{"id":15194,"date":"2015-12-03T03:32:57","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T08:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/?page_id=15194"},"modified":"2025-05-29T17:28:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T21:28:51","slug":"resizing-amigurumi","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/amigurumi-help\/resizing-amigurumi\/","title":{"rendered":"Resizing Amigurumi"},"content":{"rendered":"
Link easily to this tutorial in your patterns<\/a>: www.planetjune.com\/resizing<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n

One of the nice things about amigurumi is that the exact size is rarely important, so you don’t need to worry about matching the designer’s gauge. Provided your stitches are compact enough that they won’t gape open to leave large holes between them when you add the stuffing, you have the freedom to experiment with different yarns and hooks to give you a different-sized result.<\/p>\n

So, if you’d like your amigurumi to be larger (or smaller) than the sample pictured in the pattern, how can you do that? You have several options, and I’ll go over them all for you in this article.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> You can also use the techniques described below\u00a0to make a set of parent and baby animals! For more details, see my article ‘How to make ‘baby’ amigurumi animals<\/a>‘.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Method 1. Change the Yarn Size<\/h2>\n

To make a larger amigurumi, use a heavier (thicker) yarn than that recommended in the pattern; to make a smaller amigurumi, use a lighter (thinner yarn). You’ll also need to change your hook size accordingly (see Choosing a Hook Size<\/a><\/em>, below).<\/p>\n

\"polar<\/a>
\nThe photo above shows my AquaAmi Polar Bear pattern<\/a> worked in bulky weight yarn with a G7 US\/4.5mm hook (left) and worsted weight yarn with an E US\/3.5mm hook (right). You can see that the worsted weight option is about 3\/4 of the size<\/strong> of the bulky weight option. In the photo below, the same applies – the blue elephant is made with the bulky option, and the grey elephants with the worsted option.<\/p>\n

\"AfricAmi<\/p>\n

You can increase the size difference even more by using much<\/strong> lighter (or heavier) yarn and a correspondingly much<\/strong> smaller (or larger) hook, for example you can go right down to crochet thread and a steel hook, as shown by bettika67<\/a>, who turned my life sized Fuzzy Guinea Pigs<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Fuzzy<\/a><\/p>\n

into the most adorable 1-inch piggies, just by using very fine thread and a tiny hook:<\/p>\n

\"meerschweinis<\/p>\n

And, if you want to scale your amigurumi to a specific size, I’ve calculated the numbers for you so you know which yarn and hook combo you’d need to scale an amigurumi. See my Scaling Amigurumi to Any Size<\/a> tutorial for the results!<\/p>\n

\"resizing<\/a><\/p>\n

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Method 2. Hold Multiple Strands Together<\/h2>\n

To save buying extra-thick yarn when increasing the size of an amigurumi, you can use a standard yarn, but hold two (or more) strands together as you crochet, together with a larger hook (see below).\u00a0You can see the effect of this here:<\/p>\n

\"AquaAmi<\/a><\/p>\n

Both these turtles were made using my AquaAmi Sea Turtle pattern<\/a>\u00a0and the same yarn (bulky weight, in this case, but the same applies for any yarn weight). The turtle on the left is the one shown\u00a0in the pattern, but for the giant turtle on the right, I doubled the yarn by holding two strands together and used a correspondingly larger hook (L US\/8mm instead of G7 US\/4.5mm). The result is a turtle that’s about 1.5 times the size.<\/p>\n

\"pumpkin<\/p>\n

The giant Pumpkin<\/a> uses 2 strands of worsted weight yarn (instead of 1) and an I US\/5.5mm<\/span> hook (instead of E US\/3.5mm) to super-size it to about 1.5 times the size of the normal pumpkins.<\/p>\n

\"amigurumi<\/a><\/p>\n

My big Gingy<\/em> uses 2 strands of worsted weight yarn (instead of 1) and an I US\/5.5mm hook (instead of E US\/3.5mm). The finished piece was 44% larger<\/strong>, and took 2.7x more yarn<\/strong>, than the standard Gingerbread Man<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Although I can’t give you an exact formula – because it depends on how tightly you crochet at each size, and how big your larger hook is compared with your smaller hook – you can use my numbers above as a good rule-of-thumb indication for the increase in yarn quantity when you hold the yarn doubled.)<\/p>\n

Hook size for multiple yarn strands<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Using multiple strands of yarn\u00a0has\u00a0its own challenges – you need to use a hook that’s large enough to catch all the yarn strands with every stitch. For two strands of yarn held together, you’ll probably need a hook at least 1.7x the size<\/strong> (in mm) that you’d use with a single strand.<\/p>\n

For example, I use an E US\/3.5mm hook with worsted weight yarn. To hold 2 strands together, I’d calculate:1.7 x 3.5 = 5.95. The closest hook size to 5.95 is 6mm,\u00a0<\/span>so, for my first attempt, I’d try using a J US\/6mm hook with two strands of worsted weight yarn.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

For three or more strands held together, take\u00a0your yarn and all your hooks and experiment until you find the smallest hook size that lets you easily grab all your strands with every stitch.<\/p>\n

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Method 3: Supersize by Combining Methods 1 & 2<\/h2>\n

To increase the size of your amigurumi still further, you can\u00a0combine methods 1 and 2 to make an ami that’s up to about twice\u00a0the size<\/strong> of the original, by using 2 strands of a bulkier weight yarn (than the pattern calls for) held together, and a much larger hook (see Choosing a Hook Size<\/a><\/em>, below).<\/p>\n

\"mega<\/p>\n

My Mega Whale, above, is made following my\u00a0Tiny Whale pattern<\/a> exactly, but instead of using worsted weight yarn and an E US\/3.5mm hook, I used two strands of a bulky weight yarn and an L US\/8mm hook. And, as Mega Whale is twice the size of a standard Tiny Whale, I also doubled the eye size, from 8mm to 15mm.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

While you can go still\u00a0larger with this technique by using multiple strands of thicker\u00a0yarn, there’s a trade-off: as you increase the size of each stitch, the space between the stitches also becomes more noticeable, because it’s correspondingly larger. The stitches are also chunkier, so it doesn’t give as smooth a finish as using a finer yarn and smaller hook.<\/p>\n

It’s up to you how large you’re willing to go – you can always try crocheting the first few\u00a0rounds of the pattern and see if you like the fabric that you’re creating or if the stitches are just too chunky or gappy for your taste.\u00a0(For completeness, I’ll include the way to avoid this – Method 4, below – although it’s much more advanced and not something I’d recommend!)<\/p>\n

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Method 4: Rewrite the Pattern(!)<\/h2>\n

Note:<\/strong> I’m just including this for completeness! I don’t recommend you try this method unless you’re keen on developing your design skills.<\/em><\/p>\n

As single crochet stitches are square, in theory you can double the size of an amigurumi pattern without changing the yarn or hook by doubling both<\/strong> the number of stitches in each round and<\/strong> the number of rounds, so each stitch of the pattern is turned into a 2×2 square\u00a0of stitches (2 stitches wide and 2 rounds tall).<\/p>\n

For example, every time the pattern calls for 1 stitch, you make 2 (so e.g. if Rnd 1 is 6 sc, you’ll make 12 sc) and<\/strong> you repeat every round (so you’d repeat your new Rnd 1 with a second round of 12 sc).<\/p>\n

But this is a very simplistic method, and far from perfect. You’ll end up with\u00a0stitch counts like this at the end of the rounds: 12 st, 12 st, 24 st, 24 st, 36 st, 36 st. If I were designing a double-sized animal I’d then refine this new pattern by spreading the increases out, to something like 6 st, 12 st, 18 st, 24 st, 30 st, 36 st over those same 6 rounds, so the increases are made evenly and not stepped every 2 rounds.<\/p>\n

It’d be hard to keep track of your rounds and stitch counts when you’re turning each stitch into four stitches, for even a basic amigurumi pattern. More complex patterns that include precise shaping and\/or colour changes would be even more challenging.<\/p>\n

So I wouldn’t really recommend this method at all – by the time you’ve done all the work in doubling the stitches and the rounds, smoothing out the increases and decreases, and tidying up any shaping and colour-changing, it’d probably be easier to start from scratch and design a new pattern!<\/p>\n

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Method 5: Go Giant!<\/h2>\n

With my Giant Amigurumi method, you can resize a pattern from twice the size (with the double-size<\/a> technique):<\/p>\n

\"double-sized<\/p>\n

…to 3-4 times the size of the original, like my giant dinosaur<\/a>: <\/p>\n

\"Giant<\/a><\/p>\n

Learn all my upsizing tips and techniques (including patterns for the giant eyes!) in my ebook The Complete Guide to Giant Amigurumi<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

Choosing a hook size<\/h2>\n

When you’re changing the weight of the yarn used in the pattern (whether by using a different yarn weight and\/or holding multiple strands together), you’ll also need to change your hook size by a corresponding amount.<\/p>\n

For amigurumi, I usually recommend the following hook sizes as a starting point:<\/p>\n