#134 Never Seam An Amigurumi Project Again!

Hate seams in amigurumi projects?

Me too! I'm always worried I'll seam the piece on crooked or that it'll fall off someday. I know I'm not alone in this struggle so I was absolutely thrilled to chat with Melanie from Knot Too Shabby Crochet about how she eliminates seams in amigurumi altogether. 

Her new book, Hooked On Amigurumi, 40 Fun Patterns for Playful Crochet Plushies is filled with cute little projects to help you learn how to use shaping and color changes to eliminate seams and she shares her best tips with us today!

About The BHooked Podcast
Brittany's primary goal is to inspire you and help you grow in your craft with The BHooked Podcast. Through her own stories and the stories of each special guest, you'll discover tips and tricks to improve your crochet and knitting skills and find inspiration to achieve your hobby goals. When you want to kick back and learn from yarn industry experts, grab some yarn and turn on The BHooked Podcast. There's never a shortage of all things crochet, knitting or yarn.

Support the Show on Patreon | You decide what the show is worth to you.

Transcript

Brittany 0:00

You're listening to The BeHooked Podcast, episode 134, with Brittany. Well, hey there, and welcome to episode 134 of the Be Hooked podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm really, really excited about today's guest. We've actually been planning this one for a couple of months now, and I can't wait to share some of her unique ways of getting around the parts of a Megirumi that we don't always love to do. You probably know what I'm talking about. If you've ever made a Megirumi, which by the way, if you're totally new to that term, It's basically just those cute crochet stuffed animals or just little softies. So if you've done amigurumi before, if you've completed any type of amigurumi project, you probably hated or maybe you loved. And if you loved this aspect, I would totally love to hear from you because I need to know. But for those of you who have tried amigurumi before, the seeming. Thank you for watching. Melanie had some of those same struggles. She knew that she loved amigurumi and wanted to continue making amigurumi projects, but she knew she didn't like the seaming aspect of it. And she's super creative and just came up with ways to get around that. And that's what we'll talk about today. Making easier, faster amigurumi because you don't have to seam everything together. We'll also talk a little bit about amigurumi tips. Anytime I have somebody who specializes in amigurumi, like that's their jam, I love to hear about their tips for things like faces and hair and finishing techniques. And normally we talk about seaming too because that's also a pain point, but here we're doing it a little different because she doesn't do a lot of seaming in her projects. So we get to some of her tips about finishing as well and by the end of this episode, I think you'll be really excited to try this form of amigurumi at least once. She's got a bunch of projects in her new book, Hooked on Amigurumi, 40 Fun Patterns for Playful Crochet Plushies. And so you can try this technique on any one of those 40 projects. So we'll talk a little bit about her book and that journey first, and then we'll get into the nitty gritty of amigurumi. So here she is, Melanie from Not Too Shabby Crochet. Welcome to the Be Hooked podcast. Thank you so much for being here today. Hi,

Melanie 3:17

morning. Thank you so much for having me. really excited.

Brittany 3:20

Yeah, it's my pleasure. I know we've been planning this one for a while, and I'm super excited. I've had your book in my hand for, gosh, probably more than a month now, and it's so amazing. And you have this really unique approach to doing amigurumi to sort of solve the pain point that you had, and it's different. We've never talked about that before on the show, so I'm excited to get into that. Before we do, though, I would love to know a little bit about your story. How did you get into crochet and designing?

Melanie 3:51

Well, probably the first piece I ever made, I was pretty young and it was in daycare and it was this neon green and orange and pink hideous doily. And I was young and I just didn't really connect with it. What am I going to do with a doily? So I really hadn't touched it since then. But in college, I had a couple of friends. We had a girl's night in. We're all hanging out and who knows how the conversation got to crochet. And one of my friends had a bunch of hooks already and a bunch of yarn. And so she kind of found a quick online free pattern for us and we started working through it. And from then on, I was just hooked.

Brittany 4:39

Oh, yeah. So wait a minute. You said the first thing you ever did, you were in daycare. So you were really super young.

Melanie 4:47

Pretty young, yeah. I don't remember how. I still probably have that neon green doily saved somewhere, and it was hideous.

Brittany 4:57

Yeah. So who taught you? Was it somebody like your daycare teacher, or was it somebody in your family?

Melanie 5:03

It was a daycare teacher,

Brittany 5:06

yeah. Oh, so cool. Well, you took quite a break between daycare to college, right? Was it that friend's influence that sort of brought it back? Did you have to relearn at that point or did you sort of keep up with it in like in the interim there?

Melanie 5:22

Oh, absolutely relearn from scratch. I didn't remember a thing.

Brittany 5:26

Yeah, I can't remember much from when I was like four or five years old. So that's cool. So your friend taught you. Did you do a make a roomie first or did you start with just like some basic, more easy projects?

Melanie 5:42

It wasn't amigurumi, but it was a pretty basic, it was this little, just a little simple bird with two wings. And of course, we didn't have safety eyes. And so we used some just extra yarn to embroider the eyes on and we stuffed it with cotton balls and it was all lumpy, but it didn't matter. You know, I really enjoyed the process and I really liked it.

Brittany 6:03

Yeah. Do you still have that today?

Melanie 6:06

I do. I do. It's somewhere in a box, but I have it.

Brittany 6:11

Yeah, I always love to hear about people's first projects that they made and if they still have them. How long have you been crocheting now? Was that sort of like a while ago? Have you pretty much done it consistently ever since?

Melanie 6:25

Pretty much, yeah. So that was, let's see, maybe about 10 years ago. Okay. Maybe less. Somewhere around there, though. And so, yeah, I pretty much consistently have been doing it since then. For a long time, it was just... for myself or for friends and as gifts. And then about late 2016, I started an Etsy shop. And that's when things got a lot bigger.

Brittany 6:48

Okay. So when was it exactly that you started doing amigurumi? How did you learn about that? And what was it about that that just really drew you in?

Melanie 6:57

The amigurumi, making the little birdie with my friends was the first time I had tried that. And so what really drew me into that was probably my So by day, I'm a civil engineer. I work full time. So it's a very technical field and that's very methodical, a lot of math. And so I get to use a lot of those same techniques with crochet and counting the stitches and watching them build on one another with the increases and the decreases to kind of create unique shapes. And so I think that really, I formed a connection with the art.

Brittany 7:35

Yeah, I think that's really interesting because I know we'll talk a little bit more about like shaping and that sort of thing in a little bit. But yeah, there's so much math involved and like you get that, you know, like you said, you've made that connection because of your day job and your career. That's cool that you were able to find a particular corner of crochet that just like really works for you. So you said you started your Etsy shop in 2016, and that's when things really took off. Tell me how that journey came about. Like, what made you want to start a shop in the first place?

Melanie 8:10

I had been thinking about it for a long time. A lot of people always just like, you know, you should do it. I love all your stuff. Take the leap. And I was really hesitant. And honestly, I don't know what started it. I think it was just about after my birthday. And it was... It sounds cliche, but new year, new me, and let's just try it and do it. And so I posted two items. There was, I think, a little rice ball and a little fortune cookie. And I didn't tell anybody I posted anything, not even my boyfriend at the time, now husband. And I listed it. I put some pictures up. And about a week later, I got my first sale. And it's an incredible feeling just having that first sale. Yeah. Somebody completely out of state. It wasn't like a friend of a friend or anything like that. And so after that, I kind of just decided to dive all in. I made that Instagram account. I started telling people and here we are. Yeah.

Brittany 9:10

So are you still selling your goods now? Are you doing some designing? Well, I mean, obviously you're doing some designing, but do you sell your patterns in your shop too? Or are you primarily focusing on those finished goods?

Melanie 9:22

So not so much finished goods anymore. Definitely more on pattern writing. I only have, I think, two patterns on Etsy right now because I took a pretty long hiatus to work on this book because this book has patterns. It took quite a while to kind of come up with these designs, write down the patterns, test them, photos, that whole deal.

Brittany 9:45

Yeah. So when did that start? process start? When were you first approached with the idea to create a book? Or did you approach somebody and say, hey, I want to do this?

Melanie 9:54

It was actually somebody, a publisher. Her name is Caitlin Dow with Page Street Publishing. She actually just messaged me on Instagram one day and asked me if I was interested in publishing a book. And she showed her stuff to her her supervisors and they loved it and they were interested in publishing a book for me. And so we just got back and forth emailing and kind of exchanging some details, set up a call. And after about a month or so, I signed a contract. So I kind of just stumbled into it just by sharing my craft on Instagram. So it's kind of incredible.

Brittany 10:33

Yeah, it really is. And that's a similar story that I've heard with a couple of creators who I've talked to who are publishing books. They tend to be known or be found because of Instagram and what they're doing there. So there's certainly some really amazing things that can come from Instagram. So I think that's good for anybody listening who's like, man, that's like my ultimate goal. I want to write a book. I want to have a pattern book, but I don't know what to do. I don't know how to get started on that. I would say, gosh, like from your experience, just be consistent and post great things on Instagram because that sounds like that's how you were found.

Melanie 11:14

Yeah, exactly.

Brittany 11:16

Well, that's really interesting. So now I want to sort of shift in the direction of Amigurumi because I know that you're, like I said, you take that unique approach to it. You take out some of the elements that I know a lot of us don't really love to do, and that's making the components and sewing them together. Yeah. Before we get into those details, knowing that you have kind of a different approach, I'm interested in your process of creating those. If we start from the very beginning, where do you like first get your inspiration for a new design? Oh,

Melanie 11:51

gosh. I mean, pretty much anywhere and everywhere. A lot of people like to send me things and, hey, you should make this and I'd love to see this. And so I'll take those into consideration. But I'd say most of them come from kind of just my own experiences, things that are important or special and mean something to me. So in my book in particular, it's like probably 60 percent food, which makes sense for me. Yeah. Yeah. I love food. Huge foodie. Just eat constantly. Anybody who knows me will tell you. But there's also a huge focus on Asian-Americans. influences. I'm Japanese American. My family grew up in Hawaii. So there's like sea creatures and we have some sushi and soy sauce and some Asian treats in there. And so these are all just things that are from my life and from my childhood. And those are the ones that really resonate the most with me. I

Brittany 12:55

think that's another common theme is that we often find our inspiration from the things around us and the things that sort of make us happy. Yeah. I'm definitely one of those people that I think too much about it. I often question like, okay, what does inspire me? Like what actually does inspire me? And when I sit and think about it too much, I just overthink it and question what I come up with, like the things that make me happy. So I think it's really interesting to hear that it's really more about the things that are around you, probably the colors you like, maybe what you like to watch on TV, or like you said, you're a foodie. We can really turn anything into crochet. And especially when you're thinking about amigurumi, gosh, you can do so much. We often think that Amigurumi is more like stuffed animals. So what comes to mind for me is like, oh, teddy bears and bunnies and like all these cute, cuddly little things. But the first time I ever saw food created, I was like, wow, that is really cool. I never would have even thought to do that. So I think it's interesting to hear where your inspiration comes from and seeing that in your book. It's sort of like a collection of who you are.

Melanie 14:16

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Brittany 14:19

Okay, so from there, you have an inspiration for a new idea. What's the next step for

Melanie 14:27

Probably Google. It sounds a little silly, but I like to look at photos of kind of the real life object to kind of draw inspiration for colors. I'll look up plushy versions of it, maybe just like regular stuffed animals to get an idea of So kind of those, you know, Omegurumi is a little bit more rounded and cutesy. And so you get that same feel with plushies. And so to get an idea of shape and scale. And then I also like to look up and see if there's any other crochet items of that same design. Just try to do something a little more original and make sure I'm not completely copying anybody and see how other people have approached it. And then I just kind of start working. I know a lot of people tend to sketch it out and have this big grand plan. And I honestly never do. And it's probably not the best habit, but I just pick up my yarn and go.

Brittany 15:25

Yeah. Yeah. I can totally relate to that too. When I'm trying to do something like really complicated, like a garment, I will try to spend more time like sketching it out and figuring out the foundation chain number like that. that sort of thing but really when I'm just sitting down with an idea I like to do that too I really like to just get into it sometimes I will like gauge swatch and that sort of thing beforehand if I'm doing a lot of that preparation but you know I have to say for a mikirumi I really never do that first I tend to just play with the yarn like maybe start on the element and I think From those first initial rounds, you can tell if, for example, the hook is the right size for the yarn and that sort of thing. Do you tend to make transitions? Like if you've started it and you're like, oh, this really isn't working out, I should use this hook or, you know, maybe a different type of yarn. Do you find that's the case or do you tend to stick with the same hook size, same yarn because you know it works?

Melanie 16:32

Yeah, I do. I tend to stick to the same hook size and yarn. Every once in a while, I'll try something a little fun. I think the other day I made this giant dinosaur using ridiculously thick yarn and a hook that was probably too small, but I just forced it to work anyways. So sometimes I'll do fun projects like that where I do something a little different, use a little different material and hook size. But my tried and true is just a worsted weight and kind of a smaller hook size.

Brittany 17:01

Okay, so I was reading through the beginning of your book here, sort of like the introduction, and you mentioned something about Amigurumi that you quickly realized you didn't like, and that was a seeming part, and I know myself and so many listeners can relate to that. You didn't let that steer you completely away from Amigurumi, but rather than just abandon ship and start on some other type of project, you figured out a way to make it work for without having to seam so much and that sort of thing because it's not super fun. So tell me a little bit about that endeavor. How did you figure that out? And why did you even want to do it in the first place?

Melanie 17:43

I mean, like you said, it's mine and probably everyone else's least favorite part of crochet. It's just one of those things in the industry that everybody knows. So I just... of played around with the yarn lots of frogging lots of trial and error to find ways to manipulate it in the way that minimizes all that seaming and that sewing and so it uses a lot of maybe color changes or you make the arms and legs first and work it into the main body rather than having to go back in later and sew it on or you know joining separate pieces and working them together as one so i use a lot of those techniques throughout the book And it's nice because I think the easiest point to step away and abandon a project is if you ever have to take that hook out and start something new. And so I like these projects where I almost never have to take the hook out of the yarn at all. And I just keep going and I can sit and watch Netflix and finish a project and kind of just enjoy that process.

Brittany 18:47

Yeah, yeah. I think that's a really good point too. I know certainly for me, if I have to stop mid-project, it is really hard to find the motivation to go back to it. For the shaping aspect of it, you probably have to get a little creative with this because, I don't know, I find that it's a little easier to make like a head shape and make a body shape. And for a lot of my patterns, I'll use kind of the same pattern unless it's like really different. And that's an easy approach. But I think it's so much easier to not have to do all of those elements. But I think you have to be a little more mindful of the shaping. So let's talk about that. I know shaping can be a big holdup for somebody who's trying to more design a Mickey roomie rather than follow a pattern. You don't really have to worry about that as much. But where are you able to... make the right shapes? Is it more of a trial by fire kind of approach? Just work what you know and see if it looks good? Or do you kind of pull from some of your background and your knowledge about mathematics and how that works into crochet that helps you create the shapes to minimize the seaming?

Melanie 20:07

I'd say it's a little bit of both, a little bit of everything. A lot of trial and error, but As long as you kind of have a basic understanding of the primary shapes, you know, creating a circle or a cylinder cone, you can use that as your foundation and then sort of just tweak it and play with it. And, you know, maybe what if I concentrate the increases on this side? How does that affect the shape? What if I, you know, just any little thing really kind of can tweak the shape and create something different? And so. As long as you're using those main foundation stitches and main foundation patterns, it's limitless what you can come up with. So that's kind of how I just jump in. I'll start with those basic shapes and then kind of play with it and see what comes out of it.

Brittany 21:00

Okay. So that's interesting, too. I know that's a shaping aspect that maybe somebody hasn't thought of before, what happens when you focus your increases on one side of it. In your experience, what does that do to the shape?

Melanie 21:16

So I use that, for example, the coffee pot, just to create that little bit of the spell where you pour it. Yeah. And so it kind of just... creates a little extra material, I guess, on that side of it. And it kind of folds over and makes that spout. So that's one example. Or another one is the whale. I'll kind of concentrate more increases at the back end to give him a little bit of a longer shape on the back and then a more bubbly shape up front.

Brittany 21:48

Gotcha. Okay. So on the reverse of that, let's say you were decreasing or maybe you're using slip stitches on one side. Have you ever played with that? And can you tell us like what kind of shape that will give you? So

Melanie 22:03

decreasing for, let's see, an example would be the Loch Ness Monster. So the head can kind of come in in the front and work into the neck. So I'll decrease a little more right at that chin to bring that head in. And then let's see, maybe the toast, kind of the top of the toast where it indents, you get that little dimple. I'll do some stitches there to create that dimple.

Brittany 22:32

Okay. Now, do you tend to just put these decreases or the increases where you know they need to go or do you try to work it out mathematically? Does it need to be even or do you need to just write out what you did? Does that make sense?

Melanie 22:48

Yeah, I have a bad habit of just working and never writing anything down. And then, of course, I have to go back and now try to reverse engineer whatever I did. But I think there's a balance between trying to make a pattern that makes sense and is readable versus what may actually just work as you're working through it. So I do end up having to tweak it and maybe make it translate better to pattern and make things a little more even and make things um make a little more sense on paper whereas while I'm just working and not really paying attention to the rounds and the stitch count I might want to do things a little differently.

Brittany 23:30

Right. I completely agree. I don't know what it is about Amiga Rumi. I don't know if it's because the pieces are smaller or the project is more fun for me. I tend to do the same thing. I forget to write things down. And for me, it feels impossible to go back and reverse engineer with any kind of confidence. So I will often make two or three of the same to sort of check myself, which is okay. I think a lot of the pieces that are in your book are smaller and can be completed. pretty quickly so you're getting like some good instant gratification there yeah exactly now one that i'm looking at here is a little starfish and he has some interesting shaping too can you explain how how how that comes together like it it almost doesn't look like it's a a round like it doesn't look like a one round it looks like a bunch of things put together but i know With your approach, you do have it be one piece. So can you walk me through that one?

Melanie 24:33

Yeah, so it still does start with a magic ring or a magic circle. But from there, you start creating chains as the legs. And so it kind of starts looking like this spindly little thing and nothing like a starfish yet. But once you start building on those chains and continuing to work around them, It kind of builds some depth and some character to it. And so it's really just, I think, maybe what, two or three, I don't have the pattern in front of me, but two or three rounds and you can already start to see the starfish shape. And so it's kind of impressive and how it kind of builds on one another and can create these unique shapes from this spindly, weird little... Yeah,

Brittany 25:15

yeah, it really is. And knowing that it is one piece, it's, it's pretty fascinating. So you have to have a pretty good imagination, I would say to put some of this stuff together. Is it something that you feel like you just have? Or is it something you feel like you've learned?

Melanie 25:33

I think it definitely comes from the engineering background, as I was saying earlier. And so it helps to be able to visualize and be more spatially aware of how these things will build together. But it definitely does take some creativity and some ingenuity and really just being able to picture this all come together.

Brittany 25:54

Yeah, it seems like a lot of not freeform crochet, as in like if you were to Google it, what you would see. But I feel like there is a lot of just like freestyling to this. Having an idea and saying, I wonder if that would work, trying it. And I think that's the best way to figure out if a shape is going to be what you want it to be. If you can't really troubleshoot it in your mind, like just try it. work it out and see if it works. And if it does, try to replicate it and write it down and go from there. Is that sort of the approach that you took with learning all the different shapes?

Melanie 26:30

Exactly. Yeah, definitely a lot of frogging. But yeah, just go in and do it. That's my advice.

Brittany 26:39

Yeah, I think that's really, really great advice. So we've talked a lot about how to create shapes, like just general shapes, but for anybody who's flipping through your book or who has seen it, and you've even mentioned it here before, you use color changes quite a bit to help break up the pattern or the piece so that it looks like it has different elements so you don't have to sew them. Do you have any tips for changing colors within a makey roomie? I know sometimes there can be some jogs because you're working in rounds.

Melanie 27:13

I usually just kind of leave them because I tend to leave a row of back loops where I'll attach something on later and it hides them. But I know there are techniques and I've played around with them, but I just don't always use them consistently. And so I think for the book, a lot of the patterns, I don't even worry about it. I'll go ahead and leave that kind of harsher color change because it will work into the piece later. But yeah, that's sort of the... technique I use with the color changes. For example, the ice cream cone. You might think you might want to do a ball for the ice cream and then a cone shape for the cone, and then you can sew it together at the end. So you might want to do a ball shape for the ice cream and then a cone shape for the ice cream cone and sew those together at the end. But what I like to do, because I just... wouldn't want to make two separate pieces and sew them together and kind of break up a project like that I'll start with the cone and then leave a row of back loops when I transition to for example the pink color for like a strawberry ice cream and continue on with that dome shape and then I'll go back later and reattach a little bit of pink yarn and kind of create that scalloped edge and that'll hide that transition and make it look more like two separate pieces

Brittany 28:38

Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Now, as far as the decreases go, do you use like the invisible decrease or do you find that just using the right hook yarn combination can help minimize like any holes that you might see from the decreases? Like, for example, in your ice cream, you're doing increases for like the bottom half of the dome and then you're decreasing to form like the top half of it.

Melanie 29:04

Yeah, so I generally do like to use the invisible increase. There's a couple situations where it's a little harder to. I think there's, you know, some of my patterns that are a little more rectangular, you need to decrease three stitches together. And so you can't really, it gets a little too bulky to use the invisible technique for that one. I'm doing through the back loops only or something like that. I'll have to use a regular decrease. But if it's a pretty much standard decrease, decrease, I can go ahead and do the invisible and that's my go-to.

Brittany 29:36

Gotcha. Okay. It really does make a big difference. I was hesitant to do that in any projects or really to learn that stitch because I thought, well, you're doing the same exact stitch. Certainly it can't be that invisible, but it really does make a big difference to use that front loop. And you can't tell, it doesn't look any different on the front, but just having that exposed back loop, it kind of like fills in that gap.

Melanie 30:02

Yeah, absolutely. It definitely makes a big difference.

Brittany 30:05

Yeah. Now, another thing that comes up a lot when making amigurumi, like designing it or just creating it, is the finishing touches. A lot of your... work in this book has like cute little faces and some hair and that sort of thing. Do you have any tips for the finishing touches? Like, for example, let's start with the eyes. I know that's always a big struggle to try to put them in the right spot and yours always look really cute. So do you have a tip or a trick about where to place the eyes?

Melanie 30:39

Again, just trial and error, but I kind of found that my style at least is a little lower on the face, maybe a little closer set together. And that's just kind of the look that I like. But it's definitely a stylistic choice. I think it'll look cute no matter where you put it, because you have this cute, squishy little thing with some little beady eyes. So it's definitely a stylistic choice. But generally, I like a little lower on the face and a little closer set depending on the piece.

Brittany 31:11

Okay, yeah. And then what about other elements? Like I see a lot of your projects in the book have a mouth on them. And it looks really easy, but it looks super cute. Is that just you using a yarn and needle to make that?

Melanie 31:28

Yeah, exactly. It's just a black yarn and needle. I know a lot of people like to use embroidery thread as well. That works. I just generally like to use yarn because it's a little thicker and it gives a little definition and doesn't get kind of lost in the threads of yarn. But yeah, it's just a quick embroidery stitch to give the two little V shape. And then I like to do a little bit of just like drugstore cosmetic blush and it gives it the cozy pink cheeks.

Brittany 31:55

Yeah, I like that. And you know, somebody asked me a question about that and I couldn't answer them because I hadn't tried it before. Have you ever tried washing one of your little projects that had the blush on there? I imagine the blush would come off, but since I haven't done it myself, do you have experience with this?

Melanie 32:14

You know, I actually haven't. I haven't washed them, but they've kind of been around and kind of been tumbled and roughed up a bit and they're still holding strong. So I imagine it wouldn't be awful, but it's also not the hardest to go to, you know, CVS or Rite Aid and get some cheap blush and throw some more back on.

Brittany 32:31

Yeah, that really was my answer for that. Well, you know, if it does come off, then just put it back on and it's super easy. Do you have any tips about washing? Is it even safe to do that? Because a lot of times you're using like a polyfill stuffing on the inside.

Melanie 32:48

I typically don't. It's not as necessary, I think, with amigurumi as it is with garments. Yeah. So I typically don't. I'll just spot clean it and hope for the best.

Brittany 33:01

Yeah. All of the amigurumi that I've made, I have kept here in my office. And I don't do a ton of it, to be honest. I've got three patterns that I have done over the years that I just really, really love those projects. And so I have them here in my office. And I'm not putting them through the same day-to-day use that if you were to make one and gift it to a child that they would. So I don't really have the need to wash them, but I would probably do the same as you, just spot wash and hope for the best.

Melanie 33:34

Yeah, exactly. I've definitely had some accidentally fall in water, and they held up okay. Okay, that's good to know, yeah.

Brittany 33:43

So moving on to some other finishing touches, too, I had a question come in through Instagram and they were really curious about adding hair. And if you have any tips for how to do that, I know you have a couple of projects in the book that have hair and they look really cute. And that can, well, one, be a really daunting task because that's a lot of little pieces of yarn that you have to cut and add them on. And then, you know, you have to worry about whether they look right and then trimming it and all that stuff. So can you just give us a little bit of tips about adding hair and staying motivated to keep going through that sort of longer process?

Melanie 34:24

Yeah, it definitely is a lot of little pieces. I don't think there's a way around that. But you don't need quite as many as you think. Because if you end up filling every little gap, you they'll probably end up looking like they have an afro. It's just a little bit too... So really all you need to fill up a little more densely is along the hairline and then along wherever you are going to part the hair. And beyond that, you can kind of do it a little bit more sparse because it'll hide behind the existing hair that's already there. And it's a little bit more manageable. You don't need quite as many pieces and... You still get a nice finished clean line along the edges. And then after that, you kind of give it a quick trim and hopefully it'll look pretty good.

Brittany 35:09

Yeah, okay. So how do you put them on? Do you use like the knot technique or do you use like the tassel technique?

Melanie 35:20

Like the knot technique, I'll just kind of loop it through and pull it up. I don't know if that makes sense at all through a podcast. Right, right.

Brittany 35:30

Yeah, this is definitely one of those topics that's probably easier to see than it is here at Explained. But I basically will add hair the same way I add like a tassel to something. So I would loop both pieces through like the stitch or the part of the head where I want it to go and then keep the loop on the opposite side and run both of those tails through it. And that worked pretty well. It looked good. But again, since I'm not gifting them to children, I don't know if that would really be that sturdy or if it would stay. It has for me just having it here, but for regular use or definitely washing, I'm not sure.

Melanie 36:09

Yeah, actually, I'm not too sure either, to be honest. Same as well. The ones that I keep in the office aren't getting a lot of heavy use, but I haven't had anybody come back and tell me that all the hair is falling out and what do I do? So I'm hoping and imagining that it does stay in place, but I do use the same technique.

Brittany 36:30

Yeah, okay. Now the other finishing touch that I tend to hear a lot of questions about are the weaving in the ends. Do you have any tips for that? Do you sort of just run it through the body or do you really weave it through the stitches like you would for a normal project?

Melanie 36:47

For amigurumi, you can definitely just run it through the body. I think when you have flat pieces where you see both sides, that's when you need to weave it through the stitches. But for all my pieces, I just run it through the body. And also a lot of the times, because I'm using kind of those techniques where you don't have to seam and sew, you can just, you know, as you're working the arm into the body, you just leave that tail in the body and you don't have to weave it in or it doesn't stick out. It's already kind of tucked away nicely.

Brittany 37:18

Yeah. Do you think that you need to keep that tail pretty long? Like, for example, you're... You have the tail probably on the back side of your little project and you could just run it under like two or three stitches and then trim it and let it stay hidden. Or you could potentially like run the needle through the entire thing to the other side, trim it on the front so you can't see it, but you know that tail is a little bit longer. Do you have any experience with shorter tails coming out or should you tend to keep them longer just in case?

Melanie 37:51

Yeah, I tend to keep them longer. So that first amigurumi that I made, the little birdie, I didn't know what I was doing. And I did trim the tails pretty short. And so by now, because it's been a few years, they've popped out. So I definitely recommend having them a little longer. And it kind of keeps it more secure and snug inside the piece.

Brittany 38:09

Yeah, okay. That makes sense. So I think that covers a lot of the finishing stuff. techniques and that sort of thing that comes up is there anything that you would have to add like maybe something you learned the hard way that you wish you would have known then that you know now I

Melanie 38:25

don't know honestly I can't really think I'm there's tons of things where I'm sure I did the hard way yeah it's all kind of part of the learning process which I think there's value in that no regrets even though I frogged things a hundred times I think it helps me learn and helps me me figure out and troubleshoot what works and what doesn't. And so I say just keep trying and don't give up and keep working through it.

Brittany 38:54

I would totally agree. I really think that any time you invest in learning something is definitely not time wasted. So even if you do have to frog, it's not a big deal. You can use that yarn again. You can start over with a new idea or with knowledge that you didn't have before. So it's certainly not wasted. But I think a good place for somebody to start if they hate sewing things together in a Mickey roomie, and I think a lot of us certainly can relate to that, a good starting point would be your book. Because like I said, the projects are smaller, so you're getting quick wins. You're... demonstrating different ways to do this, to have one piece be your entire project. So you're demonstrating the color changes and the shaping. And I feel like if anybody ever wants to get into designing amigurumi, it's always a good idea to make a lot of amigurumi first, see what works. And instead of putting a lot of time and effort into figuring things out the hard way, if you can learn basic shapes and that sort of thing, by somebody who's already been there and done that, it's probably a good use of your time. So I want to talk a little bit about the book and where somebody can get it if this is something that they want to give a try.

Melanie 40:14

Yeah, so the book came out, oh gosh, I lost track of time already, maybe a couple months ago. And it's available online on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBook, Book Depository, I think there might be a couple others that I'm forgetting that my publisher will probably not be too happy about. So it's available online. It's also available in bookstores. I know Barnes and Nobles. I'm not sure yet about too many others, but I think the easiest is online. And there's a lot of resources available for that.

Brittany 40:53

Okay. And I will definitely link to it and have a picture of it in the show notes page. So you can head over there after listening to this episode and you can see it. So that way, if you are in a bookstore, you can look for it. What's the name of it? So we know what to look for.

Melanie 41:07

It's called Hooked on Amigurumi, 40 Fun Patterns for Playful Crochet Plushies.

Brittany 41:14

All right. I love that name. I think it's a lot of fun. Your projects are really diverse with this. So you've got everything from, like I'm looking at the cover here, from an octopus to the starfish we were talking about and the piece of toast that you were mentioning and sushi. I think it covers a lot of bases. If you maybe don't love making food, if you're not a foodie, but you like cute little creatures, you've got some of that in there as well. So I will link to that in the show notes. And, um, If somebody wants to connect with you, like you personally, after hearing today's episode, where's the best place for them to go?

Melanie 41:48

Maybe Instagram. You can message me there. My handle is at not too shabby crochet and not is K N O T. I'm a fan of puns. If you can't tell from the title of the running throughout the book. So yeah, at not too shabby crochet and, Or on email, ktscrochet at gmail.com.

Brittany 42:11

Wonderful. Okay, I will have that in the show notes as well. And if somebody wants to have a look at your shop and see what you have available there, it's on Etsy, correct? Correct, yes. And that's all linked on my Instagram as well. Okay. All right. So Instagram is probably a good hub. I know a lot of us listening here, that's kind of where we like to hang out. So I will definitely have your handle in the show notes. And Melanie, thank you so much. This has been a lot of fun. I've learned a lot of things about doing some amigurumi the easier and faster way. So I really appreciate that. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I had a really great time. So once again, that was Melanie from Not Too Shabby Crochet and author of the new book, Hooked on Amigurumi, 40 Fun Patterns for Playful Crochet Plushies. If you're really excited to give this new approach a try to amigurumi to sort of eliminate a lot of that seaming that maybe you hate doing, her book is a great place to start. Or if you like to freestyle and do things on your own, I'm sure you can take some of the tips that you heard today about using color changes, playing with increases and decreases and that sort of thing to create different segments of the body so that you can completely eliminate seaming altogether. Now, if you have any other tips that you would like to add for finishing a make a roomie, for doing some of the things maybe that she has taught us here today, using color changes and that sort of thing, I would love to hear those comments. It's not only going to help me, but it'll help others in the community as well. So if you have a tip, please leave that on the show notes page. You can find that at behooked.com slash 134. And on that page, you'll also find the information on where you can get a hold of this book, where where you can connect with Melanie on Instagram and on Etsy in case you want to connect with her after hearing the show. Today's episode was brought to you by my Blueprint course, Tunisian Crochet for Beginners. Now, I know we talked about amigurumi on this particular episode, and that is one form of crochet. Well, Tunisian crochet is a completely different form that uses different hooks, different motions, and you can recreate... regular crochet stitches, a lot of knitting stitches, and then you can do some really unique stitches as well. I worked with Blueprint, which is formerly known as Craftsy, to create a completely beginner course on Tunisian crochet. So we talk about things like that different hook type that you have to use, which ones are best to have. And then I'll walk you through three projects, your first three Tunisian crochet projects, a headband, a hat, and a cowl, so that you can take your new skills and actually put them to use to create something that you might want to wear this fall or this winter. So you'll have a full set. To get more information on Tunisian crochet for beginners, just head over to bhooked.com slash tcfb. That will redirect you to Blueprint's website where you can see all of the lessons that's within that course. And you can sign up if it's something that you want to learn. I really can't wait to teach you. So if you have questions or anything like that that come up as you're working through this course, you can ask me directly and I can answer your questions and help you on on your Tunisian crochet journey. It's one of those skills that I am so glad that I learned because now I like to turn to that when I do need to shake up the routine a little bit, when I do want to try something a little different. So that link once again is behooked.com slash TCFB. All right, that'll do it for this week's episode of the Be Hooked podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today and for tuning in week after week. If you've been around the show for a while, thank you so much. I really appreciate you. And if you're new to the show and you loved what you heard today, go ahead and hit the subscribe button so we can hang out every single week. All right, for now, have a wonderful weekend and I will see you next week.