Rosé the Penguin

 

• Puffy yarn is a high quality yarn you’ll fall in love with! It’s bouncy, tubular and beginner-friendly.
• Stitch markers help you keep track of where you are.
• Safety eyes look like a black plastic nail and come with a rubber back.
• Polyester stuffing is used to fill the amigurumi project.
• Crystal bead to go with your completed project (for the good vibes). We placed ours inside the amigurumi with the polyester stuffing.
• Tapestry needle to sew your project together and hide your yarn ends (also referred to as yarn tails).
• Crochet hook to, of course, crochet :O!
• Scissors will be needed, and are not included in the kit.
• P.S. give us a shout at learn@dosidiy.com anytime you're feeling stuck / frustrated :) 

 How to hold your hook and adjust tension

• The first step to learning how to crochet is to understand how to hold your hook and adjust your tension. This comes with practice, so experimenting with different ways is highly encouraged!

 

How to make a magic circle

• Let's start crocheting the upper part of the penguin using the pink yarn. We'll be crocheting from the top of the penguin down to the bottom. To start crocheting, we’ll be making a magic circle (also known as a magic ring or magic loop). At its basic form, a magic circle is a circle made with your yarn that is held together with a slip knot and is generally used as the foundation to help you create circular shapes (like amigurumi!). You’ll find that many amigurumi patterns start with a magic circle.

 

How to single crochet (1st round)

• Let's learn how to single crochet by completing the first round in the magic circle. Make sure you have this stitch down before moving on! The single crochet stitch is one of the basic stitches you’ll need to know in order to crochet.
• We'll be crocheting "in the round".

Tips and tricks

• Basic stitches: chain stitch and single crochet stitch (00:12)
• The importance of tensions (1:49)
• How to rotate your hook during stitches (4:00)
• How to leave your work when taking a break and how to come back to your project (6:37)
• Other stitches you might come across in amigurumi, and how it differs from a single crochet stitch (7:54)

How to single crochet increase (2nd round)

• A single crochet increase will be demonstrated in this next video. An increase, often notated in patterns as "inc", means that 2 stitches will be placed in 1 stitch from the previous round.
• As a result, if you start with 6 single crochet stitches in the 1st round, in the 2nd round you would now have 12 stitches when increasing. If you started with 7 single crochet stitches, you would now have 14, etc.
• In formal pattern terms, this is denoted as "inc x 6 [12]" or "6inc".

How to create the 3rd round

We want to make the circle larger while maintaining this circular shape. In order to do so, we'll be incorporating the single crochet and an increase stitch.

• For round 3, place 1 single crochet stitch in the previous round's 1st stitch, then 2 single crochet stitches in the previous round's 2nd stitch. This pattern will continue as "1 sc, 1 inc" until we have 18 stitches.
• In formal pattern terms, this is denoted as "(sc, inc) x 6 [18]"
• Another helpful way to understand this: the 2nd round took on a pattern of 2-2-2-2-2-2 (this is not how patterns are written, but I find this method is easier to understand as a beginner). The 3rd round will take on a pattern of 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2.

 

Before we go on, here's an important tip on differentiating between the right and wrong side of your work

 

 

For the 4th-7th rounds, we'll be incorporating the white yarn and building out the upper half of the penguin!

• Round 4 (Starts @ 1:05)
• Formal pattern: pink yarn 5 sc, white yarn 2 sc, pink yarn 4 sc, white yarn 2 sc, pink yarn 5 sc (18).
• Round 5 (Starts @ 10:15)
• Formal pattern: pink yarn 4 sc, white yarn 4 sc, pink yarn 2 sc, white yarn 4 sc, pink yarn 4 sc (18).
• Round 6 (Starts @ 14:13)
• Formal pattern: pink yarn 3 sc, white yarn 12 sc, pink yarn 3 sc (18).
• Round 7 - Give this a round a try on your own!
• This round is the exact same as round 6.
• Once you've completed round 7, cut the white yarn.

 

8th-10th rounds are all single crochet stitches! No color changes or increasing stitches

• Give it a try on your own!

11th round

• We'll first learn how to crochet decreasing stitches (ignore the red stripes).
• Then, we'll be adding the eyes, stuffing, crystal, and the mouth.
• Note: please don't add the crystal if the holes are big, the penguin will be handled frequently, or if there are pets/children around as the crystal may fall out.

 

Finishing up the penguin's body and adding wings

• Let's close up the penguin (although the video displays white yarn, this will still be completed in the pink yarn), crochet the wings, and sew the wings on to complete the penguin. 

Hooray you made Rosé!! Go you :O