I keep getting hits from people searching for free amigurumi patterns. They get directed to my Japanese Craft Books post, which does not include the free patterns those searchers are looking for. So here you go! This post will be updated periodically with more patterns!
CROCHET
Sprite, by Even Howard, was published by Crochet Me magazine.
Fairy Tales at Your Fingertips finger puppets, by Melissa Mall, Crochet Me August/September 2005
Autumn's Apple finger puppet by Kat Marie Williams, Crochet Me Oct/Nov 2005
Cheeky the Octopus by Melinda Fisher, Crochet Me Oct/Nov 2005. Melinda also sells some of her crocheted toys through her mintimindi Etsy shop.
Crocheted stegosaurus pattern by Knittykat, available as a .pdf download for free, with a request to make a donation to a specific charity.
Moldy Cupcake from Gleeful Things (more patterns are available for sale).
The Amigurumi-Along has links to free and not-free patterns and loads of photos of all kinds of amigurumi. A frequent poster there is Roxycraft – her site has free patterns (but not amigurumi patterns). She sells her amigurumi patterns as PDF downloads, and also sells the finished amigurumi. Her patterns are super-duper cute and well worth the money! You can also check out Etsy shops for finished amigurumi as well as patterns by indie crafters.
Craftster.org has free patterns and links to free patterns in the forums, like the penguin by tamar, and the panda and pig by mmmfruit. A search for "amigurumi" in the forums will result in several pages of hits.
Crochet me has an Amigurumi Special Issue! Includes patterns, tutorials, and how to make your own variations on a basic pattern.
Designer Ana Paula Rimoli has a blog just for her free patterns: Free Amigurumi Crochet Patterns:
Little Cookie
Little Bunny Rabbit
Pablito the Penguin
Cat & Mouse
Zequi the Bear
Cupcake
Little Fried Egg
Ana Paula Rimoli also sells patterns and finished amigurumi through her Etsy shop, www.anapaulaoli.etsy.com. I've purchased a few of her patterns and they are well-written and easy to follow!
There's a new free online knit and crochet magazine, For the Love of Yarn. The premiere issue has crochet amigurumi patterns for a turtle and a snail.
KNIT
Don't crochet? There are several free knitting patterns for cute stuffies and toys!
[UPDATE 2009: MagKnits shut down in April 2008; many of the patterns published have been made available by the designers in various locations. I have updated the MagKnits patterns listed below with new links; a couple of them go to Ravelry.com pages and you will need to be a Ravelry member - sorry about that, but the designers chose to host the patterns on Ravelry, and Ravelry memberships are free.]
Gattino, a kitten stuffie (Knitty Fall '02)
Finger Puppers (Knitty Summer '03)
Pasha the Penguin (Knitty Winter '04)
Bubby the Bear (Knitty Fall '05)
Pumpkins (Knitty Fall '05)
Garden Variety veggie toys (MagKnits Sept. '05) [link to Ravelry.com page]
Pocket Creatures (Knitty Winter '05)
Kate, the cat with britches (Knitty Winter '05)
Sushi (MagKnits Feb. '06) [link to Ravelry.com page]
Noblin Breakfast Bunny (MagKnits April '06) [link to designer's page]
Laura Jane Bears (MagKnits May '06) [pattern currently unavailable]
Norberta the Dragon (Knitty Winter '06)
Nautie the Nautilus (Knitty Spring '06)
Sheldon the Turtle (Knitty Winter '06)
Dad's Blueberry Pie (MagKnits Nov. '06) [link to designer's page]
Woodins (Knitty Fall '07) – little woodland creatures and their log home.
The Crochet and Knitting Diva has list of free patterns and amigurumi blogs, some of which are also listed in this post.
Crocheting Q&A or Crocheting Question and Answer (Kagibariami Q&A)
ISBN 4-8347-2496-4
Printed in Japan
$12.90 at Hakubundo (prices subject to change)
If you want to learn how to crochet, or are just learning, and do not read Japanese, this isn’t the book for you. If you know how to crochet and understand the basics of crochet symbolcraft and would like a handy reference book for use with Japanese crochet books and patterns, get your hands on this book. Symbols are explained with step-by-step illustrations so that there’s no confusion over whether that “x” symbol means slip-stitch or single crochet to you (ah, the joys of multiple English versions of crochet terms!), and this book also illustrates seaming pieces together, joining motifs, basic edgings, sewing on a button, sewing in a zipper, making a pom-pon, adding fringe, crocheting three kinds of cord, and basic embroidery stitches. If you know how to read Japanese, all the better, but again, illiteracy in this language does not mean that you will not be able to get a lot out of this book.
I’ve updated the free PDF download of all the yarn shops in Hawaii that I know of – locations, hours, phone/fax numbers, email addresses, etc. Get your updated copy free here.
Thank you for the commiseration and movie recommendations in the comments for the last post! Kim, I really enjoyed Everything Is Illuminated, which I Netflixed after listening to the Fresh Air interview of Eugene Hutz, who plays Alex. The film has gorgeous cinematography and the extra scenes on the DVD are well worth watching. Karen, I saw Stranger Than Fiction in the theater, and now I want to see DVD special features! Maybe I’ll go over to Blockbuster. Opal, at least other people can see the mistakes I made on Goddess. Not that I’m saying that lace error was all in your head, ha ha. May, my work schedule is changing next week, when I get it nailed down I’ll get in touch so we can neglect sculpture and studying in favor of cake.
Earlier this week, my nephew wanted to view the lunar eclipse, so he went to bed early and I woke him up so that we could sit outside on beach chairs. It was cloudy and the view got obscured frequently, but we saw the moon disappear and become a blurry rusty peach orb.
I asked one of my co-workers for her shoyu chicken recipe and wound up getting a bunch of recipes from her, including one for creamed coconut tuna. I was a little skeptical (coconut tuna?) but we had a lot of canned tuna in the pantry and a package of frozen coconut milk that had been hanging out in the freezer for months, so I made it. I don’t have any pictures, because we ate it all before I thought to take one.
Creamed Coconut Tuna
2 cans water-packed light tuna, drained
1 small onion, diced
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, etc.)
1 can coconut milk (Dian favors Mendonca’s, I used Hawaiian Sun)
butter or oil
salt and pepper
Saute onion in oil until translucent. Add tuna, vegetables, and coconut milk. Simmer until vegetables are cooked. Serve over rice or toast.
I browned the onions and tuna together – I think it cuts down on the fishy canned taste a bit. I wasn’t sure if the kids would like it, and thought about using cream of celery soup instead of the coconut milk, just to be safe, but then I figured that if they didn’t like it, they could make themselves sandwiches. Even my nephew, Mr. Picky-Pants, ate it and liked it. If you like Vegemite, I recommend serving this over buttered toast and Vegemite.
Classes are fully underway now. We had a slow first week, but things are kicking into high gear. I was surprised that the first series of lectures for one of the courses has been, essentially, me seeing a semester of high school biology flash before my eyes. It is, after all, a 400-level Anthropology course, and one would think that everyone taking the course would have the basics by now. I know I needed the review (high school biology was, let me see, 15 years ago, and college botany was nearly as long ago). I still get meiosis and mitosis confused. I’m a bit appalled that I’m not the only one, not by a long shot. Clearly the instructors have been teaching this long enough to know that the best way for them to not waste their time is to hand the first two weeks of lectures over to a graduate student, thereby saving themselves some trouble and giving a grad student a solid experience in what it is like to be thrown to the wolves. The introduction to Darwin was interrupted by a student who wanted to know if this was "going to be about Christians are stupid and scientists know everything because that would really offend me." One does not need to believe the material. However, one really ought to be willing to understand the material, because everything taught in this course is based on the widely accepted empirical science theory of evolution, so if that would be a challenge to ones faith, and if one is would feel compelled to say things like "I heard Darwin ixnayed the whole theory at the end of his life," why take the course? For the record, I thought that the grad student was doing a good job of explaining the difference between the scientific theory of evolution and Creationism, and that the concerned student has clearly felt attacked before by others, and so was probably feeling a bit defensive.
I think that tonight I’m going to play it safe and make chili and tater tots, and then settle in with Goddess.
