Learn How to Crochet Amigurumi for Beginners

1. Course Introduction: Hi, I'm Allison, the owner of Wonder Crochet. Thank you so much for enrolling in this course where you will learn how to crochet amigurumi. In this course, you will learn basic stitches as well as more complex stitches. How to crochet in the round, how to color change, and how to make amigurumi creatures such as this little Flamingo right here. Each module will take you through how to do different stitches as well as different techniques. And as you go through those, you'll start to learn how to crochet actual figurines. So each of those figurines will be at the end of a module and we'll crochet those together. You'll be able to practice those. And by the end of this course you will be comfortable crocheting amigurumi, as well as reading crochet patterns. 2. What is Amigurumi?: Amigurumi was started in Japan. And it is the art of crocheting small cute characters. So anything that you crochet that is a doll or a character that is amigurumi. And that was started in Japan. Many of these creations have the kawii look, which means cute in Japanese. They'll be able to see from many different creations that all these characters do have that kawaii look that's kind of looked at we're going for in this course, the different things that you will get to create in this course. Little bumblebee here, a little flamingo. I'm also including crochet patterns at the end of this course, you'll know how to read those crochet patterns and you'll be able to create those things all on your own. So as soon as we're done with this course, you'll be able to have those patterns in your possession and you can crochet those whenever you would like. 3. Who am I?: My name is Allison. I'm the owner of Wonder Crochet and the instructor of this course. I started not too long ago, learning how to crochet and everything that I did was self-taught and I found that that was very difficult. So having a course like this where I'm able to outline everything that you need to know. You get to learn from all my mistakes so that you don't make those on your own. That's why at the end of this course, you'll be able to create your own creation and be able to give those as gifts to friends and family. You'll be able to sell them if that's what you want to do. In this course, we really just want to have fun. You are creating your own art. You'll get to find your own style, what you'd like to do, what you'd like it to look like. And that's the most important part. So don't worry too much about it looking perfect and you'll absolutely get that with practice. Just have some fun. 4. Materials, Hooks & Yarn: In this module, we are going to talk about the different tools that you use while you're crocheting. And we're going to start with the hooks and the hook sizes. As you can see, I have several hook sizes ranging from two millimeters all the way up to ten millimeters. The hook size that you're going to use really depends on the type of yarn that you're using and to how tight you want your stitches to be. When we were talking about amigurumi usually what you're going to be using these around a three millimeter to five millimeter size. You can see it right on the yarn that you purchase, what hook size they recommend. Typically, I recommend going one hook size down from what they recommend on the yarn. This Red Heart super saver yarn, which is the bulk of what I use, if you turn it right over on the other side, it is a medium-size yarn. It's worsted weight. And they actually suggest a five-point, five millimeter hook. I would say go down a size to a size and a half so that you have those tight stitches. My favorite hook to use is the four millimeter. I'll be using that actually throughout the rest of this course. And this is what I would recommend to get for amigurumi. Obviously it's based on preference, but for the purpose of this course, I will be using the four millimeter the entire way through. As you can see with the hook sizes, they are actually numbered as well as they have letters to go along with most of the sizes. When you are looking at a pattern or you're looking at instructions for a new project that you're making. They may say use an E size or a G size hook. And you'll know that that is the 3.5 for the E size or the 4 for the G size. As you can see, it's pretty easy to follow. And I actually included a chart in your downloadables where you can look at the sizes and the letters that go along with them just as a quick reference guides. So if you prefer to print that out and put it in your craft station, then I think that that's a really great thing to refer back to. These are the basic tools that I recommend that you have, right when you start amigurumi. Obviously you can build up your tool arsenal as you become more well-versed in the crochet world. But these are the things that I recommend you having right away. So obviously you will need your crochet hook. This is G size, which is a four millimeter hook. I really love this size. I honestly use it for almost all my projects. And that is when you are using medium worsted weight yarn, you're using puffier yarn, then you will want to go up a hook size. If you're using thinner yarn, then you'll want to go down. For the purpose of this course, I will be using the G size the entire way through. I also recommend right here, this is called a tapestry needle. It is the larger of the sewing needles. That way you can fit the yarn right in there. That's great for sewing your projects together. This right here is a stitch marker. And I really love these stitch markers. They're really easy to use. Honestly, I got a big bag of them for a dollar on Amazon. I'll show you how to use these later, but I really recommend stitch markers for keeping track of where you are in your project. This right here. Honestly, it's just to cut the yarn. If you want to use just regular scissors, you can absolutely do this. This came in a kit that I got that I will link down below. It works really well to cut the yarn, but you can just use some sharp scissors. And these right here are your sewing pins. When you are selling a project together, these pins really just hold each portion of your project in place so that you saw it in the correct place and it doesn't slide around while you're selling it. When you're purchasing yarn. You can see right on the back here, it has the size of the yarn. It also has the hook size that they recommend that you use with that yarn. Typically, I'll recommend to go down a hook or a hook and a half size based on their recommendation that you have those tighter stitches and you don't have holes in your work there. For this project, I would use a four millimeter crochet hook. There's so many different types of yarn. And honestly, it can become a little bit overwhelming. When you're becoming more comfortable with crocheting and with amigurumi, you'll discover what type of yarn you like to work with best. Which yarn you like, the look of that you'd like the feel of. For the purposes of this course, I will be using medium worsted weight yarn. This is really your basic type of yarn. It's 100% acrylic. It's really easy to work with and really sturdy when it comes to your amigurumi. projects, when you're creating those dolls or those animals. They're sturdy and they stay together really well, and they're also easy to clean. That's why I recommend 100% acrylic worsted weight. You can see right on the back there that is the medium yarn. Right here, it says 100% acrylic. For this course, I will be using this type of yarn the entire way through. Like I said, if you love the look of the puffier, more soft yarn and you'd like using a larger crochet hook. That's absolutely something that you can do just for teaching purposes. And for this course I will be using this yarn. 5. Basic Crochet Terms: I will be including a worksheet, basic crochet terms. We will go over all of these throughout the length of this course. Don't worry too much about it now, I just want you to have this reference sheet to look back on. As we get there, you can check those off. And also, when I'm teaching you how to read crochet patterns, it's a great reference guide to have, if you want to print that out, put that in your art space, wherever you're going to be creating, then that's perfect. 6. Facebook Group Info: With your purchase of this course, you also have access to our exclusive Facebook page where all of our happy makers are there posting their progress and just looking for feedback. And it's a really great place. It's a really great community where we can all come together and we can help each other out with any questions and just create our own community of creators. 7. How to Hold Your Yarn: When you're opening up a brand new skein of yarn, there are actually two ends to it. So there's this one which is the loose end that's hanging just around the middle. And there's one on the other end that's coming right out of this end of the skein. Just a pro tip whenever you are starting to crochet, I recommend using this end right here. And then sometimes you'll have to dig for it a little bit. But that is really just for the purposes of easily being able to pull out that yarn as you're crocheting. So if you use this end right here, you'll have to continue to unravel that skein every time that you need more yarn in your project. This end really saves a lot of time and saves a lot of mess too, since it's all stored right in there as you're crocheting, it will continue to pull out on its own. Sometimes you'll have to give it a little tug, but that is a pro tip that I have for you. 8. Encouragement & Good Luck: In this course, I teach you the way that I like to crochet, the way that I like the look. And that's really just my style and my look. As you continue along in this journey, you will find out what you like and what looks you like if you'd like yarn over, yarn under, and this is your art so you can create it however you'd like. So whichever way you prefer is your correct way and that is your look. So don't worry too much about it. I'll be teaching you my way. If that's the way you want to do it, That's perfect. If you like it a little bit different, look in a different way. Absolutely. Go for it. This is the last time you'll be seeing my face for a while. You'd be seeing a lot of my hands. But good luck in the course. And if you have any questions, you can reach out to me on social media or you can send me an email and I'll be happy to help you out. Happy crocheting! 9. Introduction to Basic Stitches: In this module, we are going to focus on the basic stitches to get you started in your crochet journey. So these stitches are what are going to be the bread and butter of all your projects. And then we'll go into some more complicated ones, more involved ones. But these are really just your starter stitches. 10. Slip Knot: The first stitch that I'm going to show you today is the slip knot. This is really how you start any project. You will be using this specific, knot so that it is easy to correct any mistakes. You'll be able to pull your work right out because of this specific slip knot. So go ahead and grab that end in your left hand. And you're going to put your two fingers right on that bend there. Then you are going to twist that. And then go ahead and take your thumb and your pointer finger and grab that yarn. That right there is your slip knot. As you can see, you can easily pull that out. And that is how we are able to fix any mistakes in our amigurumi that we make. Let's do that one more time. You are going to grab each end of the yarn, put your two fingers in that bend and twist. Then you are going to insert your thumb and your index finger. Grab that and pull just that loop through and pull that tight. Now that you have your slipknot, you can actually insert it right onto your hook and pull that tight. And that is how we're going to start all of our projects. So go ahead and practice that. If you need to re-watch the video, go ahead and do so. 11. How to Hold Your Hook, What is Tension, How to Chain: I'm going to teach you how to chain. So you are going to take your work right here and holding your work between your middle finger and your thumb, you're going to hold the loose end. You're going to wrap the other end that is still attached to the yarn. You're going to wrap that around your pointer finger. Holding it just like this with your pinky. Might seem like it's a kind of tangled in there, but this is the best way to guide your work and how you hold your work and how you control your tension. Tension is how tightly or how loose you crochet your work. And you'll begin to get more and more comfortable with that. As you become more comfortable with crocheting. If your tension is a little bit too tight, you'll find it hard to put your hook into those stitches if your tension is too loose, you'll find that your work does have those holes in it and where you can see your stuffing. As you get more and more comfortable, your tension will come along with that and you can adjust some however you see fit. Don't worry about it too much for now. We're really just getting the stitches comfortable and getting the yarn comfortable in your hand. Let's hold our work just as I showed you before. What we're going to do is we're going to wrap our yarn just like this. There are two different ways we can do this. We can yarn over like this, or we can yarn under like this. I prefer to yarn under. It's really your own preference, will be going into stitches. In this next section. We'll go a little bit further into that. However you feel comfortable. I am going to yarn under pull through. Let's do that again. Going to yarn under pull through. As you can see, if you're holding it a little bit too tight, it is more difficult to get that stitch through there. And if you're hook slips out like that, It's okay. Just slip it right back in. And this will happen whenever you're working, especially as you are getting more comfortable with it. It's okay. You can always go back. You can always reach out any stitches. So let's make a chain right like that. So as you can see, there's your chain. You're learning how to crochet. As you can see, the chain, since it was made with a slip stitch, it can be easily pulled out just like that. 12. Single Crochet: Let's teach you how to do your single crochet. Let's create your slip stitch right here. There it is. Put that right onto your hook. And we are going to chain 6. You are going to insert your hook into the second stitch. You can see there's a stitch that's still attached to the hook there, and that's the second stitch from the hook. You can count your stitches easily by these little v's. So that's 123456. Inserting your hook into the second stitch from your hook. Just like that. You're going to grab your yarn and pull through. You should have two loops on your hook. Then your other end that is still attached to the yarn. And you are going to pull right through just like that. You did it. You created a single stitch. Let's continue along this row right here. As you can see, you did your stitch right into there and it's opening up just a little bit since you do have that stitch in there. Let's go into the next stitch. Go ahead and insert your hook in there. You are going to yarn under, pull through, yarn over and pull through. Let's just continue with the rest of the stitches that we have on this chain. You can put your hook right in there. Yarn under, pull through, yarn over, pull through. Good. Insert it again. Yarn under, pull through, yarn over, pull through. Let's do the last one. Insert your hook. Yarn under, pull through, yarn over, pull through. And just like that. 13. Yarn Over vs Yarn Under (X vs V): There are two different types of stitches that you can do. We call them the X stitch or the V stitch. Let me grab two projects of mine. Use these two different stitches. Once again, this is absolutely based on preference and look. And these are actually used with the same pattern. As you can see, the V stitch is much bigger than the x stitch. But that x stitch does have those tighter stitches and it gives it just that puffier look. Once again, this is totally based on preference. But for the purposes of this course, I will be doing everything with the x stitch. But you can easily swap in the V stitch if that's what you prefer. So as you can see when I turn it over here, that V right there. That's why we call it the V stitch. Those x's right there. That's why we call it the x stitch. Here I'm going to show you the difference between the V stitch and the X stitch and how to do each one. I am going to insert my hook right into that first stitch. And when you're inserting your hook into the stitch, you want to go through both. So you have that v right there. Make sure you're going through both of those. For the x stitch, you are going to yarn under, yarn over, and that's what creates the X. For your V stitch. We're going to insert your hook into the second stitch. You are going to yarn over, pull through, yarn over, pull through. As you can see, the x stitch yarn under, then yarn over. And then for the V stitch, you yarn over and then yarn over. Once again, this is completely based on preference. I will be using the X stitch. If you want to use the V stitch, if you feel like it's a little bit easier or you just vibe with the V stitch, go for it. 14. Slip Stitch: Now I'm going to teach you how to slip stitch. A slip stitch is different from a slip knot and it is also different from a single crochet. We will create a slip knot first. Go ahead and put that on your hook. And let's chain 5, 12345. A slip stitch is very similar to a chain. However, you are going to be doing it into your work when you're chaining, it is always on its own. When you're doing a slip stitch, then the work, go ahead and insert your hook into that second stitch from the hook. What you're going to do is just grab that yarn and pull that through both of those loops. Sometimes you need to grab it and pull it over. That right there is a slip stitch. The slip stitch is used in projects whenever you are trying to make a smaller stitch than a single crochet. Let's do that one more time. Insert your hook, grab your yarn, and pull that through both of those loops. 15. Increase: Now I'm going to teach you how to increase and decrease. Increasing and decreasing is really how we make the shapes in our amigurumi, how we determine how large they are or how small they are. And you'll learn that as you go along. So go ahead and make a slip knot. Let's chain 6, 123456. What you're going to do is you're going to insert your hook into that second stitch from the hook. And you are going to do a single crochet. Now let's increase. You're going to do another single crochet into that same stitch that you just did a single crochet into. That is an increase, an increase is two single crochets into the same stitch. Let's do that one more time. You're going to take your hook, insert it into the next stitch. Single crochet 1, 2. There's your increase. 16. Decrease: Similar to increasing is decreasing. What you're going to do is go ahead and insert your hook into the next stitch on the chain. Grab that yarn, pull it through. Then you're actually going to go into the next stitch. So not the same one like you did on the increases. You're going to go into the next stitch, insert your hook, grab that yarn, pull it through. And now you will have three loops on your hook there. And you are going to yarn over, pull through all three of those. So basically a decrease is just the combining of two stitches together so that you can make your work larger and smaller. And we'll learn more about increasing and decreasing as we learn to make a ball, and as we learn to make a circle later in this course. 17. Fasten Off: Fastening off is really how we end all of our crochet projects. Basically what you're going to do is end your work and fasten off, you'll insert your hook into the next stitch in your work. You'll actually do a slip stitch. Then you'll chain one, but pull that through. Then you'll cut it. So let's do that one more time. Go ahead and insert your hook into that last stitch. A slip stitch, chain one, pull through and go ahead and cut your work. That is how you fasten off. 18. Crochet a Basic Square: Now that you've learned how to chain, how to single crochet, how to fasten off. Let's create a basic square. Go ahead and do your slip knot. Insert that onto your hook. Let's chain 6, 123456. What we're going to do is we're going to do five single crochets across. We're going to do five instead of six because that sixth stitch is right there next to the hook. And we will always skip that one because it does make your work look bulky. It makes it look uneven. Go ahead and insert your hook into that second stitch from the hook and do a single crochet. Then you're going to go into the next stitch, do a single crochet. That's 2345. If when you get to the end of your work, when you are doing something flat like a square, to make sure that it is even. Before you move on to the next row. And you'll see this in all patterns that you read. You will chain one and turn your work. For that first row. We single crochet into just that one loop, since that was just a row of chains. But now that we're flipping our work, we are going to insert our hook right into this first stitch here. And you will be inserting through the front and back. So both of those loops and single crochet. Go ahead and insert your hook into the next one. Front and back. Single crochet. And continue to do so until you get to the end of that row. Then there's one more right here. So this loop right on the end, if you can see that we don't crochet into that loop. We crochet into the front and back of these ones right here. Go ahead and single crochet there And you'll see that your work is starting to look like a square. And if it's not, that's okay. You can continue to practice this. Let's chain one. Turn our work again. We're going to do the same thing. We insert our hook into the front and back. Single crochet. Go ahead and move on to the next one. Insert your hook. Single crochet. Until you get to the end there. Let's do one more row and then we should have our square. Once you get to the end there, you are going to do your chain one and turn your work in each of these rows will be five single crochets every single time. And that's because you started with six chains. If you want to have a larger square, then you will just chain more at the beginning. So go ahead and insert your hook. A crochet, five times 12345. There you have your square. You can either fasten off right now or you can continue to practice. You can just keep doing those chain one single crochet, fives across. And let's see how long it can make it. 19. Magic Circle: In amigurumi, you will be crocheting in the round. So that means that you'll continue to crochet in a circle to create your projects. Most amigurumi projects are created in the round and there's hundreds and hundreds of projects that you can make in the round. And that's really what we're going to be focusing on in this course is mastering crocheting in the round. There are two different ways to start a crochet project in the round. There is, I think an easier way and a more difficult way. I will show you the more difficult way first. Then I'll show you the easier way that I actually use for all my projects. The more difficult way is the magic ring or magic circle. This is a way to crochet in the round where you won't have a hole at the top of your projects, that little hole to start there just because you can easily pull it tight. And I'll show you here how you do that. You're going to grab your yarn just like this and hold it. Hold it in between your thumb and your pointer and middle finger. You're going to wrap that yarn around and create an x just like that. And hold that x right on the back there. With your ring finger. You're going to slip your hook underneath this first part of the x. You're going to grab that other yarn and twist. Once you have that. Hold that right here. And chain one. That right there is your magic circle. Don't worry, I'll do it again. I know that's very confusing. As you can see here. You can easily pull it to make that loop tighter. And that's what is attractive about the magic ring. Let me do that one more time. The magic ring here, going to hold it just like that and wrap it around the x right in front. Hold it right in the back. Going to slip it under the first and over the second with your hook. Grab that bit of yarn and twist. Now you're going to slip your fingers out. With that yarn. You're going to chain one. Right there is your magic circle here. I'm going to show you how to work into your magic ring and how to start off crocheting in the round with the magic ring or magic circle, whatever you prefer. You are going to start out your magic ring. Holding in-between your thumb. You're into index finger and your middle finger. We're going to do that X right there and hold that yarn in the back with that ring finger. Go under the first and over and pull through and twist with the second. You're going to slide out right there. And chain one right there. That's the circle. And now we are going to crochet into that circle to create your magic circle. You're going to insert your hook right into the middle of that circle, holding that loose end and that stitch right there. Hold that into place. And you are going to yarn under, pull through, yarn over, pull through. Let's do it again. We're actually going to do that six times. Just start out this magic ring. You're going to insert your hook right into the middle of that circle there. You're going to yarn under, pull through. Yarn over, pull through. Okay, let's do that four more times. Into the middle. Yarn under, pull through, yarn over, pull through. Three more times. There is. As you can see, this does not look like the start of a circle. What you're going to do is you're going to grab this end right here. As I break my yarn. You're going to pull that tight right there. And that creates your magic circle right there. And whenever you are starting out, you're going to insert your hook right into that first stitch right there. As you can see, there's the v. You want to go in through the front and the back. So you're probably wondering what's the easier way? The easier way. You're just going to create a slipknot like that. Pull that tight. You're going to chain to chain one. Chain two, you are going to insert your hook into that second stitch right there. So as you can see, there's one V to V. You're going to insert it right into that second stitch and do one single crochet. Single crochet, three single crochet. We're going to do six of these for single crochet. You are going into that same opening every single time. That's really important. I lost count, five single crochet, six single crochet. And what you can do now is you can actually pull that tight. You're going to grab on to that end piece. Hold up here and pull that tight. And as you can see, that closes that circle right there. It's not as seamless as the magic circle, but I do prefer this way. It's quicker and the stitches are a little bit easier to go into the magic circle. Stitches can be quite tight. Once you have that circle ready to go, you can crochet right into there. And this is where we're starting to crochet in the round. So just for the purposes of this, you'll go into that first stitch. As you can see, there's this one hook right there. You don't want to go into there. You want to go into your first V. There's 123456. And those are the six stitches that you just made. You're going to go into that first one making sure that you're going into the front and the back. And as you can see, the first one is a little tight. That's okay. Once you're in just like this, then you'll grab your yarn like that and make your stitch. You can go all the way around. And that's really where we're gonna start. 20. Crochet a Basic Circle: I'm going to teach you how to crochet the perfect circle. I'm using medium worsted weight yarn and a four millimeter crochet hook. You can use hook of your choice and the yarn of your choice just wanted to make sure that you go down a hook size from what is recommended for the yarn so that there's no gaps in your work. To start your circle, you're going to make a slip knot. Insert your hook. Then chain two. You have your two stitches right here. And you are going to insert your hook into that second V right there. So not the one right next to the hook, but that next one. You're going to insert it in there and do a single crochet. You're going to do six single crochets into that same spot right there. Let's do those. Once you do your six single crochets, then you can pull that circle tight right there. Something really important whenever you are. Crocheting your circle is your tension. Your tension basically means how tight you are doing your stitches and how tight you are pulling your yarn. And this is something that as you go along in crocheting, you'll get more and more comfortable with what tension you need to use so that the circle lays flat. It doesn't curve up on the ends, or it isn't too loose with holes in your work, you'll start to figure that out, but we just want to do a medium tension here. Next we're going to increase around the circle. So you're going to insert your hook into the first stitch. That's that first V right there and make sure that you insert it into the front and the back. You are going to increase. So you do one single crochet and two single crochet into that same area and it might be a little bit tight. That's okay. You pulled that circle tight so that you close that gap. It's okay. You are going to increase the rest of the way around. So we're going to increase the total of six times. So five more. Now that you increased six times, you'll have 12 stitches here. And you can flatten that out a little bit. If it's starting to curve, then you know that you are pulling your stitches too tight. If you're starting to see gaps, then you know that you are not pulling them tight enough. So for this next part, I like to insert my stitch marker just to keep track of where I am. If you'd like to just count your stitches, you can do that as well. We are going to increase one and single crochet one the whole way around. Now that you've increased one and single crochet and run the whole way around. This next part really makes a difference in the way that the stitches look. So some circles will have points where you can kind of see the rows of increases because they're usually not staggered. With this method, we are going to stagger the stitches so that it makes that perfect round circle and it doesn't have the areas where you can see the increases. For this next round. This is a single crochet two and increase round, but we're going to stagger them. So you're going to start with one single crochet, increase. Then two single crochets, increase. Two single crochets. Increase. Then repeat that until you get to your last stitch. Now that you've single crocheted two and increased for the remainder of the round. That last stitch that is left, you are going to single crochet. That is because you started out with one single crochet and then an increase. So that last single crochet makes that two and it increase. The whole way around. As you'll be able to see as your circle gets bigger, it no longer has the drastic points where those increases are and makes it more around circle, you are going to keep the odd rounds the same. And the even rounds you are going to stagger. For this next round we are going to single crochet three, increase one the whole way around. As you can see, your circle is becoming more and more even since you are staggering those stitches. For the next round, it an even round. So we are going to stagger the stitches on this round. You are going to single crochet two, increase. Then you are going to single crochet four increase until you get to the last two stitches. Now that you've single crochet four increased around, you have these two stitches left to connect it to the two that you did in the beginning. You're just going to single crochet 1,2. As you can see, since you are staggering that it is more of a round circle. We are going to single crochet five and increase one. That'll be all the way around since that is an odd row. Now that you've finished that round, you have your perfect circle. And finish that off. You can just do a slip stitch. I usually leave a little tail if I'm going to add onto something. Just like that is your perfect crochet circle. If you want to make this circle larger than, you'll continue with that sequence that we did. So it will be three single crochets increase, and then six single crochets increase, then three at the end. And you will continue to staggered out whether the round is even or odd. 21. Crochet Basic Ball Part 1: Let's crochet a basic ball. There are so many projects that you can make just by being able to crochet in the round and crochet a ball. Let's start with your slip knot there. And you are going to create your circle. So whether you want to do a magic circle or do it the easier way, that is your choice. So go ahead and chain two and you're going to do six single crochets into either that magic ring or that second stitch. 123456. Go ahead and pull that tight. That is actually called a round. You did one round of single crochets and that equals six stitches. So as you move along in your projects and you start to be able to read crochet patterns, which we'll get to in another section. You will learn how to count your stitches and that will help you with being able to read those patterns. What we're going to do next is a round of increases. You are going to increase in each six, each of these six stitches. That will equal a total of 12 stitches, since each increase is two stitches into one single stitch. Let's go ahead and do that together. In this first stitch here, Let's do an increase. As you recall an increase, it's two single crochets in the same stitch. Let's increase into that first one and do that five more times. Let's go to the next one. Single crochet 1, 2. That is an increase. Then onto your third stitch, single crochet one, and then back into that same stitch, crochet two. So that is three. Let's do three more. Into the next one, Single crochet, 1, 2. That's your increase. And then two more times. Increase, increase. This is usually where I like to add my stitch marker. Your stitch markers really great for keeping your place so that you know what round you're still on. If you lose count or like me, sometimes you don't feel like counting. What you're going to do is insert your stitch marker onto the stitch that you just finished. Go ahead and put that right in there. If you don't have a stitch marker, a paperclip works just as well. As you can see, that's going to keep our place for when we go into the next round. So typically, when you are creating something like a round ball, you won't keep doing rounds of increases because it won't make a nice shape. It'll start to get just a little bit too flat and it'll actually start to buckle a little bit because there are just too many stitches in the same row. What we're going to do is we're going to single crochet and then increase. We're going to repeat that sequence six times. So that'll be the whole way around. Go ahead and single crochet. Then in the next stitch you are going to increase. Let's repeat that again. In the next stitch, you're just going to single crochet. Then go ahead and move on to the next one and increase. Go ahead and repeat that sequence until you get back to that stitch marker, or until you have done that sequence six times. Your last stitch in the round will be right where that stitch marker is And you can move that stitch marker so that it is easier for you to crochet in there. I didn't move it because I was being lazy. You can move that stitch marker back a row so that you know where you are in your rounds. This is a good time to point out which side is correct for amigurumi. It is the side that we're looking at right now. You can see those stitches that we talked about before or the V stitches if you choose to do those. And then on the other side, the tail is sticking out and it looks just a little bit less clean. That is the incorrect side. So this will be the inside and this will be the side that is showing. For this next round we are going to single crochet two and increase one. And you're going to repeat that sequence six times or until you get back to that stitch marker. Go ahead and single crochet. One. Then increase. Single crochet 1, 2. Increase. Go ahead and repeat that until you get to the end of that row. If anytime your hook slips out, That's okay. It happens quite a bit in amigurumi. As you get more comfortable, it does happen less. But you know, sometimes when you're just trying to increase your speed, you'll notice that your hook does slip out. Go ahead and just put it right back in. It's pretty easy to attach to that right back in there. This is also a good place to remind you that if you make any mistakes in your amigurumi, it is very, very forgiving. As soon as you slip that hook out, you can actually just pull and your work comes right out. If you mess up and you need to do those stitches again, that's okay. You can absolutely do that. If you also go through the yarn and you only catch, you know, a few pieces on it. So that is called splitting the yarn. You want to go back and you want to fix that since it doesn't look as clean as your other stitches do. You can do that. Just go ahead and take your hook out and pull your work out and don't feel bad about that. It happens to us quite a bit. Let's put that stitch marker back in. This next row. We are going to increase, we're going to single crochet three and increase one. So as you can see with the stitches to gradually increase them, that it does make either this flat circle or to make a round ball like we are, you are going to gradually increase. That is why the single crochets go up once every row. For this next one. Let's single crochet three. Increase one. Single crochet three, increase one. Go ahead and repeat that until you get to the end there. That's a total of six of those sequences. Or until you reach this stitch marker. 22. Crochet a Basic Ball Part 2: What we are going to do next is do five rows of single crochets. One row, once again is from your stitch marker all the way around. You are going to just single crochet the whole way around five times. Let's start. Now that you've single crocheted for five rows, this is what your circle should look like. If it is a little bit too tight, then your tension is just a little bit too tight. If it is popping out on the sides here, then it's just a little bit too flat, then your tension is too loose and you'll be able to figure out your tension as you go along. You will see if there's holes between your stitches or your shapes aren't looking how they want to be. You'll figure out your tension as you go along. Don't worry about it right now as you are still a beginner. Let's start on our decreasing rounds. So you're going to do the same amount of decreasing rounds as you did increasing rounds to make sure that your ball is the same size. You are going to single crochet three, decrease one. So we'll go ahead and insert your hook into that first stitch. Pull the yarn through. Insert into your second stitch, pull the yarn through. Then the pull the yarn through all three. Let's repeat that sequence and it'll be the same. You'll do this sequence a total of six times and that'll get you back to that stitch marker. Go ahead and single crochet 123. Then decrease. Insert your hook. Pull through your hook into the next stitch, pull through, and then pull through all three of those loops there. Go ahead and repeat that sequence four more times. So now that you've finished that row, you can actually look inside and you can see those decreases. You can see that right there and right there. Make sure that the correct side is facing out. So for this next row, we are going to single crochet 2 and decrease and do that sequence a total of six times. So go ahead and single crochet one two decrease. That's one two decrease. Repeat that sequence four more time. Now that you've finished that row, it is a good time to stuff your work. You'll want to do this before the opening gets too tight and you won't be able to fit that poly fill in there. So go ahead and grab some of your fiber fill and go ahead and stuff that into that opening there. You can stuff it as loose or as firm as you would like. For this next row, we are going to single crochet, then decrease. That'll be six times. Let's single crochet. Decrease. And go ahead and repeat that five more times. Now that you have single crocheted and decreased six times, you can really see this ball coming into shape. Now we are going to start to close this opening right here. And we're going to decrease around six times. Let's insert our hook into that first stitch. Pull through. Second stitch, pull through. Here's your first decrease. And let's repeat that five more times. Now that you've decreased around, you'll see that you still have this small gap right here. I'll show you exactly how to close that loop that's on your hook. What you're going to do is you're going to just pull on your hook to pull some of that yarn out. So go ahead and grab that yarn, grab your scissors and cut that right at the top there. Now you can pull the end that's attached to the yarn. You can go ahead and pull that out. As you can see, you still have this gap here. So I'm gonna show you how to seamlessly close that. Go ahead and grab your crochet hook. You are going to insert your hook into this loop right here. This is called the front loop. You're going to insert your hook just into the front loop. Grab this yarn, pull it through. We are actually going to do that on all of these six stitches right here. On that second one, go ahead and insert your hook in, just into that front loop. Grab your yarn, pull it through. Go ahead to that third one. Front loop. Grab your yarn, pull it through. And let's do that three more times. Six. You inserted it into all six of those. What you're going to do is just pull that shut. There you have that. And what you're going to do is you're going to take this, you can cut it a little bit shorter. Then you are just going to poke it right into this ball. Once you've pushed that in, then you have your ball. Congratulations, you made your first amigurumi. We're going to save this for later. Whenever I teach you how to add features such as eyes and nose and mouth, go ahead and save this for later. 23. Intro to Advanced Stitches: In this section I'm going to teach you some more advanced stitches. And by the end of this section, you will be able to make your first amigurumi which will be this little octopus here. The stitches that we are going to learn will help you to do things such as these ruffles here and these arms on the octopus and many other things. After we finish this section, you will actually know how to do all the stitches that we will learn. From there we'll be able to make many amigurumi, just from all the stitches that you've learned. 24. Double Crochet: Let's begin with the double crochet. Now, like I mentioned before, the double crochet helps in making things like ruffles, where you're making a larger stitch then a single crochet. And it'll give different effects to amigurumi that you are doing. Just for practice purposes, I did a magic ring with six single crochets and increased all around. I increased six times. To do the double crochet, you are going to take your yarn and wrap it around your hook just like this. And that's before you enter into the stitch that you're going into. You're going to take it, wrap it around, and then you're going to insert your hook into that next stitch. Go ahead and grab that yarn, pull it through the first loop. And now you'll have three loops on your hook. Yarn over, pull through the next two. Then you'll have two loops on your hook. Yarn over, pull through the next two. So as you can see, that's a much larger stitch than even your increase. So let's do that one more time. Yarn over before you insert your hook into the next stitch. Insert your hook. Pull that yarn through, and now you have those three loops. Yarn over, pull through those two are an over again and pull through the next two. 25. Half Double Crochet: Now there is a stitch called a half double crochet, which is used like the double crochet, but for a little bit smaller of a stitch. Similar to the double crochet, you are going to yarn over before you insert your hook into that next stitch. You're going to insert it in yarn under pull through, and you'll still have those three loops on yarn over. And instead of pulling through those first two, you're going to pull through all three. Let's do that one more time. Going to yarn over. Insert your hook into that next stitch. Yarn under, pull through those three loops there. Yarn over, pull through. 26. Treble Crochet: The last stitch that we will learn, which is actually the tallest stitch that we will do, is called the treble crochet, also referred to as the triple crochet. Now similar to the double crochet, you are going to yarn over before you insert your hook into the next stitch. But you're actually going to yarn over twice. Yarn over once, twice, and go ahead and insert your hook into that next stitch. Now we're going to pull through three separate times and that is why it is called the treble crochet or triple crochet. Go ahead and pull through and you'll have four loops on your hook. Yarn over, pull through the first two. You'll have three left. Yarn over, pull through the next two. Yarn over, pull through the next two. As you can see, that's a pretty tall stitch that you have there. So let's do that one more time. You're going to yarn over twice. One. To insert your hook. Pull that yarn through. You'll have the for loops on your hook. Yarn over, pull through the first two. yarn over, pull through the second two. Yarn over, pull through the last two. That is your treble crochet. 27. Front or Back Loops Only: So you've learned when you do a single crochet, you insert your hook in through those front and back loops for portions of crochet patterns, you may be crocheting in the front loops only or the back loops only. And that will be indicated on your pattern, which we'll get to in a later section. For example, here's a pot planter that I'm working on for actually one of the patterns that you'll get when you are done with this course. I just wanted to show you what it looks like when you crochet in the front loops and the back loops. This right here, where we were crocheting a circle. The next round. I crocheted in the back loops only. That is what created this lip here and made it able for me to shape this. As the crochets start to work upwards. To crochet in the back loops only. It's exactly what it means. These are your front loops right here. And these are your back loops. And you'll just crochet, do your single crochets or whatever the pattern and says Just in those back loops. On the other end for the front loops. That is what I did to create this lip on the planter right here. As you can see, it's sticking out quite a bit since I did it in just the front loops. Once again, the front loops are these ones right here. So the correct side that is facing you, you're going to crochet just in those front loops. This will be really helpful as you're going along and you're learning how to shape your amigurumi, you will know exactly how you'll want it to look. And based on those front loops or the back loops, you'll know whether your work is folding or whether you're adding a lip on there. 28. Invisible Decrease: This next stitch, the invisible decrease, is actually more so of a pro tip then it is required. So you already learned how to decrease where you insert your hook into those two stitches and pull through to combine them. And a pro tip for this is making those decreases blend in. Also making them more seamless. These are just two of my random projects. And as you can see at the bottom here, these decreases are leaving gaps in my work. And they're also very pronounced as the circle is closing. On this one, I did the invisible decreases and it's much cleaner. You don't have those big gaps in your work and it just has a seamless close. To do the invisible decrease, you are going to crochet in the front loop. You are going to do the front loops only for this. So you don't insert your hook into the front and the back. You just insert it into the front. You'll insert your hook into one two, pull through one, and pull through twice. That's the invisible decrease. So it's a bit different. You don't pull your yarn through each time. You'll just pull that through. At the end there. Insert your hook into the first loop. Second, front loops only. Grab the yarn, pull it through both. Then grab that yarn and pull it through the last two. That is your invisible decrease. 29. How to Add Features: Safety Eyes: The first detailing method that I'll show you is safety eyes. So these are safety eyes. They actually come in many different colors and shapes. There's some really big ones for large projects. There are sparkly ones. There's so many different safety eyes. These are just the basic black ones that I will show you. As you can see, they come in different sizes and these go by millimeters, just like your crochet hooks do. If you're reading a pattern and it calls for safety eyes. It'll tell you the size of the safety eyes that you need to get. And just for your reference, you can get these at your local craft store. You can get these online pretty much anywhere. You just search safety eyes. Why they're called safety eyes is because they have these backs. However, if you are going to be making an amigurumi for a baby or for a child, they can still be a choking hazard even with these backs. So just keep that in mind. If you are doing a project for a little one, you'll probably want to embroider the face on or do yarn details just because these could pose a choking hazard. If that back does come off, the safety eyes come into different pieces. You have this front piece which is the eye. Then this little rubber backing. It's not just safety eyes. They actually have safety noses as well. And you can find all kinds of things if you look for them online. I will show you how to put this on. An important thing to note is when you're using safety eyes, you have to put them on before you close up your project. This is just a ghost that I'm working on. And as you can see, I'm not done with this project yet. I haven't closed it up yet. So this is when I would insert the safety eyes. Usually in a pattern, it will say what rows you need to insert them between to count the rows you'll just count from the very top. So starting with that circle, 1234 and all the way down, counting those little square knots there. The patterns, we usually also say how many visible stitches there are in-between. And you'll be able to count those just by these little squares here. You're going to insert the safety eyes in. And you're just going to take that little part and find a stitch hole and go ahead and push it in there. That's what it will look like with the safety eyes. This is the easiest option in terms of details. Usually what I recommend for beginners, although I will be showing you the other ways as well. You can turn that around and you can see those sticking out there. And what you're going to do is you're going to take your back and you're going to just push it on there. I'm not going to actually do it because this ghost is going to have felt eyes. You can see that is how you put your safety eyes in. And this is really great for beginners. And you can get your safety eyes at your local craft store or you can find them online. 30. How to Add Features: Yarn Details: The next method that I'll be showing you how to make details with yarn. Go ahead and grab the basic ball that we made together previously. And we'll be practicing on this. I'm just going to use black yarn for this. You can use any color that you'd like. We'll just need yarn, the basic ball, and a tapestry needle and then something to cut with. So go ahead and weave your yarn into your tapestry needle. This is how you will add these yarn features onto any projects of yours. You can do this after you've already closed up your work, or you can do it before. It is a little bit easier to do it before, but it's definitely possible to do it after. Let's add just a little smile. Using this black yarn. And we're just going to add a little v. Go ahead and choose a stitch hole where you're going to insert your hook. Insert that in. Sorry, insert your needle. Insert that in just a little bit of an angle. Then you're going to pull that through. Then what you're going to do is go back through. You inserted it, it the first time, then right across to make the other side of that mouth. So there's that. And then you can insert it right back into there and pull through. At any other point. Now you'll have these two pieces. You can just take your scissors. You can cut those off. Then you can push these two loose pieces right back into your work. And now you have a simple cute yarn smile. Now that you have this cute little smile, Let's use that same method to create some eyes. You're going to go to stitches off of that right there. Insert your needle and pull that through. Let's insert it a little bit further up here, right in the middle of those stitches. And pull through there. And then insert it in here and pull back through that last stitch there. Then if you would like, you can add little eyelash, which I like to do. Answer ear hook. Sorry, I keep saying cook, insert your needle, habit and pull through there. Just like we did with the mouth. We are going to cut these two loose ends. Then you're going to push in. As you can see, there's your cute little I there in your mouth. You can repeat that on the other side here. Let's go ahead and do that. Just as you did before. Insert your needle and pull through. You're going to go up right here. And pull through there. Then go ahead and go through here. Make that little eyelash, insert it back in and pull through anywhere. Now that you have these two. Go ahead and cut them. Pushing. Just like that. You have your eyes and your mouth, and you did that all with yarn. You can also add any features that you want with yarn, you can get creative. You can use a different color, pink to add some cheek accents. And you can really do anything. The sky's the limit. Go ahead and play around and practice. And let me see what you come up with. 31. How to Add Features: Embroidery: Just as we did for the yarn details, you're going to do the same thing when you are embroidering. This right here is called embroidery thread. As you can see, a ton of different colors. I got this pack online. You can find this at your local craft store. You can find it at Walmart. You can find embroidery thread pretty much anywhere. Let's open this up and I'm actually just going to turn this ball over and practice on the other side. If you want to crochet something new to practice on, feel free, you can make whatever you would like. I'm going to reach in here and grab just a dark thread. This is a navy blue. You can grab black. Anything that you'd like. You are going to thread this right through here. I do like to use a tapestry needle for this. Some people use a regular sewing needle for their embroidery. I like to use the tapestry needle because it threads in and out of the larger yarn a little bit easier. That's just a preference of mine. As you go along, you'll find what your preferences. Just as we did with the yarn, you're going to insert your needle in. For this one, I'm going to insert the needle back in there. Start to pull that through. And I'm actually going to loop this row back through here and pull it tight to create that V. Just like with the other one. You're going to cut the thread right there. And you are going to tuck the thread right in. Now you have your cute little v mouth and you can add eyes on just as you did with the yarn. You can really add any detail that you want using any of these colors. You'll just weave them in and out just as I taught you. And you can add any details on there. Go ahead and play around with that. If you have embroidery thread, if you want to go out and get some, you can. Once again, you have so many options for adding details to the face that you don't have to do embroidery if you don't want to. But it is, it is a fun one. As you can create more detailed looks such as this little octopus here. And as we, as I teach you how to make this octopus, I will be doing embroidery so you can follow along with me there if you'd like. 32. How to Add Features: Needle Felting: The next method that I will be showing you is needle belting. Belting definitely takes some time to learn how to do it. But once you learn how to do needle belting, you can do a very detailed work. Such as the eyes here, this was all needle filtered. Did the nose, mouth needle faulted? This? Right here is needle felt it and all of the face details. As you can see, it's very versatile, but it does take quite a bit of learning. This right here is a filtering needle. Comes in fine and coarse. I definitely recommend fine. For immigrant Rumi. What you also need is wool. I got this big packs online of wool, all different types of colors. You don't have to get all of this if you want to take up needle faulting later in immigrant me, You absolutely can. I really just want to show you this so that you can look back if you are learning how to do needle faulting. And this'll be a great simple guide for you. Let's start with just very simple needle felt thing. I'm going to open up this blue wool. As you can see, It's very different from yarn. What I'm going to do is just take a small piece and cut that off. I'm going to again use the other side of this and a word of caution. The faulting needle tip is extremely sharp. Please. If you take up needle faulting, please wear gloves. Please be very safe. As I have unfortunately stabbed my fingers several times. It is not pleasant, it definitely hurts. What you're going to do for needle faulting is we're going to place that wool right onto your image roomie just like this. And what you're going to do is take your faulting needle and you're literally just going to stab that wool right into your work. You'll continue to do this and you'll be able to start to shape that will. However way you would like. As you continue to stab that work, you'll see that the wool is really sticking into that yarn. And it creates a shape just like that. This is really a simple introduction to needle faulting. If you'd like to get a little bit more in depth. There's some really great videos and really great courses that can teach you this. Or if you'd like to teach yourself and learn on your own, just practice, you can absolutely do that. That right there is needle faulting. You don't just have to do this with wool. You can actually do this with felt as well, which I will talk about in the next section. 33. How to Add Features: Felt Details: The last method for adding features that I will show you is using felt. And this is actually my favorite because you can get really detailed on here. These sheets are felt. As you can see, I've already cut some things out of there. You can get these at your local craft store. They're really cheap. And that's one of the reasons why I like using felt. You can get any color and you can cut them into any shape that you'd like. Let me give you an example. This Siegel that I made, I was able to cut this the sunglasses out of felt the little details on his hat there. And then also the fish on his fishing hawk. As you can see, felt is really versatile. You can create pretty much anything you want with it. An option that I use is I use my cricket to cut felt. Obviously as a beginner, you probably, unless you already have a cricket. And you definitely don't want to go out and get one. They're quite expensive. But another option is just to freehand. Cut the felt just with some scissors. For an example. I cut out These two eyes and a little beak. Just to show you how you can attach those. There are several methods for attaching felt. You can either sell them on using a sewing needle. But my two favorite methods for attaching felt to projects is using fabric glue. I use fabric attack. And it works really well. Or actually using a built-in needle. Usually you can use wool with the melting needle, but you can also attach it. You can also attach felt by using a filter needle. What you can do is you can place your felt pieces right onto your amygdala Rumi. You can glue them on, which is really great for beginners. Or you can attach them and be very careful if you're using this method with a melting needle, just as you would with the wool. You're going to step that right into your amygdala Rumi. This task, give it a nice clean look. I usually, I probably do about 5050 with using a filter needle to attach the felt pieces or using glue. They both work very well. It's really just based on preference. There you are. That is how you attach Your felt using a filter needle. Once again, you can use glue, you can sell it on whatever your preference is. Now, you have learned the many different ways to add features. We learned about safety eyes. Using yarn, needle, felt, sting, embroidery, and felt. For the remainder of this course, we'll be using embroidery as well as safety eyes and yarn. So you'll get a little bit more experience with these instead of just this introduction. So feel free to practice and let me see what you've come up with. 34. Crochet an Octopus: Hey guys, Today we are going to make this happy little octopus. For this tutorial, you will need a four millimeter G crochet hook, a tapestry needle, something to cut with a stitch marker. Then for your yarn, you will need medium worsted weight yarn. I use this blue color for the bulk of the octopus, you can use any color that you like. I also used two different colors for the arms of the octopus. I use this main color and then I used this blue. Then this light blue here. Then this is also optional, but I used some pink yarn for just the little cheek accents right there for the face details today. It's up to you if you want to do safety eyes or if you'd like to embroider the eyes and the mouth like I did. If you're going to embroider, then you will just need some dark embroidery thread. I used navy blue. You can use black or any color that you would like. Let's get started. So to start your octopus, we are going to make a slipknot and insert your crochet hook. You're going to chain to chain 12. Then inserting your hook into that first V right there. So not the one right next to your hook. You are going to single crochet six into that same spot. After you, single crochet six into that same second stitch, you're going to pull that tight. Then you're going to increase around you're going to increase into each of these six stitches for a total of 12. This is a good time to put a stitch marker in your work. If you'd just like to count your stitches and don't use a stitch marker. That's okay as well. For this next round, you are going to single crochet one increase. And the obeyed the hallway around single crochet one increase into the next stitch. One to repeat that. Just a reminder for my beginner's, decide that you are looking at is the correct side. So whenever we start to do our round of single crochets, this will be the outside, and that will be the inside. For this next round, we are going to SINGLE CROCHET 2, INCREASE 1. You're going to do that six total times. So that'll be all the way around. For this next round, you are going to single crochet three, increase six times. So that will be the hallway round. Now that you have finished your increase rows, you are going to single crochet around for five rounds. This will be 30 stitches in each round. And you're going to do that five times. After you finish your fifth round of single crochets. You are going to crochet for one round In the back loops only. Not this front loop right here, just this back loop. You're going to single crochet the whole way around this round. Of front loops right here. We're going to come back to these so you don't have to worry about them right now. Next, what we're going to do is we're going to start decreasing to close up the octopuses head and body. If you are going to insert any safety eyes or anything, then you'll do that right now. I'm actually going to embroider the eyes on. So I'm going to do that after I have already finished in closed-up the body. But if you are going to insert safety eyes, then you're going to want to do that right now. For this next round, we are going to single crochet three, decrease the whole way around. Now that you have single crochet dt three and decreased all around, you are going to single crochet two and decrease the whole way around. Now that you've finished that row, you are going to stop your octopus with your fiber fill. Go ahead and stop that pretty well. You want to make sure that it is stuffed firmly, but that it's not stuff too much that it's coming out through the stitches. After you stuff your octopus, you are going to single crochet one and decrease the hallway around. Now you are going to decrease to close and you are going to pull that shut after you do your decreases. And I'll show you how to do that. Go ahead and do six decreases. After you've done your decreases, then you can pull this yarn out so that there's just a little bit of a tail. Cut that yarn, then pull out that end. So now you just have this little end and this small hole here. So what you're going to do is insert your hook into just those fronts stitches. Pull it through and continue to do that around with your six stitches. After you do that, then you can just pull that closed. Just like that. Then you can push this in Right there. Push that tail in so that it is no longer showing. You can form that to have more of a flatter bottom and around your top. And there's the body for your octopus. Now we are going to go back to this row where we did the back loops only. And we are going to insert our crochet hook into one of those loops. Then take the end of the color of the yarn you're just using. Go ahead and pull that through here. Then chain one. The sequence that you're going to do the whole way around. Is going to be slip stitch. Half double crochet, double crochet, half double crochet, slip stitch. So you are going to repeat that until you reach where you have started again. Let's do the first one together and then you're going to repeat it. In this stitch here you're going to do a slip stitch. Then in this stitch here you are going to do a half double crochet. In this next stitch here, you're going to do a double crochet. So you're going to yarn over, insert your hook. Pull through, yarn over, pull through two. Yarn over and pull through the last two. You're going to do another half double crochet. Yarn over. Insert into that next stitch. Pull the yarn through, yarn over, pull that yarn through. Then you are going to do a slip stitch into that last stitch there. You are going to repeat that sequence all the way around just to make the ruffles there on your octopus. Once you complete that sequence around, you can just insert your hook into the first stitch and do slip stitch there and then fasten off. Go ahead and cut that yarn, pull it tight. And what I like to do is you have these two ends here. I'd like to just tie them together in a not just to make sure that that doesn't come on Done. And then I will push these two ends into the body here. That way, they're not showing. Now. You have the head for your octopus. And what we're going to do next is create the tenant goes for the tentacles. I'm going to be using three different color yarns. I'm going to be using the main color that I have been using already for the body. I'm going to be using a little bit lighter of a blue, then a little bit different of a blue. Just to give it a little bit of depth in those tentacles. But feel free to use any colors that you like if you want to use all the same colors that you have for here, and you can absolutely do that. We are going to be making eight of those arms for your octopus. For the octopuses arms? Yes, I looked it up. It's not tentacles, its arms. She already knew that then you get a gold star. So I am going to make four of the main color to each of the supplementary colors. Once again, this is just preference so you can make them however you would like. You are going to make eight total arms. For each arm. You're going to make a slip stitch. Chain 16, starting in the second stitch from the hook. So not this one right here, this one right out here. You are going to single crochet 123 and then do a decrease. And you're going to repeat that sequence two more times. So single crochet 123 and decrease. 123 and decrease. Then after you finish that last decrease, you are going to slip stitch that out to be about the same length as your tail where you started. Cut that off. Then you can pull that tight. And then it'll, you'll see that it'll start to curl. What you want to do is just trained it a little bit. So start to curl that on your own and pull it so it looks just like that. You're going to repeat that seven more times in whatever colors you would like. And then I will show you how to attach them to the body. Now that you've made all eight arms for your octopus, you are going to attach them to the bottom, right here, right below where this ruffled lip comes in. I'll do the first one here. And basically what I'm going to do is I'm going to insert my hook in here. I'm going to pull one of the strings through. Then going through on the other side. But going through that same stitch, I'm going to insert my hook and pull the other string through the other side. As you can see, that's what that looks like. You can go ahead and tie that in a not doubled audit if you'd like. But unless you're giving it to a child or something, I don't think it's necessary. Then you are going to push these ends in the center here so you can hide them. That is what that looks like when you attach those arms, you're going to repeat that for the remaining seven. And just evenly spacing them along here so that they'll be evenly spaced the whole way across. Once you attach all your arms, it should look like this. As you can see. I spaced them out about one or two stitches in-between each of the arms. Now that we have the arms on, we are going to embroider the face. If you've already would safety eyes and then you can skip this next part. But I am going to embroider on the eyes and the mouth. I am going to be using this navy blue embroidery yarn. You can use any color that you'd like. Dark colors, I think work best so that you can easily see what you are putting on there. After you embroider the eyes, you are going to embrace the mouth. Between about rows 89. Now that you've embroidered the face, you can add some cheeks if you'd like. This is optional, but I like to add some little rosy cheeks using some pink yarn. So you're going to cut pretty small pieces, just a couple of inches long. And you're going to cut two of those. Then using your sewing needle. You are going to attach them onto the face. And that is what it looks like. So you're going to do the same thing right on the other side. There you are. You've completed your happy octopus. 35. Color Changing Intro: Let's talk about color changing and the different methods to color change. Color changing is as simple as changing colors. As you can see with this little candy corn here, we have three different colors. These are not three separate pieces. It is all work together and you can actually see where those color changes took place. Now there are two different methods for color changing. One is a seamless method that is just a little bit more difficult. And one is just the classic method of color changing. There really is no right or wrong way. It's really just based on preference and based on look. Sometimes the classic way looks great for what you're going for and sometimes you'll need that seamless color change. Here's an example. The feet right here on this bare are using the classic color change method. As you can see. You can still see pieces of this color merging into this color. So it almost looks like stripes right there. The more seamless color change method can be seen right along here. So as you can see, there's no stripes there. It's all just one color. But no matter which color change method you use, there will always be just a little bit of that mark where you color changed and that's okay. As you get better, it will continue to get more seamless there. Let's learn those two methods. 36. Classic Color Change: Go ahead and grab your four millimeter crochet hook in two different colors of yarn. It can be any colors that you like. I chose blue and pink. Let's start out with our first color. I'm going to start out with blue. And go ahead and do a slipknot chain too. And in the second chain from the hook, single crochet, six. Go ahead and pull that closed. Then you're going to increase six times in each of those stitches for a total of 12 stitches. I'm going to insert a stitch marker here. You won't need it. Once we do the color change. Go ahead and single crochet one, increase 16 times. So the whole way around until you get to that stitch marker. Go ahead and take this stitch marker out. You won't need that. Now let's start with the classic color change method. And I do think that this is a much easier method. And what most beginners use for their Imogen Rumi. Go ahead and grab your second color and place that down right there. To start your color change, you are going to insert your hook into the next stitch front and back. You're going to pull a loop through. So they're going to be two loops on your hook. You're going to take the second color and you're going to place it right behind those two loops right there. You can hold it there with your middle finger. Go ahead and grab that new color and pull through both eyes. You can see that new color is right there on your hook. And the old color no longer is. Go ahead and do single crochets the whole way around with the new color. You can just leave that second string right there. The second yarns still attached, that's okay. As you can see there, there is your classic color change. Now just something to note when you do insert your hook and you add that new color that does not count as a stitch. So when you make your first single crochet into the next stitch, that will be your first stitch there. Just to practice again, let's actually switch back to blue. Now if you're going to keep going with the pink and you are done with the blue. You can just easily cut that off and just keep going. But let's switch back to blue just for practice. Go ahead and insert your hook into that next stitch. Grab your pink so the same color that you have been working with and pull that through. So you have two loops on your hook. Now you're going to grab your blue and make sure that's in front. You're going to pull that through those two. Now that that blue is on your hook that did not count as your first stitch. Go ahead and insert your hook into the next stitch and do your single crochet. As you can see. Now you have those different colors on there. If you'd like to keep going around and keep practicing this way, you can switch back and forth or you can cut it off. Do as many rows as you would like. 37. Seamless Color Change: I am going to pull out that pink that we just did. I can teach you how to do. The more seamless color change. Go ahead and insert your hook so that just one loop of that blue is on there. And we have not introduced the pink yet. Just as you did for the classic color change, you are going to insert your hook into the next stitch and you are going to pull that blew through. So you have two blue loops on your hook. And you are going to bring in your pink hold that back there just as you did before. And you're going to pull through. Now here's where it changes. You're going to insert your hook and you're actually going to grab your blue again. Pull that through. Then you're going to grab your pink and pull that through. We're going to be alternating back and forth between the pink and the blue the whole way around. Go ahead and insert your hook. Grab that blue it through. Grab that pink, pull it through. Now as you can see, it's blue on the bottom and it's pink on the top. And that's what makes the seamless color change. So let's do that again. Insert your hook, pull that blew up, and then pull the pink up. It's helpful if you get a little bit confused about which color should be going first in your alternating stitches. Whichever color is on the base here. That's the color that goes first. You're going to insert your hook first. You will pull through that blue, grab that pink, and pull it through. So go ahead and practice that and keep doing that all the way until you reach that pink at the beginning there. There is your seamless color change. As you can see, this method takes a little bit longer, but it does make more of a clean color change than the other method does. You can just keep continuing to single crochet right in there. Now if you did tight stitches there, which is kind of hard not to, you will see that it's just a little bit hard to get your hook in there. You can continue to do your single crochets just like that. Or if you would like, you can do front loop only or back loop only if that's a little bit easier for you. If you do back loop only it will leave just a little edge there. And it looks really nice. And some projects, some not so much. It really is based on what you're doing. But if you do that front loop, it's a little bit easier to get into, but you won't have that line there. Once again, it's all based on preference. If you'd like the classic color change, better, absolutely go for that. If you really dig this one, then keep on practicing until you perfect it. 38. Crochet a Bee Part 1: I'm going to teach you how to make this cute immigrant may be an emigre MEP is one of the most popular projects to do for beginners and Imogen roomy. It's a really great way for us to practice a lot of things that we've learned so far in this course, especially color changing. What you'll need for this project is your four millimeter crochet hook. You will also need your tapestry needle. Something to cut with your stitch marker. And for your yarn, you will need black, yellow, and a little bit of white. You will also need your fiber fill stuffing. For the features. It's up to you however you want to practice your features. I am going to do a combination of safety eyes, black yarn for the mouth. It's up to you if you want to embroider, if you want to do all black yarn, it's absolutely your preference. Let's get started. We're going to start your B with your yellow yarn. You're going to make a slipknot. Here. You can either do your magic ring if you'd like to practice that. Or I am going to chain to insert my hook into the second chain from the hook. And single crochet six. Going to pull that tight and I am going to increase six times, so increase the whole way around. This is where I like to insert my stitch marker. I answered it right into that front loop there. Now I'm going to single crochet one, increase one the whole way around. So you're going to do that combination six times. Now we are going to single crochet to increase one. The whole way around that you have finished that round, you are going to single crochet three, increase 1 sixth times the whole way around to your stitch marker. Once you have finished that row, you are going to single crochet for increase. One. You're going to do that six times until you reach your stitch marker again. If you haven't been moving your stitch marker, you can move that up. Now. We are just going to single crochet the whole way around two times. I'll meet you back here after you've done that, after you finish your second row of a single crochets, you are now going to change colors to black. Now I am going to do the classic method for changing colors. I'm going to insert my crochet hook and pull the yellow yarn through, leaving two loops on your hook. Then I'm going to pull that black yarn right behind. Pull that through. Now. I am going to continue with that black yarn and do a row of single crochets the whole way around. I am going to leave that yellow yarn attached. And that's just because we're going to do a couple of sets of stripes for the b. You can leave that attached right on there and it'll make it easier to color change when we come back to the yellow yarn. So after you finish that row of single crochets, we're actually going to do another row of black single crochets. So go ahead and do one all the way around until you get back to that stitch marker. Now you are going to do one more row with that black. So go ahead and do single crochets the hallway around one more time. Now that you have finished that row, you are going to switch back to yellow. Now your yellow should still be attached. If it's not, then you know how to attach that right back on there. So go ahead and insert your hook. Pull that black yarn through, and then go ahead and grab that yellow yarn and pull that through. Now you can leave the black yarn on just like we did with the yellow yarn. Because we're going to be doing one more black stripe before we finish. Go ahead and go into that next stitch. Make your single crochet with that yellow. And you are going to single crochet the hallway around until you get to that stitch marker three times. We'll meet back here after you do add. Now that you have finished your third row of yellow single crochets and you are going to switch back to black one more time just to make one more Stripe. Go ahead and insert your crochet hook into the next stitch. Pull that yellow through. Grab that black and pull it through so that just the black is on your hook. Just as you did for the first stripe. You are going to single crochet the whole way around for three rounds. And I'll meet you back here after you do that. After you finish that third row of single crochets, your B should really start to take shape. You're going to switch back to yellow. So go ahead and insert your hook, pull that black through, and then grab that yellow and pull it through. Go ahead and do a single crochet in that next stitch. And you can actually cut your black yarn now because you won't need it anymore. Well, you won't need it anymore until we get to the feelers. You are now going to do two rows of single crochets all the way around. Now that you have finished two rounds of single crochets around and that yellow. We are actually going to insert our safety eyes. As well as doing the feelers, the mouth, and the wings all before we close it up. Now, just for future reference, you can absolutely do all these things after you close it up, except for the safety eyes. You have to do those before you close this up. What's going to happen next on our bodies? We're going to start. Our rounds of decreasing stitches. But before we do that, we're going to add all these details just so it's a little bit easier for us. For the safety ice you can use whatever size safety ICU prefer. What we're going to do is insert them in-between rows 34, right on the middle of that face. That's round 1234. And you're going to answer it in-between that round on both sides evenly. Go ahead and turn that inside out. And you can put that back right on there. Make sure you push that down type. And there you have your safety eyes on their. Next we are going to do the mouth. And I'm going to do this in black yarn as I showed you before. You're just going to take your yarn. You can cut about a seven inch string. And you're going to grab your tapestry needle. Insert your yarn there. Right? That's row 123, in-betweens rows 34. Again, you're going to insert your tapestry needle in and go ahead and push that back out to make that V. I'm going to answer that back into here. Then push that through again right there. Then I'm going to insert that back in through here. Then you can cut this. Push that tail right back into your work. There you have the cute little face on your b. Now we're going to create the feelers, the head of the B. So go ahead and create a slipknot. You're going to chain five. And then starting in the second chain from the hook. So not this one right here, but the one right next to it. You are going to single crochet for and go ahead and do a slip stitch too fast enough. Leave a little bit of a tail. Cut that. Then you're going to pull on each of the ends to form that together. And there is your first feeler. Let's do that one more time. For the second one, you're going to do a slipknot and chain five. Starting from the second stitch from the hook, you're going to insert your crochet hook. Single crochet four. You're going to do a slip stitch. Just a little bit of a tail. Cut that. Then you're going to pull each of those sides. Shape that. Now you have both of your feelers. 39. Crochet a Bee Part 2: We are going to go ahead and attach those. Right there on the beach. There is rho between row 67 on the face. You are going to insert those in there. I'm going to insert my crochet hook in through the back of that head. Grab the first little tail there for the feeler, pull it through, and then moving just one stitch over. Going to answer the other one and pull it through. Then I'm going to turn my work inside out. I'm actually just going to tie that in a double knot so it doesn't come on down. Let's do the other feeler. I'm going to insert my crochet hook, grab that first tail, pull it through. Then moving over just one stitch over. I am going to grab that second tail, pull it through, and then turn my work inside out. Take those two ends and tied in a double knot. There you have your feelers. The face of your cute little b's done. We're just going to do the wings Before we close it up. Now we're going to create two wings with our white yarn. So let's start with a slipknot chain to. In a second chain from the hook, you're going to single crochet six into that same spot. Go ahead and pull that tight and you are going to increase the hallway around, so increase six times. Go ahead and enter your stitch marker. For this next round, we are going to single crochet and increase six times. There you have your first wing. You can take that stitch marker. You can go ahead and fastened off. Leave a little bit of a tail too, so that onto the B. Cut that. Then you're going to repeat that one more time to make one more wing. Now that you have your two wings, you are going to sew them on in-between these stripes right here, right on the top. It's honestly preference where you want to put them. I like to put them just a little bit further out. Go ahead and grab your tapestry needle and thread that urine through. Let's find where we want to put this. Right there. You are going to just so that on sewing, you're basically just weaving in and out. Once you have that, then you can actually go right back through one of the stitches back there. I like to tie just a little bit of a knot. So that doesn't come on down. There's your first wing on there. Let's go ahead. And so the other one on, you're going to do the same thing that you did on the other side. Just kind of look there, see how you like it. Get insert that right in. Then you can tie that not just to make sure that stays in place. There. You have your wings. You still have a tail right here. You can cut that short or you can glue it down, whatever you prefer. Let's move on to decreasing and stuffing. This first decreasing round, we are going to single crochet for decreased one. And that'll be the hallway around. Until you get back to that stitch marker. I am doing invisible decreases for all of these decreasing rounds. This next round we are going to single crochet three, decrease one the whole way around. Once you reach the end of that row now it's time to stop your B. Go ahead and grab your fiber filled. Start to stop your b. You can stuff it as slightly or as firmly as you would like. It's all based on preference. Personally, I like to stop as much fiber fill in there as can fit. We have a nice fat be there. Once you've stopped it for your next round, you are going to single crochet to decrease one the whole way around. Now you're going to single crochet one, decrease the hallway around. Now you have that little hole here. We are going to decrease six times and then do a seamless glows. After you do your last decrease, you can pull some of that yarn out. Being cut. Remove that stitch marker, but that's still in there. Then just as I taught you before, we are going to weave that tail through these six stitches. Now you'll be able to pull that closed and pull it as tight as you can. That closes that up. Now you can either push that in. I like to tie just a little bit of a not because I will be giving this to my niece. I don't want it to come apart. Can pull that close there. Then go ahead and push that tail into the back. There you go. You have your Siemens close. Your little bumblebees done. Great job. 40. Intro to Crochet Patterns: In this section I'm going to teach you how to read crochet patterns. When you're learning how to crochet and Omega Rumi, it can be kind of overwhelming, seeing a crochet pattern for the first time and not knowing what those things mean. We have gone over all of these stitches and instructions on your crochet terms and abbreviations sheets. I've attached it in the beginning as well as this module. So go ahead and print that out if you haven't already. And we are just going to use this as a reference guide whenever we are going through real crochet pattern. As you can see. Because different stitches that we learned, such as chain stitch, single crochet, slip stitch. All of these have abbreviations. When you're first learning how to read patterns. You can use this as a guide to look back on to see what those mean. As well as the instructions such as increase, decrease, back loops only we learned how to do all of that. So you can just use this as a guide as we're going through. Let's look at a real pattern and I'll show you how you can read it. 41. How to Read Amigurumi Patterns: This is actually a crochet pattern that I wrote for a character called hana the flamingo. This flamingo right here, we will actually make this together in the last module, that'll be your final project. But I will show you here how to read a crochet pattern based on this project right here. And I have also included this as a downloadable, the whole crochet patterns. So you can print that out as well if you would like. Most patterns start with the materials and tools that you need, as well as any abbreviations in the pattern. Not all patterns start with this, but I include it especially for beginners. And this will just echo what we have over here. Then any policies and reminder and reminders. Just the legal stuff there. For materials and tools. You can see the different colors of yarn that you will need, as well as the weight of the yarn. For all of my patterns, I will be using medium acrylic yarn. But as I state here, feel free to use the urine of your choosing. But the size of your yarn will determine the final size of your doll. In this course, we're used to using that medium yarn. So let's continue with that. It also has the crochet hook size in any other materials that we need such as fiber filled stuffing, embroidery thread, sewing needles, scissors stitch marker, and sewing pins. It's really great to look right here and prepare for your creation before you even start to make sure that you have the correct yarn and the correct tools. We have the abbreviations here. I just state that this pattern is worked in continuous rounds, which means that you will follow that stitch marker like we have been like I taught you, unless stated otherwise, we can jump right into the pattern here. If you're having trouble seeing this on your screen, go ahead and download that file so you can follow along with me and you can see that really well. This might look like a little bit of nonsense for you, but I promise by the end of this video, you'll understand what it is. Right here. I have what parts of the body it is and that is the head. And there's a picture right there. These steps are the rounds that you have. As you can see, this is the first round here. And there are some that have like rounds ninth or 15 where you're just single crocheting for that amount of rounds. So starting at the top six, single crochet in a magic ring. Like I said, if you wanted to do it the easier way you can, you can just interchange that magic ring with that chain to insert your hook into that second chain from the hook. For the next round. We're going to increase six times this number right at the end. The amount of stitches that round. If you ever get confused, you can absolutely count. Whenever you're making those stitches, you can count those. As you know, an increase counts for two stitches. Anything in brackets here means that you do that first. Then you'll do that combination six times. If that's a little bit confusing. This right here is the combination that you'll be doing. And this is the number of times that you'll be doing it. It right here is the amount of stitches in that round that you will be doing. That is a single crochet and an increase six times. And once again, if you lose count or anything, just use that stitch marker and you'll be able to find your place in that row. For this next one. That two in front means that you're going to do two single crochets. One increase six times. As you can see, you're starting to get the hang of what these all mean. As we continue to increase those single crochets. You'll continue to increase the number of stitches there. When we get to this row, this nine through 15, that is seven rows. And that's why those numbers are right there. You're just going to single crochet the whole way around seven times. Then we go into our decreases. So there's six single crochets. One decrease. Six times, that will complete that row. And it'll also say in the pattern when you should stop that. So when you should put your poly fill in, then you know how to fasten off. And we've been that tail of yarn. It might look a little bit overwhelming at first. I hope that this explanation has helped a bit. If you ever get confused, just refer back to your crochet terms and abbreviations and you'll be able to see what comes next there. I wanted to also walk you through parts of patterns that don't look the same. Parts of patterns that don't look like this, where you're doing your single crochet increase or single crochet decrease or just two single crochets around patterns. I look just a little bit more confusing like this. For this bow right here. Which looks like that. You're going to start out by chaining 20. So you remember CH stands for chain, so you're going to chain 20. Then you're going to join both ends to form a circle with a slip stitch. That really just means taking that chain and looping it around and joining with a slip stitch, which would look like this. This is obviously a lot more than 20 chains, but just to show you how that looks, once you have that circle, then you can start the rest of the pattern. The next chain you're going to do to slip stitches. Starting in the next chain, you'll do one slip stitch and then a slip stitch in the next chain. And then in the next seven chains you're going to do seven single crochets. So this does not mean that you will do seven single crochets into one single chain. It means that you'll do it in each of their own chains. If a pattern does want you to do multiple, single crochets into the same spot. It will tell you otherwise, just assume that they get their own spot to chain those in all those different parts that I showed you in the pattern, you will be crocheting separately unless it says to sew them together, which brings us to the pages for assembly. These will have very specific instructions such as her head to her neck, slightly forward. So there's more head in the front of the neck then behind. And really you are just going to follow these instructions exactly so that you can so it altogether and the ending product looks like this. I will be doing a video tutorial on this flamingo so you can follow along with me on every single step there. And as I do that tutorial, have this crochet pattern printed out in next to you, so you can follow along and see how that pattern works with the tutorial that we're actually doing. And that will really give you a greater understanding of reading crochet patterns. But as always, any questions, feel free to reach out to me and I'll be happy to answer them. 42. Crochet Flamingo Part 1: Hey guys, thanks for joining me today as we are going to create this cute little Flamingo. I call her Hannah. The materials that we won't need today. Your four millimeter crochet hook or your GI hook. Something to cut with. Tapestry, needle, stitch, marker, pens. Some embroidery thread. I use this darker brownish credit color, but you can use black feed like all of the yarn is medium worsted weight yarn. We're going to use this light pink color here. This bright darker pink in color, black. Then you'll need just a little bit of white. For this project. You'll also need some fiber fill. Happy crocheting. Let's begin. We are going to start with our bright pink yarn and we are going to do a magic ring with six stitches. Or if you want to do it. The easier way, you'll make your slipknot chain, one chain to, and then you're going to make six stitches right into that first chain. And six, and you're going to pull that tight. Now you are going to do six increases. Go ahead and insert your stitch right into this first stitch right here, front and back. You're going to increase six. Your first increase on to the second stitch. And sixth increase. Pull that tight. This is where I like to insert my stitch marker. I'm going to insert that right there. This is also where I like to flip my work so that I'm making sure that I am working in the correct side. For this pattern, we are going to gradually increase. So we're going to single crochet one increase for around then to increase 3456. So starting right now we are going to do a single crochet and an increase, and you will do that six times. You can work right to your stitch marker if you don't feel like counting your single crochet and your increase, and you will do that five more times. You can move your stitch marker back if you'd like. I usually just keep it in the same place. It saves a little bit of time. Now we are going to do two single crochets and an increase all the way around. So that will be six times yet again. One. To increase. You will do that five more times. Now we are going to go into three single stitches and an increase. And you will do that six times. That's 123 increase. You're going to do that five more times. Now you are going to single crochet for and increase 11234, increase. You're going to do that five more times. Now you are going to single crochet five and increase one. You're going to do that six times. Now you are going to single crochet six, increase one. You're going to repeat that six times. Now that you've completed your increases, you are going to start a series of single crochet rounds. We are going to do seven of these. Let's move our stitch marker. If you haven't already. You're going to place it right there, right next to the hook. You're going to single crochet all the way around for seven rows. Now that you've finished your seven rows of single crochets, you are going to start decreasing. So you are going to single crochet six, decrease one, and you will do that six times. I'm coming up to my first decrease and I will be showing invisible decreases for this pattern. If you'd like to do a regular decrease sets up to you, I just prefer the invisible decrease, um, and if you don't know how to do that, you just enter ear hook into the front loop of the first second stitch. Pull your yarn through. Then pull your yarn through those two, and that's your invisible decrease. I'm going to single crochet six decrease five more times. For the next round you are going to single crochet five, decrease one. And that is six times. For this next round two, you are going to single crochet for and decrease 1 sixth times. Now you're going to take your fiber fill and you're going to stop the head. You're going to want to stop it pretty well so that their head is firm and it doesn't have much give. Now that your head is stopped, you are going to continue with the decreases. So you are going to single crochet three, decrease 1 sixth times. We're going to continue decreasing. You're going to single crochet to decrease 16 times. You're going to decrease again. So single crochet one decrease 16 times. Now you have this small hole here, so you're going to decrease too close. So you're going to decrease five or six times. Just whatever it takes to close that circle. I decreased five times. You can decrease six if you'd like. I like there to be just a little bit there so that when I pull it closed, it doesn't overlap. Then what I do to close it or if you know how to fast enough, Go ahead and pass enough. But what I do is I will go into these front loops of these six stitches. Pull my yarn through, go in the front here. Grab the yarn, pull it through 3456. Then what you're going to do is just pull that that closes that hold up right there. Then what I like to do, this is completely up to you. You can just push that tail right in. But I do like to go into a stitch right here. Then slip that through and pull it closed just so that it doesn't slip out. Then you can tuck your tail right in here. There you have your head for your flamingo. Now we're going to start making the body. So you are going to make your slip knot there. Then chain to. Or if you'd like, you can do a magic circle with six stitches. In the second chain from the hook. You're going to single crochet six into there and pull that tight. Now you're going to increase and all six of those stitches to make a total of 12 stitches. Now you can go ahead and place your stitch marker. Next to the hook. You're going to single crochet one increase 16 times. Now you are going to single crochet to increase 16 times. Now you're going to single crochet three, increase 16 times. Now you're going to crochet six rounds of single crochets. You're going to go around six times. Now that you've finished your six rows of single crochets, you are going to start decreasing. We are going to single crochet three, decrease one. And you are going to do that six times. Once again, I'm using invisible decreases for this as well. Now you're going to single crochet to decrease 16 times. Now you are going to single crochet one decrease 16 times. Now you're going to stuff the body. You are not going to close this off. This is just going to continue to be the neck for the head. Now you're going to single crochet around for eight rounds. After you have completed your eight rounds, you can fasten off and leave a tail to the head. Now, you can stop the neck so that it can properly support the head. Now that you have the next stuff to the body was already stuffed, you can actually shape the body. So we are going to just shape it just like that, where it is much longer in the back of the neck than it is in the front. You can flatten that out on the bottom as well. Since our flamingo will be sitting. We want that to be able to stand up on its own. You can set that aside. And now we are going to work on the wings. 43. Crochet Flamingo Part 2: So you're going to make two wings. You're going to start off with your magic circle with six in the center. Or you can chain two and the second chain from the hook, single crochet six into there. You're going to increase and all six of the stitches to make 12. Now you are going to single crochet and increase one in. You're going to do that six times. Now you're going to single crochet around for two rounds. You're going to single crochet, decrease around. After your single crochet and decreased around four times. Then you are going to single crochet around two rounds. Now you're going to chain for, you're going to insert your hook in-between this friend stitch and this back stitch right here. Do a slip stitch. This creates just some fringe on the end of that wing there and you're going to do that one more time. So chain 41234, and then you're going to insert it right into this stitch right here, front and back with a slip stitch. Now you're going to fasten off. Then you can tuck this tail right into the wing here. It looks like a little shrimp. There is your first wing. So now we're going to create the second wing in. You're going to repeat the process that we just did. Now you have year two wings. Now we're going to create the feet and legs. You will make two feet and two legs. And we will be using this lighter pink yarn. So we're going to start with the legs. And you are going to make five single crochets in a magic ring. You are going to single crochet around for three rounds. Now you are going to fast and off. Leave a tail for sewing. You're going to repeat that to make another leg. Now you're going to create two feet. You're going to start with four single stitches in a magic ring. You're going to increase four times to make eight stitches. Now you're going to single stitch around for one row. And that will make eight stitches. You're going to single crochet one increase 14 times. Now you are going to flatten out your circle just like this. We're going to do similar to what we did for the wings. We are going to chain for insert both stitches into your hook into both stitches and slip stitch. 1234, you're going to insert right into this first front and back slip stitch. You're going to repeat that two more times. One, 234. Insert into this ditch right here, front and back slip stitch, chain 1234. And you're going to do it into that last one right there. It's okay if it's a little tough to get in there. I'm just forced look through. You are going to fasten off and leave a bit of a tail. Leave it like that for now. You're going to repeat that to create the other foot. Now we are going to start on the beak. You're going to need black yarn, as well as the light pink yarn that you used for the legs. Starting with the black yarn. You're going to, It's eight magic circle with six stages. Now I am going to crochet six single stitches into the back loops only. I am going to single crochet around for two rounds. I'm going to change the color to light pink in her ear, hook into the next stitch, pull through it the black. Then bring the pink in there. And you're going to single crochet with the pink around. So that's six times. Now you can cut that black yarn. We won't need that anymore. You can stop your tails right into that beak. Now you're going to single crochet increase and you're going to do that three times. Then you are going to single crochet around for two rounds. That will be nine single crochets each round. You are going to fasten off and leave a tail too, so there's your beak and you can bend it down a bit. We won't be stuffing this. Since it's pretty small, it won't really be necessary. Now we're going to crochet the tail. You are going to single crochet six into your magic ring or chain to, and single crochet six into that first chain. Now you are going to single crochet six for one row. Now you are going to single crochet increase three times. Now you are going to single crochet to increase three times. Now you're going to single crochet three, increase three times. You're going to fasten off and leave a tail for selling. Now we're going to assemble our flamingo. So grab your needle sewing pins and something to cut with. First we're going to attach the head, the body. And what I'd like to do is place it just a little bit further back so that head does stick out more in front of the body. You want to keep it centered with the bottom center of the head right there. I'll pin it on there so that it stays in place. Go ahead and sell that head on. Now we are going to attach the wings to the side of the body, so they'll go right about here. And here. 44. Crochet Flamingo Part 3: And you can go ahead and pin those in and grab your pink yarn. You're going to sell both wings on just like that. Now that you have your wing sound on, we are going to add the tail. You're going to place it right on the back in-between those two wings. Let's pin this on. Hold it in place while we saw it. Now you're going to go ahead. And so that on now that we have the tail zone on, we are going to so the feet on. Go ahead and grab your two feet. Your two legs. We're going to do is so the leg, the top of the foot, just like this. You're going to solve it using this string that's hanging off the leg. But before we do that, we're actually going to take This string that's on the foot. Going from the center of the top of the foot. Go ahead and enter your hook in. Grab that string and pull it through that it comes out of the top just like that. Then insert your hook. You're going to grab that loose string, pull it on through. Now that it's pulled through just like that. You can use this string two so your leg right onto the top of the foot. And you are going to tie that off. That doesn't slip out of place. Go ahead and snip that tail. And then you'll tuck it into here. Then go ahead and repeat that process for your second leg. Now that your feet and legs are attached, you are going to attach them to the front of the mango right there. Sitting down like that. You want to place it right there so that the legs sit nicely on the flat surface. Now that you have your legs and feet sewn on, the learning goals should be able to sit up on its own. Now if it can't, you can flatten the bottom a bit and it should be able to sit. Now we are going to the beak on that's going to go right on the front. And most middle. I can see right there. Let's pin it on and make sure that this is the exact place where we want it. I think that's where we want it. So go ahead and so that on. Once your beak is sewn on, you can pull it down just a little bit. So it has that classic flamingo drooping beak. That's what it should look like. Now we are going to embroider the eyes on. So go ahead and take your embroidery thread. I used a dark gray, darkish brown. If you want to use black, that's completely fine. Whatever you want. Now I'm going to embroider the eyes. Now that the eyes are embroidered on, I'm going to create just a little tuft of hair at the top here. I'm just going to cut a very short piece of the bright pink yarn. And going right in the center here, a little bit down from that crown of the head. Trying to insert my hook in there and pull this little piece of yarn through. Then just go ahead and tie that in a knot. Tight, fairly tight. Double naught it as well. That doesn't come out. Go ahead and pull that up a bit. Then you can trim it a little bit shorter. And they're set cute little tuft of hair at the top. We're going to create the bot. You are going to chain 20. After you chain 20, you are going to join the two ends together with a slip stitch. You're going to insert your hook in there. Upstage. That is your first stitch. If you'd like. You can put your stitch marker right there. Then we will continue. For this round. You are going to slip stitch three, a single crochet seven, and then slip, slip stitch three, single crochet seven. Once again, this is your first stitch, so you will slip stitch one, single crochet seven. Then you're going to slip stitch three single crochet, 742 more rows. You are going to repeat that same sequence. So single crochet, I'm sorry, slip stitch three, a single crochet seven, slip stitch three, single crochet seven, and you'll repeat that two times. You finish your last stitch. Flip your work if you haven't already. And as you push them together, you can see that that form. So Bo, what we're going to do is we are going to slip stitch into the next stitch. Go ahead and pull that out. You're going to pull it out. I would say about ten inches and cut it. Then. Now we are going to wrap this around to create the middle of that bot. And you can leave this one to the side because you'll actually tie the two together. After you wrap your bot. Can flip it over and tie it to nuts there. And then trim those. If you'd like to tuck that in, you can do so. We can just flip our bow out a little bit. There it is. Now you are just going to so that right to the top, right behind that tuft of hair. And just like that, you've finished your form and go. 45. You Did It!: Congratulations, you've finished the course. I hope you really enjoyed learning how to crochet with me. Don't forget to download your five free crochet patterns so you can continue practicing and learning how to crochet even better if you want to keep in touch with me, give me a follow on Instagram at the wonder crochet. And there you can check out more free patterns I have. And more complex paid patterns as well. It's been so fun creating with you. And I'll see you real soon.