How to Crochet Amigurumi: 5 Beginner Skills That Make Any Plushie

For your first amigurumi, grab a worsted weight yarn (also called a number four) and a 4mm crochet hook. Worsted is the most common, most affordable yarn at any craft store, and it's the easiest weight to learn on. Mary uses a chunkier super bulky yarn in the video, but worsted is the standard beginner recommendation.

The only color rule is do not pick black. Black yarn makes the stitches almost invisible, which makes counting and finding the V-shape of each stitch frustrating. Light pink, cream, pastel blue - anything you can see clearly will save you a lot of headaches.

The magic ring is how almost every amigurumi piece starts. It gives you a closeable circle so the base of the plushie doesn't have a hole in the middle.

Pinch the yarn end between your thumb and pointer finger, then wrap the working yarn around your pointer and middle finger so it crosses into an X. Hold the X down with your ring finger and slide your hook under the X. Turn the hook 90 degrees toward your middle finger, grab the lower strand of the X, and pull it under. Turn the hook again the same way, grab the working yarn, and pull through the loop you just made. That's the magic ring.

Single crochet is the building block stitch for amigurumi. You'll use it for almost every round of every plushie you ever make.

To single crochet into the magic ring, put your hook through the ring, grab the working yarn (yarn over), and pull a loop back through the ring. You should now have two loops on the hook. Yarn over again and pull through both loops. That's one single crochet. Repeat until you have six stitches in the ring, then pull the tail to cinch the ring closed.

After the first round, you'll single crochet into the V-shape on top of each stitch from the round below. Hook goes under the V, yarn over, pull through, yarn over, pull through both loops.

An increase is how you make the circle bigger. It's not a different stitch - it's just two single crochets worked into the same V from the round below.

Single crochet into the next stitch like normal. Instead of moving on to the next V, go right back into the same V and single crochet again. Two stitches into one means the round below grew by one stitch.

Patterns usually write this as 'inc' or '2sc in next st.' The standard amigurumi increase rhythm is round one: 6 stitches in the magic ring; round two: increase in every stitch (12 total); round three: increase, single crochet, increase, single crochet (18 total). The shape opens up into a flat disc, then a dome as you stop increasing.

Decreases shrink the circle back down. The standard decrease leaves visible bumps; the invisible decrease - which is what Mary teaches and what most amigurumi makers use - hides them.

Instead of hooking under the full V of the next stitch, only pick up the front loop (the loop closest to you). Without yarning over yet, move to the next stitch and also pick up only its front loop. You now have three loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through just the first two front loops, then yarn over again and pull through the remaining two loops on the hook. The two stitches just became one, with no visible bump.

Once the body is decreased down to a small ring of stitches, you fasten off and close the remaining hole.

Cut the yarn six to eight inches from the last stitch (leave plenty of tail for sewing). Pull the cut end all the way through the loop on your hook to lock the last stitch. Thread the tail onto a yarn needle and weave the needle through the front loop of every stitch around the final round. When you've gone all the way around, pull the tail tight - the stitches cinch together like a drawstring and the hole closes.

Cinching closes the hole, but the tail can still work loose over time. Lock it in place with a few knots and hide the tail inside the body so it doesn't show.

After cinching, push the needle through a nearby stitch and pull the tail through, leaving a small loop. Pass the needle through the loop and pull tight - that's one knot. Repeat three to five knots until the knot feels solid. Then push the needle all the way through the body of the plushie and out the other side. Pull the knot through the body so it disappears into the stuffing, then snip the excess yarn flush. The tail end retracts back inside and the surface looks clean.

That's the whole technique. With these five skills - magic ring, single crochet, increase, invisible decrease, fasten off - you can follow any beginner amigurumi pattern. Pick a simple project like a bee or an octopus and try it.