Amigurumi Donkey

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This is the final project of this year's Book Inspired Craft Week. The last book that I chose is a picture book that I remember from my childhood- Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. 

In this book Sylvester is a little donkey so I decided that the obvious thing to make was a little stuffed Donkey. Just like the ducks that I made earlier this week and other amigurumi I have made as part of the Book Inspired Craft Series, I didn't make the donkey to perfectly match the donkeys in the book. In the book the donkeys are more of a brown color, but I decided to go with gray because that is the color I usually think of when I think of a donkey, and I felt like it would be the most obvious that it was a donkey.  Plus the style of the amigurumi donkey and the illustrated donkeys are different too. 

I made my amigurumi donkey to be similar in size and style to the Amigurumi Elephant and Monkey that I made in previous years, also as part of the Book Inspired Craft Series. 

The ducks I made a couple of days ago were made with a super thick, plush yarn, but for the donkey I just used medium/worsted weight yarn. You only need three colors- gray (or whatever color you want for your donkey), black (or the color you want for the hooves and mane), and white (for the inside ears, you could also use a cream or light pink). I actually wish that I had done the nose, or the first few rounds of the nose in the white as well, similar to what I did on my mini amigurumi donkey that was part of my farm animal crochet along. 

This is always one of my favorite series to do each year. It is always so hard to choose books because there are so many books that I love. Narrowing it down to only 5 books to feature is a really hard task. I still have a long list of books I want to use someday. But I love combining my love of books and my love of crafting during this week each year, and I hope you have enjoyed it too. 

What are your favorite books, especially children's books? What books would you choose to share and use as inspiration for a project?

How to Crochet an Amigurumi Donkey

About 6" tall to top of head

You will need:

• worsted weight yarn in gray, black, and white (sample made with Red Heart Super Saver Dusty Grey, Black, and Soft White)
• G crochet hook
• Safety eyes,  10 mm 
• Polyfil fiberfill
• yarn needle
• scissors

Instructions:

The body and head of the donkey are made in one piece, from the bottom up, the other pieces are made separately and sewn on at the end. Most of the pieces are made starting with the magic ring, which will be noted in the pattern.

Body and Head

Begin with magic ring, using gray yarn

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)
Round 2: 2 sc in each st (12 sc)
Round 3: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next st] repeat around (18 sc)
Round 4: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 2 sts] repeat around (24 sc)
Round 5: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 3 sts] repeat around (30 sc)
Round 6: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 4 sts] repeat around (36 sc)
Rounds 7-15: 1 sc in each st (36 sc)

Round 16: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 4 sts] repeat around (30 sc)

Rounds 17-18: 1 sc in each st (30 sc)

Round 19: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 3 sts] repeat around (24 sc)

Round 20: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 2 sts] repeat around (18 sc)

This is the end of the body portion, begin stuffing and continue to stuff as you work

Round 21: 2 sc in each st (36 sc)
Round 22: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 5 st] repeat around (42 sc)
Rounds 23-30: 1 sc in each st (42 sc)
Round 31: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 5 sts] repeat around (36 sc)

Insert Safety Eyes between rows 27 and 28, about 7 or 8 stitches apart

Round 32: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 4 sts] repeat around (30 sc)
Round 33: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 3 sts] repeat around (24 sc)
Round 34: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 2 sts] repeat around (18 sc)
Round 35: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next st] repeat around (12 sc)

Round 36: sc2tog around (6 sc)

Finish off, weave around opening to close, weave in end

Nose 

Make 1, begin with magic ring, using gray yarn

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)

Round 2: 2 sc in each st (12 sc)

Round 3: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next st] repeat around (18 sc)

Round 4: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 2 sts] repeat around (24 sc)

Rounds 5-6:1 sc in each st (24 sc)

Round 7:  [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 7 sts] repeat around (27 sc)

Rounds 8-9:1 sc in each st (27 sc)

Round 10: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 8 sts] repeat around (30 sc)

Finish off leaving long tail for sewing

Add stuffing and sew to the front of the face between the eyes, I kind of flattened the bottom edge along the neck when sewing it in place

Ears 

Make 2 ears in each color- gray and white, then attach as directed in pattern, begin with chain

Make 2 with white first, then set aside and when you finish a gray one you can immediately continue with attaching the two together as directed in the pattern

ch 2

Row 1: 1 sc in second ch from the hook (1 sc)
Row 2: ch 1, turn, 2 sc in st (2 sc)

Row 3: ch 1, turn, 2 sc in each st (4 sc)

Row 4: ch 1, turn, 2 sc in first st, 1 sc in each of next 2 sts, 2 sc in last st (6 sc)

Rows 5-9: ch 1, turn, 1 sc in each st (6 sc)

For white ears finish off and cut yarn, for gray ears continue with next step

Finishing Round: place 1 white ear and one gray ear together and crochet around the sides of the ears working through both layers, work 1 sc in the side of each row along the side, 3 sc in the tip of the ear, then 1 sc in the side of each row going back down the other side

Finish off leaving long tail for sewing

Fold the bottom of the ear in half with the white side in the middle, sew to the side of the head

Mane 

Make 1, begin with chain, using black yarn

ch 22

Row 1: dc in 3rd ch from hook and each ch to the end (20 dc)
Row 2: ch 2, turn, dc in each st to the end (20 dc)

Sew the mane from the top of the head between the ears, down the back of the head

Legs (make 4)

Begin with magic ring, starting with black yarn and switching to gray yarn 

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)
Round 2: 2 sc in each st (12 sc)
Round 3: 1 sc in blo of each st (12 sc)

Round 4: 1 sc in each st (12 sc)

switch to gray yarn

Rounds 5-14: 1 sc in each st (12 sc)

Finish off and cut yarn leaving a long tail for sewing

Sew a leg to each side at the top like arms and at the bottom in a sitting position

Tail 

Begin with magic ring, with gray yarn  

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)

Round 2-11: 1 sc in each st (6 sc)

Finish off and cut yarn leaving a long tail for sewing

Cut 4 strands of yarn about 6" long, fold in half and pull the folded end through the end of the tail, then pull the ends through the loop and pull to tighten (like a larks head knot), trim to the the length you want for the tuft at the end of the tail

Sew the tail on the back of the donkey