The third in my series of amigurumi throwback posts and this one is all about the mammals: mostly British wildlife, but a cute little koala did manage to creep in there as well.
Badger
I did have an idea at one point to make a very geeky series of crochet animals. The Ubuntu operating system uses alliterative animals for the names of its releases and I did start trying to find appropriate amigurumi patterns for each of them. However, the rate of new releases, combined with the backlog of existing ones, outstripped my ability to find patterns and, to be honest, my interest in making them, especially as they soon started choosing particularly obscure animals: tahr, xerus and zapus for example. I abandoned the project, but I do have a handful of critters from the attempt and the badger is one of them.
Ubuntu version: 2.3 Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger)
Pattern: Harry the Badger from LimeCat on Etsy. The shop is currently on break.
Fox
A cute little fox with a fuzzy tail. I experimented with brushing the crocheted yarn to lift some of the fibres and give it a fuzzy feel and appearance; it worked pretty well, especially as this was basic acrylic yarn and not wool.
Pattern: Amigurumi fox from Nimoe’s Blog (free).
Adorable fawn
Another Ubuntu critter. I do like this one, mostly… It’s wonderfully sturdy and the tail and ears are really cute, but the face does look a bit odd from some angles…
Ubuntu version: 2.6 Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn)
Pattern: Adorable fawn from KawaiiGurumi who is, unfortunately, no longer on Etsy.
Hedgehog
This was not a quick make. The body was fine, but the prickly coat? Well, that involved looping a lot of short chains of stitches into the body… And I’m not even sure how much I like the finished effect. But it was worth doing just to learn the technique.
Ubuntu version: 2.2 Ubuntu 5.04 (Hoary Hedgehog)
Pattern: Amigurumi World by Ana Paula Rimoli
Hedgehog or anteater?
There’s something about hedgehogs… Firstly, this one looks more like an anteater and yes, I did follow the pattern correctly. And secondly, I hate eyelash yarn: it looks great, but I don’t know how anyone crochets or knits with it. And I only had to stitch it onto the body, I wasn’t even trying to do anything structural with it!
Pattern: Tiny Yarn Animals by Tamie Snow
Koala
And back to a nice simple, straightforward design to finish off today’s selection of amigurumi.
Ubuntu version: 2.11 Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)
Pattern: Tiny Yarn Animals by Tamie Snow
Crafty Rat 
these are so cute! I LOVE the anteater (no way is that a hedgehog!)
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Thank you!! I double-checked, the book definitely claims it’s a hedgehog… and I suppose it would have a big fluffy tail if it was an anteater… maybe it’s some sort of weird hybrid, an experiment gone wrong 🙂
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They’re all so cute! And I agree, I love the look and feel of eyelash yarn but I just cannot crochet with it at all, it’s just impossible to actually use, especially for amigurumi.
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Curiosity got the better of me… I remembered I had a copy of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amigurumi and I thought I’d see what that had to say about eyelash yarn. She actually thinks it’s easier to use it for amigurumi than regular crochet because crocheting in the round means that all the fuzziness is kept on one side. She also suggests using a carrier yarn and crocheting the two together with a 5.0mm hook. I did a few rounds like that for a test and it does work… So I’m downgrading it from “impossible” to just “undesirable” 🙂
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Haha, okay, very good to know! I’ll have to maybe give it another go with those tips. And maybe find some fuzzy/eyelash yarn that’s not super long. I think that may have been part of my problem, the eyelash yarn I had was a bit unruly. Actually I do have some blue fuzzy yarn somewhere in my stash. I’ll try find a matching colour to work with it and have a go with that. I’ll have to be in the right experimental mood for that though! xD
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So cute! I love the Koala!
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