Loomy Amigurumi

Amigurumi is the art of knitting or crocheting little stuffed softies and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite pastimes. These little creations are so quick to do and children love them. Since I have limited time, four grandchildren under the age of four, and enjoy small creations on the knitting loom, amigurumi is perfect for me.

The little leprechaun pictured above was made during one of our Saturday day trips. Of course, I had to wait until I returned home to embroidery the face and stuff him. (That's the bad part about working on projects on the run, you always leave some of the stuff you need at home.) This little fellow is about four and one-half inches tall. He is made on the small gauge DA Mini-Wonderloom, which is the prefect loom for this type project. I used one strand of worsted weight Red Heart yarn and copper colored fun fur clipped short for the beard. He was worked in three separate parts (body, head & hat), then stitched together. I really liked the way the little hat turned out. I tried a new I-cord technique that worked really well on the hat brim, however, I forgot to change colors and add the hat band - oh well, maybe next time.

Since I used a specialty loom, instead of the Knifty Knitter, I won't be writing the pattern for this one. If you plan on getting into loomy amigurumi, I highly recommend using an adjustable small or fine gauge loom. If you decide to experiment with large gauge looms, I would recommend the Knifty Knitter Long Looms with loom clips and two strands of worsted weight yarn. However, the biggest problem I've found with doing stuffed toys on the Knifty Knitter looms is the stuffing shows through the stitches and this is easily corrected by using the small or fine gauge loom.

Now I'll leave you with an old Irish quote in time for St. Patrick's Day:

Leprechauns, castles, good luck and laughter
Lullabies, dreams, and love ever after.
Poems and songs with pipes and drums
A thousand welcomes when anyone comes.
~Author Unknown

Note: Since this post, I have written a general instruction sheet for making the Loomy Amigurumi Leprechaun. It has been added to the Pattern Box on the right, or by clicking here.