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September 19, 2019 46 mins

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.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brittany (00:00):
You're listening to The BeHooked Podcast, episode
134, with Brittany.
Well, hey there, and welcome toepisode 134 of the Be Hooked

(00:35):
podcast.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
I'm really, really excitedabout today's guest.
We've actually been planningthis one for a couple of months
now, and I can't wait to sharesome of her unique ways of
getting around the parts of aMegirumi that we don't always
love to do.
You probably know what I'mtalking about.
If you've ever made a Megirumi,which by the way, if you're

(00:57):
totally new to that term, It'sbasically just those cute
crochet stuffed animals or justlittle softies.
So if you've done amigurumibefore, if you've completed any
type of amigurumi project, youprobably hated or maybe you
loved.
And if you loved this aspect, Iwould totally love to hear from
you because I need to know.

(01:19):
But for those of you who havetried amigurumi before, the
seeming.
Thank you for watching.
Melanie had some of those samestruggles.

(01:50):
She knew that she lovedamigurumi and wanted to continue
making amigurumi projects, butshe knew she didn't like the
seaming aspect of it.
And she's super creative andjust came up with ways to get
around that.
And that's what we'll talkabout today.
Making easier, faster amigurumibecause you don't have to seam

(02:12):
everything together.
We'll also talk a little bitabout amigurumi tips.
Anytime I have somebody whospecializes in amigurumi, like
that's their jam, I love to hearabout their tips for things
like faces and hair andfinishing techniques.
And normally we talk aboutseaming too because that's also

(02:33):
a pain point, but here we'redoing it a little different
because she doesn't do a lot ofseaming in her projects.
So we get to some of her tipsabout finishing as well and by
the end of this episode, I thinkyou'll be really excited to try
this form of amigurumi at leastonce.
She's got a bunch of projectsin her new book, Hooked on

(02:53):
Amigurumi, 40 Fun Patterns forPlayful Crochet Plushies.
And so you can try thistechnique on any one of those 40
projects.
So we'll talk a little bitabout her book and that journey
first, and then we'll get intothe nitty gritty of amigurumi.
So here she is, Melanie fromNot Too Shabby Crochet.
Welcome to the Be Hookedpodcast.

(03:14):
Thank you so much for beinghere today.
Hi,

Melanie (03:17):
morning.
Thank you so much for havingme.
really excited.

Brittany (03:20):
Yeah, it's my pleasure.
I know we've been planning thisone for a while, and I'm super
excited.
I've had your book in my handfor, gosh, probably more than a
month now, and it's so amazing.
And you have this really uniqueapproach to doing amigurumi to
sort of solve the pain pointthat you had, and it's
different.
We've never talked about thatbefore on the show, so I'm

(03:41):
excited to get into that.
Before we do, though, I wouldlove to know a little bit about
your story.
How did you get into crochetand designing?

Melanie (03:51):
Well, probably the first piece I ever made, I was
pretty young and it was indaycare and it was this neon
green and orange and pinkhideous doily.
And I was young and I justdidn't really connect with it.
What am I going to do with adoily?
So I really hadn't touched itsince then.

(04:11):
But in college, I had a coupleof friends.
We had a girl's night in.
We're all hanging out and whoknows how the conversation got
to crochet.
And one of my friends had abunch of hooks already and a
bunch of yarn.
And so she kind of found aquick online free pattern for us

(04:35):
and we started working throughit.
And from then on, I was justhooked.

Brittany (04:39):
Oh, yeah.
So wait a minute.
You said the first thing youever did, you were in daycare.
So you were really super young.

Melanie (04:47):
Pretty young, yeah.
I don't remember how.
I still probably have that neongreen doily saved somewhere,
and it was hideous.

Brittany (04:57):
Yeah.
So who taught you?
Was it somebody like yourdaycare teacher, or was it
somebody in your family?

Melanie (05:03):
It was a daycare teacher,

Brittany (05:06):
yeah.
Oh, so cool.
Well, you took quite a breakbetween daycare to college,
right?
Was it that friend's influencethat sort of brought it back?
Did you have to relearn at thatpoint or did you sort of keep
up with it in like in theinterim there?

Melanie (05:22):
Oh, absolutely relearn from scratch.
I didn't remember a thing.

Brittany (05:26):
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 roomiefirst or did you start with just
like some basic, more easyprojects?

Melanie (05:42):
It wasn't amigurumi, but it was a pretty basic, it
was this little, just a littlesimple bird with two wings.
And of course, we didn't havesafety eyes.
And so we used some just extrayarn to embroider the eyes on
and we stuffed it with cottonballs and it was all lumpy, but
it didn't matter.
You know, I really enjoyed theprocess and I really liked it.

Brittany (06:03):
Yeah.
Do you still have that today?

Melanie (06:06):
I do.
I do.
It's somewhere in a box, but Ihave it.

Brittany (06:11):
Yeah, I always love to hear about people's first
projects that they made and ifthey still have them.
How long have you beencrocheting now?
Was that sort of like a whileago?
Have you pretty much done itconsistently ever since?

Melanie (06:25):
Pretty much, yeah.
So that was, let's see, maybeabout 10 years ago.
Okay.
Maybe less.
Somewhere around there, though.
And so, yeah, I pretty muchconsistently have been doing it
since then.
For a long time, it was just...
for myself or for friends andas gifts.
And then about late 2016, Istarted an Etsy shop.

(06:45):
And that's when things got alot bigger.

Brittany (06:48):
Okay.
So when was it exactly that youstarted doing amigurumi?
How did you learn about that?
And what was it about that thatjust really drew you in?

Melanie (06:57):
The amigurumi, making the little birdie with my
friends was the first time I hadtried that.
And so what really drew me intothat was probably my So by day,
I'm a civil engineer.
I work full time.
So it's a very technical fieldand that's very methodical, a
lot of math.

(07:18):
And so I get to use a lot ofthose same techniques with
crochet and counting thestitches and watching them build
on one another with theincreases and the decreases to
kind of create unique shapes.
And so I think that really, Iformed a connection with the
art.

Brittany (07:35):
Yeah, I think that's really interesting because I
know we'll talk a little bitmore about like shaping and that
sort of thing in a little bit.
But yeah, there's so much mathinvolved and like you get that,
you know, like you said, you'vemade that connection because of
your day job and your career.
That's cool that you were ableto find a particular corner of

(07:55):
crochet that just like reallyworks for you.
So you said you started yourEtsy shop in 2016, and that's
when things really took off.
Tell me how that journey cameabout.
Like, what made you want tostart a shop in the first place?

Melanie (08:10):
I had been thinking about it for a long time.
A lot of people always justlike, 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 whatstarted it.
I think it was just about aftermy 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.

(08:33):
There was, I think, a littlerice ball and a little fortune
cookie.
And I didn't tell anybody Iposted anything, not even my
boyfriend at the time, nowhusband.
And I listed it.
I put some pictures up.
And about a week later, I gotmy first sale.
And it's an incredible feelingjust having that first sale.
Yeah.

(08:54):
Somebody completely out ofstate.
It wasn't like a friend of afriend or anything like that.
And so after that, I kind ofjust decided to dive all in.
I made that Instagram account.
I started telling people andhere we are.
Yeah.

Brittany (09:10):
So are you still selling your goods now?
Are you doing some designing?
Well, I mean, obviously you'redoing some designing, but do you
sell your patterns in your shoptoo?
Or are you primarily focusingon those finished goods?

Melanie (09:22):
So not so much finished goods anymore.
Definitely more on patternwriting.
I only have, I think, twopatterns on Etsy right now
because I took a pretty longhiatus to work on this book
because this book has patterns.
It took quite a while to kindof come up with these designs,
write down the patterns, testthem, photos, that whole deal.

Brittany (09:45):
Yeah.
So when did that start?
process start?
When were you first approachedwith the idea to create a book?
Or did you approach somebodyand say, hey, I want to do this?

Melanie (09:54):
It was actually somebody, a publisher.
Her name is Caitlin Dow withPage Street Publishing.
She actually just messaged meon Instagram one day and asked
me if I was interested inpublishing a book.
And she showed her stuff to herher supervisors and they loved
it and they were interested inpublishing a book for me.

(10:15):
And so we just got back andforth emailing and kind of
exchanging some details, set upa call.
And after about a month or so,I signed a contract.
So I kind of just stumbled intoit 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 thatI've heard with a couple of
creators who I've talked to whoare publishing books.
They tend to be known or befound because of Instagram and
what they're doing there.
So there's certainly somereally amazing things that can
come from Instagram.
So I think that's good foranybody listening who's like,

(10:53):
man, that's like my ultimategoal.
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 startedon that.
I would say, gosh, like fromyour experience, just be
consistent and post great thingson Instagram because that
sounds like that's how you werefound.

Melanie (11:14):
Yeah, exactly.

Brittany (11:16):
Well, that's really interesting.
So now I want to sort of shiftin the direction of Amigurumi
because I know that you're, likeI said, you take that unique
approach to it.
You take out some of theelements that I know a lot of us
don't really love to do, andthat's making the components and
sewing them together.
Yeah.
Before we get into thosedetails, knowing that you have

(11:39):
kind of a different approach,I'm interested in your process
of creating those.
If we start from the verybeginning, where do you like
first get your inspiration for anew design?
Oh,

Melanie (11:51):
gosh.
I mean, pretty much anywhereand everywhere.
A lot of people like to send methings and, hey, you should
make this and I'd love to seethis.
And so I'll take those intoconsideration.
But I'd say most of them comefrom kind of just my own
experiences, things that areimportant or special and mean

(12:12):
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 tellyou.
But there's also a huge focuson Asian-Americans.

(12:32):
influences.
I'm Japanese American.
My family grew up in Hawaii.
So there's like sea creaturesand we have some sushi and soy
sauce and some Asian treats inthere.
And so these are all justthings that are from my life and
from my childhood.
And those are the ones thatreally resonate the most with

(12:54):
me.
I

Brittany (12:55):
think that's another common theme is that we often
find our inspiration from thethings around us and the things
that sort of make us happy.
Yeah.
I'm definitely one of thosepeople that I think too much
about it.
I often question like, okay,what does inspire me?

(13:16):
Like what actually does inspireme?
And when I sit and think aboutit too much, I just overthink it
and question what I come upwith, like the things that make
me happy.
So I think it's reallyinteresting to hear that it's
really more about the thingsthat are around you, probably
the colors you like, maybe whatyou like to watch on TV, or like

(13:39):
you said, you're a foodie.
We can really turn anythinginto crochet.
And especially when you'rethinking about amigurumi, gosh,
you can do so much.
We often think that Amigurumiis more like stuffed animals.
So what comes to mind for me islike, oh, teddy bears and
bunnies and like all these cute,cuddly little things.
But the first time I ever sawfood created, I was like, wow,

(14:03):
that is really cool.
I never would have even thoughtto do that.
So I think it's interesting tohear where your inspiration
comes from and seeing that inyour book.
It's sort of like a collectionof 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 Ilike to look at photos of kind
of the real life object to kindof draw inspiration for colors.
I'll look up plushy versions ofit, maybe just like regular
stuffed animals to get an ideaof So kind of those, you know,

(14:47):
Omegurumi is a little bit morerounded and cutesy.
And so you get that same feelwith plushies.
And so to get an idea of shapeand scale.
And then I also like to look upand see if there's any other
crochet items of that samedesign.
Just try to do something alittle more original and make
sure I'm not completely copyinganybody and see how other people

(15:09):
have approached it.
And then I just kind of startworking.
I know a lot of people tend tosketch it out and have this big
grand plan.
And I honestly never do.
And it's probably not the besthabit, but I just pick up my
yarn and go.

Brittany (15:25):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I can totally relate to thattoo.
When I'm trying to do somethinglike really complicated, like a
garment, I will try to spendmore time like sketching it out
and figuring out the foundationchain number like that.
that sort of thing but reallywhen I'm just sitting down with

(15:45):
an idea I like to do that too Ireally like to just get into it
sometimes I will like gaugeswatch and that sort of thing
beforehand if I'm doing a lot ofthat preparation but you know I
have to say for a mikirumi Ireally never do that first I
tend to just play with the yarnlike maybe start on the element

(16:07):
and I think From those firstinitial rounds, you can tell if,
for example, the hook is theright size for the yarn and that
sort of thing.
Do you tend to maketransitions?
Like if you've started it andyou're like, oh, this really
isn't working out, I should usethis hook or, you know, maybe a
different type of yarn.
Do you find that's the case ordo you tend to stick with the

(16:29):
same hook size, same yarnbecause you know it works?

Melanie (16:32):
Yeah, I do.
I tend to stick to the samehook size and yarn.
Every once in a while, I'll trysomething a little fun.
I think the other day I madethis giant dinosaur using
ridiculously thick yarn and ahook that was probably too
small, but I just forced it towork anyways.
So sometimes I'll do funprojects like that where I do
something a little different,use a little different material

(16:53):
and hook size.
But my tried and true is just aworsted 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 theintroduction, and you mentioned
something about Amigurumi thatyou quickly realized you didn't
like, and that was a seemingpart, and I know myself and so
many listeners can relate tothat.
You didn't let that steer youcompletely away from Amigurumi,
but rather than just abandonship and start on some other

(17:25):
type of project, you figured outa way to make it work for
without having to seam so muchand that sort of thing because
it's not super fun.
So tell me a little bit aboutthat endeavor.
How did you figure that out?
And why did you even want to doit in the first place?

Melanie (17:43):
I mean, like you said, it's mine and probably everyone
else's least favorite part ofcrochet.
It's just one of those thingsin the industry that everybody
knows.
So I just...
of played around with the yarnlots of frogging lots of trial
and error to find ways tomanipulate it in the way that

(18:04):
minimizes all that seaming andthat sewing and so it uses a lot
of maybe color changes or youmake the arms and legs first and
work it into the main bodyrather than having to go back in
later and sew it on or you knowjoining separate pieces and
working them together as one soi use a lot of those techniques
throughout the book And it'snice because I think the easiest

(18:28):
point to step away and abandona project is if you ever have to
take that hook out and startsomething new.
And so I like these projectswhere I almost never have to
take the hook out of the yarn atall.
And I just keep going and I cansit and watch Netflix and
finish a project and kind ofjust enjoy that process.

Brittany (18:47):
Yeah, yeah.
I think that's a really goodpoint too.
I know certainly for me, if Ihave to stop mid-project, it is
really hard to find themotivation to go back to it.
For the shaping aspect of it,you probably have to get a
little creative with thisbecause, I don't know, I find
that it's a little easier tomake like a head shape and make
a body shape.

(19:08):
And for a lot of my patterns,I'll use kind of the same
pattern unless it's like reallydifferent.
And that's an easy approach.
But I think it's so much easierto not have to do all of those
elements.
But I think you have to be alittle more mindful of the

(19:29):
shaping.
So let's talk about that.
I know shaping can be a bigholdup for somebody who's trying
to more design a Mickey roomierather than follow a pattern.
You don't really have to worryabout that as much.
But where are you able to...
make the right shapes?
Is it more of a trial by firekind of approach?

(19:49):
Just work what you know and seeif it looks good?
Or do you kind of pull fromsome of your background and your
knowledge about mathematics andhow that works into crochet
that helps you create the shapesto 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, butAs long as you kind of have a
basic understanding of theprimary shapes, you know,
creating a circle or a cylindercone, you can use that as your
foundation and then sort of justtweak it and play with it.

(20:28):
And, you know, maybe what if Iconcentrate the increases on
this side?
How does that affect the shape?
What if I, you know, just anylittle thing really kind of can
tweak the shape and createsomething different?
And so.
As long as you're using thosemain foundation stitches and
main foundation patterns, it'slimitless what you can come up

(20:52):
with.
So that's kind of how I justjump in.
I'll start with those basicshapes and then kind of play
with it and see what comes outof it.

Brittany (21:00):
Okay.
So that's interesting, too.
I know that's a shaping aspectthat maybe somebody hasn't
thought of before, what happenswhen you focus your increases on
one side of it.
In your experience, what doesthat do to the shape?

Melanie (21:16):
So I use that, for example, the coffee pot, just to
create that little bit of thespell where you pour it.
Yeah.
And so it kind of just...
creates a little extramaterial, I guess, on that side
of it.
And it kind of folds over andmakes that spout.
So that's one example.

(21:37):
Or another one is the whale.
I'll kind of concentrate moreincreases at the back end to
give him a little bit of alonger shape on the back and
then a more bubbly shape upfront.

Brittany (21:48):
Gotcha.
Okay.
So on the reverse of that,let's say you were decreasing or
maybe you're using slipstitches on one side.
Have you ever played with that?
And can you tell us like whatkind 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 inin the front and work into the
neck.
So I'll decrease a little moreright at that chin to bring that
head in.
And then let's see, maybe thetoast, kind of the top of the

(22:24):
toast where it indents, you getthat little dimple.
I'll do some stitches there tocreate that dimple.

Brittany (22:32):
Okay.
Now, do you tend to just putthese decreases or the increases
where you know they need to goor do you try to work it out
mathematically?
Does it need to be even or doyou 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 togo back and now try to reverse
engineer whatever I did.
But I think there's a balancebetween trying to make a pattern
that makes sense and isreadable versus what may
actually just work as you'reworking through it.

(23:10):
So I do end up having to tweakit and maybe make it translate
better to pattern and makethings a little more even and
make things um make a littlemore sense on paper whereas
while I'm just working and notreally paying attention to the
rounds and the stitch count Imight want to do things a little
differently.

Brittany (23:30):
Right.
I completely agree.
I don't know what it is aboutAmiga Rumi.
I don't know if it's becausethe 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 impossibleto go back and reverse engineer
with any kind of confidence.
So I will often make two orthree of the same to sort of

(23:51):
check myself, which is okay.
I think a lot of the piecesthat are in your book are
smaller and can be completed.
pretty quickly so you'regetting like some good instant
gratification there yeah exactlynow one that i'm looking at
here is a little starfish and hehas some interesting shaping

(24:13):
too can you explain how how howthat comes together like it it
almost doesn't look like it's aa round like it doesn't look
like a one round it looks like abunch of things put together
but i know With your approach,you do have it be one piece.
So can you walk me through thatone?

Melanie (24:33):
Yeah, so it still does start with a magic ring or a
magic circle.
But from there, you startcreating chains as the legs.
And so it kind of startslooking like this spindly little
thing and nothing like astarfish yet.
But once you start building onthose chains and continuing to
work around them, It kind ofbuilds some depth and some

(24:55):
character to it.
And so it's really just, Ithink, maybe what, two or three,
I don't have the pattern infront of me, but two or three
rounds and you can already startto see the starfish shape.
And so it's kind of impressiveand how it kind of builds on one
another and can create theseunique shapes from this spindly,
weird little...
Yeah,

Brittany (25:15):
yeah, it really is.
And knowing that it is onepiece, it's, it's pretty
fascinating.
So you have to have a prettygood imagination, I would say to
put some of this stufftogether.
Is it something that you feellike you just have?
Or is it something you feellike you've learned?

Melanie (25:33):
I think it definitely comes from the engineering
background, as I was sayingearlier.
And so it helps to be able tovisualize and be more spatially
aware of how these things willbuild together.
But it definitely does takesome creativity and some
ingenuity and really just beingable to picture this all come

(25:53):
together.

Brittany (25:54):
Yeah, it seems like a lot of not freeform crochet, as
in like if you were to Googleit, what you would see.
But I feel like there is a lotof just like freestyling to
this.
Having an idea and saying, Iwonder if that would work,
trying it.
And I think that's the best wayto figure out if a shape is
going to be what you want it tobe.
If you can't reallytroubleshoot it in your mind,

(26:17):
like just try it.
work it out and see if itworks.
And if it does, try toreplicate it and write it down
and go from there.
Is that sort of the approachthat you took with learning all
the different shapes?

Melanie (26:30):
Exactly.
Yeah, definitely a lot offrogging.
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 howto create shapes, like just
general shapes, but for anybodywho's flipping through your book
or who has seen it, and you'veeven mentioned it here before,
you use color changes quite abit to help break up the pattern
or the piece so that it lookslike it has different elements

(27:03):
so you don't have to sew them.
Do you have any tips forchanging colors within a makey
roomie?
I know sometimes there can besome 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 whereI'll attach something on later
and it hides them.
But I know there are techniquesand I've played around with
them, but I just don't alwaysuse them consistently.
And so I think for the book, alot of the patterns, I don't
even worry about it.
I'll go ahead and leave thatkind of harsher color change

(27:37):
because it will work into thepiece later.
But yeah, that's sort of the...
technique I use with the colorchanges.
For example, the ice creamcone.
You might think you might wantto do a ball for the ice cream
and then a cone shape for thecone, and then you can sew it
together at the end.
So you might want to do a ballshape for the ice cream and then

(28:00):
a cone shape for the ice creamcone and sew those together at
the end.
But what I like to do, becauseI just...
wouldn't want to make twoseparate pieces and sew them
together and kind of break up aproject like that I'll start
with the cone and then leave arow of back loops when I
transition to for example thepink color for like a strawberry

(28:21):
ice cream and continue on withthat dome shape and then I'll go
back later and reattach alittle bit of pink yarn and kind
of create that scalloped edgeand that'll hide that transition
and make it look more like twoseparate pieces

Brittany (28:38):
Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
Now, as far as the decreasesgo, do you use like the
invisible decrease or do youfind that just using the right
hook yarn combination can helpminimize like any holes that you
might see from the decreases?
Like, for example, in your icecream, you're doing increases
for like the bottom half of thedome and then you're decreasing

(29:01):
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 situationswhere it's a little harder to.
I think there's, you know, someof my patterns that are a
little more rectangular, youneed to decrease three stitches
together.
And so you can't really, itgets a little too bulky to use
the invisible technique for thatone.
I'm doing through the backloops only or something like

(29:27):
that.
I'll have to use a regulardecrease.
But if it's a pretty muchstandard decrease, decrease, I
can go ahead and do theinvisible and that's my go-to.

Brittany (29:36):
Gotcha.
Okay.
It really does make a bigdifference.
I was hesitant to do that inany projects or really to learn
that stitch because I thought,well, you're doing the same
exact stitch.
Certainly it can't be thatinvisible, but it really does
make a big difference to usethat front loop.
And you can't tell, it doesn'tlook any different on the front,

(29:56):
but just having that exposedback loop, it kind of like fills
in that gap.

Melanie (30:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
It definitely makes a bigdifference.

Brittany (30:05):
Yeah.
Now, another thing that comesup a lot when making amigurumi,
like designing it or justcreating it, is the finishing
touches.
A lot of your...
work in this book has like cutelittle faces and some hair and
that sort of thing.
Do you have any tips for thefinishing touches?
Like, for example, let's startwith the eyes.

(30:28):
I know that's always a bigstruggle to try to put them in
the right spot and yours alwayslook really cute.
So do you have a tip or a trickabout 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 littlelower on the face, maybe a
little closer set together.
And that's just kind of thelook that I like.
But it's definitely a stylisticchoice.
I think it'll look cute nomatter where you put it, because
you have this cute, squishylittle thing with some little

(30:59):
beady eyes.
So it's definitely a stylisticchoice.
But generally, I like a littlelower on the face and a little
closer set depending on thepiece.

Brittany (31:11):
Okay, yeah.
And then what about otherelements?
Like I see a lot of yourprojects in the book have a
mouth on them.
And it looks really easy, butit looks super cute.
Is that just you using a yarnand needle to make that?

Melanie (31:28):
Yeah, exactly.
It's just a black yarn andneedle.
I know a lot of people like touse embroidery thread as well.
That works.
I just generally like to useyarn because it's a little
thicker and it gives a littledefinition and doesn't get kind
of lost in the threads of yarn.
But yeah, it's just a quickembroidery stitch to give the
two little V shape.
And then I like to do a littlebit of just like drugstore

(31:50):
cosmetic blush and it gives itthe cozy pink cheeks.

Brittany (31:55):
Yeah, I like that.
And you know, somebody asked mea question about that and I
couldn't answer them because Ihadn't tried it before.
Have you ever tried washing oneof your little projects that
had the blush on there?
I imagine the blush would comeoff, but since I haven't done it
myself, do you have experiencewith this?

Melanie (32:14):
You know, I actually haven't.
I haven't washed them, butthey've kind of been around and
kind of been tumbled and roughedup a bit and they're still
holding strong.
So I imagine it wouldn't beawful, but it's also not the
hardest to go to, you know, CVSor Rite Aid and get some cheap
blush and throw some more backon.

Brittany (32:31):
Yeah, that really was my answer for that.
Well, you know, if it does comeoff, then just put it back on
and it's super easy.
Do you have any tips aboutwashing?
Is it even safe to do that?
Because a lot of times you'reusing 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 andhope for the best.

Brittany (33:01):
Yeah.
All of the amigurumi that I'vemade, I have kept here in my
office.
And I don't do a ton of it, tobe honest.
I've got three patterns that Ihave done over the years that I
just really, really love thoseprojects.
And so I have them here in myoffice.
And I'm not putting themthrough the same day-to-day use

(33:22):
that if you were to make one andgift it to a child that they
would.
So I don't really have the needto 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 someaccidentally 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 throughInstagram and they were really
curious about adding hair.
And if you have any tips forhow to do that, I know you have
a couple of projects in the bookthat have hair and they look
really cute.
And that can, well, one, be areally daunting task because
that's a lot of little pieces ofyarn that you have to cut and

(34:07):
add them on.
And then, you know, you have toworry about whether they look
right and then trimming it andall that stuff.
So can you just give us alittle bit of tips about adding
hair and staying motivated tokeep 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 wayaround that.
But you don't need quite asmany as you think.
Because if you end up fillingevery little gap, you they'll
probably end up looking likethey have an afro.
It's just a little bit too...
So really all you need to fillup a little more densely is

(34:44):
along the hairline and thenalong wherever you are going to
part the hair.
And beyond that, you can kindof do it a little bit more
sparse because it'll hide behindthe existing hair that's
already there.
And it's a little bit moremanageable.
You don't need quite as manypieces and...
You still get a nice finishedclean line along the edges.

(35:05):
And then after that, you kindof give it a quick trim and
hopefully it'll look prettygood.

Brittany (35:09):
Yeah, okay.
So how do you put them on?
Do you use like the knottechnique 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 makessense at all through a podcast.
Right, right.

Brittany (35:30):
Yeah, this is definitely one of those topics
that's probably easier to seethan it is here at Explained.
But I basically will add hairthe same way I add like a tassel
to something.
So I would loop both piecesthrough like the stitch or the
part of the head where I want itto go and then keep the loop on

(35:50):
the opposite side and run bothof those tails through it.
And that worked pretty well.
It looked good.
But again, since I'm notgifting them to children, I
don't know if that would reallybe that sturdy or if it would
stay.
It has for me just having ithere, but for regular use or
definitely washing, I'm notsure.

Melanie (36:09):
Yeah, actually, I'm not too sure either, to be honest.
Same as well.
The ones that I keep in theoffice aren't getting a lot of
heavy use, but I haven't hadanybody come back and tell me
that all the hair is falling outand what do I do?
So I'm hoping and imaginingthat it does stay in place, but
I do use the same technique.

Brittany (36:30):
Yeah, okay.
Now the other finishing touchthat I tend to hear a lot of
questions about are the weavingin the ends.
Do you have any tips for that?
Do you sort of just run itthrough the body or do you
really weave it through thestitches 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 flatpieces where you see both sides,
that's when you need to weaveit through the stitches.
But for all my pieces, I justrun it through the body.
And also a lot of the times,because I'm using kind of those
techniques where you don't haveto seam and sew, you can just,

(37:09):
you know, as you're working thearm into the body, you just
leave that tail in the body andyou don't have to weave it in or
it doesn't stick out.
It's already kind of tuckedaway nicely.

Brittany (37:18):
Yeah.
Do you think that you need tokeep that tail pretty long?
Like, for example, you're...
You have the tail probably onthe back side of your little
project and you could just runit under like two or three
stitches and then trim it andlet it stay hidden.
Or you could potentially likerun the needle through the
entire thing to the other side,trim it on the front so you

(37:40):
can't see it, but you know thattail is a little bit longer.
Do you have any experience withshorter tails coming out or
should you tend to keep themlonger just in case?

Melanie (37:51):
Yeah, I tend to keep them longer.
So that first amigurumi that Imade, the little birdie, I
didn't know what I was doing.
And I did trim the tails prettyshort.
And so by now, because it'sbeen a few years, they've popped
out.
So I definitely recommendhaving them a little longer.
And it kind of keeps it moresecure and snug inside the
piece.

Brittany (38:09):
Yeah, okay.
That makes sense.
So I think that covers a lot ofthe finishing stuff.
techniques and that sort ofthing that comes up is there
anything that you would have toadd like maybe something you
learned the hard way that youwish 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 Idid the hard way yeah it's all
kind of part of the learningprocess which I think there's
value in that no regrets eventhough I frogged things a
hundred times I think it helpsme learn and helps me me figure

(38:46):
out and troubleshoot what worksand what doesn't.
And so I say just keep tryingand don't give up and keep
working through it.

Brittany (38:54):
I would totally agree.
I really think that any timeyou 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 newidea or with knowledge that you
didn't have before.
So it's certainly not wasted.
But I think a good place forsomebody to start if they hate

(39:18):
sewing things together in aMickey roomie, and I think a lot
of us certainly can relate tothat, a good starting point
would be your book.
Because like I said, theprojects are smaller, so you're
getting quick wins.
You're...
demonstrating different ways todo this, to have one piece be
your entire project.
So you're demonstrating thecolor changes and the shaping.

(39:42):
And I feel like if anybody everwants to get into designing
amigurumi, it's always a goodidea to make a lot of amigurumi
first, see what works.
And instead of putting a lot oftime and effort into figuring
things out the hard way, if youcan learn basic shapes and that
sort of thing, by somebody who'salready been there and done

(40:03):
that, it's probably a good useof your time.
So I want to talk a little bitabout the book and where
somebody can get it if this issomething 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 couplemonths ago.
And it's available online onAmazon, Barnes & Noble,
IndieBook, Book Depository, Ithink there might be a couple
others that I'm forgetting thatmy publisher will probably not

(40:34):
be too happy about.
So it's available online.
It's also available inbookstores.
I know Barnes and Nobles.
I'm not sure yet about too manyothers, but I think the easiest
is online.
And there's a lot of resourcesavailable for that.

Brittany (40:53):
Okay.
And I will definitely link toit and have a picture of it in
the show notes page.
So you can head over thereafter listening to this episode
and you can see it.
So that way, if you are in abookstore, 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 reallydiverse with this.
So you've got everything from,like I'm looking at the cover
here, from an octopus to thestarfish we were talking about
and the piece of toast that youwere mentioning and sushi.
I think it covers a lot ofbases.
If you maybe don't love makingfood, if you're not a foodie,

(41:34):
but you like cute littlecreatures, you've got some of
that in there as well.
So I will link to that in theshow notes.
And, um, If somebody wants toconnect with you, like you
personally, after hearingtoday'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 shabbycrochet and not is K N O T.
I'm a fan of puns.
If you can't tell from thetitle of the running throughout
the book.
So yeah, at not too shabbycrochet and, Or on email,
ktscrochet at gmail.com.

Brittany (42:11):
Wonderful.
Okay, I will have that in theshow notes as well.
And if somebody wants to have alook at your shop and see what
you have available there, it'son Etsy, correct?
Correct, yes.
And that's all linked on myInstagram as well.
Okay.
All right.
So Instagram is probably a goodhub.
I know a lot of us listeninghere, that's kind of where we
like to hang out.
So I will definitely have yourhandle in the show notes.

(42:33):
And Melanie, thank you so much.
This has been a lot of fun.
I've learned a lot of thingsabout doing some amigurumi the
easier and faster way.
So I really appreciate that.
Yes.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for havingme.
I had a really great time.
So once again, that was Melaniefrom Not Too Shabby Crochet and
author of the new book, Hookedon Amigurumi, 40 Fun Patterns

(42:54):
for Playful Crochet Plushies.
If you're really excited togive this new approach a try to
amigurumi to sort of eliminate alot of that seaming that maybe
you hate doing, her book is agreat place to start.
Or if you like to freestyle anddo things on your own, I'm sure
you can take some of the tipsthat you heard today about using
color changes, playing withincreases and decreases and that

(43:18):
sort of thing to createdifferent segments of the body
so that you can completelyeliminate seaming altogether.
Now, if you have any other tipsthat you would like to add for
finishing a make a roomie, fordoing some of the things maybe
that she has taught us heretoday, using color changes and
that sort of thing, I would loveto hear those comments.

(43:39):
It's not only going to help me,but it'll help others in the
community as well.
So if you have a tip, pleaseleave that on the show notes
page.
You can find that atbehooked.com slash 134.
And on that page, you'll alsofind the information on where
you can get a hold of this book,where where you can connect
with Melanie on Instagram and onEtsy in case you want to

(44:01):
connect with her after hearingthe show.
Today's episode was brought toyou by my Blueprint course,
Tunisian Crochet for Beginners.
Now, I know we talked aboutamigurumi on this particular
episode, and that is one form ofcrochet.
Well, Tunisian crochet is acompletely different form that
uses different hooks, differentmotions, and you can recreate...

(44:23):
regular crochet stitches, a lotof knitting stitches, and then
you can do some really uniquestitches as well.
I worked with Blueprint, whichis formerly known as Craftsy, to
create a completely beginnercourse on Tunisian crochet.
So we talk about things likethat different hook type that
you have to use, which ones arebest to have.

(44:44):
And then I'll walk you throughthree projects, your first three
Tunisian crochet projects, aheadband, a hat, and a cowl, so
that you can take your newskills and actually put them to
use to create something that youmight want to wear this fall or
this winter.
So you'll have a full set.
To get more information onTunisian crochet for beginners,

(45:04):
just head over to bhooked.comslash tcfb.
That will redirect you toBlueprint's website where you
can see all of the lessonsthat's within that course.
And you can sign up if it'ssomething that you want to
learn.
I really can't wait to teachyou.
So if you have questions oranything like that that come up
as you're working through thiscourse, you can ask me directly

(45:27):
and I can answer your questionsand help you on on your Tunisian
crochet journey.
It's one of those skills that Iam so glad that I learned
because now I like to turn tothat when I do need to shake up
the routine a little bit, when Ido want to try something a
little different.
So that link once again isbehooked.com slash TCFB.

(45:49):
All right, that'll do it forthis week's episode of the Be
Hooked podcast.
Thank you so much for joiningme today and for tuning in week
after week.
If you've been around the showfor a while, thank you so much.
I really appreciate you.
And if you're new to the showand you loved what you heard
today, go ahead and hit thesubscribe button so we can hang
out every single week.
All right, for now, have awonderful weekend and I will see

(46:12):
you next week.
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