Pailloux - Crobots : 20 amigurumi robots to make

NELLY PAILLOUX

Crobots

Copyright 2011 by Ivy Press Limited

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Important!

Safety warning: Crobots are not toys. Many have small, removable parts and should be kept out of the reach of small children.

Isnt there something contradictory about the idea of a crochet robot? Arent robots tough and unyielding? Not necessarily! Meet the crobots. The 20 little creatures in this book are all cute, soft, and useful. Each one can be given a job to do, whether its keeping an eye on your desk (step forward, Geisha) or guarding your keys (meet the alert and sparky Dogbot), although you have to be careful that covetous people dont carry them off while theyre hard at work.

Best of all, you can make any or all of the crobots yourself. This collection represents the sweetest, tiniest trend in amigurumi since well, since amigurumi was invented. Neatly crocheted in a host of colors ranging from the subtle to the brilliant, crobots demonstrate that even the smallest woolen creatures can have distinct personalities. Crobots make great confidantes (theyre small enough to put in a pocket or a purse, and tough enough to survive daily one-on-one sharing sessions). They make good gifts, too, and you can personalize them according to the needs and interests of each recipient, tweaking the color mix, adding a sequin or two, or even mixing and matching characteristics between crobots to create entirely new characters.

If youre a keen crochet maven, youll find that you can make even the most feature-laden crobot in a couple of evenings. If youve never picked up a crochet hook before, there are easy-to-follow instructions to guide you. Weve arranged the patterns in order of difficulty, so if you dont have much crochet experience or are not used to working on a small scale, start with one of the patterns at the beginning of the book and work up to the (slightly) more challenging ones near the end. Picking one of the easier patterns will ensure that you finish itsuccessfullywhile youre still practicing your crochet-hook skills.

Despite their tiny size, crobots are not toys. Make sure you keep them well out of reach of small children.

Making the crobots isnt hard if you have basic crocheting skills. Even if you dont, its quite easy to learn, and the basic steps are shown on these pages. Most of the crobots are worked in spirals, like all little amigurumi dolls. You do not have to join rounds, but if you want a foolproof way to count rows, use a stitch marker or a paper clip to mark the end of each round and move it up as you complete each round. The squared-off parts of the crobots are worked in rowsthat is, you chain one, then turn at the end of each row.

Each crobot has an ingredients list at the start of the pattern, which includes everything you need. The yarn used for the crobots is always light worsted weight (10 ply, or #3).

The patterns for the crobots do not give yarn quantities because the quantities for even the largest bot are very small and the amount needed will vary according to how loosely or tightly you crochet. For the main color of each crobot, you are likely to use no more than about half a 1.75 oz (50 g) ball of double-knit yarn. We suggest that you buy complete balls of yarn for your first couple of crobots and then, when you have a good idea of how much yarn they require, move on to some of your remnants from other knitting or crocheting projects.

All the crobot patterns use a C2 (2.75 mm) crochet hook. If youre an experienced amigurumi maker, you may want to choose an even smaller hook (the smaller the hook, the daintier your crobots will be), but if youre less experienced, a very fine hook may be too fiddly at first.

Each crobot is made in separate pieces heads, arms, legs, and so on. They are usually joined together once the crocheting is complete, but sometimes youll receive an instruction to stuff a body or head and close up the gap as you go along. Be sure to follow these instructionsthey will make your crobot easier to put together in the end.

The crobots are marked with one to four cogwheels to indicate how easy they are to make. Start with a single-cogwheel crobot and work up to the slightly more complex ones.

This is the starting point of all crochet patterns.

Make a slip knot by making a loop, then hooking the length of yarn through it with your hook and pulling to tighten.

Start a foundation chain by bringing the yarn over the hook from the back to the front, and grabbing it with the hook. Draw the yarn through the knot and onto the hook to make your first chain stitch. Repeat to add stitches to the chain.