Busy bugs - Amigurumi Workshop #13

Hi, in 13th episode of Amigurumi Workshop I would like to present you the Busy Bugs. I made the project especially for cute baby boy. I was inspired by the set of contrast books for babies I like very much. I recommend you to watch the video on YouTube. Link is below. I'm going to prepare the tutorial in the future.

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Amigurumi Workshop video is below:

These books are for babies 10 and 12 month and over. When my sonny was 6 months I bought the books in the cardboard box and firstly he had a great fun with the books putting them in and taking out from the box. Then he started listening and get interested in the story, colors and shapes. 

In the first part of the video (link above) I tell you something about the books stories and then I describe my crochet project.

 

The set of four books in Polish (by Wilga | Foksal Publishing House) in the cardboard box includes the short stories about: ant, ladybug, bee and firefly.

Rushed ant – was stocking up on seeds of watermelon, four-leaf clover, floral nectar, jug of morning dew, ball of spider’s web. It was exhausted and went to bed, dreaming about sweet cookies.

Clever ladybug – wanted to be an artist and she painted everything with dots (the sun, mushroom, flowers). She was working really hard and finally she went to bed and was dreaming about dots.

Hard-working bee – tells about busy little bee who gathers the pollen. The bee has no time for dinner, just bustle about. All day long it is filling the combs with honey. Then it’s sleeping in the hive and dreaming about the honey.

Buzy firefly – the book tells another short story: when the night has come and it is getting dark, little firefly wants to light up the sky. It asked the moon to open his eyes, flicked his nose and awoke the sleepyhead. The bug flied to the stars to light them up. Now the starts twinkle and the dark has passed. All the sky is bright and the firefly yawned and went to sleep. Firefly waves tired wing to the stars, close the eyes and fell asleep, blinking his green light.

There are four colors and four shapes assigned to each bug. I tried to follow this idea in my crochet project. 

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I crocheted four bugs that are based on different body pattern and colors regarding the bugs from the book but I adjusted them to my idea.

  

 

Bee

Firstly I crocheted the BEE, working out the basic head and body pattern. The body is divided into yellow and black segments that are gradually diminished in the numbers of stitches in the round. The bee has a pointy part on the head – I added it to make the bee more interesting instead of the bald head.

It has antennas, legs, light blue wings and what is more – my crochet bugs squeak and rattle.

All the bugs have teether in different colors regarding the book colors.

Two bugs have a squeaky toy and two have a rattle.

Below you see two rattles (sphere and circle) and one squeaky toy I used in the project:

To add a teether – I finished crocheting on 12 stitches in the round and worked 6 sc hooking through the opposite sides of the circle to close the opening, then crocheted stripe in rows to attach the teether.

You may adjust it and don’t add a teether – then you should work 6 decreases and fasten off.

I couldn’t find a teether with the same shapes as in the book (only ladybug has the circle), so I attached the same colors and different shapes.

Ladybug

Ladybug has red armour with black dots. Pointed part on the head is alike the bee. What is new – I adjusted the body to the squeaky toy and legs.

All the bugs have the same face details that make them similar to each other. I used woven wheel stitch for the cheeks and the ladybug dots – you can watch the tutorial about four-leaf clover to see the way I embroidered the dots.

Ant

The third bug I crocheted was the ANT with brown and black stripes and wider abdomen to put the squeaky toy. I changed the pattern for the body a bit. The upper part of the head doesn't have the pointy element because I wanted diversify the bugs.

Firefly

Firefly has got green abdomen and thinner body than the other bugs. It has two pairs of wings and green teether.

SHAPES

Additionaly, because I couldn’t find a teether in the same shape as in the book, I decided to crochet separately four shapes from the book: circle, triangle, hexagon and star in definite colors. 

I crocheted two parts of the same shape and joined them together. I stuffed the shapes with swishing foil to get the noise that can engage the attention of little baby. I sewed a pieces of ribbon with different print and made a kind of sensory toys. The shapes are not finished yet - I will try to show you them later while preparing tutorial for the bugs.

And the last gift (non-amigurumi) - I made the teether with silicone beads:

What is next... I need to take a breath before I start the tutorial about the bugs. So firstly I will make the crochet frog keychain you saw some time ago and then something else will appear ;)

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I put lots of heart to my projects - it is good to know you appreciate my works.
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See you! :-)