Plushie Fundamentals 102

Despite my wish to move onto plushies right away, I unfortunately still had some skills that I needed to learn. This week, I learned about stitch increases and decreases as well as how to use stitch markers. These are arguably the most important skills that I had to learn as I would be using them the most while creating plushies. I mean… the magic ring skill from last week is really important too, but I probably will only use it once or twice per plushie. The increase and decrease techniques I learned this week will be the method I use create larger plushies or to close them up easier, and it is likely that I will be using those techniques at every point during the creation of a plushie. See the video below for a demonstration of my newly learned skills.

I have a whole host of sources that aided my learning this week. The most sizeable source that I learned from was Hopeful Turns’ How to Crochet for ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS playlist (this is the same person that made the rose video I used last week). I learned how to do stitch increases for the single, half-double, and double stitches, and I learned stitch decreases for the single, half-double, and double stitches from their videos (US Crocheting Terms). I was not exactly sure which stitches I would need to know increase and decrease techniques for, so I just did them all (because why not?). The decrease technique videos from Hopeful Turns were also where I learned that I had one less technique to master. I had assumed that the “Single Crochet Two Together” skill on one of my chosen patterns was some entirely different thing, but it turns out that it’s just another way of saying “single crochet decrease”. Woo Hoo! One less hurdle to get over before creating a plushie!

There’s nothing more annoying than having to put your crochet piece and hook down, pause, and re-wind a video multiple times when you are learning how to do a crochet technique. Hopeful Turns’ videos, thankfully, did not have this problem. Their videos allowed me to practice and execute increase and decrease techniques right alongside them, and they went through each step of each technique several times. There was no need for me to put down my work at all!

Also, the lack of attention span in me really appreciated that these videos were so short. However, I would advise anyone that is just starting to learn crocheting to watch these videos a little later in their learning journey (i.e. do the same steps to progress that I did). The length of the videos means that there is a bunch of information packed into a short amount of time. If you do not know/remember/understand the basic stitches, you will not be able to follow these videos very easily. If you do get to this point in your learning, you may want to put the videos on a slower speed just to be sure of where exactly you should put your crochet hook. Did I do that to make my life easier? Nope. But you should definitely learn form my stubbornness.

My stitch markers. I think I will use the smaller ones for rows/rounds and the bigger ones for limbs.

Once I had learned all I thought I could learn from the Hopeful Turns Playlist, I took a look at my whiteboard list. I thought that I was about to wipe the board clean, but I actually had two more techniques to learn! The invisible increase and invisible decrease techniques were not mentioned on Hopeful Turns’ playlist, so I completely forgot about them. During my search for tutorials, I stumbled upon The Woobles’ Invisible Single Crochet Decrease Video and Knit Grit’s Invisible Single Crochet Increase Video. I learned that the “invisible” versions of these techniques are meant to create smaller holes in a plushie and make plushies “look better” in both creators’ opinions. I wanted my plushies to look the best they could, so I was all in!

Both videos were very informative and actually gave many different ways in which invisible decrease and increase techniques could be executed. They both went through the process, and each of the different ways, slowly and thoroughly which I really appreciated. Both videos encouraged the viewer to choose the method of execution that best suited them. If I’m going to be honest, the open-endedness of the videos kind of scared me. I didn’t feel qualified enough yet to make those decisions for myself, because I still very much feel like a beginner. However, I figured out which methods for invisible decreases and increases were the easiest for me to do (as you would have seen in my demonstration video).

To use the stitch marker for a row, you have to place it underneath only the v-part of the stitch.

Finally, I needed to learn how to use stitch markers. I knew that I would never be able to remember where one round/row ended and another began if I didn’t learn how to use them. PlanetJune’s video on the use of stitch markers was more informative than I could have even imagined. They explained how to use stitch markers for the basic purpose of marking the beginning of a row/round, and they explained how to place stitch markers to mark where sewn-on limbs or embroidered features would be placed. I knew that some of my plushies would require assembly like that, but I never clued in to the fact that I might have to mark where those limbs went.

Overall, I learned a lot this week. I am happy with my progress despite being quite impatient these last couple of weeks to learn the last few techniques for creating plushies. I did not think that I would get through them this fast, especially considering the fact that I did a lot of subbing this week. Regardless, I am proud of myself and excited to see where next week takes me!

Next Week: My very first plushie creation!