Original Amigurumi: Borgo Dangnion

A crocheted Dungeons and Dragons character, named Borgo. The character is a rock gnome, resembling a human-like person with grey skin and pointed ears. Hair is a combination of black and white and is somewhat messy with two twigs sticking out. Character is wearing a green sweater with an off-white collar and red button, maroon pants, and a mustard shade of shoes. Around the neck is a bright orange worm-on-a-string.

Hey Everyone! Lately I’ve been involved in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, so I decided to make an amigurumi of my character!

Sometime back in July, I joined the campaign that I am currently playing; I have never played before, but I’m so glad to have done so. In this particular setting, it is based off of the DM’s own story and characters.

I was very tempted to select the bird-people as a character, but I decided to try something else. I wanted to design a character that I wouldn’t normally think of, which meant a more human-like character.

So this character came to being; his name is Borgo Dangnion “Slumbergus”. He is a Rock Gnome puppeteer, who wields what is essentially a worm on a string, Mr.Wiggles. This character has not slept well for years, and is fairly quiet about things. He has not kept up with maintaining the hair, but somehow manages to take time to line his eyes. I’m not sure what possessed me to make this character, but I love him anyways.

Doodle of a Dungeons and Dragons character, named Borgo. The doodle depicts a small human-shaped gnome, with pointed ears and messy hair. The character wears a sweater with a collar fastened with a single button, pants, and clog-like suede shoes. On his head is a large worm-on-a-string, and two twigs sticking out from the hair.

I think this may be my first human-shaped amigurumi; I have made humanoid characters, but never one with a more human face. The nose was built into the pattern, and I’m surprised it actually worked; basically, it started out with an increase focused into one spot, followed by increases with double crochets in the next round, and closing it back with decreases in the final rounds of the nose. Soon after, the eyes, ears, and face details went on.

A crocheted head base, with a large nose sticking out.

A crocheted head base, with pointed ears and face details stitched on. Face details include the eye base, and mouth.

A crocheted head base, with pointed ears and face details stitched on. Face details include the eye base, mouth, and eyebrows. Eye details are painted on as well.

What took the most time to perfect was his hair; my doodles of the character made it seem so simple to recreate in 3D. From a glance, it appears to be messy hair that was placed haphazardly onto the head; nothing could be further from the truth! Each section of hair had to be arranged and stitched into place, so that certain parts would pop out and give a sense of dimension.

A photo of the hair placed onto the head base, which consists of several chained pieces that have been looped into leaflets. The leaflets have been secured in lobes throughout the scalp portion of the head base.

I made about 15 strands of hair pieces, where multiple single rows of varying length were generated. I put in 3 different shades of grey, to make his salt and pepper hair. A lot of the strands were bundled together, almost making leaf-like structures.

An example of the hair strands, which consist of a long string of single-rows of crochets. Overall appearance is a string of fringes.

An example of the hair strands, which consist of a long string of single-rows of crochets. Overall appearance is a string of fringes. The fringes have been clumped together in loops, creating leaflets.

My initial approach to covering the head with hair was to stitch the pieces in different areas, starting with the hairline by the face and the crown, then working both around the head like a spiral.

Some of the hair leaflets have been attached onto the scalp portion of the head base.

When I first stitched the pieces onto the head, the lengths were too similar to each other. As a result, the shape of the hair followed the head shape, which doesn’t resemble the hairstyle in the doodle. I went back in with separate pieces of yarn, to arrange the pieces to flow in a certain direction. It was a lot of holding leaflets in place and then locking them in place with a couple stitches.

Photo of the head, after the hair pieces have been secured onto the scalp portion of the head.

The rest of the body parts came together almost instantly, by comparison; the hands were made by combining four finger shapes into a palm, then tapering the shape into the arm length. The thumb was added afterwards.

Four crocheted cylinders are being crocheted together at one end.

Four cylinder shaped pieces have been crocheted together, forming fingers and a palm for the hand.

Photo of the completed crocheted arm, with four fingers, thumb, and palm tapered to an arm length.

The legs were also much simpler to make, with the shoes constructed out of an oval shape. I made a distinction between the sole and the sides, by completing one round into the subset of the loops. I suspect this is how you would make booties to wear, but I’ve never made any of those before. Together with the torso and arms, Borgo’s body was put together.

A crocheted human-shaped gnome character, with grey skin, pointed ears, black and white messy hair. Character has maroon pants and a mustard shade of shoes.

I also decided to knit the sweater instead of crochet, because the stocking stitch automatically suggests a thick piece of clothing. I was surprised at how well I’ve retained the skill – I remember how to use the circular needles, and I remembered how to cast on, cast off, and do ribbing on the edges. It was very satisfying to put the completed sweater on.