Ruby the Reindeer

 

• 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 black plastic nails and come with rubber backs.
• 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!
• 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 reindeer using the light brown yarn (make sure you're not grabbing the dark brown yarn). The entire body will be created using the light brown yarn. We're starting from the top of the head and crocheting 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".

 

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

 

 

No increasing stitches for the 4th-7th rounds. Just one stitch for each hole!

• Let's do the 4th round together, and see if you can complete rounds 5-7 on your own :O.
• In formal pattern terms, the 4th-7th rounds are denoted as "18 SC".

 

For the 8th round, we'll be adding in 2 chonky arms/legs using a puff stitch!

• A puff stitch looks similar to a mini yarn ball that's attached to the amigurumi

• Refer 2 videos back if you need a refresher!

From the 11th round, we'll be introducing the invisible decrease stitch

• We are starting to close up the bottom of the deer in this round
• You should end up with 12 stitches

Let's add the eyes, crystal, and stuffing. We'll also be closing up the bottom of the deer!

 

 

Finishing touches: adding in the nose, stomach, and antlers

 

 

You did it! Congrats on completing Ruby the Reindeer. Tag us on instagram @dosidiy so we can ooh and aah at your creations :O