When I am doing a craft show, I will tell people that I do Amigurumi crochet and explain what it is. Many people have never heard of it, but are delighted at “how cute” these items I make are. Most people ask me “Do you make these?” Yes I do hand crochet each item. I always enjoy the smiles and excitement when people see the delightful food items smiling back at them. Amigurumi has always been fun for me to make. I love finding new food patterns to try out.
Amigurumi is derived from the Japanese words: Ami which is knitted or crocheted and nuigurumi, which is a stuffed doll. Most amigurumi are cute knitted or crocheted characters, creatures etc. There are many different types of amigurumi that you can find on Pinterest, Etsy and in crochet books.
I was first introduced to Amigurumi crochet back in 2008 when I found my first book “Amigurumi World by Ana Paula Rimoli”, which featured delightful crocheted animals in it. This type of crocheting got me interested in learning how to crochet. After that you could say I was “Hooked”. Later on I discovered the delightful food crochet of Twinkie Chan. Not long after getting her book ” Twinkie Chan’s Goodies for Fashion Foodies: 20 Treats to Wear”, I was crocheting fun scarves including: salad scarf, buttered toast scarf, cupcake hats and more. It wasn’t until 2019 that I started to find crochet patterns online for adorable amigurumi food items. This helped me hone my crochet skills and form my current business Crafty Side of Karen featuring crocheted amigurumi food items, watercolor paintings of food and flowers.
Crochet is an interesting and fun hobby to get into. There are so many more resources out there now than when I started back in 2008. YouTube has lots of tutorial videos available. Many different crochet books and patterns available online as well. If crochet has ever peaked your interest, I suggest trying it out. You might just get hooked!
Here are few of my favorites for getting started with crocheting. Some recommended tools and books that I use to help you get started crocheting Amigurumi. Happy Crocheting! This blog post contains affiliate links.
