I was delighted when I was asked to pattern test for Loopie and Bean, as I love her work and the pattern she wanted me to do was really cute. This should hopefully be one of many patterns I test for her and I’m really excited to share these creations with you .

I will be making my bumblebee with some of my favourite cotton yarn from Three Bears Yarn. I decided to use their Passion range as it’s the same weight as what the designer used (DK) although I was tempted to use Affection Aran but I felt the other yarn was a closer match to what she used. Thankfully I had the colours I needed in my stash and I have matched them as close to her design as possible as I loved the colours she used, however I do think you could use any colours you wanted (I just wanted to go for the more natural bee shades).

As with all my amigurumi creations I’ll be using tights/stockings when I fill my amigurumi parts with fibre fill. I do this as not only does it give a lovely neat result, it also helps to keep the fibre fill securely inside with no chance of it coming through the stitches. This is a great feature if you are planning on gifting to a baby or child too. I have used tights/stockings in all the parts that needed to be stuffed, there are several parts that are not stuffed in this pattern which are; Antennas and Arms.

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Hook Used: 2.5mm

The pattern states 2mm hook but I tried this and the stitches were too tight and affected the shape of the parts so I started again and increase my hook size. As soon as I did this my work looked better straight away and the shape of the parts looked as they should. I will add that you do need tight stitch work for amigurumi and using this hook still gave me this.

Safety Eyes Size: 10mm solid black

The pattern states 7mm but I tried this size and it looked too small, it didn’t match how the designers Bumblebee lookedin her photos. I tried several sizes and in the end 10mm was the best and closest match. Please note I did not have 8mm or 9mm in my stash as if I did I would of tried these first.
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I will now leave you with my notes on making this pattern, these are not my pattern testing notes of any errors etc but just notes I feel could be helpful. These notes show you how I did mine and I’ll share any tips I have done or would do next time.

••• Making the body •••

This design makes the head and then continues into the body, so it’s all one piece and not separate pieces. I make a note of this as I didn’t realise at first so when I cut my tights down to fit for stuffing the head I didn’t do enough. If you want to do the same as me make sure to leave a good length of tights so you have enough to stuff the head and body (I re-did my tights and stuffing when I realised).

When it comes to changing colour I have a great tip for you, that I used when working on this pattern. It’s a tip I only came across recently but what it does is help to hide that jump you get when you change colour, it’s still not totally invisible but it’s definately less noticeable which is great . In basic terms, I changed colour like I always have (where you change the yarn colour on the last stitch of the previous round, just the last part of the stitch not all of it) but this tip is about how you start your first stitch of the next round. Instead of just starting as you usually would I.e do the stitch as asked in pattern you first start of by doing a slip stitch into the first stitch, in the back loop only. You then do the stitch the pattern ask a for in the same stitch but this time through both loops. This is the tip and it really does look better, oh and when you get to the end of the round and need to start on the next remember you did a slip stitch and you don’t want to work into this, skip it/ignore it and work into the next stitch which is the first stitch of that round (I added a stitch marker to remind myself). Anyway enough of my words, this is the link to the video showing this tip . A big thank you to this guy for sharing this with us.

It’s totally up to you how you want to do the stripes section as there are a few ways that mean you don’t have to cut your yarn however this time I choose to cut my yarn for every colour change round. I did this because I wanted to use the tip I shared about to see if it would help make the change of colour more invisible/neater than how I’d usually do it.

I have no further notes on how I did my body as I just followed the pattern but I would like to add if I made this again I like the idea of using doll joints to attach the legs. If you want to do this you’ll need to make the legs first, I’d either do this before starting the head body piece or after the last round of the brown stripe section on the body before you start working with the main yellow colour agsin. You need to do this so that when you get to the place you want your legs you can add the doll joint parts and secure the legs in place. As you are working from the head down rather than from the bottom up this won’t be something you’ll need to do till nearer the end, but it’s certainly something to remember should you wish to do this as once you finish the body it’s too late to add the legs with the doll joints (as you need access to inside the body to secure the doll joint in place). In case you are wondering why I didn’t do this, I actually would have but by the time I thought of it it was too late. I knew this way would look good because of the way she asks you to sew the leg on and it would also be a nice added feature too. Something to remember for my next one!

••• Making the Hood •••

First time I made it as per instructions but it was too big, and I don’t mean length as she gives instructions for you to adapt this. I mean it was too big width wise for my head so I needed to make some changes (I have included photos trying to show this). Luckily my head isn’t too far off what it should of been size wise (I am guessing I simply didn’t add as much stuffing as she did) so I was able to sort this problem easily. If you have the same problem what I have done should work for you too.

1. Follow pattern from Round 1 to 9 (last round is Rnd 9)
2. Skip Round 10 and continue on from Round 11. (Note stitch count will now be 54 stitches)
3. After Round 16 do another round exactly the same to make up for the missed round earlier.
4. Skip Round 17 on the pattern and do Round 18 instead (this is because we already have 54 stitches and round 17 was decreasing rounds of 60 to 54 which we don’t need now).
5. As we have skipped a round we need to make this up so we have the right length. I found I didn’t need another decrease round as the hood was fitting perfectly so I did one round of sc stitches to finish.

Just like the designers pattern, you might need to adjust the hood to fit and her instructions will adjust the length. So if you need to adjust the length you can do the same, the only difference is our sc rounds are 54 stitches (I mention this only because her instructions state 60 stitches and I wanted you to know you are reading the right section). Or you might find it fits perfectly but you don’t need the last round of sc stitches I did, basically if you need to adjust the length remove one or more of the sc rounds to fit.

I promise you this is easy to adjust, it might sound complicated but all I did was skip round 10 and round 17 of the original pattern. To make up for the two rounds I skipped I replaced them (so I ended with the same amount of rounds as the original Pattern I.e same length of hood), in the case of round 10 it was just an extra round of SC and to make up for round 17 I finished off with a round of sc.

My advice to you for the hood is to check the size regularly and this way you know if you need to adapt it, better this than having to frog your work. When I made mine like above it fitted well, after my decrease round near the end it was harder to get on the head but it was possible so don’t worry if putting on the hood gets a little fiddly at the end. This is actually a good sign as it fits on very well and doesn’t slip off.

••• Making the Arms and Legs •••

I highly recommend making sure you have enough time to make both arms or both legs during the same crochet session. I find if I take a break or do it the next day it can be harder to match them to each other, as it’s easy for your tension to change a little and then it ends up looking different.

If you want to make the legs and use doll joints like I mentioned earlier (in the body section), then you’ll need to remember to add the right parts of the doll joints when making the legs. It will be simple to do though as all you’ll need to do is place the part in the last few rounds (it’s just like placing a safety eye so you don’t need to skip stitches or anything like that), my guess would be round 17 or 18 should be about right. Just remember to look at the shape of the leg and make sure you do it on the side that will be touching the body.

••• Making the Wings •••

When you start the Wings you can use a tip I have been using for a long time, and one you may of heard and come across before. I did this tip for making all 4 of the wings and I’m really glad I did as it gives a much neater and less holey look.

For the first part of the instructions work into the back bumps of the chain instead of the usual chain you’d use. It’s doing this that will give you a neater look and no holes in the middle.

So you follow the instructions just like the pattern says, don’t forget to make the chain 10 first so you have the part to work into (sc in second ch from hook and in the next 7 sts. 3sc in last ch.) the only difference is you are doing this into the back bumps of the chain. When working the next side work into stitches as usual, and you’ll notice you’ll have two loops that make a normal chain and you work through both of these just like you would in any crochet project. That’s it, and of the tip and it gives you a lovely neat start. Keep following the instructions till you are finished.

Did you have a stitch left when working the other side of the chain? If so don’t worry as all this means is you started in the wrong place. Most likely you added a stitch in the same chain as the chain you did at the end of the first side, in this case whereyou put 3sc. It’s easy to do especially as you worked into the back bump. Just undo your work of the other side (not the first side you did with the back bumps of the chain) and stsrt with the next chain to the one you did first time. You should then find you use all the chains as per the pattern .

Not heard of this tip before and you still need help? Maybe seeing photos of a chain where it’s pointed out where the back bump is, that’s no problem. Here is a link to a blog post (not written by me) showing you this tip with photos. I promise you it’s very easy and quick to do and once you’ve tried this tip you’ll use it time and time again!

°°° Assembly i.e putting the bee together °°°

Be careful how you are the Hood onto the head as it’s easy to loose the look of it looking like a hood. If you look closely at her photos you’ll see you can see those two chains/loops from each stitch and if you sew down the Hood wrong you’ll loose that. I decided to secure the hood a round or two up from the last round, and I’d go in and out of every other stitch. Don’t pull too tight otherwise these stitches will become noticeable, generally I could not see where I put my stitches afterwards. After doing this all the way around I did a few stitches randomly around the rest of the Hood to help secure it in place.

To help with placements of the Antennas, arms, legs and wings pins can be very helpful as you can make sure you are happy with the location before sewing onto place.

°°°°°°°° End of my notes °°°°°°°°

I really loved making this pattern, it’s easy to follow and fairly simple to make too. It has some great photos throughout which can help you when it comes to making your parts and also sewing them into place. I have nothing but praise for this pattern and I’d happily recommend it to anyone.

This pattern would look great in any colours you like so don’t feel you have to make it in the colours I did. I used my favourite cotton yarn and don’t forget you can use yours too, you can even try a different yarn weight if you want too. If you do, remember you might need to change your hook size and youll probably need different size safety eyes. Oh and the finished size will be different too, but you should still end up with a great looking Bumblebee. I’d also like to add that I haven’t tried the cotton yarn that the designer used but it’s something I do want to try, I just didn’t have time to buy the yarn in for this project so I had to turn to my stash.

A blog post all about this pattern will be coming shortly and I’ll update this page as soon as it’s on my blog. Alternatively follow me on social media where I always announce any new blog posts, or go to my blog now and subscribe to be notified!

☆☆☆ Tips and Suggestions ☆☆☆

I think this pattern would work really well with the addition of moveable joints for the legs. You can buy doll joints for this purpose (I use plastic doll joints) and I feel it would be a perfect addition to this pattern. In my notes further up I have included notes on what I’d do if you want to use them for the legs and the changes you’d need to make. It would actually end up being easy to do and if anything save you time as you wouldn’t need to sew the legs in place anymore.

You could add some pipecleaners inside the Antennas as there would be enough space to do this, if you do it would help you to shape the Antennas just how you want them and they’d keep that shape. I came up with this idea after sewing mine in place and it’s definately what I’d do next time. They are great without of course it would just give you more control over how they look. You could even do this to the arms if you wanted to make them more posable.