Today we talk about a technique which is famous all over Japan and which nowadays is getting to spread also in Europe. Here is
Amigurumi, the art of creating by crochet or knitting works some little dolls or puppets. This word is made of the two Japanese terms
ami, which means "crocheted", and
nuigurumi which means "stuffed doll". Usually amigurumi puppets represent some animals, but they can present human features too.
Patterns are mostly in spirals and the employed crochet is smaller than the thread weight so that you can obtain very tight embroideries with no holes for the pudding to come out.
The amigurumi are usually made by separated parts which are later united together, apart from those animals with no arms or legs whose head and body are created with a unique piece of crochet. Legs and arms are all stuffed with plastic pellets or natural fibers like cotton.
Following Japanese style, as in the mangas, the amigurumi often has a cilindrical body and a big head
If you're interesting in this technique, have a look at this manual by
Leisure Arts:
A Zoo for You.
Here is the link to our section on
Crochet and Knitting in order to get used to these techniques before getting into amigurumi