Amigurumi

thumb|Amigurumi graduate in cap and gown thumb|Amigurumi llama wearing a dinosaur costume in a field alt=An amigurumi potted flower|thumb|267x267px|A red amigurumi flower inside a brown amigurumi pot. is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small, stuffed yarn creatures. The word is a compound of the Japanese words ami, meaning "crocheted or knitted", and kurumi, literally "wrapping", as in nuigurumi "(sewn) stuffed doll". Amigurumi vary in size and there are no restrictions about size or look. While the art of amigurumi has been known in Japan for several decades, it first gained widespread popularity in other countries, especially in the West, in 2003. By 2006, amigurumi were reported to be among the most popular items on Etsy, an online craft marketplace, where they typically sold between $10 and $100.

== Origins == alt=A red stuffed bear, wearing a blue and green sweater, with a flower decoration on the head|thumb|A large amigurumi bear According to the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA), there are earlier records of crocheted or knitted dolls made in China; early examples include three-dimensional dolls worked in crochet.