Kero-chan

[hooked_on_anime]

Hey, five days! That's not bad.

Pictures of Kero-chan can be found here.

Here's the main pattern:

Things you need to know: Crocheting in the round (spiral), US stitch names, single crochet (sc), chain (ch), increasing ([stitch] 2 in 1), decreasing, slip stitch (sl st)

Head:
Round 1: Begin in a ring; sc 6; continue in a spiral
Round 2: sc 12 (sc 2 in 1 each stitch)
Round 3: sc 18 (sc 1, sc 2 in 1)
Round 4: sc 24 (sc 2, sc 2 in 1)
Round 5: sc 30 (sc 3, sc 2 in 1)
Round 6 thru 10: sc 30
Round 11: sc 24 (sc 2, decrease 1)
Round 12: sc 18 (sc 1, decrease 1)
Round 13: sc 12 (sc 1, decrease 1)
Round 14: sc 6 (sc 1, decrease 1)
Round 15: sc 3, finish

Body:
Round 1: Begin in a ring; sc 6; continue in a spiral
Round 2: sc 12 (sc 1, sc 2 in 1)
Round 3: sc 18 (sc 2, sc 2 in 1)
Round 4: sc 24 (sc 3, sc 2 in 1)
Round 5 thru 8: sc 24
Round 9: sc 21 (decrease 1, sc 6)
Round 10: sc 18 (decrease 1, sc 5)
Round 11: sc 15 (decrease 1, sc 4)
Round 12: sc 12 (decrease 1, sc 3)
Round 13: sc 6 (decrease 1, sc 1)
Round 14: sc 3, finish

Ears:
Round 1: Begin in a ring; sc 6; continue in a spiral
Round 2: sc 12 (sc 2 in 1 each stitch)
Round 3: sc 18 (sc 1, sc 2 in 1)
Round 4: sc 18

Front legs:
Round 1: Begin in a ring; sc 6; continue in a spiral
Round 2: sc 9 (sc 1, sc 2 in 1)
Round 3 thru 10: sc 9

Back legs:
Round 1: Begin in a ring; sc 6; continue in a spiral
Round 2: sc 9 (sc 1, sc 2 in 1)
Round 3 thru 8: sc 9
Round 9: sc 4, sc 2 in 1 x 2, sc 5 (total 11)
Round 10: sc 5, sc 2 in 1 x 2, sc 6 (total 13); finish

Tail:
Row 1: ch 12
Row 2: sl st 12
OPTIONAL: I stuck the tail poof yarn between the final ch and the first sl st; I found it worked pretty well to hold the yarn in place, though adding reinforcement is probably a good idea.



Wings:
While the rest of the amigurumi is in the beginner-to-intermediate range of toughness, the wings in particular are almost certainly in the "expert" range, and were a major pain in the butt to make. However, if you really want an all-crocheted look instead of making wings out of felt (my recommended alternative), these turned out darn well.

First, no matter how you start, make sure to leave a tail of at least 12"/30cm. You will need it.
Second, you can either make one wing with each hand (that is, one left-handed and one right-handed) and do front loop or back loop crochet for both in Row 2 and 3, or you make both with the same hand and do front loop crochet for one and back loop crochet for the other.

Round 1: Begin in a ring; sc 6; continue in a spiral
Round 2: flsc/blsc 12 (sc 2 in 1 each stitch)
Row 3a (first feather): Loop extra long "tail" thru f/b loop (as appropriate); sc 14 on tail; loop tail thru next f/b loop; sl st thru same.
Row 3b (second feather): sc 13 on "tail"; loop thru next f/b loop; sl st thru same
Row 3c (third feather): sc 12 on "tail"; loop thru next f/b loop; sl st thru same; finish
Use "tail" to stitch feather-loops together

If you decide to crochet the wings and have any trouble at all, feel free to drop me a comment or a PM and let me know, and I will do my best to help you sort things out.



I'll be making another post about something interesting later tonight, so be sure to look for that :)

Edit: [Dec 26, 2011] I've added "crocheting in the round (spiral)" to Things You Need To Know, changed all the Rows to Rounds where it's actually rounds instead of rows, and removed a copy-paste error/typo from the first round in the body that was pointed out to me by a kind commenter. (Thank you very much!) I hope this helps :)

Edit 2: [Jan 15, 2012] I removed most of the "Consider felt wings instead!" disclaimer from the top of the post, and put a much shorter one right before the pattern for the wings itself. I think it's more professional.

Comments

Re: wings

[hooked_on_anime]

I'll do my best!

Okay, I'm going to assume you've got an extra long "tail" from where you've started with your sc 6.

Just like all the other pieces you make in the round, you're going to want to continue in a spiral. Just like when you made the head, for the next round, you're going to make two stitches in every one. UNlike when you made the head, you're going to only use either the back or the front loop when you make these stitches.

[How to Front or Back Loop Crochet:]

You may already know how to do this, but I figured extra explanation probably won't hurt.

So, you know how every crochet stitch has those two "loops" of yarn at the top that you stick your hook under to make the next stitch? Back Loop and Front Loop crochet only use one of those loops instead of both. With Front Loop crochet, you only use the loop closer to you; with Back Loop crochet, you only use the loop farther away from you.

I'll continue this explanation focusing on the Front Loop wing.

When you're making your second round, you make all of your crochet stitches through the loop that's closer to you, rather than through both loops. So your first two sc, you make on the front loop of the first sc in the first round; your next two sc you make in the front loop of the second sc in the first round; and so on.

On to round 3, which is the extra tricky part.

Remember that extra long tail of yarn from when you first started the wing? Pull it through the front loop of the first sc from the second round. Next, do 14 sc onto that piece of yarn, not in the first sc of round 2. This can be tricky, but it is definitely doable.

When you've finished those 14 sc, scrunch them together. Take the yarn end that you've just crocheted onto and pull it through the front loop of the second sc of round 2. Then, slip stitch through that same loop. This helps secure the yarn back to the wing. The feather you've just completed will form an open loop of its own. Don't worry! You'll take care of that at the end.

Before going on, make sure that the sc stitches you just made are facing "up", with the loops on top. Then, just like before, you need to sc 13 onto the piece of yarn you pulled through that loop. And just like before, when you've finished that, scrunch the sc 13 down and pull the remaining yarn length through the front loop of the third sc in round 2. Sl st into that same loop to secure the yarn again.

Repeat those same steps, but this time sc 12 instead of thirteen.

Once you've made your last slip stitch, finish/"close" the crochet. Be sure to cut the last strip of yarn extra long (about six inches or fifteen centimeters long should be more than enough); you're going to use this yarn to "close" the feathers. I recommend tying it and the piece of yarn you used to make the feathers together, so the feather-yarn doesn't slip out later.

Squish the third feather so the stitch loops are all on top and the sides meet each other, going flat. Then, using the long strip of yarn from the end and a blunt yarn needle, sew the sides of the feather together to form a single feather. Go out to the end of the feather and then come back. Stitch back through the front loop of the wing, then move on to the second feather and repeat the process with it, and the first. Tie the yarn down once you've finished with all three feathers.

And you're done! Leaving the strips of yarn extra long also gives you some readily attached pieces of yarn to secure the wings to Kero-chan's back.

To make the other wing, you follow essentially the same process, except you use the back loop instead of the front loop. This will give you one right wing and one left wing, rather than two right wings or two left wings.



I hope that helped. Let me know if there was anything I was less than clear on, and I'll try and explain it better. Also, you can find a post where I have some tutorials linked in the sidebar, if you want to see pictures or videos of people front or back loop crocheting.