Every Round Counts

Learn to crochet from your very first loop, by making five little stuffed toys.

This book is for someone who has never held a crochet hook and would like to make amigurumi: small crocheted toys that are stuffed and finished with a face. It assumes nothing. It explains what a stitch is, how to hold the hook, which yarn to buy and why, and then teaches one new skill with each thing you make.

What you make

1. A little blanket in rows, to learn the one stitch every toy uses.
2. A ball, 1¾ in (4.5 cm) across: the magic ring, increasing, decreasing, stuffing and closing.
3. A bunny, 5½ in (14 cm) tall: safety eyes, an embroidered nose, and sewing ears and a tail on.
4. A toadstool, 3¾ in (10 cm) tall: back loops and changing colour.
5. A bear, 5¾ in (14.5 cm) tall: a toy in nine pieces, starting on a chain, putting it together.
6. A whale, 4½ in (11 cm) long: everything at once.

What makes it different

• Every round is counted and checked. Each pattern line ends with the number of stitches you should have. Every one of those numbers was recomputed by a program from the round before it, so if your count is different, the difference is in your stitches, and a troubleshooting page shows how to find it.
• Every round is also drawn out, stitch by stitch, in a strip under the instruction: a mark for each single crochet, increase and decrease, in the order you make them.
• The pictures of the toys are drawn from their patterns. There are no photos of toys that the patterns do not make. Each toy is built by a program round by round from the same pattern you follow, so every V on it is one stitch, and the face maps show exactly which stitches sit between the eyes.
• Faces placed by counting. Every eye, ear, arm and fin has a place in rounds and stitches, and a page shows the same bunny with its eyes in four places so you can see why it matters.
• US and UK terms, never mixed. The book is in US terms (single crochet). The pattern cards give every pattern twice, once in US terms and once in UK terms (double crochet), and a page explains the difference.
• Step diagrams for every new move: slip knot, chain, single crochet, magic ring, increase, invisible decrease, back loop only, colour change, closing a piece, safety eyes, sewing on, embroidery.

What you download

• Every Round Counts (45 pages, PDF, US Letter): the book, in colour, with bookmarks.
• Pattern Cards (17 pages, PDF, US Letter): every pattern on its own page with circles to tick off each round, first in US terms and then in UK terms, to print and keep beside you.

Good to know

• You need a 3.5 mm (US E-4) hook, smooth worsted (UK aran) weight yarn in light colours, stuffing, a tapestry needle, stitch markers, 9 mm and 6 mm safety eyes and a little embroidery thread. The book lists how much yarn each toy uses, worked out from its stitch counts; one 3.5 oz (100 g) ball of each colour makes the whole set.
• Toy sizes are worked out from that yarn and hook; yours may come out a little bigger or smaller.
• Safety eyes are not for children under 3. The book shows how to embroider eyes instead and what else to change for a toy for a baby.
• Pages are US Letter. On A4 paper, print with "fit to page".
• This is a PDF download. No physical book or kit is shipped.