Allow me to introduce you to "Sunny"; my first attempt at Amigurumi:
My sewing needs some serious improvement. I'm hoping that will come over time. My main obstacle is patience (which is why I am crocheting more than I am knitting). Sewing is finicky and I want to get it done as fast as possible and I think, with this project anyway, that it's fairly obvious I did not spend the time on it that I should have. (And it's too bad I found this tutorial after I had already sewed the head to the body!). I had originally intended this project as a baby shower gift, but I think I can do much better, and I've got some time, so I'll keep this one for myself.
Since the first pieces I did were the head and body, I see now that they are not nearly tight enough. It's very important that your stitches are tight so you don't see the stuffing. If your fingers don't hurt, your stitches aren't tight enough.
I used this pattern (free if you sign-up with the site), but I made one ear (which was a total bitch to do!) and I hated the end result. Fortunately, I also came across this pattern, so I used those ears instead. MUCH better. I added a couple of extra rows to the ears, but I think I will add more next time so the ears are a bit longer... actually a lot longer. It'd be cute if they were the entire length of his body (like in that first pattern).
I also think I will use that fake bean/beady stuffing on the limbs instead of the poly-fil. They'd be great with some weight to them instead of the gravity-defying puffiness.
I do wanna mention that for the baby shower gifts, I will be using felt eyes and not tiny bits of plastic that baby could choke on. That would be bad!
OK -- onto the next one!....