Ed the monkey amigurumi

I made this wee monkey amigurumi from Crochet Cute Critters before, but was excited to get the opportunity to make him again (and give him a new name!).

Before this little one, I had 13 completed crochet projects under my belt. My first ever project was Max the Monkey from Sarah Zimmerman’s pattern book, Crochet Cute Critters, so when my friend asked me to recreate this wee guy for her son, I couldn’t resist. I haven’t remade any projects so far, so this gave me the opportunity to see how much I’d improved since that first little monkey I crocheted back in early February.

Of course I couldn’t have two monkey’s with the same name. Everyone is unique, and so are all of the amigurumi I make. Thanks to my awesome Instagram crochet community for helping me decide on this little guy’s name. Ed suits him well! And without further ado, I’m delighted to introduce you all to Ed.

Meet Ed the amigurumi monkey

Ed the amigurumi monkey is an extremely lovable boy, who has a huge heart and adores the little things in life. He takes each day as it comes, and tries to always live in the present. He is the kind of boy who literally stops to smell the roses when he’s out for a walk. Ed loves roses too, yellow ones are his favourite because he thinks they smell the best.

Details to help you crochet this monkey amigurumi

If you’d like to crochet this adorable amigurumi monkey, keep reading to find out everything you need to know to recreate this wee guy. I’ve listed a very quick ‘what you need’ list below, but keep reading to find out more as well as some handy tips and tricks if you do use this pattern.

What you need

• The pattern: Sarah Zimmerman’s book, Crochet Cute Critters: 26 Easy Amigurumi Patterns – click here to purchase.
• Yarn: Worsted weight yarn in brown (2 x skeins) and beige (1 x skein). I got mine from Hobbii, here.
• Hook: 3.5mm or 4mm crochet hook (either will work, it just depends what you prefer using with worsted weight yarn). Click here to get a 3.5mm, or click here to get a 4mm hook.
• Tapestry Needle: I tend to use a thicker tapestry needle, like one of the middle ones in this pack here.
• Stuffing: Polyester stuffing – I used Recycled Polyester Craft Filling from Amazon here.
• Safety Eyes: I have this great pack that has lasted me for quite a while from Amazon here.
• Safety Nose: I also have this brilliant pack of safety noses which has lasted me for quite a while. Click here to check out the pack I have.

The monkey amigurumi crochet pattern

The pattern I used was from Sarah Zimmerman’s book, Crochet Cute Critters: 26 Easy Amigurumi Patterns.

You’ll find the pattern on pages 72 to 75, which is called Max the Monkey in the book.

This is the pattern book I started with to make amigurumi, and I would highly recommend it for beginners.

Yarn for this crochet project

For this project, I purchased yarn from Hobbii. I went for the Rainbow 8/8 100% cotton in Brown (no. 07) and Beige (no. 04). I had bought 3 skeins in brown and 1 skein in beige, but retrospectively I could’ve gotten away with just 2 skeins of brown.

Tips to help you crochet this monkey amigurumi

Keep reading to find out some tips and tricks I’ve learned from crocheting Ed, that I hope will help you too.

Ditching the join

Something that really bugged me when I first started crocheting, was this line (or seam) that was appearing through the amigurumi I was making. You can see it on Max below.

Since using quite a few different crochet patterns, I figured out why this was occurring. It was due to the ‘join, ch 1’ instruction at the end of each round. Essentially, all the patterns within Sarah Zimmerman’s beginner pattern book use this technique which does cause a join line to appear throughout your work. It’s not awful, and is honestly a great technique for beginners, but I just didn’t want it in my project this time around.

When I recreated Max (aka Ed), I decided to slightly tweak the pattern to my liking and completely ignore the instruction ‘join, ch 1’ at the end of each row. Instead I worked in continuous rounds (spiral) instead, and only followed the join and chain instruction when there was a double crochet stitch coming up next (only on the feet). This worked really well, and the resulting Ed doesn’t have any join lines in his body.

Whip stitch to sew amigurumi parts together

This is a handy trick I picked up when using Erinna Lee’s pattern for Louis the duck and his teddy. A whip stitch is a great way to stitch together your amigurumi parts together for a seamless finish. Here’s a great video by Wool & the Gang on YouTube that shows you exactly how it’s done.

Final thoughts on this monkey amigurumi project

I hope these tips and tricks help you if you decide to crochet this adorable little monkey. I’ll be sad to see Ed go, but I know his new owner Vince will love him.

If you do end up crocheting this project, I’d love to hear how you went! Did you pick up any other tricks and recommendations you’d like to share? Just comment below or feel free to get in touch with me here.

Until next time, happy crocheting,

Cilla x