It might seem like I don’t realize that Valentine’s Day is over. I do, truly, but I’m not done with hearts — I love hearts. Can you think of a better choice for my addition to my basket of amigurmi toys for Abbi than a puffy cheery stuffed heart for February?
… didn’t think you could come up with one… ;) Some months are going to provide a challenge to find a fitting design for an Abbi-gurumi!
As I was rummaging through my yarns, I ran across this red/pink/white variegated skein. Meant for automatically making stripes in things like afghans and sweaters, each color was really long! I got creative and chose my own starting points in the yarn’s length, and just wound up balls from the pieces I didn’t use. From the eyes down, I worked straight from the skein, but I needed those two upper lobes to match!
Since this was a chunky yarn, I worked the single crochet stitches using a size G hook. That’s pretty small but you want nice tight crocheted fabric so the stuffing can’t come out. I improvised a bit with the pattern, making it longer and pointier on the bottom half. It’s a little lumpy looking, but I’m going to give it a steam treatment (blocking in 3-D) and get it into good shape.
I used a double thickness of black yarn to make some happy asterisk eyes, and used an embroidery technique called couching for the mouth. Actually, that mouth is more like a giant Fly Stitch. It’s sturdy enough and just the right size to provide another gripping spot for Abbi. I can easily slide my whole thumb under one half of the mouth. The back has a tiny X — smooch!
The whole toy, from bottom tip to the top of one of the lobes is about 6″. That’s pretty big for little hands to hold onto. I might just take one of those little balls of red yarn and make some spiraly arms to attach. Attach well. Very very well!
The little heart just above was the beginning of a different pattern I abandoned — couldn’t get it to work out for a bigger heart. Yet!
My basket-o-gurumi now has two happy residents!
Happy yarning!
Gail