Four tiny potted cacti line up to spell LOVE: a tall ribbed L, a round barrel O, a heart-shaped V and a looping E, three of them topped with soft yellow flowers. It is a complete amigurumi crochet kit for beginners: you crochet the pieces, stuff them and stitch them together into a little keepsake you made yourself.
Cacti store water in their thick stems and can go weeks without a drink, which is why they became the go-to desk plant; a crocheted one needs no water at all. Amigurumi, from the Japanese words for crocheted (ami) and stuffed doll (nuigurumi), is the craft of crocheting small stuffed figures in the round.
Why this kit: a little plant that never needs watering; each pot is worked separately, so you can finish them one at a time or give them away individually; and practice yarn, a step-by-step brochure and video tutorials, so a first-time crocheter can keep up.
Kit includes: green, brown, dark brown and yellow yarn, practice yarn, a crochet hook, a yarn needle, stitch markers, fiberfill, support wire, a hot-melt glue stick, packaging bags, a basic brochure and illustrated crocheting instructions. Video tutorials are available to follow along. Not included: scissors.
Start with the video tutorials and practice the basic stitches on the practice yarn, then follow the pattern one piece at a time: crochet each part in rounds, mark the start of every round with a stitch marker, stuff it with fiberfill and sew the parts together with the yarn needle. The finished pieces are decorations for adults and teens, not toys for young children, as small parts can be a choking hazard.
It is a natural fit for a desk, a bookshelf or a sunny windowsill, and makes a thoughtful gift for a plant lover who keeps forgetting to water.
