A Beginner's Guide Part 2: Scaling and Working in-the-round

Hi friends! Welcome back to the series "A Beginner's Guide to Pattern Design". In this chapter of the guide, we will be discussing how to plan out the proportions of your amigurumi or "scaling" the limbs. We will also discuss the most important technique in amigurumi: working in-the-round and using this technique to create 3-D shapes for your amigurumi!

If you have read Chapter 1, then it's likely that you've begun planning out your amigurumi! You will have looked at a bunch of reference photos (from a variety of angles), maybe thrown together a rough sketch, and determined the number of unique spheres and cones you will need to crochet.

(Feeling a little lost? Here's a link to the introduction to Pattern Design series!)

Creating amigurumi with the the proportions you want can be challenging, especially when you're starting from scratch! Before beginning, it's important to look at all of your reference images and material again! One of the first places I turn to before I start any project is Google Images. I do a quick image search of the character I want to make, and I examine my character from a variety of angles!

Once you've pulled up enough reference material, it's time to pick one piece of your amigurumi that will act as the anchor for your entire project. What is an anchor, you ask? 

Simple! The anchor is the starting point and the first body part of your project that you will crochet. 

To choose an anchor, start with a large or central part of your design. I like to start with the head because it is usually one of the largest spheres (closed and fastened) pieces of my projects. Slowpoke is no exception! Once your anchor has been completed, you will use it to scale every additional limb! It will act as a point of reference for your project! I like to use ratios or fractions to better conceptualize proportions and scaling. On the left, you'll see a photo of Slowpoke's finished head with his body in-progress. After looking at many references photos I decided that the length of Slowpoke's body is about 1.3x to 1.5x times longer than the length of the head. Knowing this information, I can start using this information as I crochet the body! I've left a gap between Slowpoke's body and head to help me visualize how many more rows or length I needed to add. This is a trick that works for me, but try different methods and see what works for you!

Reference photos should be used throughout the patterning process! They will help you to check whether or not the sizing or proportions of each body part is accurate. I am doing just that in the photo to the left. At this point in the design process, I was patterning Slowpoke's tail. In the reference photo, you can see that Slowpoke's tail is really long-- about length of its head and body combined! When I compare my tail (work in progress) to the reference photo, I could tell immediately that my tail needs to be longer. The yellow portion of Slowpoke's tail is about 1/3 of the total tail length, meaning I needed to extend it in my pattern as well. I frogged my work and started again! 

Ok, ok, ok, start with the head...cool! But wait! This is all well and good, but what if I don't know how to crochet a sphere? How do I lengthen a shape? What about cones?!?!

Ah yes, a big road block to successful designing is an understanding of working in-the-round. Working in the round is the process of working continuously in a circular fashion around a "magic circle". This is great for creating spherical shapes and giving stuffed animals (or "amigurumi") a clean, consistent texture.

Working in-the-round can be broken down into some simple math and patterning! Please note that I did not discover these patterns or come up with the math myself! I learned these patterns through Googling and following/seeing them in other artists' patterns. I have added a link or two for additional reading! Want to make something with more complex curves and shaping? We'll get into that in the next chapter, so stay tuned!

Spheres

For pictures and a step-by-step guide, check out this post on Supergurumi!

https://www.supergurumi.com/crochet-shapes-crochet-balls-and-spheres#:~:text=Each%20sphere%20is%20almost%20always,ratio%20as%20at%20the%20beginning.

Begin with a Magic circle with 6 single crochet. Add rounds to increase the sphere's shape. Each round you add should have 6 increases in each round until you get your desired size. To give your sphere height, count the number of rounds you have crocheted, then add 1. This gives you the total number of rounds you will crochet with (sc around). See below for an example:

1    MC, sc 6

2    inc x 6 (12)

3    sc, inc x 6 (18)

4    2 sc, inc x 6 (24)

5    3 sc, inc x 6 (30)

6-11    sc around for 6 rounds (30) ...

To begin closing your sphere, you will now add decrease by 6 in each round until you reach 6 sc. It should look like this

12    3 sc, dec x 6 (24)

13    2 sc, dec x 6 (18)

14    sc, dec x 6 (12)

15    dec x 6 (6)

FO.

Cones

For pictures and a step-by-step guide, check out this post on Supergurumi!

https://www.supergurumi.com/how-to-crochet-cones-in-spiral-rounds

Crocheting Cones is quite similar to crocheting spheres. There are two main differences between crocheting cones and spheres:

1. Cones have one open end. This means that you will be making increases only (no decreases to "close up" the shape).

2. Because cones are usually a narrow shape. For most cones that you will be crocheting, you will incorporate increases every other round.

Since the width and height of cones are highly variable, you will need to play with the size of the starting magic circle and the number of increases you will do every other round. If you start with a larger magic circle, the tip of the cone will be rounder and larger. Adding more increases between each round will create a gentler slope. Here's an example of a cone you can try!

1    MC, sc 4

2    sc around (4)

3    sc, inc x 2 (6)

4    sc around (6)

5    2 sc, inc x 2 (8)

6    sc around (8)

7    3 sc, inc x 2 (10)

8    sc around (10)

...

...

...

Alright, so there you have it! I hope you enjoyed chapter 2 of this guide and that you found it helpful! Please visit those Supergurumi links for pictures and detailed instructions on how to crochet spheres and cones! Now, it's homework time!!

Here's your homework:

Give it a try! Make a sketch of a simple amigurumi project you'd like to make. Which piece will be your anchor? How many spheres and cones will you need to make?

Don't forget to...

✅ ... use lots of reference photos/materials (Google Images is your friend!)

✅ ... ask questions on my ig or in the comments here!

See you next time!!

Cindy.