A Zoo For You

A Japanese technique: the Amigurumi
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