Stella the Sun

By: Melanie Morita-Hu, excerpted from One-Hour Amigurumi

Stella the Sun

By: Melanie Morita-Hu, excerpted from One-Hour Amigurumi

On warm summer days, my pups love to take long naps in the sun. They are crazy maniacs 83 percent of the time, but when they’re sunbathing and their sleepy little eyes can hardly stay open, they are my little rays of sunshine. Stella the Sun is uniquely designed to cut down on time and work up quickly while you relax and lounge under the warm sun. The sun rays are made first, then they are worked into the center of the sun with no sewing necessary. Stella’s finished size is approximately 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter and 1½ inches (4 cm) thick.

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Materials List

0.5 oz Paintbox Yarns Cotton Aran in Blood Orange (or similar worsted weight/aran yarn)
0.5 oz Paintbox Yarns Cotton Aran in Buttercup Yellow (or similar worsted weight/aran yarn)
Size E-4 (3.5-mm) crochet hook
Stitch marker for marking the first st
2 (¼" [6-mm]) black plastic safety eyes
Scrap piece of black yarn for embroidery
Polyester fiberfill
Tapestry needle

Terminology
R1: row 1 or round 1

st(s): stitch(es)

ch: chain

sc: single crochet

inc: single crochet increase

dec: invisible decrease

MR: magic ring

Directions

Sun Ray (x9)
This piece starts at the tip of each sunray, using Blood Orange yarn.

R1: 4 sc in MR (4)

R2: [1 sc, 1 inc] x2 (6)

R3: [2 sc, 1 inc] x2 (8)

R4: Ch 1, flatten the piece, then working through the front and backstitches together, 4 sc (4)

Ch 1 and fasten off. There is no need to weave in the ends; the yarn will end up inside the piece.
Sun
This piece starts at the center of the sun, using Buttercup Yellow yarn.

R1: 6 sc in MR (6)

R2: 1 inc in each st (12)

R3: [1 sc, 1 inc] x6 (18)

R4: [2 sc, 1 inc] x6 (24)

R5: [3 sc, 1 inc] x6 (30)

R6: [4 sc, 1 inc] x6 (36)

R7: 1 sc in each st (36)

R8: [working through each sun ray and the sun together, sc 4] x9 (36)

R9: 1 sc in each st (36)
Place the eyes between R3 and R4, about 4 stitches apart. Using black yarn, embroider the mouth onto the front of the face, just below the eyes, using the tapestry needle.

R10: [4 sc, 1 dec] x6 (30)

R11: [3 sc, 1 dec] x6 (24)

R12: [2 sc, 1 dec] x6 (18)

R13: [1 sc, 1 dec] x6 (12)
Stuff the piece with polyester fiberfill.

R14: 6 dec (6)
Close off, and then hide the yarn end with a tapestry needle.