How to ~ Crochet your own amigurumi strawberry charm

Greetings one and all!  I hope your week has been good so far.  Mine has been good and filled to the brim with cute things.  I thought I would share one of them with you in my third tutorial.  {You can find the other two tutorials by clicking on the “tutorial” category at the bottom of this post or in the label  cloud on the left hand side of this blog}.

Note:  When writing this tutorial I actually figured out that it is pretty advanced ~ you have to be a serious crafter to tackle this one I think, because it is quite tricky.  Although the techniques are easy, the process of putting them all together maybe daunting for a beginner DYI or crocheter.

I have put in some beginner crochet tutorial videos, so that if anyone would just like to learn those methods and leave it at that ~ you can do that too.

I hope that everyone, no matter your previous knowledge, will get something out of this. 

Firstly, gather your materials ~

You will need:

~  Green felt at least 1 inch square

~  2 ply red yarn/cotton wool  or to make a large one 4 ply red yarn/cotton wool

~  1.75mm crochet hook  or  2.50mm hook

~  Black flat back pearls or safety eyes 4mm in diameter or chosen size

~  Green thread,  white thread and a needle

~  Scissors and super glue

~  Acrylic stuffing ~ a ball the size of your thumb! 

Have you guess what we are making yet?    Tada!! 

      

Cute as a button and smaller than said article strawberry amigurumi charms to hang off your phone, keys, handbag, etc.

If you do not know how to crochet, please do not worry.  I have posted some excellent instructions below on the stitch that you will need.  That’s right, ONE stitch.  And it is the most basic crochet stitch.  It does not get much simpler than this.  There are three techniques used in combination with the one stitch to make this little guy, but they are really easy to learn too.

If you already know how to crochet, skip this part and the bit that has the abbreviations and go straight on.

Crochet things you will need to know:

~  Single crochet stitch

~  The magic loop/circle technique

~  Decreasing and increasing techniques

~  Crochet abbreviations

Starting with the magic loop ~ do not worry if you can not see what the instructor does at first because they play it back in slow motion.

How to do a single crochet stitch.    Abbreviation:   single crochet  =  SC

Next ~ how to increase.  The pattern will say something like 2 sc into 1 stitch.    Abbreviation:  stitch  = st

And lastly ~ how to decrease.  The instructions in the pattern for decrease will simply say decrease 1, sc 1, decrease 1, etc.   Abbreviation:  decrease  = dec. 

Crochet Abbreviations Used in this Pattern:

stitch  =  st

single crochet  =  sc

decrease  =  dec

*  =  repeat

x 3  =  three times, etc. 

♥  ~ Strawberry amigurumi pattern ~ ♥

Step 1:   Make a magic loop with four sc st.

Step 2:  sc 1, 2 sc into 1 st, sc 1, 2 sc into 1 st, sc 1, * x  3, or until you have 16 st in total

Step 3:  sc around {16 st}, * x 1   

Note:  If you have safety eyes, now is the time to put them one.  We are working from the bottom of the amigurumi to the top, so do not forget to take that into account.

Step 4:  Dec 1, sc 2,    *  until you have 12 st

Step 5:  Dec 1, sc 1, * until you have 6 st

Step 6:  Dec 1 until you have 4 st

Step 7:  Without wrapping any yarn around the crochet hook pull the first loop on your crochet hook through the second one {this is a slip stitch}.    Cut your working yarn into a long tail, thread it through the single loop and pull tight. 

Step 8:  Take the tail and thread your needle with it.  Now push the needle through the closest crochet stitch and back through the next, effectively weaving the tail around the tiny hole left.  Once you have woven it through five stitches it is time to stuff.

Step 9:  Take your stuffing and stuff your amigurumi!  You will probably need to use a thin stick to help with this ~ a bamboo skewer or the end of your crochet hook.

Step 10:  Yank that tail hard to close the hole {as small as it is we still want it closed}.  Now with the needle thread the tail through the top of the amigurumi and back through the bottom.  Leave only a tiny bit of the end to poke through the bottom as the rest will make the loop to hang your strawberry from.  Tie a knot then poke the remainder of the tail in.

Step 11:  Cut three leaves out of your green felt and attach them to the top of the strawberry around the base of the loop with your green thread.

Step 12:  Glue the eyes on.   {If you have safety eye skip this step}

Step 13:  Thread your needle with the white thread and sew little seeds all over the amigurumi by stitching a few stitches close together for each seed.

Step 14:  Enjoy your strawberry amigurumi!!!  ^w^

~ * ♥ * ~ * ♥ * ~ * ♥ * ~

I hope this tutorial was easy to understand.  If you have any question or problems please let me know.  I am thinking about doing a video, so if you do want to see that let me know and I’ll do a Crochet your own strawberry amigurumi charm Part II in video!

xox,

bonita