My Student’s First Ami

Elyse's First Amigurumi

Elyse and Her Googly Thought

Saturday my friend came by for her crochet lesson and gave her first ami a try. It took a while and the whole counting thing was a bit of a problem due to my son constantly talking, but her Googly Thought came out GREAT!

 

She’s going to try wool next so she can make a fuzzy brushed one also. Actually, her plan as of Saturday was to make one in every color. I’ll let you know how that develops.

Congratulations Elyse, you made your first ami!

Advertisement

Free Pattern: Googly Thoughts – A Super Basic First Amigurumi

A brushed wool Googly Thought made with Stitch Nation Full o Sheep - 100% Wool

My friend that I am teaching crochet to really wants to learn how to make amigurumi. Where do I start?

A few days ago what I believe to be my first ami resurfaced. Chickie is a crocheted ball with glued on googly eyes and a glued felt beak.

That was it, she needed to start with a ball. But how could I make this a little interesting? Then it hit me. I remember owning a bunch of little fuzzy pom pom type things with googly eyes, felt sticker feet, and a ribbon with words on it like “I Love You” back when I was a kid. It would be a fun way to learn how to make the basic shape of amigurumi… a ball. I also wanted to expose her to a few different techniques, yarns, and the concept of gauge, so you have a few options with this pattern.

To introduce my friend Elyse to the world of amigurumi, I present the Free Pattern: Googly Thoughts – A Super Basic First Amigurumi.

Materials:
A little bit of worsted weight yarn. Wool for the fuzzy brushed Googly Thought. Cotton or acrylic for a “regular” one.
Felt for the feet. You can even buy the felt where one side is a sticker if you want to be truly authentic.
Satin Ribbon. I used Basic Floral Satin 5/8″ in white.
Extra Fine Sharpie
Googly Eyes (you can use safety eyes, but that would not be very 80s of you now would it)
Fabric Glue
E/3.5mm Crochet Hook
A little Polyfil stuffing
Scissors or Pinking Shears
Optional: Dog Hair Brush (if you’re using wool and want to make it fuzzy)

Abbreviations:
SC: Single Crochet
SC2tog: Single Crochet 2 stitches together

Notes:
You will be crocheting in the round and will not turn.
Repeat what is listed between the () where instructed.

For a Small Googly Thought:

Row 1:  Ch2, 6 SC in second chain from hook. [6]

Row 2: 2 SC in each SC (12)

Row 3: (1SC, 2SC in next SC) repeat 5 more times [18]

Row 4: 18 SC [18]

Row 5: (2SC, 2SC in next SC) repeat 5 more times [24]

Row 6: 24 SC [24]

Row 7: (2SC, SC2tog) repeat 5 more times [18]

Row 8: 18 SC [18]

Row 9: (1SC, SC2tog) repeat 5 more times [12]

Optional: If you are using wool and want a fuzzy ami, brush the wool hard with the dog brush. Do this before you stuff the ami or some of the stuffing will come through, get brushed into the wool, you’ll end up with white streaks… not good. (They just opened up PetSmart next to Michaels so I decided to pick up a dog brush and give this a shot. I LOVE how it came out.) If you’re looking for more info on this check out Roxycraft’s tutorial.

Stuff the ball with Polyfil stuffing.

Row 10: 6 SC2tog (6)

Finish off by slip stitching across to other side of opening and pull through to close hole and finish off. Pull the ends into the ami with your crochet hook. Shape the ami into a ball by rolling it in your hands.

Optional Antennae: Slip Stitch into the top of the ball, Ch 7, finish off and weave in end. Repeat for other side.

Feet:
Cut the felt feet into the shape of a heart.

Your Words:
Cut the end of your ribbon with your scissors or pinking shears. Leave 1″-1.5″ for your ami to sit on top of the ribbon, then start writing your message with your Sharpie. When done, cut the ribbon with your scissors or pinking shears.

Googly Thoughts pieces before assembly

Assembly:
Using the fabric glue, glue the eyes to your ami ball. Place the ribbon between the felt feet and the ami ball and glue the three together. You’re done! You have now mastered the crocheted ball and are ready to advance onto an ami with arms and legs.

Need a really quick fun favor? Whip up a bunch of these and personalize the ribbon however you like!

Googly Thought with Antennae made from Caron Simply Soft - 100% Acrylic Yarn

Googly Thought made of Lily Sugar n Cream - 100% Cotton yarn

Size Comparison of the three to show differences in gauge when using different yarns

Top View of 3 Googly Thoughts

A Chainless Beginning: Thoughts on Foundation Single Crochet

It took me a while to figure it out, as in several months from when I first tried it on the Starling Handbag, but I am now a convert and a believer. The foundation crochet stitches are the way to go when starting a crochet piece. It beats a starting chain handsdown. It’s the only way to get stretch in your entire piece (super important in clothing) and helps prevent curling (after blocking).

I finally figured out what the foundation stitch actually is. It’s just the regular crochet stitch… Single Crochet, Half Double, Double, Triple… with one extra step. It’s just like you’re working upside down and adding the chain as you go.

• For the very beginning you Chain 2 for SC, 2 or 3 for HDC, 3 for DC, 4 for TC
• You start off like a regular stitch, yarn over if it’s anything other than single crochet and don’t yarn over for single crochet, then insert your hook through two loops (like a regular stitch) *for the first stitch, insert your hook in the first chain furthest from your hook.
• pull up a loop (like a regular stitch)
• then yarn over and pull through one loop (this is the ONLY change from a regular stitch)
• then finish your stitch like you normally would: for SC and HDC  yarn over and pull through all loops on the hook, for DC, yarn over and pull through two loops on hook, then yarn over and pull through the last 2 loops on the hook, for TC, yarn over and pull through 2 loops on hook, then yarn over and pull through 2 loops, and yarn over and pull through the last 2 loops on the hook
• You are now an expert in foundation crochet stitches.

There’s a great photo tutorial and video by futuregirl on Foundation Single Crochet that you can view on her blog. I think I watched the video 50 times while I was trying to start the Starling Handbag (which happens to be a great simple bag project and the purse I use everyday). In retrospect, starting that bag with a chain and regular single crochet stitches would have been fine.

Abbreviations for the foundation stitches:
FSC: Foundation Single Crochet
FHDC: Foudnation Half Double Crochet
FDC: Foundation Double Crochet
FTC: Foundation Triple Crochet

Did I Hear Yarnoff?

I turned her out! My BFF has been hooking every day since she came for her lesson on Saturday. She’s crocheting and she’s loving it. I made sure she left well equipped with some yarn, a set of hooks, and The Happy Hooker.

We also just found out our other friend is a …. (shhhh don’t say the word out loud)… knitter. She’s just started to learn the k word.

I think we need a Yarnoff!. Hooks vs needles. May the best scarf win!

My BFF Wants to be a Hooker Too!

My best friend from high school is headed north from Brooklyn this weekend up to her hometown of Mt. Vernon for her first crochet lesson. She’s hoping crochet will help to calm her down and add some non-work interests to her life. I think she’ll end up making some cool things too.

She keeps mentioning she tried crochet a while ago and ended up with a very long line… I’m not quite sure what that means, but I am sure I’m about to find out. I wish I had some in person help when I started with my amigurumis back in August and I’m sure she’ll do fine… and maybe even turn that long line into a scarf.

I’ll let you know if I’m successful in turning her out.