Birthday Hugs with Bluey
Coming up with ideas for birthday presents seems to get trickier every year. There are so many lovely toys and clothes I’d still like to make, but at the same time I sometimes worry I’m repeating myself a bit too much. A jumper here, a cuddly toy there… after a while it feels as if I’m always giving the same sort of gift.
When one of my nephews’ birthdays was coming up, I properly hit a (doubt) wall. And to be honest, my holiday plans didn’t help me focus either. By the time I finally decided what I wanted to make, there was no way I’d finish it in time.
The final choice came about very spontaneously. One evening a YouTube video popped up on my homepage. The project looked absolutely adorable, the character is hugely popular with the little ones, and – bonus – I already had all the right yarn colours in my stash. Decision made: I was going to crochet a Bluey amigurumi!
The pattern I followed was this YouTube tutorial by @Mundoocrochett. The video is in Spanish, but that turned out not to be a problem at all, since printed instructions appear at the top of the screen for each round. Very clear!
The amigurumi worked up very smoothly, even though I had to take plenty of breaks because of my summer plans. I stuck to the pattern quite closely, though I did switch up the order a little – especially when it came to attaching the eyes and nose. It was also the first time I was able to use a safety nose for an amigurumi. Easy as it was, I eventually decided to cover it with black yarn for a softer look. For the eyes I could finally use my oval safety eyes, which gave a really cute and accurate effect.
One thing I did differently from the video was skipping the fabric glue. In the tutorial she glues on elements such as the eyes, eyebrows, and patches, but I sewed everything securely with needle and thread instead.
I think the final result is very sweet, but… I couldn’t resist comparing my Bluey with the one in the video. Mine came out a fair bit wonkier, and the colour changes didn’t line up as neatly or centrally as in the tutorial version.
Curious about what could be the cause of this, I started looking into it. Thanks to @Crocheniacs I discovered that there are different ways to crochet single crochets. Turns out I’ve been crocheting with the “yarn under – yarn under” method all this time, while @Mundoocrochett clearly uses “yarn under – yarn over”. That tiny difference can make your stitches stack differently – which really matters for colourwork or oval-shaped amigurumi like this Bluey. A good lesson learned, and definitely something I want to experiment with in the future!
And in the end, it doesn’t really matter how straight or crooked my stitches were. The most important thing was that the birthday boy recognised Bluey straight away and hugged her tightly for a big birthday cuddle. Despite the delay – mission accomplished! 🥳
Cheers,
Charlotte
