Here you’ll find some of the most common questions. Can’t find the answers you’re looking for? Get in touch and I’ll do my best to get back to you shortly.
How do I read your patterns?
Update: There’s now an entire post on this question!
Every creator writes their patterns a little differently. I’ve created a guide to help understand how to read patterns the way I write them. If you have any feedback on how to make these easier to read, please get in touch!
You can find the post by clicking here: https://53stitches.com/reading-patterns/
Where can I get a copy of the Techniques Guide?
All of my patterns come with a copy of my Techniques Guide – this is a document with photo-tutorials of all of the stitches and tricks you need to know, with links to videos for some of these as well.
You can download a copy here: Techniques Guide
And there’s a left-hand version available as well here: Techniques Guide – Left Hand
What’s the best pattern for absolute beginners?
I would recommend the Luna and Artemis pattern if you’re just starting – they’re both worked in a single colour, so there aren’t any colour changes. And the pattern only has 4 stitches – increase, decrease, single crochet and a magic circle. These are the building blocks for a lot of amigurumi patterns, so if you can make one of these you’ll find there are a lot of other items you can make as well!
An added note to that – black can be a difficult yarn to work in when starting out, because it’s harder to see the stitches, so I’d suggest starting with Artemis!
I try and make all of my patterns descriptive and with photos where it might be difficult, so hopefully you can jump into any of them! The starter set – Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle, are also great beginner projects.
If you’re overwhelmed by what tools you need as well – I sell crochet kits in my store that include everything you need to get started (except scissors) to simplify it!
Can I sell items made from your patterns?
Go ahead!
The only thing I ask is that you link to the original pattern in the listing for others to find.
Also, this applies to finished products only – you can’t reproduce or sell my patterns in any form.
What brand/weight of yarn do you use?
I use a number of different brands depending on what colours I need. If it’s a colour I purchased online, I’ll try to link to it in the pattern. But the majority of the colours and yarn I used for my older projects are the Carnival Yarn Soft 8ply, which is my most readily available local yarn. I’m based in Australia, where the most common yarn weight is 8ply – which I believe is equivalent to DK (Double Knit) in the UK and the US. These days I’m using Stylecraft Special DK a lot, which I have to order in but comes in a great colour range.
I know a lot of people have used worsted weight yarn without issue as well, if that’s easier to find.
The yarn I use has a gauge of 22 stitches x 30 rows on a 10cm x 10xm square using 4.0mm needles, if that helps.
What hook size do you use?
3.00mm
Occasionally I will use a 3.5mm crochet hook, or if I’m crocheting something and I want it to be much larger than usual, I’ll use two strands of yarn and a 4.5mm hook.
Generally speaking, the rule for amigurumi is to use a hook at least 2 sizes down from what the yarn recommends on the band. This is because amigurumi has a different purpose than most garments you might be crocheting. Garments are more interested in drape and comfort, whereas amigurumi prefers tight stitches to keep stuffing in place – that’s why a smaller crochet hook then recommended is better since it’s less likely to leave holes.
How/when did you start crocheting?
I picked up crochet during my summer holidays in 2013. I had seem some fantastic knitted Robin and Nightwing dolls on Tumblr and thought I would try my hand at them – somehow got the knitting confused for crochet and here we are! For the first 3 months I was crocheting in the back loop only without realising, and all of my pieces were inside out and terribly misshapen.
Once I figured out what I was doing wrong, things improved pretty quickly.
I taught myself through the amazing resources available on YouTube and the great online community that makes so many patterns available for free (and now have my own YouTube channel). I try to keep my resources available free to say thank-you and give back to the wonderful community that was so welcoming when I was starting out, but I also have paid ad-free versions of my patterns to help support this wonderful hobby and create more patterns!
