I was perusing Pinterest the other day when I came across these really wonderful amigurumi designs. This sparked an idea – so welcome to my first ‘designer spotlight’ feature.
It was this Blowfish that caught eye from Day Dreaming Maker. After scrolling through her other designs I realised she really had a great eye for design and colour. I’ve asked her a few question about her crochet journey:
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Hi there! Who is Day Dreaming Maker and where do you live?
Hi! I am Ying and I am from Malaysia.
How long have you been crocheting for? Did anyone teach you or are you self taught?
I joined the handicraft society during high school, and that’s the first time I picked up a crochet hook. We crocheted some hair bands, a phone pouch and a flower book mark back then, but this hobby stopped when I graduated from high school, because we had to return the crochet hook to the society XD. Until year 2020, my cousin introduced me to amigurumi and that’s when I got hooked. I rushed to buy a new crochet hook and some yarn, it was very easy to start crocheting again thanks to those basic stitches I had learned during high school, it is such a wonder that your hands won’t forget how to make it.
I soon get addicted with amigurumi, making plenty of amigurumi first from YouTube and then some amazing written patterns as well, finally came to a point that I try to make my own amigurumi based on the image I have in my head. The first amigurumi that I designed was an egg monster, it is so far from perfect, but very meaningful to me.
Where does your inspiration come from?
My inspiration comes from anywhere in life. I always take pictures of cute things that catches my eyes, even if it is on a street or on TV. Although they are not often used, it plants a vague image in my mind, and when the image gets clear enough, that’s the time to turn it into an amigurumi. Since I am at the starting point of amigurumi designing, I have an endless list on things that I want to create. And sometimes I like making amigurumi around a topic, for example when I make a dinosaur, there will be a whole dinosaur family that I need to make, and that’s one of the reasons why my crochet list gets so long.
What part pattern designing do you find the most challenging?
It takes me nearly one year to start writing down my own amigurumi pattern because all the processes make me feel very overwhelmed at first. But when the first step is taken, the following becomes much easier, and I am beyond grateful that I started this journey.
I think the most challenging part in creating a pattern is taking good pictures to showcase your amigurumi. Photography and editing had been my least favourite part to do, but recently I slowly fell in love with posing my amigurumi and taking pictures that tells a story. Suddenly I find out that when taking pictures of my amigurumi, I can also use my imagination and go creative, which I like a lot! And when the results came out, I am always very happy and feel so fulfilled.
What’s your favourite pattern you have designed so far?
Now I have created quite some designs, I love them all, it is very hard to choose a favourite, but there are some “classic” ones. The rainbow fish is made from my childhood sketch, the little no-sew whale that makes me learn amazing new techniques (and whale is my favourite animal!), the dinosaur series where I try to create a same style for different amigurumis, and a coming space themed amigurumis is when I started visualizing the image in my mind before I grab the hook and start crocheting. They all marked some milestone on my amigurumi designer journey.
The thing I most enjoy in designing my own amigurumi, is looking at all those cute amigurumis that was made by other crocheter using my pattern, and they like it. It is really amazing to me that people from all over the world are actually connecting trough crocheting, we are making the same design even if we came from different places and speak different language, it really melts my heart.
What is the best tip you can give anyone starting out with amigurumi?
For amigurumi beginners, YouTube and other amazing online resources are a great way to start. Another thing to keep in mind is that your work is actually really amazing, we tend to over criticise our own work. Facebook amigurumi communities are some great places where you can find answers and opinion, you can also find some tips to improve your skill on making amigurumi. Just keep practicing and don’t quit!
Thank you Ying for taking some time to answer these questions. I’m very excited to see what you design next 🙂 You can find all Ying’s patterns over on her Etsy shop here.
