Welcome, or welcome back to my crochet blog! Have you been thinking about making amigurumi crochet toys, but don’t know where to start? Maybe you’ve stumbled upon a cute pattern but have no idea how to execute the stitches!
So let’s start with the basics. In a beginner-level amigurumi pattern, there are most likely several stitches and techniques you’ll need to familiarize yourself with:
Magic Ring (MC / MR):
The magic ring, also known as a magic circle or chain 2, is the very first stitch you need to master when making amigurumi. Every piece, whether it’s the head, body, limbs, or ears of the amigurumi pattern, starts with a Magic Ring or Chain 2. This is because amigurumi are made in rounds and not rows where you go from left to right.
Chain 2: To begin, make a slip knot, chain two stitches, single crochet the required number of stitches for the first round of amigurumi in the first chain, pull the yarn tail of the chain tight, and continue to round 2.
Magic Circle: Wrap the yarn around your index and middle finger, making a cross at the bottom of your fingers. Insert the hook in at the top of the fingers, under the first loop and over the second loop. Drop the yarn between your fingers, hold on to the circle between your thumb and index finger, and create a slip stitch to keep the circle in place.
Single crochet (SC):
Single crochet is the very basic stitch in amigurumi that creates the surface. A simple, basic amigurumi pattern would contain SC (Single Crochet) only, while more advanced patterns would contain double crochet and triple crochet stitches. In amigurumi, we crochet in the round. The first round of single crochet stitches is crocheted in the magic ring. Placing the hook under the round eye of the magic ring, every coming round is crocheted on top of the previous round. When creating the next round of single crochet, you need to insert the hook under BOTH loops of the stitch, not the first or the second loop, which will give you an even surface without bumps and lines.
Increase single crochet (INC):
To make a piece wider and bigger, you need to increase the number of stitches on your work. This means you’ll work more stitches in every round. The “repeat” x6 or x5 shows you how many times the sequence and increase should be placed within that specific round. Increase needs to take place evenly, unless the pattern recommends otherwise.
An example: In the first round, we normally start with 6 single crochet. In the second round, we work 2 single crochet stitches in every stitch of the previous round, so we get 12 stitches in total. This means we have increased by 6 stitches. From there, you will evenly increase the SC stitches between every INC. Round three would be; “SC, INC” and round four would be “2 SC, INC” and so on.
Invisible increase single crochet (Invdec/ DEC):
To make the piece smaller and close it up, you need to decrease the number of stitches. This means we will crochet stitches together to have fewer stitches at the end of the round. Like you need to increase your piece, you need to evenly decrease as well.
An example: Let’s say we have 30 stitches, but we want to have only 24 stitches in the next round. This means we have to decrease every fourth stitch, three Single stitches in between each DEC.
Decrease: Where we would work one single crochet stitch in one stitch as we normally would, we would insert the hook under two stitches before we finish the crochet stitch, aka decrease.
Invisible decrease is common for amigurumi, which I always recommend in amigurumi because it eliminates that bump Decrease created when you join two stitches together. Just as the name indicates, it’s a very delicate way of decreasing stitches without harming the crocheted surface. Instead of going through both loops from both stitches, you will only be inserting the hook under the first loop of each stitch.
Fasten off or Finishing Off (FO):
When you come to the end of an amigurumi piece, the pattern normally says to fasten off or finish off. This is just a simple slip stitch at the end of your round. Insert your hook, yarn over, cut a yarn tail, and pull the yarn tail through to end your round.
That is it for basic stitches to get started in your amigurumi journey.
If you have never read an amigurumi pattern before and you are interested in learning how to read them, you can read my blog post and get the best tips for reading amigurumi patterns HERE>>>
My Free Resource!!
Need some tips and tricks to improve your amigurumi skills? I have taken my 5 most commonly asked questions by my followers and added them all in one eBook that you can DOWNLOAD for FREE!
Now that you have learned the basic stitches of amigurumi you can try out my free patterns on my blog!
