Wednesday, May 28, 2008

i'm making a bear

My friend Brian sent me a book on amigurumi and I loved it! I bought a couple amigurumi books when I was in Japan, but never really started making anything until now.

The book Brian sent me was "Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts! Amigurumi" by the same Japanese lady that authored the other two books that I got in Japan. The book is so cute, and after flipping through it I decided to start making one of the little bears on the front cover.

I don't know if it's the English translation or printing error, but the pattern that I decided to use (the first pattern on the little bears) was missing information. As I started crocheting the first "row," I realized I had to crochet in rounds in order to make it work... not mentioned in the book... I know the experienced crochet-er all know this by heart, but I really had no clue until I checked the Japanese books.

After figuring out how to properly start the construction, I made the bear's head and body. As I move onto making the arms, I was confused by the pattern because it only lists 3 rows each for the arms and legs. Didn't quite make sense. I checked the other patterns and determined that the pattern is missing some parts. I guess I'll have to figure it out myself. (So far I'm thinking I'll make 9 rows in rounds to make the arms, based on some magical mathematic calculations... I don't know if it'll work quite yet.)

I did a quick search online and found that I was not the only person who ran into the missing-pattern-step dilemma. I guess the book is flawed.

amigurumi


The other patterns all look OK, though, so I'll probably try to follow them in the future (until I run into another problem). As of now I have the head and the body done for my little purple bear. I'll try to finish him up soon. (I still need to buy a pair of eyes for him... ) I think he'll be a handsome little bear when I'm done.

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