Halloween Crochet: Amigurumi Candy Corn!

 After a rather long blogging (and crocheting!) hiatus, I have returned just in time for everybody’s favorite crochet season- autumn and Christmas.  This year I celebrated Halloween by trick or treating with one of my favorite 1-year-olds, so I knew I wanted to make her something cute for the occasion.  During one of my many Ravelry browsing sessions, I came across the free, squeal-inducingly cute Candy Corn pattern from Josephine Wu (you'll also recognize her as the designer of the Amigurumi Panda I blogged about).  The link requires you to log in to Ravelry to see the pattern.  Make an account if you don't already have one- it's free and the absolute best source for crochet and knitting patterns on the Interwebs.  But back to the candy corn- this wee fellow is the perfect size to fit in a toddler palm and I already had the right yarn colors in my hoard, so crochet him I did.

I used Red Heart worsted weight acrylic yarn, which, despite being on the scratchy side for projects like blankies and scarves, is perfect for amigurumi (with the added bonus of being cheap and available everywhere).  The stiffness of the acrylic yarn helps the amigurumi carcasses to hold their shape before they are stuffed, and the yarn plies (plyes? Is this a word?) are pretty good about not splitting even with the little size F crochet hook this project calls for.  A lot of crocheters prefer 100% cotton yarn for amigurumi projects since it tends to fuzz less, but that stuff kills my fingers and I actually prefer the slightly fuzzy finished look of acrylic.

Isn't he cute?  My friends' daughter Emma seemed to like him well enough, so I am satisfied.  We had a grand time taking our kids trick or treating around our local neighborhood (and by "our" kid I am referring to Gareas.  He was a slightly unhappy blue crayon).  I was unfortunately reminded of how much I despise middle school-aged children as they ran amok in the streets without their parents to keep them from acting a fool, but alas, these situations cannot always be avoided.

Now that Halloween is out of the way, I am looking forward to tackling an (over)ambitious amount of crochet projects for winter and Christmas.  Expect to see more posts than you have been lately!

Bernat Pipsqueak Yarn: Soft, Duplicitous Balls of Evil

Let’s talk for a second about how Bernat Pipsqueak yarn was clearly conceived by Satan.

I saw it at Michael’s and couldn’t resist.  So snuggly! So magically soft! So perfect for my next amigurumi project!

Alas. 

The minor downside?  Once you make your stitches YOU WILL NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN.

How many single crochets are in the above amigurumi carcass?  Your guess is as good as mine.  It’s impossible to see any stitches once you make them and, even worse, its impossible to tell what hole you’re crocheting into.  If you’re going to use this yarn you had better be really great at counting without starting over because you will definitely never find your place again.  Also hope that you don’t let your hook slip out of the loop, because it will take you at least 13 minutes to get it back where it’s supposed to be.

Also- it sheds.  A lot.  I hope you like the couch/chair/throne you crochet in, because you’ll be picking bits of Pipsqueak yarn out of it for at least 3 months.

Despite my hatred of this beastly substance, I haven’t scrapped my project. IT’S JUST TOO SOFT.  New amigurumi creature & pattern to come!

Ah Bernat Pipsqueak- Once a magical ball of promise, now a duplicitous pile of sheddings in my dust buster.

PS. There IS one being who likes it.  I guess it’s too much to ask a bald Italian Greyhound not to snuggle a pile of yarn that feels like an effing cloud.