Crochet Cubes - Minecrafting

I picked up crocheting a few years back, when I started to see these cute "amigurumi" dolls that were of pop culture items, such as cartoons and what not... so I decided to give my hands a try at it. I'm now addicted to crocheting, and call it my #crodiction.

This is an Instructable on how to create cubes using a simple single crochet technique often used in the creation of amigurumi style stuffies.

I have two sons, both of who are heavily in to Minecraft, and what better way than to expand their universe than by creating stuffies for them, and here I'm sharing how to design and make cubes just for those purposes (for those of you who don't know, Minecraft is a video game that is block based, and everything is VERY blocky, albeit very graphics card intensive), and in the theme of the game itself, this is another form of being creative.

1. crochet hook (preferred size 4 or 5)
2. yarn (various colours)
3. darning needle (for yarn)
4. batting (stuffing)

The chain stitch is the first thing every crocheter needs to learn, and in the video above, you can see how to do this, followed by the single crochet. I usually use 10 stitches to make 10x10 squares, which lines up nicely for the inclusion of Minecraft facial features.

After the first return row of single crochet, add another chain stitch, and then return back (as shown in the video), so that you continue to have 10 single crochet for each row... not having this additional chain stitch will lead to the creation of a triangle, and not a square... trust me, I've made that mistake early in my learning.

Repeat going back and forth to a total of 10 rows (1x chain, 9x single crochet), which will create a relatively perfect square. Make sure to end with a chain stitch.

Going back this time, we do what's called a half crochet, which will make a nice edge to work off of, so that we can create a bend in the crochet, and make distinct sides of the cube.

Repeat the last step till you get three sides of the cube.

Then chain stitch 10 off of the end of the 3 sides of the cube to create a single square of 10 stitches.

Then chain stitch 10 off of that single square, so that you can create a 2 side square piece that has one edge in it.

Then you should have 6 total sides that can be manipulated to a cube easily.

Leave a very long length of yarn after the final panel for use to stitch the cube together.

Now to create the cube.

Playing around with the corners, you should be able to see that this three pieces can be manipulated to a complete cube.

Using a darning yarn needle, you can now just loop through the sides going around the cube.

Unfortunately you won't be able to traverse around the entire cube in one pass, and you could use the length of the beginning of the piece to darn the last side, but before you do that, take some time to fill the cube up with batting/stuffing. I would refrain from filling it up until you have all but the last edge stitched up.

Please note, the instructions here are based upon an even number of stitches (10) as the dimensional piece. If you're planning on doing an odd number (i.e. 9 stitches), then the pattern is quite different to generate the cube... it's not a 3, 1, 2 as listed here, but a 2, 1, 2, 1 in order for them to be able to manipulated in to a cube form.

Once you get the hang of creating these specific cubes, you can easily extend them to rectangular prism shapes, and with that, can start to stitch them together to create a plethora of possibilities.

Some examples of items that I've created using this particular technique (all Minecraft themed). I've even added magnets to the hands and feet of a few, so that they can stick to wall corners, or even hold on to items that are magnetic.

When switching colours, there are a number of ways to do this, one of which is to introduce the new colour in line with the current, and another is to crochet them separately. Either works, and I've gotten more accustomed to switching inline now, which makes for a more seamless look, but all in all, it just takes some practice and some creativity with regards to making that kind of switchover. I found that making the Creeper Heads first was really helpful. The Minecraft Dungeon Keys were a nice evolution before going to the Creeper full bodied. The most complex one for me at this point was Steve and Alex, which have hair lines and neck lines.

Looking forward to see your creations!