I have the pleasure of pattern testing for a lovely lady/designer that I have been following for quite a while on Instagram and I am so excited to test this pattern . I fell in love with the pattern as soon as I saw it and I love cows too so I was excited to bring this design to life.

I needed to dig into my stash for this one as I didn’t really have time to order some yarn for it. I ended up finding a yarn I had originally bought to try for the first time and I think back then I had a bunny pattern in mind. Anyway I thought it would be perfect for this pattern and would give a lovely affect, as the designer had made hers with a yarn that gave a kind of marl affect. So I am using this as the main yarn for the pattern but I am using another brand and type of yarn for a few small details (I.e udders and eyes) and the dress. I don’t usually like to mix yarn but I only had my stash to work with. Saying that though I would of chosen a different yarn for the dress anyway so it’s only the udders I would of used the same yarn for had I had a suitable colour.

By the way the main yarn I am using, Drops Bomull-lin ended up being perfect for this pattern and it gives such a lovely affect. I would happily recommend this yarn for this pattern, it’s a perfect match. It’s the first time I have used the yarn and I have found it easy to work with. I thought it was going to be rough on my hands as it didn’t feel very soft but it wasn’t at all. It doesn’t split when working with the yarn, the only splitting I noticed was when you cut the yarn end and if you started to sew with it for exanple the strands would start to separate. It really has been an easy yarn to work with and the results are lovely , it’s perfect for amigurumi to give a different look/affect. I also think this yarn would be good for garments etc too as I can see it softening as you use it, wear it and wash it so lots of options for this yarn I feel.

Please note this pattern is written in UK terms so any stitches I mention are UK. FYI DC is SC in US terms and TR is DC in US terms.

Right back to the pattern and below are my notes on how I made my version of this Amigurumi Cow.

••• What Yarn did you use? •••

For the main yarn I am using Drops Bomull-lin which is a cotton and linen blend. The yarn company states this yarn as aran weight but it’s not, it’s much closer to 5ply/sport and 8ply/DK and that’s why I choose to use it.

For the udders I used Three Bears Yarn Passion DK yarn which is 100% Pima Cotton Yarn. The label refers to this yarn as DK but it’s much closer to sport weight and it works excellently with patterns asking for this weight of yarn.

For the eyes I used a little of DMC Natura in Noir (black), which is also a cotton yarn. As I used so little I haven’t logged an amount like the other yarns, as I used less than 1g so it technically still weighs the same on my scales.

For the dress I choose a different yarn as it wouldn’t look right if I had chosen the same as the main yarn. I decided the perfect yarn for the dress would be some lovely leftover yarn from Debbie Bliss called Eco Baby Prints which is a sports weight yarn made from organic cotton. It’s a lovely yarn to work with and will make a lovely dress.

Original Pattern uses Scheepjes Stonewashed yarn which is a sports weight yarn and the yarn is made from cotton and acrylic if I remember correctly. I didn’t have any of this in my stash but I feel I have chosen yarn very simular in weight/thickness so it should work well.

Top Tip: The look of this pattern is greatly enhanced (I feel) when you use a yarn that gives you an affect or different texture/look to normal yarns. The designer originslly used a yarn with a marl like affect and the yarn I have chosen gives a different texture which adds to how my cow looks. The yarn I used is a blend of cotton and linen and I think it’s the linen in the yarn that gives a very different look to most yarns. I really do recommend choosing a yarn that will give you a different texture or look as I think it takes this pattern to an extra level I.e I doubt it would of looked as good if I’d used my usual cotton yarn.

••• What Hook did I use? •••

The pattern asks for 3.5mm but I tried this and my stitches were too holey for amigurumi (you want a tighter stitch with no big holes). I changed my hook to 3mm and this worked perfectly with the yarn I am using, so you may need to adapt hook size to the yarn you use.

Please note for the dress I changed back to a 3.5mm hook to help me get the dress size correct for my cow.

••• How I stuff my Amigurumi •••

I am stuffing this Amigurumi like I do all my others, as I love the neat results I get plus should I wish to gift this to a child it has been made safer. I use tights/stockings to put inside the pieces and then I fill with fibre fill. If I need to knot one end I.e it’s not the toes of the tights/stockings I do so by do8ng a knot and pulling tight to secure, I then turn the tights inside out so the knot is on the inside. Once I have stuffed the piece correctly I then knot the end of the tights and then cut of any excess material, I usually leave enough to fold over and tuck in if possible.

For this specific amigurumi I put tights in each leg and once the legs were finished and I was happy with the level of stuffing I would tie a knot in the tights and cut off the excess material. I did this for both legs and then I followed the pattern which joins the legs together and makes a body. Once I had made about half the body, basically stopping before the rounds of decreases I then added tights inside and started to fill inside with fibre fill. After this I finish off the body, adding more stuffing when required and once happy I then tie a knot in the tights/stockings to seal and cut off excess material. The legs and body are now stuffed and the fibre fill is secure within the tights/stockings. I do exactly the same methods for the head and arms too.

Oh and I did it for the udders too as I had a small piece of tights that would work, however if you struggle doing a smaller piece like this you can skip the tights/stockings and just add the fibre fill. I do recommend you try if you can though as then it will stop any stuffing coming through your stitches. I actually found having a little sealed tights piece with stuffing inside mafe it easier as I popped it inside the udders and pinned it in place. I then sewed the udders in place and as all the stuffing was securely in the tights it meant it wasn’t getting in the way as I was sewing.

Why do I do this? I like how it keeps all the stuffing secure and means none will come through my stitches. Now of course the reason for tight stitches in amigurumi is to stop fibre fill coming through but I find over time the yarn can stsrt to loosen/soften and it does mean stuffing could start coming through a little and by using tights/stockings this won’t happen. I like to do it because it helps to give a nice neat lookng result and it is great when you are sewing pieces together because you don’t keep getting fibre fill caught with your needle. The added bonus to doing this technique is safety as well as it means if you gift this to a child it means the chances of them getting fibre fill in their mouths is greatly reduced bevause it’s secure in the tights rather than loose under the yarn.

••• Making the dress •••

Firstly I started by making the dress exactly as the designer had written it and after doing the first round of the skirt (the ruffle part I.e the bottom half of the dress) I suddenly thought I haven’t checked this for size on my cow . Thank God I did this now and not at the end, as I found out it wasn’t fitting my cow how it should. It wasn’t wide enough so it couldn’t fully go around my cow and I noticed the front bib part of the dress wasn’t wide enough either (in her photos it filled more of the chest than mine did). So I needed to start again!

Main Lesson to learn/Top Tip:After you have done the first round of TR stitches check to see if it goes round the waist of your cow, just above the udders. You want both ends touching each other or very close to this.

So my second time in making the skirt I decided I would change my hook to 3.5mm which is the size the designer used (I had to change to 3mm to work with the yarn I was using so that my stitches weren’t too holey). I did as per the pattern and also made sure I was loose on my starting chain. After the first round of TR I checked the size to see if it would go around the waist of my cow. Much better but it was still a bit tighter than I’d like. I knew I couldn’t work any looser and changing hook sizes again wasn’t an option so after having looked at the pattern I thought I could easily add another 2 stitches and it would be easy enough to adapt the skirt rows that I’d need too.

By the way this isn’t an error in her pattern, as I think it will depend on what yarn you use to make the dress and how you stuffed your amigurumi cow (as everyone will get slightly different results). All these factors can make the size of the cow vary slightly and this will obviously affect how the dress will fit. Thankfully it’s easy to adjust to fit, you might even find you don’t have to change yours at all but if you do I hope below will help you.

Now onto my third attempt and this is how I made my dress;

1. Chain 35 instead of 33 (remember I am trying to add an extra 2 stitches to give me a little extra width) and don’t forget to be loose with those chain stitches, you don’t want to be too tight here otherwise it won’t fit. Original total stitch count was 31 and it’s now 33. Top Tip Work into the back bumps of the chain and it makes the second part of the dress easier to start (when adding the ruffle skirt part).
2. After this you are doing dc stitches and the pattern asks for 19 of them, you want to add 22. You are adjusting this so that the big of the skirt will still be centered.
3. After this you are onto 3 rounds of TR and this is to make what I call the big of the skirt. The pattern says 7 TR but I needed to do 10 TR to get the right width for the chest of my cow By the way this left me with 11 stitches on one side and 12 stitches on the other, and I’m refering to the round below these bib stitches (as in the 3 rows of TR). You want them to be fairly equal so the front of the dress sits right and you can get away with this.
4. You then finish of with rounds 6-30 as per pattern although I do suggest you check the size for your cow. This piece once made goes around the neck and meets up with the bib of the dress. I checked with my cow and I only needed to do up to end of round 25 before cutting the yarn and leaving a tail to sew on a button.
5. The next part of the pattern is working on the bottom part of the skirt, what I have referred to as the ruffle part of the skirt. These rounds do need to be adjusted due to me adding an extra 2 stitches but it’s easy to do and I’ll tell you what I did. If you did the first round of this pattern into the back bumps of the chain like I mentioned you’ll find Row 31 much easier to start as you’ll see there are two loops like you’d ususlly work into. If you haven’t done this it can be a bit more confusing to tell where your next stitch is.
6. So Row 31 you follow the pattern as it states and the only difference is you have 2 extra stitches so you’ll be doing 3 TR in these too. You still end with 1 TR and chain 3. The original stitch count was 91 stitches but it will now be 97 stitches.
7. For Row 32, again follow the pattern and the only difference is you need to do 1 TR, 2 TR in the next stitch again one more time as this covers the two extra stitches you added. So the pattern says to repeat the section I said 45 times and you’ll do it 46 times. Again end the row in exactly the same way and the total stitch count will now be 139. See I told you it’s simple to adapt!
8. For Row 33-35 you’ll do exactly as the pattern says and you don’t need to adapt it all all. Any other finishing off instructions will be the same as these don’t change.

As I said it’s very easy to adapt the skirt size if you need too, just remember if you need to adapt it further than I do always add extras in two’s, so for example you can add 4 extra stitches but not 3. If you do this it’s very easy to adapt .

By the way I found this skirt was a yarn eater and it’s the ruffle skirt that does it. I was going to use all of one yarn but I was a bit worried I wouldn’t have enough. I had two yarns that worked perfectly together so I decided to use them both and good job I did . Originally I planned to do all the ruffle skirt in the Blossom colourway and just do the last row in Blush however I didn’t end up having enough Blossom yarn to do this. It was so close actually, I almost did the second to last row in Blossom but didn’t quite make it. I ran out of yarn about an inch before the end of the row so I had no choice but to undo that row and do it in Blush instead. So the last two rows are done in Blush and thankfully it looks really good so that wasn’t a problem .

The only reason I have some of Debbie Bliss Eco Baby Prints in Blossom colourway left is because I had to undo a row on the skirt, if I had had enough for that row I would of used it all up.

•••General Notes•••

I really loved working on this pattern, it’s easy to follow and you get a great result at the end . I am especially happy with how mine turned out with the main yarn I used. I love the affect of this yarn and I really feel it adds to the finished look. I’ll definately be using this yarn again in the future to get affects like this!