Amigurumi (編みぐるみ?, lit. knitted stuffed toy) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words Ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll. Amigurumi are typically animals, but can include artistic renderings or inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features
Amigurumi have no practical use; they are created and collected for aesthetic reasons. The pervading aesthetic of amigurumi is cuteness. To this end, typical amigurumi animals have an over-sized spherical head on a cylindrical body with undersized extremities.
An online fad for creating and collecting amigurumi began in 2003. By 2006, amigurumi were reported to be the most popular items on Etsy, an online craft marketplace, where they typically sold for $10 to $100
Amigurumi are usually crocheted out of yarn using the single crochet stitch. They can also be knit. Typically, crochet hooks or knitting needles that are slightly smaller than normal are used, in order to achieve a tight gauge that retains stuffing.Stuffing is usually standard polyester or cotton craft stuffing, but may be improvised from other materials. Plastic pellets may be inserted beneath stuffing in order to distribute weight at the bottom of the figure. Amigurumi are usually worked in sections and then joined, except for some amigurumi which have no limbs, only a head and torso which are worked as one piece.
I love making Amigurumi critters. I started making them about 3 years ago.
A friend saw the bunnies taking shape on my desk at work and asked me to try my hand at some for her grand kids.
Amis are done in a lot of small pieces that are stuffed and assembled.
These bags of parts became
The angel and the animals were gifts for my extended family last Christmas.
The Complete Nativity will be a 3 or 4 year project.
Amis are small so children can hold them in their hands and carry them easily.
And you can make a lot of the little critters in a short amount of time.
2 comments:
darling!
These are SO cool! Robbie still has his green Easter bunny. He loves it. Did I ever tell you he named it "Owie Dowie Towie"? This was in his younger days, of course.
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