Amigurumi! My Inspiration to Crochet

Early Life as a Crochet Kid

When I was a little girl, I always saw my mom crocheting (and man oh man did she crochet). We had crocheted afghans and pillows adorning all of our furniture, crocheted tissue box covers and potholders, a large crocheted chicken decorating a shelf in the kitchen, crocheted wintertime clothing and accessories, and crocheted toy plushies. My mom even made me an awesome Barbie dress out of crochet cotton; it was definitely my favorite outfit in my Barbie clothing collection.

Because I grew up with so many crocheted items all around me (and on me), I sort of took the craft for granted. I assumed that crocheted stuff was as common in households as refrigerators and carpeting. When I was about 8, I started to realized that other kids my age never wore crocheted clothing and they never had crocheted afghans at their houses. Weirdos. Where were all of the afghans?! *laughs*

Within the next couple of years, I started investigating my mom’s pattern books and was always drawn to the fun crocheted animal toys.  In fifth grade at my request, she taught me some basic stitches and I made some gifts for a couple of my elementary school teachers — a stuffed owl for my math teacher and a swan decorative soap cover for my homeroom teacher… poor swan had a severely broken, floppy neck.  Hey, I said I made them.  I never said I made them well. 😉

After this, I realized I was too lazy for crochet and decided to forsake my crochet hook for playing in dirt and riding my bike.  It was the end of my childhood needle-crafting adventures and I assumed I would never again create a horribly disfigured yarn creature.

Then, 14 years later at the ripe old age of 24, something so neat, so cool… so CUTE inspired me to pick that hook up again. That thing was an amigurumi Pokemon.

So What the Heck is Amigurumi?

Amigurumi is the art of crocheting or knitting adorably cute, small-scale stuffed creations.  Amigurumi originated in Japan and ties in closely with the Japanese cultural phenomenon of “kawaii” which means “cute” or “adorable”.  To get a better idea of something Japanese that embodies the “kawaii” aesthetic, just think of Hello Kitty.

After seeing the adorable crocheted starting-pokemon lineup and a too-cute-for words pikachu, I found more video game, tv show, and super nerdy patterns and began practicing crochet once again. The rest is history and since then I’ve even been designing my own patterns.  I guess all it took to reconnect me to crochet was a crocheted video game character.  I can’t say I’m surprised when I reflect on my obsession with video games! Ha!

Amigurumi has been so fun for for me that I’ve been considering making tutorial videos and “Make Your Own (insert something cute here)” crochet kits to sell in my store so other people can take part in the fun.

Let me know if you’d like to see some amigurumi crochet tutorials on my YouTube in the future and what cute creations you’d like to learn to make in the comments below!