Since I’ve started making more accessories and things outside of the amigurumi realm, I’ve branched out into different fibers. While I still feel that unmercerized cotton is the best option for amigurumi, I’ve developed a fondness for wool, especially chunky single plys in bright transitioning or splotchy colours. Of course the cost of most luxury yarns, handspun or hand painted is more than I am willing to pay, but a true DIY girl at heart, I couldn’t help but want to figure out how to do it myself on a budget.

I read up and found that protein fibers (animal hair like wool, alpaca, mohair etc) can be dyed effectively with food safe colouring using Koolaid powder, food colouring or icing colouring, if there is an acid present to bond the dye to the fiber. That option was way more attractive than chemical dyes because I have a tiny kitchen and wouldn’t be able to store a dye pot and utensils, nor would I want to have to buy a dye pot and separate yarn dyeing gear. Armed with the gobs of information found here I set out to dye two balls of Stitch Nation Full O’ Sheep yarn I got on clearance with a mixture of KoolAid and regular liquid food colouring with lemon juice to bind the dye. I used the hand painted method outlined here for the colour changes and heat set the dye by putting the yarn in a steam basket over a pot of simmering water for 30 minutes instead of using the microwave since my microwave is tiny. Once it was steamed, I rinsed it but the water ran completely clear, which meant all the colour was absorbed into the yarn. I hung the hank outside in the sun to dry for a few hours and then it was pretty much good to go. Clean up was a breeze and I didn’t stain or destroy anything, which means this is pretty klutz proof.

I’m really happy with how it turned out, bright and fluffy and not felted at all. I will definitely be messing around with other colours as soon as my order of Wilton’s Icing Colours and Little lamb yarn gets here. It really worked out to be a good deal even though I used KoolAid which is pricier than food colouring. The yellow was food colouring and the other colours were KoolAid and as you can see, straight food colouring did as good of a job so I’ll be sticking to that in the future. Price breakdown:

Yarn: $8 (2 balls of 155 yards each)
KoolAid: $5
Food Colouring: $2

$15 for 310 yards of rainbow yarn I had fun making is an awesome deal compared to $9.99 for 95 yards of Crystal Palace Mochi Plus yarn (what I was thinking of buying even though the colourway wasn’t really exactly what I wanted) which would have added up to $30 for the same amount of yarn. Plus it makes the thing I make with this yarn, a little more mine, which I love.

Minds, prepare to be blown. I’m not entirely sure, but I think this pattern may cause the universe to collapse or create a rip in the space-time continuum… it’s that epic. If I have inadvertently triggered the apocalypse, my apologies for those of you who will surely perish, but clearly it had to be done. I regret nothing.

In it’s very own “Pimp my Ride” putting things in things style splendor, I present to you the amigurumi crochet, crochet hook… an amigurumi plushie of a… crochet hook. I know right? I made him an E hook, which is my preferred amigurumi hook size, and the same size I used to make him even. I’m not too sure what I will do with this little guy, maybe hang him from my rear view mirror or create an altar to the awesomeness of crochet. As with all my patterns, this pattern is a freebie of course. Hookers rejoice!

Click to get the Amigurumi Crochet Hook Pattern

I was making basic double crochet granny squares for a baby blanket but eventually my interest petered out and it became one more projects on the stack of partially completed. I didn’t think I’d really ever get around to finishing it so I turned it into a strip of granny squares to wrap around a telephone poll on my street.

Nine squares with 2 rows of single crochet border was perfect and stretched so tightly around the rough, weather worn wood that I am certain that thing isn’t going anywhere without being cut down. I used my usual unmercerized cotton yarn in 4-ply worsted weight, a combination of Lion Cotton, Bernat Handicrafter Cotton and Lily Sugar & Creme, and a 4mm crochet hook. The pattern was a slight modification of the standard double crochet granny square. We’ll see how long it survives before the anti-graffiti yahoos that run around slapping beige paint over ever speck of street art they come across, cut it down.

Anyone that knows me personally or is my friend on the Playstation Network is fully aware of the depths of my recent foray into the First Person Shooter excellence that is Battlefield Bad Company 2. The game is amazingly fun and a heck of a challenge, but almost since day one of playing, I was convinced many of the soldier classes needed to be reproduced in Amigurumi form. The Russian engineer is the first I have done but I plan to finish others as time allows. On my to-do list is the American Recon (wookie), Assault (either side) and the Russian Medic.

I’m not posting a pattern for the time being since it is fairly long and I think demand will be very low if at all existent and the notes were terribly scrawled and would be nightmarish to decipher. My Russian engy is complete with amigurumi land mines for taking out enemy vehicles and a Karl Gustav rocket launcher for settling the hashes of pesky tanks and helicopters.

Because every Big Daddy needs a Little Sister to protect, and since it was requested and hinted many times by my awesome readers, I whipped up an amigurumi Little Sister for my Big Daddy. I took notes and will be publishing the pattern shortly but haven’t time to try to make sense of all the cryptic scrawlings together yet. It was just too exciting to hold off on posting the photos.

Her clothes and hair are in the style of the Bioshock 2 Little Sister, and though I think there is still some tweaking to do, I am pretty happy with it. The Adam needle is a separate piece with a yarn needle stuck in the end. I didn’t give her a face, because I thought about it and decided that anything embroidered or applied was likely to look cartoony and not as eerie and vacant as the Little Sisters are. Not having a face I think, speaks to the altered uniform states all of them are in, not really there at all. She’s not aged or bloodied, to match her Big Daddy, true to a yarn representation of something messy, bloody, dirty and worn, but made of yarn, so none of those things.

The pattern will be coming in a few days.

I’m wanting to go on a videogame themed amigurumi bender, and I’d like to hear from the masses. I get a lot of positive feedback from folks along the lines of “I’ve been looking for a free pattern for this guy!” or gleeful statements of that sort… which makes me wonder, what other sorts of bizarre, obscure and awesome characters are people looking and waiting for?

So riddle me this, what characters or game themes would you like to get a free Amigurumi pattern for? I’ll pick one and do it up to the best of my ability then post it free. Please leave a comment or tweet me or something along those lines 🙂

In other news, I am getting all social with a facebook fan page (you can join by clicking the buttonmajigg to the right, no pressure or anything… just saying is all 😀 ) and twitterings… come join me yes? So it’s not just a big empty room with like my mom sitting in the corner.