🐙 An interview with ami designer Mevlinn, try your hand at cross stitching, and fun links!

A newsletter dedicated to amigurumi and the creators who make them.

View this email in your browser

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing amigurumi artist and pattern designer Mevlinn. Her business is MevvSan and you can find her designs on her website, Ravelry, Craftsy, and Etsy.

I met Mevlinn in the pattern testing circle (we have both tested a pattern for each other) and continue to keep in touch. She is a talented designer and a good ami friend. Hope you enjoy learning more about her! ...continue reading her full interview.

I recently finished my very first cross stitch project – a Toronto Blue Jays logo for my brother. It was a super fun and easy project, so I thought I would share what I learned about cross stitch so you can try your hand at stitching something too!

What is cross stitch?

It is a specific type of embroidery, in which you use thread and a needle to stitch many little crosses on to fabric and all the crosses together form an image on the fabric.

Materials

To get started, you will need some fabric to stitch on. There are two basic kinds used in cross stitch: Aida and evenweave. They are both easy to use, just different! ...continue reading.

Just because it's fun:

I majored in evolutionary biology in university so this story about using amigurumi to help teach evolution really resonated with me. Such a great idea! And I agree, if you want to get realistic with your amis, go see June's patterns.

I have been loving the photos by Maria of her amigurumi, but these take the cake. The detail she goes into to create the scene - amazing.

What will Bradley be?!? Mystery CALs are so fun! Stacey of FreshStitches is hosting one starting April 4th. Looks like there is even some yarn dyeing involved.

One of the podcasts I watch, LegacyKnitz, is hosting a Stuffies KAL/CAL in April. I am going to join in and make some tiny zombies - plus I am providing a couple of the prizes!

A practical and useful amigurumi - use this owl amigurumi to hold all your crochet tools. I love how the scissors make his glasses.

Ami designers:

The Moogly blog featured an amigurumi designer this week in their Designer Showcase series: Stephanie of All About Ami. It also looks suspiciously like Stephanie will be releasing a fox pattern in the near future.

Amigurumi techniques:

Pompoms are a great addition to some amigurumi patterns (my Flora patterns, perhaps?). Learn three ways to make them over on the MojiMoji blog.

Learn how to add facial features to your crocheted amigurumi using needle felting! It actually looks pretty easy, and maybe nicer than embroidery?

Chloe has a couple new patterns out that are rainbows of fun (and on sale until March 31st!). She describes how she handles all the different colors on her blog.

Great project photos are all about the lighting. When taking pictures of your finished amigurumi for social media or ravelry, try to take them in soft natural light. Turn off all electical lights in the room and conduct your photo shoot by a window that lets in a lot of sun - but make sure it is a time of day when the light isn't too harsh (ie. not when you can see strong shadow lines).

Each newsletter I interview a fellow amigurumi maker. In this issue, meet Isolde! Learn more about her and her work on her ravelry profile.

Tell us a little about yourself!
My name is Isolde and I live in the Netherlands. I am 43 years young, I am married and we have two beautiful daughters (13 and 9 years).

Why did you start making amis? How did you find out about them?
I started crocheting again in 2009 but didn’t make ami’s, but mostly granny squares for blankets and bags. About 5 years ago on twitter I saw a picture of a FreshStitches ami made by a twitter friend. It was Nelson the owl. I liked how he looked and did some research. I started with the FreshStitches free penguin and since that moment I started making more and more ami’s. Next to ami’s, I still make afghans, bags, c2c and scarves.

Do you like to knit your amigurumi or crochet them?
I just recently learned how to knit, just before 2016 started. Knitting is still a bit intimidating, but I really like it. I have several knitted ami’s (monsters! I love monsters!) on my wish list.

What is your favourite yarn to use for amigurumi and why?
I prefer crocheting my ami’s with cotton. I use thin cotton like Catania, Phil Cotton 3, Lana Grossa Cotone and Catona and Larra by Scheepjes. These are all more or less the same thickness, so I can combine them as much as I like. Just recently I (re)discovered Stylecraft Special DK for making ami’s.

What is your favourite hook to use for amigurumi and why?
For my cotton ami’s I use a Clover Amour hook 2,5 mm. That size gives a nice tight structure. For the ami’s in Stylecraft I use a 3 mm hook. I always use a Clove Amour hook. It has just the perfect grip for me.

Do you prefer crocheting through blo (back-loop only) or both loops when making amigurumi? Why?
I prefer blo. It just has a very nice structure and makes it so much easier to attach arms and legs and tails and other parts. I like the look of blo more.

Do you like making little or big amigurumi?
I don’t have a preference. Little ami’s are much quicker to make up in a few spare hours and don’t use much yarn. But big ami’s are very cuddly and worth the extra time and yarn.

Who do you give your amis to? Do you keep any for yourself? If so, where do they live?
My daughters are always happy to adopt my ami’s! Sometimes they even try to own them just before I am finished and before I can take any pictures … I also make ami’s as gifts for birthdays of friends and sometimes even colleagues. And I make ami’s for swaps.
And of course I keep ami’s for myself (although I have way too many). They live in a cupboard with ami’s I received in swaps and with Ty-softies I once collected.

What do you like most about making amigurumi?
I like the planning: which pattern, which colors and which yarn to use.
I like the making: just relaxed (and therapeutic) crocheting.
I like giving the final result to someone how can appreciate what I made for him/her.

Are you crafty in other ways or do you prefer to just stick to crochet/knitting?
I have tried a lot of crafts, but they were quite messy …
I think I will stick to crocheting and knitting! It is not so messy and you don’t need much stuff. But the best part of crocheting and knitting is that I can do it everywhere and always: on the couch watching television or while reading a book, in the backyard in summer, on holiday and even in a train (although I hardly do that) or a car (which is impossible for me, since my husband cannot drive due to a visual handicap and I am the family driver).

These past two weeks I have had yarn dyeing on the brain. First, I have been crocheting little Flora bunnies with the yarn I dyed for my tutorial series on hand-dyeing yarn with food colouring (check out my Instagram to see the bunnies! They are super vibrant). It was really neat using yarn that was hand dyed by me in such fun colours.

Also, as I mentioned in the last newsletter, I started watching podcasts of yarn dyers (hue loco and Dye Another Day). These women have been very inspirational and I really want to learn more about dyeing using professional dyes and techniques. How do you add speckles to the yarn? How do you make self-striping sock yarn? How much acid and dye should you use? So many questions!

Finally, I was searching for some yarn fun near me and came across Sweet Paprika Designs, a yarn dyeing studio run by two sisters right here in Montreal - and guess what?! They have a yarn dyeing workshop! I already signed up (an early b-day gift?). So if you are in Montreal, too, check them out and maybe join me! They also have one on gradient yarn dyeing in June, but lets not get ahead of ourselves here (I am already excited about it, though).

So watch out, because you might be seeing some more yarn dyeing experimentation on the blog. Anyone else enjoy dyeing yarn? What techniques and dyes do you like best?

Until next time,