Francis Elephant the Ami

Francis was born on a cold winter Sunday afternoon. I was feeling a little bored, so I grabbed my drawing pad and pencil.

Reproducing this little guy perfectly was no easy task, his ears gave me so much trouble!

After a few failed attempts, I was ready to give up, but somehow, he finally came together just right. And now, I’m proud to introduce Francis the elephant, rocking his stylish vest.

Isn’t he just the most adorable thing?

Mary’s Amiland Romeo Cat the Ami

Romeo is born from a phenomenal amount of mistakes. This character came to life through a painful process that I have to admit I really hated. Nothing I did was right, even the smallest detail looked wrong. I was about to give up when accidentally I fixed his face, then one after the other the remaining parts and in a matter of no time he was sitting in front of me with his sweet eyes.

Now that Romeo is all done I feel so proud and rewarded, I’m totally in love with this little fellow.

Is he not the most handsome cat in the Amigurumi’s World?

Romeo was featured in Simply Crochet, Issue 140 in September 2023

Livio Duckling the Ami

 Who says that you always have to stick to a plan?

Some time it is good to go off the track and embark on a new adventure.

This is how Livio came to life, I wanted to design a different animal and when I was ready to prepare its sketch I drew a duckling instead.

I’m so happy I let my creativeness to be free as Livio is so cheerful and full of energy that you can’t fall in love with him immediately.

                                          

Livio was featured in Simply Crochet, Issue 134 in March 2023.

Gwendy Elephant the Ami

 The idea to work on an elephant came to me when I was working on another character. When eventually I sat down and drew her sketch, I had fun at dressing her up and give her a look of a baby girl.

It took forever to finalize her pattern, from the shoes up to the ears I cannot tell how many times I have remade the various pieces, and funny enough every time I came up with an ami with the same personality regardless some of the features were different. I guess she had to be the way she is.

Don’t you think she is the sweetest girl with those big ears?

Julius Mouse the Ami

 As soon as I made Julius’ sketch I immediately fell in love with this adorable character and started working on it. The initial crochet version was not up to it, I messed up with the proportion of the body’s parts and the feature of the face. I was on the edge to give up when suddenly I got inspired and this time I crocheted a super cute mouse. I added a bear lovey to cuddle up when he goes to bed.

Julius was featured in Simply Crochet, Issue 112 in July 21

Rosie Piggy the Ami

After designing Enrico Dog I started drawing other small characters based on the same body’s structure. Rosie is just one of those cute little fellows.

It has been so much fun working on this little girl that I’m already impatient to start the next one: stay tuned!

Enrico Dog the Ami

 For this little dog I managed to make such a lovely sketch, me who is not able to draw!
My first crochet version was nothing closer to the cuteness it was supposed to be, off I restarted again and finally it turned out almost same as the sketch.

As I remade Enrico I realized that it would have been better to make him seamless for the tiny pieces of his body. At the end I came up with a super-fast pattern that requires little embroidery and sewing in the end.

Emilio Monkey the Ami

This monkey was a little devil as I worked on his design, I cannot tell how many times I remade some of his parts. I was so much frustrated with this character that I was on the edge to hide him in my projects bag and forget him for good.

Now that he sits in front of me with that mischief face, I feel overcome with joy and pride. I’m totally in love with Emilio, he is such an handsome guy and his smile is irresistible.

Emilio was featured in Simply Crochet, Issue 102 in September 20

Winston Panda the Ami

 I have seen many videos of pandas recently, they are adorable and at the end I could not help but design my own panda. 

Why I have chosen to make it in blue?

I hate working with black yarn and I wanted to make something different from the other crochet pandas you can see on the web.

I discovered only afterwards that I was not the first one to design a blue panda… but Winston is by far the cutest, don’t you think?

Archie Hippo the Ami

I never wanted a hippo plushie when I was a child because I was scared of them.
Now that I have designed my own hippo I’m totally in love with him. Archie is such a cuddly boy and he is not going to scare anyone with his smiling.

Ringo Cat the Ami

I started working on Ringo without having a clear idea of what I wanted to do, I knew only that I wanted to create a small toy.
I started off with the body and then when I added the limbs all was set in my mind: a tiny cat was about to be born.
At this point I needed to find the perfect name and I thought to call my cat Ringo that makes me think of a joyful character.

World Amigurumi Exhibition Vol. 5

I'm participating with my amis to the 5th Amigurumi Exhibition RESOBOX in New York on until 31st Mar 2020. The theme of this year edition is "Endangered Species".

Can you spot my handsome bumblebee with the hat and tie bow?
He is my themed piece inspired by the Bombus Alpinus. This specie is threatened by habitat degradation caused by climate change, currently listed in the category VU - Vulnerable in The IUCN Red List.
Pattern link

Noah Whale the Ami

I was making another ami when I was interrupted by a cute character that was impatient to enter into my Amiland.
I did nothing but follow this impulse to create a whale in my favorite color, I think my hands knew already what to do, from the sketch to the execution everything proceeded unusually smoothly.

I’m so pleased with the way Noah turned out with his round gentle shape and the blue spout on the top.
He is the most handsome whale in the Amigurumi World, don’t you think?

Laurence Donkey the Ami

I wanted to create a four-footed animal with minimal sewing required. I thought a donkey would be perfect for my challenge. I took me a few attempts before coming up with a sketch I wished to crochet. That was Laurence with a colorful blanket on his back.

I was determined to make my sweet donkey in one piece, I tried several options and eventually I landed to the solution that I propose in this pattern. The head and the legs are crocheted to the body, leaving only ears, muzzle and tail to be sewn on separately.

Bertie Mouse the Ami

This cute character has given me the opportunity to try out my latest finding in the Amigurumi World in order to create a project with minimal sewing. Bertie is crocheted as one piece, from feet up to the head, just ears, muzzle, nose and tail are sewn on.

The challenge has been to find a way to add whiskers, in the past I used threads from my broom, this time I used fishing line which I think gives it a nice touch.

Bertie Mouse was featured in Simply Crochet Issue 79, December 2018

Thomas Cat the Ami

I’m a cat lover and so I thought it was time for me to spend some time to create a cheerful character. That is all I had in mind when I drew Thomas’ sketch.

It was a surprisingly easy exercise and in a matter of few minutes a cat was looking at me from my drawing pad with his funny expression.
I remade Thomas a few times as I wanted him to be as close as possible to the sketch and at the same time I wanted to create an easy, straightforward pattern.

I loved every single moment I worked on him and I’m so pleased to have added a blue cat to my Amiland. Is he not irresistible with those eyes?

Johnny Bear the Ami

Every now and again I reward myself by designing a bear. It is the most beloved subject in the world and it is very difficult to be original. I thought to combine shapes and techniques to make my bear stand out in the Amigurumi World.

When Johnny was all done I realized something was missing so I crocheted him a pair of pants and a mesh bag with a fish in. He is back home from a day out with his friends by the lake, you can tell from his happy smile that he had a good time.

Johnny Bear was featured in Simply Crochet Issue 73, July 2018

Carm Girl Bear the Ami

I thought to bring some of the learning of these years into this pattern. As I revised each section of the pattern I took special care not to change the original character, hoping you would love her new look.

Amber Snail the Ami

Not sure where Amber came from, I wanted to explore shapes as the character of this snail came along.

She was perfect to experiment with. For the body I adopted a technique to shape it so the surface is smooth and you cannot see what happened “behind the scenes”. For the shell I had fun combining different colors. I was surprised at how the spiral effect worked in multiple colors.

I hope you will enjoy making this little friend, is she not adorable?

Basket of Fruit - eBook

It has been on my mind for a while to make a series of cute fruit amigurumi. The Japanese term, in case you are not familiar with it, refers to the art of making small-scale knitted or crocheted toys.
In Spring 2017 I started creating the patterns and thus embarked on a delicious journey that lasted several months, while I chose the perfect fruits to capture in crocheted form and figured out the best way to make the appealing rounded shapes, and the neat little stalks and leaves. When I felt I had enough fruits I created a simple country basket to keep them all in, and it seemed natural to offer this series of designs in a book.

With basic crochet knowledge you will find the majority of the patterns easy, and some will require little experience because of the variety of stitches used. They are fun and quick projects to make – it will take you on average just an hour or two to complete one.

All the fruits in this book have been created with cotton fingering (4-ply) yarn. In each pattern you will find information about the materials required and the dimensions of the finished fruit. If you use the same yarn that I did to make the fruits, they will turn out life-size.
The basket has been designed to be made with cotton bulky (chunky) yarn, worked with two strands. However, you can choose a different weight of cotton, acrylic or wool yarn as long as you also select an appropriate crochet hook. Whatever your choice, I recommend that you use the same yarn weight for all the fruits so that the finished items are in proportion, and use a yarn for the basket that will give you a nice rigid crochet fabric.