Valentine

Having tracked down Japanese amigurumi and crochet books, I was eager to try something out. However, I wanted to make a panda and the books I have didn't have a panda pattern. So I took a bear pattern and modified it accordingly. It wasn't too difficult to decipher the Japanese since there were diagrams. The main problem was the diagrams showed a turning chain and it just wasn't working. After several tries I ignored the turning chain and it worked okay. The eyes were improvised by doing one round of white sc and two rounds of black sc/hdc. They turned out well especially once I put in the safety eyes.

• Patterns: Modified bear pattern from Amigurumi Collection Vol. 3; Heart from Japanese Hello Kitty crochet book
• Yarns: Caron Simply Soft white and black; Red Heart Super Saver cherry red
• Hook: ?
• Lessons learned: reading Japenese patterns, improvising - especially the eyes

-The Crochet Doodler