from this angle!  You can see the flower so well.

Here’s another photo of them back to back.  I love this photo :)

And this is where they now sit happily at the corner of my desk.  I like how you can see their reflections in this photo.  They keep me motivated!

The pattern for these Spring Bunnies can be found HERE.  Do give them a try!  They’re fairly quick to make, and the sky’s the limit with how you can customize your own spring bunnies with all the patterned fabric and colour combos out there for the yarn and felt.  Thank you for all your kind words and encouragement, and it’s great to hear how many of you who have never tried to make amigurumi before have been inspired to give it a try!  Thank you also to Craftzine who have been very supportive of my work, and for giving me this opportunity!

[Update: People have been sending me photos of their own Spring Bunnies, and I’ve compiled some of them in a Crochet Corner post!  Check out everyone’s own rendition of my Spring Bunnies here.]

I love asking friends if they have a favourite animal.  It’s always a challenge to see if I can crochet it!  When I posed this question to a particular friend, he answered simply, “I like dogs!”.  I decided to follow Ana Paula Rimoli’s pattern for a puppy in her first book “Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet” with slight modifications (I omitted the eye spot and made the tail the same colour as the rest of the body).

First off, I crocheted the long head and added eyes.

Then I crocheted the rest of his body parts.

I attached the nose and ears to his head, then the body, arms and legs.

And of course we can’t forget his tail!  Here are some side pics with his cute tail now attached!

Awww…who can resist this adorable face?

You could also sew his ears down to give this pup a different look!

Here he is peering out from beside the plant!

This cute little pup can also stand up tall!  He looks like he’s ready to catch a treat :)

Awww…he deserves a pat on the head.

Dogs are indeed a man’s best friend!  Give this pup a try if you have Ana Paula Rimoli’s book- as you can tell from many of my previous projects and posts, I’m a big fan of her work!