I was bored. I was bored with what I was working on (free form crochet coat) and I was sick and tired of fighting with the crocheted needle holder I was working with. Oh, it was a good enough piece, in its day, but…its day was over.
I wanted to work up something fast, fun, happy, and functional. Something that would hold all those yarn tapestry needles I like to keep on hand. I thought, “I’ll crochet a pin cushion in a bright color.”
And that’s how Chauncey came to be.
I have been crocheting since I was little. I learned at my mother’s knee at about five years old. Okay, I learned facing my mother across the kitchen table because I’m a leftie and I had to watch her from the wrong side. But hey, whatever works, right? Anyway, I’ve been crocheting for almost a half century, and I have been making toys since the get-go.
My mother had a passion for making crocheted toys. “If you have a hook and a little yarn, you’ll always have a new toy,” she used to say. We had some really cool crocheted toys. We had some seriously tough crocheted toys, built to last through whatever three ornery roughnecks, four grown Saint Bernard dogs and a countless stream of their puppies could put a toy through. Have you ever seen what happens to a crocheted panda bear when it’s been washed in a wringer washing machine? Pandy got really looooong. But he came right back in the dryer, ready to be tossed around as a football, wrestled by a dog during a game of “Gimmie That,” and cuddled into slumber when we all fell over at the end of the day.
Mom passed her passion for funny, happy, seriously tough toys on to me, and I, of course, ran with it. I boldly went where no crochet hook went before. I was designing “weird” toys by High School, making them and giving them to friends…just little guys, sometimes with three eyes, or four ears, or whatever else I could think of between classes. I never knew that my toys were called, Amigurumi. Who knew?
Now that Amigurumi is all the crochet craze, I am in Hooker’s Heaven. A short-attention-span-friendly crochet toy fix? I am THERE!
I grabbed a ball of bright orange yarn and a hook. In just a couple of minutes, I went from thinking, “I’ll crochet a ball and stick pins in it” to, “I sense a toy waiting to be born.” I was initially thinking, just a ball with eyes. Simple, quick, the easiest of amigurumi styles. Then, of course, the ball had to have “hair.” It just felt right. So I worked in the hair, and set the eyes into place, getting ready to stuff my little creation.
I got his head stuffed and closed, taking notes as I went along, and when he was finally finished, I looked into his little black button eyes and said, “Welcome to the world! Aren’t you adorable!”
He looked up at me and said, “I need feets.”
I had crocheted the amigurumi equivalent of a demanding three year old, and the three year old wanted “feets.”
“You are adorable,” I cooed. ”And, you are also what I would call, precocious.”
“Pree-Koh-shiss.”
“Yes. Precocious.”
“Sssssssssss……”
“That’s enough. Does a pin cushion really need feet?”
“Peen-koo-sheen,” he said, trying out the new word. “I need feets. I’ll roll over. Fall. Splat! I need feets.”
“You’re a ball. You’re supposed to roll.”
“You said I was a pre-ko-shiss.”
“You are a precocious ball. I’m starting to lean toward bratty.”
“You said I am a peen-koo-sheen.”
“I can see that this is going to get me absolutely…nowhere.”
“So, do I get feets?”
“You get feets.”
“Yay!”
“Do you want a mouth, too?”
“I dunno. Can we talk about it after I get feets?”
“I suppose we can. You’re cute as a button without it.”
“I don’t think I need one.”
“You don’t need a mouth?”
“Nope. I don’t think I eat, and this conversation we’re having in all in your head, so….”
“Yes, I know. I’m a weird old lady that talks to her toys. I can’t wait for you to meet Reggie.”
“Reggie? Is he a peen-koo-sheen?”
“No, Reggie is a very cool plant. I think he’ll get a kick out of you.”
“Can I have my feets first? I feel…unfinished.”
“Yes, you can have your feet first.”
“Yay! Feetsfeetsfeetsfeetsfeets!”
“You know I sense that if I wasn’t holding on to you, you would fall over kicking and laughing.”
“I can’t kick without FEETS!”
“Okay! I’ll start the feets!”
I picked up the hook again, and thought a bit…brought the toy into Chris to ask his opinion about feets…er, feet. Chris just looked at my new little guy, and said, “What the Hell is it?”
“It’s an amigurumi pin cushion. And it’s a brat.”
“Uh-huh. Did you give it to the parsley to get a name for it yet?”
Poor Chris. His mother’s a nut-job.
“No,” I said, laughing now. “He wants to wait until he has feets…er, feet.”
“Riiiiight. Okay, the closest thing you have to a screaming neon green.”
“Cool, I can get close. I have a bright lime….”
Chris was already gone, turned back into his computer and whatever work I had interrupted..or perhaps thoughts of how he could have me institutionalized. Poor Chris. He’s very patient with me.
Back in my lair, I grabbed up the smaller hook, the lime green yarn, thought a bit…and assembled the feet. Once I had them on, my little buddy and I tried them out, and he was satisfied. Good thing, too, as I wasn’t really looking forward to doing them again.
“Are you happy with your new feet?” I asked.
“Yes! I like my new feets! Now what are we going to do?”
“Do you have an aversion to having needles and pins stuck in your head?”
“I dunno. I’ve never had needles and pins stuck in my head. Will it hurt?”
“I don’t doubt for a second that you’ll tell me all about it. Let’s start with the needle I used to sew on your feet.”
“K….Ow. OW.. OWOWOWOWOWWWWWW!”
“Knock it off. I haven’t touched you yet.”
“Oh.”
We finally got through inserting one needle.
“There, I said. “Did that hurt?”
“Nope. I’m a peen-koo-sheen.”
“I believe you’re going to be a grand pin cushion.”
“Can I go meet Reggie now?”
“Sure! And the garlics, too.”
“Are garlics amy-goo-roooooomies?”
“No, garlics are plants, like Reggie.”
“K.”
As soon as we went through the door to the porch, my little pin head erupted into questions.
“Wow! Where is this? Are there more peen-koo-sheens here? Are there more amy-goo-roooomies here? What’s that big bowl of green stuff? Why is the bowl humming? Can I sit in the bowl and hum?”
“Whoooaaaaaa,” drawled Raggie. “What…have you done?”
That was Chauncey’s first day. He’s still a brat, but he’s so cool, it doesn’t matter. Like I said, these toys develop their own personalities. Yours will, too!
Here’s how to get your own amy-goo-rooooomie. If you don’t have a potted parsley or a potted garlic garden in your house, maybe you can get a name for your creation from the dog, the cat, or someone in your household. Hey, your toy might just up and name itself!
Stranger things have happened…
The pattern. Finally!
Chauncey Feets Amigurumi
Adventurous beginner. This assumes you know the basics. If you don’t but you really want your own Chauncey Feets toy, there are wonderful tutorials all over the web. One of my favorite places for instructions is www.crochetspot.com . Rachel has a search bar, just search the stitch you want to make, and you’ll get your answer…even for lefties!
I named the pattern after the toy. You, of course, should name yours as you see fit 
With the materials I used, Chauncey came out to just a skosh smaller than a baseball.
Gauge is unimportant. Use thicker yarn and an appropriate hook for a larger toy, sport yarn and a small hook for a little toy. It’s all up to you. It’s your toy!
Materials I used:
Body—Super saver yarn, worsted weight, Tangerine, about an ounce, maybe less.
Crochet hook, size I or J. I used a J hook.
Feet—I grabbed a different brand of yarn (for color,) Caron simply soft, worsted weight. Because simply Soft worsted is thinner worsted, I went down in the size of the hook, to a G. You can go up a hook size, too, for really BIG feet!
Use your judgment, choose a hook that is appropriate for the yarn, and will give you a somewhat tight, uniform stitch.
And the utility stuff: Large-eye yarn needle, scissors, stitch markers (optional), fiberfill or other stuffing material. Old pantyhose work great! I used fiberfill. Pantyhose are for tying up tomato plants.
Pair of 8mm safety eyes. Note: If you’re making a toy for a small child, it would be better to embroider they eyes into place with a French knot, or even draw them on with a Sharpie. Buttons, plastic eyes, even the safety eyes, look like candy to little people, and they react accordingly, often with terrifying results.
Abbreviations and stitches used:
Chain (ch)
Yarn over (yo)
Slip stitch (sl st)
Single crochet (sc)
Treble crochet (tr)
Special stitches: Cluster: work 1 tr and 1 sl st into the same stitch.
Decrease cluster: Insert hook into the next stitch, draw up a loop, and leave that loop on your hook. YO, insert hook into the next stitch, and draw up a loop. YO and draw off loops two at a time as for a treble. Next, sl st into that same stitch. Note: Clusters form a definite “back” stitch, (the top of next tr.) Work into that.
To start the head, chain 2
Round 1: 6 sc into 2nd ch from hook. No need to close rounds, just keep going. Mark your first stitch, if you want.
Round 2: 2sc into each sc around (12)
Round 3: *2 sc into next sc, sc in next sc. Repeat from * around. (18)
Round 4: *2 sc into next sc, sc into next 2 sc. Repeat from * around (24)
Round 5: *sc in next sc, sc into next 3 sc. Repeat from * around. (30)
Rounds 6 and 7: sc in each sc around (30 sc each round) (shortcut…you have 2 rounds at 30 sc each…work a continuous round of 60 sc, and you’re done!
Round 8: (Cluster round) Work 1 cluster into each st around (30 clusters)
Round 9: *Decrease cluster over first two clusters as such:
Insert hook into first stitch, draw through a loop, but leave it on the hook. That loop becomes one of the loops in your decrease cluster. YO, insert hook into next sc, draw up loop. YO, draw through two loops…twice. Treble made. Now, slip stitch into the same stitch. Decrease cluster made.
Next, work a cluster into each of the next 3 clusters. Repeat from * around. (24 clusters)
Round 10: *Decrease cluster over first two clusters of the previous round, cluster in next 2 clusters. Repeat from * around (18)
Note: Your work is looking a little inside out now, no? It is. Don’t worry about it. You’ll turn it out later.
Round 11: *Decrease cluster over first two clusters of the previous rounds, cluster in next cluster. Repeat from * around (12)
Round 12: *Decrease cluster over first two clusters in previous round. *Decrease cluster over the next two clusters. Repeat from * around. (6)
Finish off, leaving a nice, long sewing tail. Your work is still inside out. Go to the beginning, and that tail there. Thread a yarn needle with that tail, close off the hole that the first round formed, and weave in the loose end, clip it off.
Now, turn your piece out so that the texture of the clusters face outward, toward you. Why have all that great texture, just to hide it inside the toy, right?
Attach eyes at the top of the last regular sc round, between that round and the first cluster round, or embroider eyes in with black (or any color!) yarn and a French Knots. Stuff the head.
You can embroider a mouth, too, if you want.
Thread your yarn needle with the long tail, and draw it through all of the stitches, weaving it in and out, draw the hole closed. Secure it with some knots. Got some holes from the decreases? You can stitch them closed by weaving that long tail through them as you work. Go around and around, pulling stitches closed as you go, until the holes are closed. I had to go back and forth across the hole a couple of times to get it closed…that’s why you want to leave a loooong tail when you finish off the last round, at least two feet long, maybe three. Weave in the loose end, and clip it off.
Now, let’s give this guy some Feets!
Make four pieces, close gaps and weave in ends as you go.
To start, ch 2
Round 1: 5 sc in second ch from hook. No need to join rounds, just keep going.
Round 2: 2 sc in each st around. (10)
Round 3: *2sc in next st, sc in next st. Repeat from * around. (15)
Round 4: *2sc in next st, sc in next 2 st. Repeat from * around. (20)
Finish off, leave a tail for sewing.
Note: While you’re working in the round, the side that faces you while you work is the “right” side, or RS, and the other, the “wrong” side, or WS.
Take two of your four completed discs, WS together, and sew them together. You can stuff them very lightly if you like, but I didn’t bother with that. If you want a really stiff set of feet, you can cut small discs of plastic from old containers (the lid from a sour cream tub, etc.) to fit inside the feet, and slide them in when you sew the pieces together. Know what I used? When you start the disc, you have a tail hanging, and another when you finish off. You only need one to put the discs together. I used the others to stuff the feet.
Give your feet some toes!
Attach yarn to the edge of an assembled foot, ch4, sl in the same stitch. Now, skip one stitch, and cluster in the next. Do that twice more. I’m following a cartoon character code of conduct here, so I gave each foot four toes, but you can give your feet more or less.
Assembling the feet: Place your finished feet side by side, right side up, and grab a stitch on each edge, pretty much in line with the starting center on round 1. Stitch the feet together, a few stitches on either side of that center, then run your needle up into the middle edge of one “heel.”
Sit your toy on the feet so that it tips up just a bit,
then pick it all up carefully, and pick up a stitch on the toy, at the top of round one, closer to the face, as seen on the picture.
Place a few stitches on that heel, then run your needle through to the center of the other heel and stitch it down through a few stitches. Knot it off well, and weave in your ends, clip them off…and a new toy is born!
Making a girl? Try a bow!
Ch 11.
Row 1: SC in 2nd ch from hook, and in each ch across. ch1, turn.
Rows 2-6 in back loops only, sc in each sc across. Finish off, cut yarn.
Center of bow: Thread a good size length (about two feet or so) of yarn onto a needle and attach it to the top row, center stitch. Weave the needle in and out, from top row to bottom row, and draw tight. Wrap the center of the bow with yarn several times, keeping it tight. Knot yarn where you started, weave in the shorter of the two tails left, secure bow to the top center head with the longer one. Weave in ends.
Now, grab a camera. I use my cell phone! Take your new toy out into the world and have some FUN!
Want to save a copy? Here’s a sweet down-loadable PDF for keepsies!
Chauncey Feets Amigurumi Pattern
Update!
Chauncey has a new accessory! While the sewing needles are fine, expected in a “peen-koo-sheen,” the safety pins broke my sister’s heart, leading her to ask that I stop torturing the little guys by sticking safety pins in their heads.
“That’s mean!” she exclaimed.
“Yes, but, Sis…he’s a pin cushion He’s supposed to have pins in his head.”
“The sewing needles are okay! It’s the safety pins…they’re mean.”
“Mary…Pin. Cushion.”
“It’s mean and icky.”
“Oh, you did not just hit me with the ‘I’ word.”
“ICKY!”
Siiiiigh….OK…when the “I” word comes out, it’s over.
So, Chauncey, My Man, here you go! Thank your Auntie Memmie for the cool fashion accessory, a safety pin loop!
***To do this…attach some yarn to a cluster, or between clusters. Chain 1. Single crochet in that same stitch. Now chain 6 (or so) and slip stitch into your single crochet. Finish it off, tie the ends together (just ’cause) and weave the ends back through the head, clip them off.***
Chauncey, who initially did not understand why I grabbed him by the head and stuck a hook into his hair, loves his new fashion statement so much, he finally settled on this shade of yellow for his sibling to be. Yellow. And green. And blue. And Mexicana print. And……
“Tank You, Ahmpee-Memmieeeeee!”
