Moji-Moji Design

Original Amigurumi Crochet Patterns


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St Patrick’s Day Celebrations

I hope you all have a great St. Patrick’s Day and that you’ve got something fun planned later that involves at least one pint of Guinness! Franklyn the Frog has started his celebrations already…

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Heaven knows what state he’s likely to be in by the time I finish work and get to join him in the garden!

 Here’s Franklyn with his cousin Fernando doing a bit of sun basking earlier today.

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Though I have to say that being tropical forest frogs (Fernando is a Red Eyed Tree Frog and Franklyn is an Australian Green Tree Frog) they have certainly been enjoying the record levels of rain during their vacation to the UK. They never got used to the icy temperatures though and couldn’t wait to get out and warm up their cold blood with a bit of sun after all those gray skies. Hopefully the sunshine and mild temperatures we’ve been having in recent days are going to last a bit longer yet (please!). I keep eyeing the sunny patches of my garden enviously and hoping I’ll get to enjoy some sunshiny St. Patrick’s day shenanigans with my little green friends later on. But if the weather takes a turn for the worst I might take them to the pub instead, if Franklyn is still sober enough to hop that is!!

Enjoy your celebrations!


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Granny Square Tutorial

I’ve been having fun today making a little tutorial for those of you out there who may have never made a Granny Square before but would like to have a go. I have recently started on my own Granny Square adventures and I’m loving how quick and easy they are to make. The perfect wind down after a busy or stressful day. For this project, which is slowly turning into a super snug blanket,  I chose 12 of  my favorite colors, wound off some yarn cakes and just combined them randomly as I went along. Variety is the spice of life so far as these vibrant squares are concerned.  I might try experimenting with a more limited color palette in subsequent projects, but at the moment I’m enjoying a major color festival as you can see below! Keeping the cats off this project has been a challenge too. As far as they’re concerned any area of soft and cuddly crochet is fair game for a spot of napping, It does look rather inviting though!

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Here’s how I made the Granny Squares for this particular project. I’ve included some photos to help out too.

Materials: Light Worsted Weight yarns in all your favorite colors, 4.5 mm crochet hook, Scissors, Yarn needle.

US Terminology: Sl st/slip stitch, dc/double crochet, ch/chain, ch sp/chain space.

UK terminology, replace dc/double crochet with tr/treble crochet

Round brackets ( ) indicate a group of stitches to be worked into the same ch sp. Square brackets [ ] indicate a group of stitches to  be worked the amount of times stated after the brackets.

Pattern:

With color 1 make 4 ch, join with a Sl st to form a ring.

Rnd 1) 3 ch (counts as first dc), 2 dc into ring, [2 ch, 3 dc into ring] 3 times, 2 ch, Sl st into top of 3 ch to close the round. Cut Color 1.

Rnd 2)  Join color 2 in any ch sp, 3 ch (counts as first dc), 2 dc into same ch sp, [1 ch, (3 dc, 2 ch, 3 dc) into next ch sp] 3 times, 1 ch, 3 dc into next ch sp, 2 ch, Sl st into top of 3 ch to close the round. Cut color 2.

Rnd 3) Join color 3 in any corner ch sp, 3 ch (counts as first dc), 2 dc in same ch sp, [1 ch, 3 dc into next ch sp, 1 ch, (3 dc, 2 ch, 3 dc) into next ch sp] 3 times, 1 ch, 3 dc into next ch sp, 1 ch, 3 dc into next ch sp, 2 ch, Sl st into top of 3 ch to close round. Cut color 3.

Rnd 4) Join color 4 in any corner ch sp, 3 ch (counts as first dc), 2 dc in same ch sp,  [(1 ch, 3 dc into next ch sp) 2 times, 1 ch, (3 dc, 2 ch, 3 dc) into next ch sp] 3 times, (1 ch, 3 dc into next ch sp) 2 times, 1 ch, 3 dc into next ch sp, 2 ch, Sl st into top of 3 ch to close the round. Cut color 4.

At this stage you will have a square motif. Each corner will have 2 blocks of 3 dc separated by 2 ch. Along each side there will be 2 blocks of 3 dc separated by 1 ch. (17 stitches per side)

You’ve probably got the hang of it by now! To make your blocks bigger just keep increasing the rounds putting (3 dc, 2 ch, 3 dc) in each corner chain space and single groups of 3 dc separated by 1 ch in each chain space along the edges. Here are a few photos of the various stages to help give some visual clues.

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Now to darn in all those ends!

To join all the squares I used a slip stitch on the back of the work and by crocheting in only the two outside loops I got a lovely neat finish on the front.

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Now I just have to join the squares at right angles to close all the gaps and crochet a pretty border for the finishing touch. I’ll post a photo when it’s finally done.

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I’m really pleased with it so far. I love the randomness of the color blocks. I can’t wait to show it off when it’s finished! However, I’ve got my gardening squirrel  to get ready for a book due out this spring so I think my Granny Blanket might have to take a back seat over the next week or so while I focus on some pattern testing and other half finished stuff. I’m currently working through a Beaver pattern by Ildikko Struning that will also be in the book. He’s looking very nice so far but is going to look even better when he has his legs, hat and tail finished off. I’m also keen to finish off a new set of monster patterns I’ve been working on, a badger pattern and some Easter bunnies, as well as a scarf for a present and a pair of cable gloves, just for me. Hmm, I seem to remember a New Years Resolution about only having three projects on the go at any one time. Oh well, what the heck, everyone knows New Years Resolutions are there to be broken! A bit of creative rebellion is good sometimes. I’ll be making sure I finish all these back boilers off before I start anything else though, or things are just going to get plain silly around here!


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An Amigurumi Army!

I just wanted to share with you this fabulous compilation of amigurumis! This expansive animal collection is the culmination of several years collaborative work between Joke Vermeiren and the designers whose work features in the Zoomigurumi series of books. I reckon if you’re an amigurumi enthusiast or just amigurumi curious you’ll surely be inspired to pick up your hook and get making a zoo of your own with these cute critters to tempt you. Its full of beautiful quality photographs too, as you can see from Joke’s lovely montage below.

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What’s really exciting is that all three Zoomigurumi books are available at a special price of £31.50 (52 USD) until the 22nd March 2014 (including shipping). Thats 45 original and fun designs and, if my maths is correct (reaches for idiot proof, jumbo sized calculator…) that’s a mere 70 pence (or $1.15) per pattern . Who could possibly resist? As an added bonus you get a PDF version of each book available to download as soon as payment clears. If you’re an impatient so and so, (like me!) you’ll be happy not to have to wait for the postman before you can start bringing you own amigurumi army to life.

If you’re interested you can order online here: www.amigurumipatterns.net

I’m always excited to see my designs in an actual book, on an actual bookshelf, (or on the virtual bookshelves of Amazon), so I’d like to brag about it -just a little bit- by showing you some close-ups of my pattern contributions! And here they are…

Lulu and Lollo Lamb (Zoomigurumi 2)

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Tom the Tiger (Zoomigurumi 2)

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And Hedley the Hedgehog (Zoomigurumi 3)

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Ok, I’ve stopped showing off now. Thanks for indulging me! Back to more pattern designing I think. I’ve got a badger as a work in progress at the moment but I wonder what animal to do next? Has anybody got any requests? I’m always open to suggestions 🙂