All About Ami
a blog about me and my love for amigurumi
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I can’t believe it’s been a year since my brother graduated from high school already! Our family had a great time attending his commencement and grad, and he’s had a wonderful first year of university. I made him this little ”Graduation Teddy” to help him commemorate this special time in his life, complete with a diploma, mortarboard and tassel matching his school colours. Since graduation season is upon us once again, some others have used my free pattern to make sweet Graduation Teddies for their friends too!
Makayla of Illinois made this teddy for her cousin who is graduating! I love the purple she used, and she did an absolutely fantastic job with the diploma, mortarboard, and yellow and red tassel. I’m sure her cousin loved this special, personalized gift! What a cutie!
Emily was new to crochet, so she watched some videos and learned how to read crochet patterns as she attempted her own Graduation Teddy. She did a wonderful job, particularly since this is her first amigurumi project! I love the light, airy colours she chose, and I think she did a superb job stitching the nose. Emily wanted to include the year on her hat, so she used glue! Way to go, Emily :)
Nicollette of Louisiana found my pattern and made this bright orange Graduation Teddy for her sister-in-law! I love how everyone uses such different colours for their teddies :) She stitched on the year as well!
Maria of Indiana made this Graduation Teddy in a similar blue colour that I used! He looks very dashing with his white and blue tassel! She also did a fabulous job stitching “2012” on the hat as it is very bold and thick- the year really stands out!
Mandy made this Graduation Teddy using a yarn called “Oatmeal”- she decided to name her teddy “Oatmeal” too! What a cute name :) He has a lot of texture with this variegated yarn, and he looks very proud to be graduating!
Mandy had a great idea of also making a Graduation Cupcake Bear! She said that this project went by really fast, and she added polly pellets to the cupcake liner to give it some weight. This is such a great idea as not having to crochet the body and limbs and attach them together will save a lot of time! And as Mandy says, there are so many fun and fabulous cupcake liners out there to really make this project unique!
Fadilah of Rojak made this bright green Graduation Teddy and even added a little bit of felt to the neck as his graduation robe! That’s such a cute idea :)
Fadilah didn’t make just one teddy! Her friend asked her to make one for her boyfriend, so she made this purple one for him and a green teddy keychain for her! I love how Fadilah wrapped up the purple teddy so beautifully and even had the teddy holding a lovely bouquet of flowers! I’m sure her friends were very touched when they received these special gifts.
Since Fadilah had many friends graduating, she made many Graduation Teddy keychains in a vast array of colours! Similar to Mandy’s idea, this is a great way to save time when you have a lot of gifts to make. It must’ve been fun handing out these special bears to her friends with their adorable sideways graduation caps :)
I love seeing how other people’s creations turn out using my patterns as well as how they modify them. If you have a special grad in your life, do check out my free Graduation Teddy pattern as well as the step-by-step photos to personalize a special teddy for them! Thanks for sharing your pictures and stories with me, everyone! Congrats to all the new grads of 2012!
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Hey everyone! It’s been a long time since my last Crochet Corner post, but I thought it’d be another great opportunity to highlight YOUR work based on my patterns since Valentine’s Day was this week! Valentine Teddy still remains very popular, and I absolutely love seeing photos of your teddies since everybody has a different take on him (see my first Crochet Corner post on Valentine Teddy here). Here is my fuzzy cutie in case you haven’t seen him before:
I love how Ziale of Florence, Italy gave her teddy red pants to match his red bow! Her Valentine Teddy looks very suave and ready to go out on the town, doesn’t he? What a great idea! A matching girl teddy wearing a red dress and a red bow on her ear would be perfect!
Emilee of California gave this sweetie to her Mom for Valentine’s Day, and she tells me that her Mom absolutely loved it! Who wouldn’t? Emilee even used the same yarn that I did, which is why they look so similar! She didn’t have a dog slicker brush, so she fluffed up her little guy with a brush they use for their cats! This is only Emilee’s second amigurumi project and fourth crochet project ever. She did such a great job! Beginners can do absolutely beautiful work :) I would’ve guessed Emilee had years of experience by looking at her Valentine Teddy!
Shannen of Sweet N’ Cute Creations is another amigurumi artist who I’ve become friends with since since starting my blog (we’re both on tumblr!). She is a sweet girl who is only 16 years old- she is definitely inspiring the younger generation! Shannen provides many cute free patterns on her blog here, and is very prolific as she’s done many many amigurumi projects! Here’s a big-eyed teddy that she made using my pattern :) Keep up all your great work, Shannen!
Julie of One Little Red Fox made a grey Valentine Teddy with a snazzy gingham bow. What a great idea to use a different colour! Julie says that she loves to crochet since she finds it easy and because it helps her with her insomnia. Crochet certainly helps pass the time away…
Lastly, Malarie from California was looking for a gift for her boyfriend, so she decided to give my pattern a try even though she was new to amigurumi. Malarie loves to crochet, but her carpal tunnel hinders her from crocheting all the time. And so, she spread out her crocheting over time and was very happy with the results. Her boyfriend absolutely loved him! You did a wonderful job, Malarie, and I love the little buttons you added. Thank you for sharing your story with us! Keep on crocheting with all your love and patience!
If you’re interested in making your own Valentine Teddy, check out my free pattern here! It’s neat to think that these Valentine Teddies are being made and loved all over the world :) Thank you so much to everyone who’s taken the time to send me photos! I still have more photos to share, so if you didn’t see your work yet, it’ll probably be featured in the coming weeks! Happy crocheting :)
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This was our first year setting up our Christmas tree in our new house. We bought our tree last year at Walmart after Christmas when all the prices were heavily reduced, so we had to wait almost one whole year before we could set it up! As we assembled our tree and placed the lights and ornaments upon the branches, Ryan and I thought how it’d be so adorable if we could somehow incorporate our love of amigurumi onto our tree. I had been wanting to make some sort of Christmas-themed amigurumi, so we came up with the perfect solution: make amigurumi ornaments! Our tree had round ball ornaments, so we thought of making round teddies- you all know how much I love my teddies! To play up the Winter/Christmas theme, we talked about adding colourful scarves to show these teddies all bundled up!
Ryan did a preliminary sketch of our design. I thought it was so cute how the scarf was positioned so high up! We ended up omitting the arms since we thought they looked cuter without :)
I had ALWAYS been wanting to crochet a panda bear, so now was our chance! I absolutely melted when Ryan sketched this little guy up!
And so we began! I worked on crocheting a very round ball first starting with white, then switching to black, and then switching back to white.
Ryan used his phenomenal attention to detail to help add the safety eyes by first placing them through oval pieces of black felt, and then stitching the nose and mouth. Who could resist such a sweet face? We then stuffed him up to give his full roundness :)
Next I worked on the scarf. I started with a green row of half double crochets, a white row of single crochets, and then another green row of half double crochets. These striped scarves add a nice pop of colour to the teddies!
I added some fringe to the ends of these scarves. You can watch a video on how to do this here or follow this series of pictures below:
I added five strands of fringe on each side, alternating between green and white. I then trimmed the strands to my desired length.
Then we wrapped the scarf around our panda, overlapping the ends and making sure it was positioned very close to his eyes, nose and mouth (adding to the snuggliness look)! You can either sew or glue the scarf on. It’s nice that the scarf covers the transition from the white to black yarn of the body.
I crocheted some ears and then sewed them onto his head. We added the ears after the scarf to make the positioning easier.
Next we got ready to attach him to our tree! We used this black cord and ornament hooks to do so…
We used a needle to thread the black cord through…
And tied a knot on the top.
We then hid the knot within the panda’s stuffing. With this loop, he’s now ready to be attached to the tree with the ornament hook! Of course, you could also attach these ornaments simply by looping some yarn through their heads or making a loop with a series of chain stitches.
Here are some step-by-step photos of the brown teddy. I really like the colour of his scarf: it’s called “Aquifer”.
And here is the Koala ornament! Ryan used white felt around his eyes, black felt for his nose, and also gave him a tiny smile. Once again, I LOVE his scarf because pink is my favourite colour :) Pink and grey make such a great colour combo!
Did any of you notice any differences in the quality of the sneak peek photos? Up till now, I’ve been using my point and shoot camera to take photos for my blog. But recently, Ryan and I got a digital SLR camera! Ryan has taken a keen interest in photography and has been learning how to use it over these past few days, soaking up information like a sponge. I have no doubts that he’ll be a great photographer as he is very creative and has a great eye. He’ll have to teach me how to use it too!
Now, may I present to you these beautiful photos that Ryan graciously helped me take :) First up, we have Panda!
Next is Brown Teddy!
And lastly we have Koala! Koala has slightly bigger and more curved ears than the other two…
Here are my three teddy ornaments together! I love their different facial expressions and their colourful scarves together!
The actual ornaments from our tree are in the background. Don’t you love the roundness of all these ornaments?
The overlapping scarf and fringe gives the side a cute look :)
This is one of my favourite shots. I always try to take pictures of me holding my amigurumi so you can see the relative size. I’m obsessed with this gold nail polish at the moment because it’s perfect for the Christmas season with its beautiful shimmeriness!
And now to finally hang our amigurumi teddy ornaments!
Using the black cord and ornament hooks adds a more discrete way of hanging them as the focus is more on the ornaments themselves (the cord and hook blend in).
They all stand out so nicely against our white tree!
Last week I tweeted a picture showing our very first Christmas tree, and now you can see it with our special additions! Don’t the blue, silver and white ornaments + our new amigurumi teddies look stunning on our tree?
They all look so cute together! Maybe we’ll have a new Christmas tradition where we design some new amigurumi ornaments every year :) Then we’ll eventually have a fully “amigurumi-fied” tree! How cute would that be?
I hope you all like these teddy ornaments we designed and created! They’re relatively quick to make since you only have to attach ears and a scarf (no arms, legs or tails). I wanted to post them in early December so you would all have enough time to make them for your own Christmas trees! These crocheted ornaments would certainly add a splash of cuteness and craftiness to any tree. They’d make pretty cute stocking stuffers as well! ***The free pattern can be found HERE!***
I had to end off with a photo of me wearing a colourful scarf with these three cuties :) Thanks for reading and for your wonderful response so far to these teddies! Leave a comment below and let me know who your favourite teddy is and whether you’ll be making any for your own tree! We love reading each and every single comment :)
[Update: People have been sending me photos of their own teddy ornaments, and I’ve compiled them all in a Crochet Corner post! Check out everyone’s own rendition of my teddy ornaments here.]
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I’m so excited to begin my “Crochet Corner” series where I feature YOUR work using my crochet patterns and tutorials! I put a lot of effort into trying to create the right shapes and meticulously writing down my patterns, and I always wonder if people will be able to follow them or if anyone will even try them at all! And so, I’m always delighted to hear that people have indeed tried my patterns and I LOVE seeing pictures. I think it’s wonderful how people can interpret the same pattern differently and how each crocheted creation looks unique since people put their own touches on them!
The very first Crochet Corner will feature none other than Valentine Teddy! This is the second original pattern I made and it was very soon after I started my blog (I started my blog in January 2011 and posted him in February). I loved using the dog slicker brush to fuzz this guy up, and I’m so happy that he was well-received :) Many people fell in love with him…
Kay of I’m Hooked was the very first person to show me her work using my patterns. Since I had just recently started my blog, I was ecstatic that someone had actually used my pattern and was successful in creating their own teddy! Kay had previous crochet experience making purses, clutches and mini makeup bags, but she had never made amigurumi before. When she came across my pattern, she decided to try her hand at it with this teddy! She even documented the whole process step-by-step in her blog post here which was also her first official tumblr post! Kay was also the one who provided the pattern I used to make my Penguin here. Kay has been on hiatus from her blog because she just gave birth to a baby girl in June- congrats, Kay! I love the gray colour she used for this teddy since it’s different from the typical brown. His huge eyes make him look super adorable :)
Irma of Our Useless Blog made her own rendition of Valentine Teddy all the way from Holland. She used yarn that was fuzzy to begin with and in her blog post she talks about how challenging it was to use since it would frequently become tangled. Despite having to make the body parts numerous times, she persevered and finished this super soft teddy! I love how he turned out, Irma :) He looks so cuddly!
Yolanda of Alberta, Canada wanted to crochet a teddy bear for her boyfriend when she stumbled upon my pattern. This was the very first amigurumi she ever made! I love how she even made the dapper red bowtie and red heart to accompany him :) Yolanda said her boyfriend absolutely loved this teddy she made just for him!
Serena of Malaysia made these two adorable teddies named Lexie and Ace during the summer when she had no school. I absolutely love how she made Lexie a girl by placing the bow on her head :) Serena actually went and found the exact same yarn I used which is why they look so similar to mine! It’s amazing because Serena had no previous crochet experience, but she watched many videos on youtube just so that she could learn to make these teddies! Isn’t that remarkable? When Serena left the country for school, her mom asked if she could keep the teddies since she loved them so much. She tells Serena that everytime she sees these teddies, she’s reminded of her :) Isn’t that sweet? Lexie and Ace make such a cute pair!
I love hearing the stories behind all these teddies, from what it was like making them to who they were given to. All of the people in this post had very limited amigurumi experience, but look what they accomplished! I find that very inspirational, and I hope you do too :) If you’ve been hesitant about starting or wondering if you could do it, I’d strongly encourage you to give it a try! Be sure to check out my “Amigurumi for Beginners” blog post if you don’t know where to begin. Making amigurumi is a fun hobby, and they make such great, personalized gifts. Everyone’s creations turn out differently, and even people with no crochet experience can make such beautiful amigurumi!
If you did not see your Valentine Teddy in this post, that means he’ll be featured in another upcoming post :) Please feel free to keep sending me pictures and telling me the stories behind them (e-mail all_about_ami@hotmail.com, post on my facebook page or tweet me)! Or, try making them for the very first time! The pattern for my Valentine Teddy can be found here. Happy crocheting, and thanks for sending in your pictures and sharing your stories, everyone!
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I will be starting a new series called “Crochet Corner”, where I feature the work of you, my lovely readers, using my crochet patterns. I absolutely love seeing your photos, and so far the Spring Bunnies, Valentine Teddy, the cup cozy and the cell phone cozies seem to be the most popular to make. Please send me photos of your work using any of my patterns/tutorials by posting them on my facebook page (here) or sending them to all_about_ami@hotmail.com I will link to your blog if you have one :)
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This easy-to-make teddy hat is the perfect gift for any newborn! It’s a wonderful way to show your love and support with this soft and cute accessory that will keep a newborn warm and looking uber adorable :D
Note: Feel free to follow along with my blog post here to see step-by-step photos.
Materials
- brown yarn (I used “Bernat Satin in Mocha, Medium (4) weight”)
- 5.50 mm crochet hook
- tan felt
- brown embroidery floss
- yarn needle
HAT
R1: *Chain 3, 11 dc* in magic ring. Sl st in top of beg ch-3 (12 sts).
R2: Ch 3, 1 dc in same st, *2 dc in each dc* around, sl st in top of beg ch-3 (24 sts).
R3: Ch 3, *2 dc in next dc, dc 1 in next dc* around, sl st in top of beg ch-3 (36 sts).
R4-9: Ch 3, dc 35, sl st in top of beg ch-3 (36 sts).
Finish off.
EARS
R1: 6 sc in magic ring.
R2: Sc 2 in each sc around (12 sts)
R3-6: Sc 12
Fasten off and leave long end for sewing. Cut out two semi-circles of tan felt. Sew onto ears with brown embroidery floss. Sew open end of ears together. Sew ears ontop of hat.
This pattern is an original pattern by Stephanie of All About Ami (September 2011). Please do not claim this pattern as your own. If you wish to share this pattern, you may link to this pattern but please do not reprint it on your site. You may keep a copy for your own personal use but you may not sell or distribute it, or sell items made from this pattern.
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