All the Totoros!

I love the Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli film My Neighbour Totoro, and the Totoros themselves, adorable monsters with features reminiscent of rabbits and cats, that come in three different sizes and colours. A giant grey one about twice the height of a person, a blue one about the size of a cat and a small white one about half that size. If you haven't seen the film, I urge you to give it a try, it's totally delightful.

A few years back I made a blue and a white Totoro, and wrote up the patterns on my livejournal (White Totoro , Blue Totoro ). Since then I've been wanting to make a grey one, and to perfect the original two patterns. In the end I did that, and also adapted the pattern for the white Totoro to make a small blue one to go with the grey one, and a tiny white one to complete the set.

This might be easier to explain in photos!

Here's the large grey Totoro, which is about 9" tall, with the small blue Totoro (4.25" tall) and the tiny white one (1.75"). To be honest, the two smaller ones aren't quite to scale with the grey one, but it would have been too difficult to make a white one small enough without changing the type of yarn, which I didn't want to do.

These are the updated blue and white Totoros. The blue one is about 8" tall and the white one is 4.25" tall. When I started remaking them I changed them quite a bit - I obviously crochet a lot tighter now that I did when I made them originally. The grey Totoro and this blue one have a similar pattern, the grey one is a bit taller but the ears are shorter.
The white Totoro and the small blue one are the same pattern, just with extra elements (tummy, arms) for the blue one.

Here you can see the two different sizes of blue and white Totoros, I'm happy that I got the scale pretty much right for both sets.

I also made a little leaf for the grey Totoro, to help keep off the rain.

You can download the patterns free from Ravelry:

 Grey Totoro

Blue Totoro

White and Small Blue Totoro

Tiny White Totoro (the leaf pattern can be found with the Grey Totoro)

You can also download the patterns from Craftster 

Woolly Jumpers! Rabbit and Lamb amigurumis

I was asked to make some toys for our school's Easter raffle and so I picked two of the animals I most associate with spring - rabbits and lambs. I've been wanting to come up with a pattern for animal toys wearing clothes, so this was a good opportunity to give it a try. I started with a boy rabbit wearing a jumper (or sweater), then made the boy lamb with a really stripy jumper (I love stripes!).

Since I have boys I don't usually make girly toys, but I thought I'd give it a go this time and made a girl rabbit and lamb wearing little dresses, which made a nice change for me.

When I started making them the weather was still quite wintery, but but by the time I got round to photographing them it was getting much more spring-like, and I was pleased to be able to use some daffodils and primula as a backdrop.

The pattern, which gives instructions on how to make all the variations, is available in my Etsy shop.

Free Pattern: Tiny Rabbit Amigurumi

Here's a simple little pattern to crochet a tiny rabbit, about 2" long. You crochet the ears and the feet as you go along, so the only sewing is for the features and the tail.

Tiny Rabbit Amigurumi

Abbreviations:
ch = chain
st = stitch or stitches
ss = slipstitch
sc = single crochet (US), double crochet (UK)

dc = double crochet (US), treble crochet (UK)

tog = together

sc2tog = decrease by working two sc together
FO = fasten off

General instructions:

Work in rounds unless otherwise stated and do not join rounds unless told to. Use a stitch marker to mark the start of a round - a small piece of different coloured yarn placed under the stitch at the start of the round will do. To start a round, you can use the magic ring method, but I prefer (ch2, work 6 sc into 1st ch). If you work the 6 sc over the tail of yarn as well you can use that to pull the hole tight.

Work through both loops of stitches unless otherwise indicated.

You will need:

Small amount of light brown yarn.
Small amount of white yarn.

Black yarn for features.

Small amount of stuffing.
3.5mm (E) hook.

Special stitch instructions:
4 dc pop: popcorn stitch for legs. Work 4 dc into 1 st, take hook out leaving loop, put hook through 1st dc & pull loop through.

Body:
Start at nose using light brown yarn.
Round 1: Ch2, work 6 sc into 1st ch - 6 st.
Round 2: [2 sc in next st, sc in next 2 st] 2 times – 8 st.
Round 3: Sc in each st around - 8 st.
Round 4: [2 sc in next st, sc in next st] 4 times – 12 st.
Round 5: Sc in next 4 st, [ear: ss in next st, ch 6, sc into 2nd ch from hook, dc in next 3 ch, sc in next ch, ss back into original st], sc in next 2 st, [ear: as before], sc in next 4 st – 12 st.
Round 6: Sc in each st around (work into the first ss of the ears, not the second) - 12 st.
Round 7: Sc in next 4 st, [2 sc in next st, sc in next st] 3 times, sc in next 2 st – 15 st.
Round 8: Sc in next 4 st, [2 sc in next st, sc in next 2 st] 3 times, sc in next 2 st – 18 st.
Round 9: 4 dc pop in next st, sc in next st, 4 dc pop in next st, sc in next 15 st – 18 st.
Round 10 - 11: (2 rounds) Sc in each st around - 18 st.
Round 12: Sc in next 17 st, 4 dc pop in next st – 18 st.
Round 13: Sc in next 4 st, 4 dc pop in next st, sc in next 13 st – 18 st.
Round 14: Sc in each st around - 18 st.
Round 15: [Sc2tog, sc in next st] 6 times – 12 st.

Round 16: [Sc2tog] 6 times – 6 st.

FO, leaving a length of yarn.

Use black yarn to sew eyes, nose and mouth, stuff and use length of light brown yarn to sew up hole at bottom.

Tail:

Using white yarn.

Ch 3, work 6 dc into 1st ch, join to first dc with ss. FO leaving a length of yarn and sew to bottom. Use the length of white yarn to sew front teeth if you wish.