Extreme Penguin Amigurumi

Hey, guys! It looks like I'm back with another extreme amigurumi! I kinda vowed that I would never make another extreme amigurumi after my last one, (Let's face it, guys, these things aren't super easy to make!) but I just couldn't resist saying "yes" when Sarah of Mama Knows Luxury asked if I'd like to make something with her extreme acrylic yarn. Staying true to my theme of only amigurumi, I decided that I would make a giant version of my penguin. You can see my original Cuddle-Sized Penguin pattern HERE. Sarah sent me the nicest box full of her extreme acrylic yarn and an adorable needle felting kit as an extra bonus! She generously included six skeins of each color - black, gray, and white. You can find the yarn I used HERE. It works up quickly and beautifully! I used a P/Q (15mm) hook which made the stitches nice and tight. Perfect for amigurumi! You can find the hook I used HERE. Sarah actually sent me this yarn back in August of last year, but I didn't have the time to complete it until this month. It took me about two weeks to finish him once I finally got started. I knew that if I made giant Danny using my cuddle-sized pattern he'd turn out too big, so I completely redesigned the pattern so that he'd be just the right size. Whenever I design something new I always start with the head. Then I make everything else and pin it all together to see how it will look before I actually sew anything in place. No exception with giant amigurumi, so the first thing I made was his head! Next, I made his eye patches, body, beak, wings, feet, and tail. Everyone likes pictures, so I'll show you in pictures the process. I used a hot glue gun to secure the eyes since the eye patches were much too thick to attach them using the washers. I found that hot glue works better than fabric glue. At this point he was looking very weird. I think sewing the eyes on was probably the hardest part of making this penguin. The body and head had the same number of stitches on their last rounds, so all I had to do was match up the stitches and sew them together! And yes, stuffing the head and body took a long time! This is probably my fave picture! ^^ Break time! How cute is he here?! All finished! And well-loved! I had a lot of people asking me how much yarn I used for this penguin so here are the details on materials: I used approx. 4 1/2 skeins of the black A little under 4 skeins of the gray And a little under 1 skein of the white. Again, you can find the yarn HERE. I used about 32 oz. of stuffing for the entire penguin. Other odds and ends required would be 40mm black safety eyes which you can find HERE, and a large-eyed tapestry needle. The larger the better! And of course, an appropriately sized crochet hook. As I mentioned before I used a P/Q (15mm) hook that you can find HERE. And I know you're all wondering - how much does he weigh? This cutie weighs a whopping 6.5 pounds! A workout just taking the photos! But he really is so huggable and cuddly! More so than any of the other extreme amis I've made in the past. And he's a lot more durable too. Can you tell I'm in love with this penguin? So, why use this yarn? Because it's the affordable option if you want to make an extreme amigurumi. The yarn is 100% acrylic making it much less expensive than wool roving. Your ami won't turn out as large if you don't use wool roving, since this yarn isn't as thick, but you'll get more detail because of that, and attaching all the parts will be WAY easier because you'll be able to sew them together and it won't require felting or special sewing techniques as seen HERE. It's also super soft which is a huge plus! Since posting pictures of giant Danny on Instagram, I've received lots of questions about making extreme amigurumi and lots of requests for tutorials on the subject. If you're interested in the making of my giant fox ami, you can take a look at this post HERE and this one HERE. They give details on how I made him, including the written pattern if you're brave enough to make one yourself. You can read about the giant sloth HERE. (Sorry, no pattern for him!) In the future, I will be writing another post about upsizing your amigurumi projects. Trust me, it will be so simple that you'll be making giant versions of all your patterns! Will Danny's pattern be available? Yes! And Sarah at Mama Knows Luxury will also be making his pattern into a kit! Stay tuned for that! So, what do you think of Danny? Will you be giving extreme amigurumi a try? Until next time! ~Holly :) Follow my blog with Bloglovin or subscribe via email!