How to tie a hippo amigurumi?

Some people think that a handmade gift is the last century. Others, on the contrary, are sure that created on their own and with their souls is an excellent present. The fact that you know exactly what this or that figure is made of is also in favor of the latter. At home it is impossible to use toxic materials, and exclusivity is another plus of such things. Nowadays, this type of creativity is very common as amigurumi. In order to master it, you do not need too outstanding abilities and large material investments, and the result will please both adults and children.

Amigurumi came to us from Japan. The word literally translates as “tied-up”. And this very accurately describes the essence of technology. This is crocheting or knitting soft toys. Most often these are figures of various animals, dolls, less commonly found various accessories - hats, handbags, purses. But first of all, it's still a way to create a toy.

By the way, recently, craftswomen choose hook. The main difference between this method of knitting and the one adopted by us is that the fabric is knitted in a spiral, and not in rows. Another small nuance - a smaller hook is taken for work than the thickness of the yarn. This is necessary in order to obtain a dense web that will hold the printed material well.

By the way, some amigurumi are somewhat reminiscent of our tumblers. They have no arms, legs or feet, they only have a trunk and a head, while others are soft toys familiar to us. For stuffing, you can also use a variety of materials - from felt to plastic balls.The only thing that unites all the toys made in this technique is that they look very nice and pleasant to the touch. Most often they have a rather large head, an elongated trunk and small limbs. One of such examples is the hippo amigurumi, which we will try to create today.

In order to make such a toy, we need the following set of tools and materials.

1. Yarn. One skein will be enough to create a small toy. The name of the manufacturer does not matter - most importantly, choose the one that will resemble a plush. What ratio of cotton, acrylic or semi-acrylic you choose does not matter much either. The main thing is that the yarn is pleasant to the touch and has an attractive color suitable for a toy. If you wish, you can even take a thread with lurex or colored yarn. It all depends on your desire, taste and financial capabilities.
2. Hook. His number, as we noted above, must be less than usual to make the canvas dense. Try to take a tool with the number 2 or 2.5.
3. Filler for toys. Any material is suitable - foam rubber, felt. You can buy a special filler, such are in stores for creativity and needlework. And you can use old nylon stockings or tights.
4. Two small beads. They will become the eyes of our hippo, so their size and color also depend on your desire.
5. In addition, cook scissors, thick tailor's needle for stitching elements, if you wish, you can use special markers to count the rows when knitting (this can be a regular pin). As you can see, not so much is needed. Moreover, if you have been engaged in knitting for a long time, then all this you probably have in stock. By the way, for the creation of a small thing, the remnants of yarn that every craftswoman has are quite suitable.

To understand the crochet technique, if you are picking it up for the first time, take a look video tutorial, it is much more effective and faster than mastering this type of needlework yourself, even if you find the most detailed description. It will be even better if you attend a master class

Making amigurumi that is small, that large does not require a high level of training. So, if you familiarize yourself with the basic concepts: “air loop”, “column” and “yarn”, we can begin to manufacture our baby from plush yarn.

Let's start the heads. Our hippo will be with a whole muzzle, this will also facilitate our task.

The scheme is as follows.

• Row number 1. We knit a chain and collect 6 SC in a ring.
• Row number 2. We add 6 columns, knitting 2 in each loop of the previous row.
• Row No. 3-6. We add 6 single crochet in each row.
• Row No. 7-11. By the seventh row, we should have 36 columns in a row, we knit the next 5 columns in a column.
• Row number 12. Add 6 more columns.
• Row No. 13-14. We knit without additions.
• Row No. 15-19. Each row is reduced by 6 columns, without knitting some loops of the previous row.

The head of our hippo is ready. To perform the body, we collect 36 loops of the next 2 rows, bring their number to 40. The next 5 rows do not change the number. Then, in 2 rows, reduce to 36. After that, divide the resulting circle by 2. We knit hippo legs. Their length and thickness may vary. Most often this is another 9-10 rows. Now tie small cylinders for the legs and ears literally from 3-5 columns. Connect the parts and attach the button eyes to the muzzle.

Another master class on how to knit begimotika amigurumi, you can watch in the next video.