Dec 7 2013

My date with the Kokeshi !

What a date it was I swear !!

My sight fell on this Kokeshi amigurumi doll a couple of days ago, and I fell in love with it. I am no amigurumist of any repute and I shy away from attempting these cute little critters. They give me a complex 😉 I have no patience for going round and round in single crochet with size 2.5 or 3 mm hooks that my fingers struggle to have a firm grip (remember I am overwhelmed by wrinkles ;)), and sewing the hands, tails, ears, legs …….and what not. I am more size 5 hook kind of a crocheteer (well I am adding this word to the dictionary !)

But this Kokeshi enticed me no end. She was too cute to resist. And seemed pretty simple too on first look. I was super confident I could handle this without any pattern and follow the picture as a guide. This is the first time I attempted to crochet something just by looking at the picture and I think I am pretty happy with the way it turned out at the end !

I took out my size 4.5 mm hook and set about crocheting the Kimono and finally put the pieces together. What should have been a cute little kokeshi girl/lady turned out to be a wrinkled grand old matron !!!!!!!!!!!!  Hold yourself a wee bit longer. You will soon be blessed by the grand old lady 🙂

I felt so let down…My date was with a young lady but ended up with a grandma !!!! Not the one to be cheated, I changed my hook to 3mm (very reluctantly) and slowly crocheted round and round and round ….and finally sewed the pieces together after dinner today.

Here she is my young kokeshi lady with her golden obi 🙂

crocheted kokeshi doll

crocheted kokeshi doll

the back of her obi

the back of her obi

Fret not for ye shall be blessed by no less than the grand old wise woman of the Kokeshi land 🙂

Poor old grandma got her face totally stitched up 😉

Moral of the story – you will end up with wrinkles if you try to cover up the holes and lines 😉 LOL

13 comments on “My date with the Kokeshi !”

    • You do have a valid point ! It doesn’t often occur to us to crochet a grandma 🙂 Now that I learnt how to work up wrinkles, I would rather be crocheting grandmas than spotless smooth skinned ladies which to me is more difficult than stitching up wrinkles which is so much more fun 😉
      Am glad to know you like them both. Thank you !

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  4. They are both fabulous. You really are a talented amigurumist. Knitting and /or crochet in 3D is something many people find very hard. I know this because I take classes from time to time. A hint to make it easier is to use small pliers to pull the yarn through when you are sewing up and it is hard to put the needle in or pull it through.
    Those amis are adorable and the facial expressions just wonderful. 🙂

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    • Thank you ! thank you ! ‘talented amigurumist’ !!! ha ha !! only I would know my struggles 😉 I know I shouldn’t be sharing it here, but I use my scissors which are always by my side in the caddy, as pliers ;)) since I don’t often make amigurumis, the pliers I guess are lying in some drawer. will remember to add it to my caddy. Thanks for that glowing appreciation….coming from an expert it is a Compliment :))

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    • Thank you ! I did work that out from a picture and you can see the initial result 😉 I was about to post the grandma claiming it to be a beautiful kokeshi doll when suddenly I realised her face was too wrinkled for a young lady 😉 that is when I stopped posting the grandma, changed the hook, yarn and a bit of the pattern and ended up with the blue lady !! I learnt quite a few tips from this exercise 🙂

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Your comment gratifies me !