Once Upon a Cheerio

Have you heard? Ghibli Studios movies are now available on Netflix.

I don't have Netflix, but I am glad that these classic movies are made available to a larger audience and children of this generation can enjoy them like I did when I was growing up.


Shortly before Netflix made them available on their streaming platform, I had already showed My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service to my kids. I guess I'm just one step ahead of the game. To no one's surprise, they loved both movies!

I grew up with Ghibli Studios cartoons dubbed in Cantonese and watching them in English was just not the same.

My brother and I watched My Neighbor Totoro so many times when we were younger that he and I would often rehearse and act out the different scenes from the movie.


Now watching my girls do the same when they watch the movie just brings me so much joy and memories.

I made these little soot sprites (aka. susuwatari) to surprise my girls. Of course, they loved them.

I love it when Mui Mui holds them between her hands and calls out "Daddy! Daddy! Look I caught one!" and runs around the house just like Mei does in the movie.


Remember to like Once Upon a Cheerio on Facebook. I'd also love it if you followed @onceuponacheerio on Instagram!
Don't have time to make it right this instant? Pin it for later!

What You Need / Materials

• Worsted weight yarn in Black
• Lion Brand Yarn's Fun Fur in Black
• A small amount of white craft felt
• 5.0-mm Crochet Hook
• Safety Eyes (I used 6.0 mm)
• Poly-fil or any polyester stuffing of your choice
• Scissors
• Yarn Needle
• Lace weight yarn in white (optional)
• 2.0-mm Crochet Hook (optional)

Stitches & Abbreviations

• st/sts - stitch/stitches
• sc - single crochet
• sc inc - single crochet increase
• sc dec - single crochet decrease

Notes

• When working with Lion Brand's Fun Fur yarn, you'll find that the stitches will be difficult to see. Work each stitch with one strand of worsted weight yarn and one strand of Fun Fur yarn.
• You will notice as you work that the "wrong side" of the piece is fuzzier than the "right side". The "wrong side" will be the outside of your amigurumi. So turn your amigurumi inside out before you close it off.

Pattern

Holding one strand of worsted weight yarn and one strand of Lion Brand's Fun Fur yarn...

Round 1: Magic Ring with 6 sc (6 sts)
Round 2: Sc inc in each st around (12 sts)
Round 3: [Sc, sc inc] x 6 times (18 sts)
Round 4: [Sc, sc inc, sc] x 6 times (24 sts)
Round 5-8: Sc in each st around (24 sts)
Round 9: [Sc, sc dec, sc] x 6 times (18 sts)
Round 10: [Sc, sc dec] x 6 times (12 sts)
Round 11: Sc dec in each st around (6 sts)

Cut and fasten off. 

Before you close up your amigurumi, make sure you stuff it lightly and attach your eyes if you are using safety eyes.

Eyes

The easiest method would be to use a small piece of felt, cut two little circles and poke safety eyes into them and attach it to your soot sprite.

However, I didn't have any small pieces of felt on hand and so I decided to crochet my eyes using fingering weight yarn in white (Loops & Threads Woolike in White)

Using a 2.0-mm crochet hook, make two circles:

Round 1: Magic Ring with a base of 6 sc (6 sts)
Round 2: Sc inc in each st around (12 sts)
Round 3: [Sc, sc inc] x 6 times (18 sts)
Round 4: [Sc, sc inc, sc] x 6 times (24 sts)

Did you make your own Soot Sprite? I'd love to see it! Please share it with me on Instagram and/or use the #onceuponacheerio hashtag.







This is an original pattern written by Juli Anne of Once Upon a Cheerio. Please do not claim this pattern as your own. If you wish to share this pattern, you may link to this blog post but please do not reprint it on your site. You may keep a copy for your own personal use but please DO NOT sell the pattern or distribute it. 

You may sell products made from this pattern, but please clearly credit the design to me, Juli Anne of Once Upon a Cheerio and provide a link to my blog www.OnceUponaCheerio.com. Permission is NOT granted for mass production or factory manufacturing of any kind. Thank you for understanding!

It feels like it takes me forever to publish new content on my blog. The truth is that it's not that easy to come up with your own patterns, writing it out, testing it, photographing and editing it.

I have a few patterns for my Mini Mimi amigurumi doll that I've created. I just haven't had the time to write out the patterns from my messy notes. So make sure to watch out for those coming soon!

Hair adds so much character to an amigurumi doll, and I really wish I was better at doing amigurumi hair. I have tried many amigurumi hair tutorials but I think this is probably still my favourite method.


For one, I don't have to cut my yarn hair into little pieces. So if I decide on a different hairstyle in the middle of doing my amigurumi's hair, I don't have to yank out all the little pieces of yarn and have them go to waste.

Second, I can crochet which is still my favourite activity.

Also, the hair stays put for the most part and doesn't go messy, which is a wonderful bonus!

This hairstyle was inspired by Elsa from Disney's Frozen. But I think it would pass for an elegant wedding hairstyle if you were hoping to make wedding amigurumi dolls.

Coming up with a pattern takes many trials and errors and this blog post for Elsa's side braid hairpiece is a good example of it.

I shared some photographs on my Instagram when I started the process. Despite how good it looked, it was literally more hair than I could style on my amigurumi Elsa.


It took me a good few hours to get it looking the way I want it to. In fact, it was so complicated there was just no way that I would be able to re-create it, let alone write a pattern and tutorial for it.

So, I decided to redo it. I made a new doll and a new hairpiece. And now I can proudly show off an amigurumi hairpiece tutorial that's simpler, and easier to follow.

I have to say, I think I like this one more than my first "prototype". Tell me what you think!

Remember to like Once Upon a Cheerio on Facebook. I'd also love it if you followed @onceuponacheerio on Instagram!
Don't have time to make it right this instant? Pin it for later!

What You Need / Materials

### Most of these items can be purchased through our affiliate links. Purchasing items through these links will not cost you any extra money. Please see our disclosure policy for more details.

• Mini Mimi Doll (click here to purchase the PDF pattern on Ravelry)
• Worsted Weight Yarn in the hair colour of your choice (I used Loops and Threads Impeccable Solids in Heather)
• 3.0 mm Crochet Hook
• Yarn Needle
• Scissors

Stitches & Abbreviations

Notes

• This pattern is just for the hairpiece/wig. You can find the free pattern as a crochet-along (CAL) in this blog post and its links: Mini Mimi CAL.
• If you are looking to purchase the ad-free PDF version of the Mini Mimi amigurumi doll, You can visit my Ravelry Store.
• I used the "wrong side" of the hairpiece as her hair.
• There are thin and thick strands of hair in this hairpiece. The thin strands of hair are at the front of the face, and the thick strands of hair are on the back.
• The thin strands of hair are made using single crochet (sc)
• The thick strands of hair are made using half double crochet (hdc)

Pattern

Round 2: Sc inc in each st around (12 sts)
Round 3: [Sc, sc inc] x 6 times (18 sts)
Round 4: [Sc, sc inc, sc] x 6 times (24 sts)
Round 5: [3 Sc, sc inc] x 6 times (30 sts)

Strand 1: Ch 12, sc into the 2nd ch from the hook and sc up the ch, then slst into the next st on round 5. (11 sts)
Strand 2: Ch 21, sc into the 2nd ch from the hook and sc up the ch, then slst into the next st on round 5 (20 sts)
Strands 3-5: Ch 9, sc into the 2nd ch from the hook and sc up the ch, then slst into the next st on round 5 (8 sts)
Strand 6: Ch 21, sc into the 2nd ch from the hook and sc up the ch, then slst into the next st on round 5 (20 sts)
Strand 9: Repeat SS
Strand 11: Repeat SS

Assembly

The wrong side of the crochet piece is up, so bring the starting strand of yarn to inside of the hair wig and attach it to the crown of the head.


Round 1 of the hair wig is going to be attached to round 1 of the head.


Position and pin down strands 1 and 7 on either side of the head framing the face approximately 3-4 stitches away from the eyes. Then position and pin down strands 13 and 14 to the back of the head.


Pin down the rest of the thick strands (S8-18) of hair and try to cover any bald spots. Then, braid the first three long pieces of hair (S8, S10, S12) on the doll's right side.


Bring the braid along the back of the head and over the shoulder. Using the remaining long strand of hair (S16), wrap it around the braid following its natural curl.


Pin along the braid to hold it in place.


Position the remaining strands of hair (S2 and S6). You can leave it unpinned to frame her face or pin it back along the rest of the hair for a different look.


Sadly, amigurumi hairspray does not exist from what I found out when I surveyed on Facebook. So, to help the hair stay in place, use a long piece of yarn of the same colour and weave through the hair (small stitches that follow the crochet stitch line) to create "tangles" in the hair to help it stay in place.

Did you make your own Mini Mimi Doll? I'd love to see it! Please share it with me on Instagram and/or use the #onceuponacheerio hashtag.





This is an original pattern written by Juli Anne of Once Upon a Cheerio. Please do not claim this pattern as your own. If you wish to share this pattern, you may link to this blog post but please do not reprint it on your site. You may keep a copy for your own personal use but please DO NOT sell the pattern or distribute it. 

You may sell products made from this pattern, but please clearly credit the design to me, Juli Anne of Once Upon a Cheerio and provide a link to my blog www.OnceUponaCheerio.com. Permission is NOT granted for mass production or factory manufacturing of any kind. Thank you for understanding!

Today is May 4th. You might be thinking... so? Well... May the 4th ("force") be with you too!

I'll apologize in advance, but I'm actually not a Star Wars fan. I tried watching it (multiple times) but it just doesn't grow on me like it does on some other people.

I guess I take after my mom. She's the type that falls asleep when you make her watch Star Wars.

Over Christmas last year, everyone was going crazy over baby Yoda (AKA. the child) from The Mandalorian. Baby Yoda crochet patterns started popping up everywhere!

But before Baby Yoda came along and blew up the Internet, makers were already creating patterns inspired by this extremely popular franchise for years.


So I thought to tie this very much celebrated day with my hobby, I would share with you a roundup of some of the coolest Star Wars crochet patterns I found!

1. Lightsaber Ice Pop Cozies by Cookies Snob Crochet

2. BB-8 Amigurumi by Casey Barnes

3. BB-8 Crochet Pattern by Spin a Yarn

4. Ewok Yub Nub Scoodie by Kristen Stevenson

5. Star Wars Crochet Blanket by Ahookamigurumi

6. Princess Leia Yarn Wig by Repeat Crafter Me

7. Boba Fett Coffee Cup Cozy by Enchanted Ladybug

Honourable Paid Patterns Mentions

Fighter Blanket Crochet Pattern (on Etsy) by MJ's Off the Hook

Star Wars Amigurumi Patterns (on Etsy) by Little Things Blogged

Star Wars Crochet Kit (on Amazon) by Lucy Collin

Star Wars Even More Crochet Kit (on Amazon) by Lucy Collin

Hope you all enjoyed this list. Don't forget to pin it for later!



So long, Star Wars Fan!