I have been learning to crochet for a few years and, recently, I fell in love with making amigurumi. What is amigurumi? According to Wikipedia, the word is derived from two Japanese words that, when combined, means knitted or crocheted stuffed dolls. These stuffed dolls are cute little creatures that would attract any girl’s attention. They actually caught my attention many years ago when I was a kid. Yet, I didn’t know what they were called at that time, nor did I become interested in learning to create one on my own until recently.
It all started when I came across a tutorial on YouTube about making a bunny amigurumi. From the same author/instructor, I also learned how to make professional-looking doll eyes with a glue gun and sharpies. I then explored other resources on the Internet and taught myself various techniques, such as magic ring and invisible decrease. I also previewed several amigurumi books on Google Books (unfortunately, my local library doesn’t have any amigurumi books) and found a simple pattern for a hippopotamus. After hours of effort, my amigurumi hippo was born! It was my very first amigurumi that I made from a written pattern without the help of video tutorial. It was a great learning experience and the sense of accomplishment was worth the time I spent. I am going to give this hippo to my father for his birthday this year and I hope he will like it.
Here is an all-around view of the hippo:
A Space of My Own 