Happy 2019!

To mark this as my first post of the year, I have a special surprise for everyone!

Yes, you guessed it right: a free pattern, of course!

And since I was born in the year of the pig, I had to make a cute little piggy just for the lunar New Year.

Please meet my pocket piglet, Nobu — the cutest and easiest amigurumi piglet that you’ll make all year!

You can make a few of them and stack them up.

Or just have them kiss each other for fun.

And if you like making tiny little pocket amigurumis, you must check out my Kirika the pocket unicorn pattern, available for FREE on the Hobium Yarns blog.

But let’s not get sidetracked now 🙂 Chinese new year is barely a week away and if you’re like me, you’ll want to hurry and make a few of these pocket piglets as a heartwarming gift for someone extra special whom you’re visiting then!

Please tag me on Instagram @amigurumei #amigurumei #pocketpiglet and let me know how your pocket piglets turned out!

Happy Chinese New Year to all my dearest friends! (I’m actually a little nervous about this year as we’ll be bringing the boys to a trip back to our hometown for the very first time! It’ll be their first time on an airplane and a no-cots sleeping arrangement. Wish me luck!)

Nobu the pocket piglet amigurumi pattern 

by amiguruMEI
Skill level: Easy

Materials & Tools
2.5mm hook
3mm hook
Dk weight cotton yarn in flesh, peach-orange, pink and dark blue.
Darning needle
Polyester fiberfill
Craft glue (Important: use one that dries clear)

Yarn note: I used Kartopu Love Cotton in pink K1873, Schachenmayr Catania in Light Pink, Kartopu Organica in Blue, La Mia Pastel Cotton in Flamingo. All available at Hobium Yarns with 2-day DHL delivery worldwide! Hobium sends me a box of yarn monthly as a part of their Hobium Yarns Ambassador Programme and I’m still swooning that I’m a part of it at all! So far, I’ve been in love with all of the cotton yarn that they’ve sent. For this project, the cotton yarn is a bit on the mercerized side (shiny) and they didn’t split up at all — perfect

Head
/Body
With flesh yarn and 3mm hook:
Round 1: Sc 6 in magic ring {6}.
Round 2: [Inc] around {12}.
Round 3: [Inc, sc 1] around {18}.
Round 4: [Inc, sc 2] around {24}.
Round 5: [Inc, sc 3] around {30}.
Round 6: [Inc, sc 4] around {36}.
Round 7-16 (10 rounds altogether): Sc around {36}.
Round 17: [Inv dec, sc 4] around {30}.
Round 18: [Inv dec, sc 3] around {24}.
Round 19: [Inv dec, sc 2] around {18}.
Stuff piece firmly.
Round 20: [Inv dec, sc 1] around {12}.
Round 21: [Inv dec] around {6}.
Fasten off and weave in ends. Leave a long end for making eye indentations.

Eye Indentations
1. With a darning needle, bring the remaining yarn from the bottom of the head/body through to the left side of the piece, positioning it at a stitch on Round 10.
2. Make one horizontal stitch and bring the thread back down to the bottom of the head. Gently tug on the yarn to create a slight indentation.
3. Now repeat the above on the right side of the head — there should be about 5 stitches in between the indentations. Trim off excess yarn.

Nose
For this, you will be crocheting in an oval around both sides of the foundation chain.
With peace-orange yarn and 2.5mm hook:
Row 1: Ch 6. Starting from the second ch from hook, sc in the next 4 ch then make 2sc in the final ch {6}.
You will now be crocheting on the other side of the chain, and continuing till the end in an oval.
Round 2: Sc in the next 8 sts {8}.
Clean fasten off and leave a long end for sewing.

Ears
Make 2 with peach-orange yarn and 2.5mm hook:
Round 1: Sc 3 in magic ring {3}.
Round 2: [Inc] around {6}.
Round 3: [Inc, sc 1] around {9}.
Round 4: [Inc, sc 2] around {12}.
Round 5: Sc around {12}.
Fasten off and leave a long end for sewing.
Flatten piece.

Legs
Make 4 with flesh yarn and 3mm hook:
Round 1: Sc 6 in magic ring {6}.
Rounds 2: Sc around {6}.
Fasten off and leave a long end for
sewing.
* No stuffing required for the legs.

Assembly
1. Sew nose at the center (between the eye indentations) below Round 8 of the head/body.
2. Sew ears onto the left and right top-side of the head, near Round 5.
3. With dark blue yarn and your darning needle, make a vertical backstitch for the eyes, on Round 10 near the eye indentations. If you prefer to have thicker-looking eyes, you may repeat the backstitches several more times.
4. For the cheeks, use pink yarn and darning needle and make a horizontal backstitch below Round 11, to the sides of the eyes.
5. Attach all four legs below the body piece. Do pin them together first to see if the position of the legs will help your piglet stand well on its own.
6. Important!** When you’re sewing on the final leg, don’t trim the excess yarn. Instead, bring it out to below Round 15 at the back-center of your piglet to make the tail. All you have to do is apply some craft glue (that dries clear), make the yarn curl up into a curly tail and leave to dry.