One of my favourite things about crafting is being able to give them away! For my friend’s birthday, I wanted to try making her an amigurumi animal. The problem was that she didn’t have a favourite animal, so I just picked the cutest little guy I saw, which happens to be this elephant!

• 1/3 skein of Premier Yarns Cotton Fair – a fine weight (2) yarn (above: Slate Gray)
• 200g Loops and Threads Classic Fiber Fill
• 1 piece of fabric (8cm x 12cm) – optional
• 2 safety eyes (7.5mm)
• 2.0 mm hook
• Thread

Pattern by Chisachi Kushima; English translation by Stephanie at All About Ami

After researching the origins of this elephant design, I believe that he is a creation of Chisachi Kushima, as inspired by the elephant character created by Dick Bruna, a Dutch illustrator! There were no indications that Dick Bruna himself had designed an amigurumi pattern, and other bloggers had traced the pattern across multiple languages to the Japanese creation.

This pattern was a lot of fun to work through! I found it again on Stephanie’s website, which I mentioned previously for my simple cardigan. She did a great job in the translation! I have to admit that when I read about minimal attaching, I assumed that meant I wouldn’t have to practice adding yarn at all. However, the legs do involve adding yarn, but they are worked into the body rather than attached later as separate pieces, which I thought was very interesting. The ears, belly and tail are attached traditionally, with the pieces being crocheted individually and then added to the body. Positioning plays a large role when attaching pieces, so it may be helpful to try pinning the pieces before attaching them, just to see if they are where you want them to be. I did struggle a little bit with working the belly into the body because the legs get in the way a little bit, so he ended up with a little belly button!

In the future, I think it could be possible to add the belly piece before adding the legs. This would make it easier to attach the belly piece, and you would just have to stuff the elephant through one of the leg holes rather than the belly hole.

I also chose to add the fabric lining to the ears as Stephanie recommended, as I agree that it adds a touch of whimsy. I deliberately chose to stitch the lining in a thread colour that contrasted against the fabric to make it “pop” more, and I think it makes it look more home-y. However, if you prefer a cleaner, more finished look, you could match the thread to the fabric.

Overall, I really enjoyed making this elephant and learning new techniques for amigurumi. My friend loved the elephant too! She named him “Charcoal”. Together, we learned that all African elephants have tusks, so Charcoal has to be an Asian elephant, so it’s fitting that Charcoal was also given a with a Chinese nickname of “叉燒”! I’m not 100% sure how those two names relate, but I feel like they fit the elephant well and I’m glad that Charcoal has a new home.