Amigurumi is a Japanese word comprised of "ami" (meaning crocheted/knitted) and nuigurumi (meaning stuffed doll). Amigurumi then is nothing less as well as nothing more than using the crochet technique to build the most amazing threedimensional dolls and figures.

This is the reason why Amigurumi has become so popular in the last few years. It is an ancient, somewhat boring or dull technique combined with very new, contemporary subjects. Amigurumi dolls range from classic subjects such as flowers and animals to cartoon characters including the complete set of South Park figures.

Is it difficult for someone without any knowledge at all in arts & crafts to start with amigurumi? Not at all. Crocheting is one of the most approachable and easy to learn skills in the set of a craftsperson. All you need is some patience, a crochet hook and some yarn to get you started.

Any crocheting is made up from a few basic stitches which you can learn in a few minutes. Most crocheting you will do will consist of several stitches in a single row after which you start a new row which you attack to the previous one. With these basic techniques you could already crochet a simple quilt.

Afterwards you will learn how to increase and decrease the number of stitches of any particular row. If you, for instance are creating a bee, you will notice that the thickness of the body changes often. This is when you need to increase or decrease the number of stitches for those particular rows. When you've learned these basic techniques you will be able to create little balls.

In my next article I will give a walkthrough for the different stitches to get you started.