The Fukufuku Ondorikun (Good Fortune Rooster-kun) amigurumi crochet kit from Olympus is one of my first experiences with a crochet kit/pattern not written in English. Through a combination of my limited ability to read/speak Japanese (I took it for 2 years in college, though I've forgotten much of it...), the detailed and clearly illustrated instructions, and the use of the diagram pattern format (instead of the more text and abbreviation-heavy format generally used for English-language patterns), it ended up being pretty easy to make and very enjoyable to complete!
Olympus Thread is one of the bigger textile/fiber craft supply companies in Japan, though I was more familiar with their embroidery floss/thread (especially for sashiko) and didn't realize they had a whole series of crochet and sewing kits. This kit is designed by Hiromi Fukumura, is for beginner- to intermediate-level crocheters, and appears to be part of series of 'Fortune' animals (there's a Fortune Boar and a Fortune Mouse by the same designer).
The recommended retail price for this kit in Japan is 1,800 yen (which is around $18). I purchased my kit on Etsy for $31.15 including shipping, which I think is very reasonable since the seller was located in the U.S. and I don't think these kits are readily available outside of Japan.
Since I completed this kit before I decided to re-start my blog and review crochet kits, I unfortunately don't have any photos of the included materials before I finished my rooster, but these are the materials I had left:
Along with the cream and orange yarn, which I believe are a wool-blend, if not 100% wool based on feel and smell (wool has a very distinct, but not unpleasant, odor), the kit also included rainbow gradient yarn, sew-in plastic eyes, stuffing, plastic pellets (for adding weight), purple cord, a small bell, and dark red and brown embroidery floss. In order to complete this kit, you will need to supply your own crochet hooks (Japanese sizes 3/0, 4/0, and 6/0, which are equivalent to B, C, and E in U.S. sizes, respectively), needles (yarn/darning and sewing), stitch markers, and scissors.
The included materials are very high-quality, and this was the first time I've used embroidery thread for crochet. I would love purchase the included yarn in more colors, but my yarn stash is already out of control... Unfortunately, I ran out of the dark red embroidery thread after completing the comb and wattle and ended up using a similar color of Scheepjes Catona to make the eye circles. I believe the instructions said to use 6-strands of the embroidery floss (so without splitting the thread), but it felt too thin and crocheted too loosely, even using a B-hook, so I doubled it up to 12-strands (or two un-split threads), which likely caused me to use more floss than I should have. I like the way my rooster turned out, though, so I don't regret the decision.
I also did not have enough stuffing to complete the project and had to supplement from my own stash (I like to stuff my amigurumi firmly, so your mileage may vary, but I always recommend having extra stuffing around). I also ran out of the dark red embroidery thread after completing the comb and wattle and ended up using a similar color of Scheepjes Catona to make the eye circles.
The biggest strength of this kit, besides the quality of the materials, are the instructions.
There are two full pages, printed front and back, with detailed and very clearly illustrated instructions. I found the stitch-instruction page to be especially helpful since it shows what diagram symbol corresponds to what stitch. I've avoided learning how to read crochet diagrams since I found them hard to follow and haven't had to use them up to now, but after completing this kit, I feel much more confident in my ability to do so!
This kit also does an amazing job of showing you how to put everything together. A lot of patterns I've used just tell you to 'sew the head to the neck' or to 'sew the horn between the ears' without much direction (not that this is a bad thing, but I stress a lot about making my projects look even and consistent so exact placement instructions are very helpful), but this kit shows exactly where each part is supposed to go, including how many stitches and/or rounds are between each part.
I initially was going to substitute a pair of snap-together plastic eyes for the included sew-in eyes, but I'm glad I didn't. The slight concave-shape created by sewing the eyes in, though subtle, makes the rooster look even cuter!
Overall, I'm very proud of my rooster-kun!
I think he turned out extremely cute and is a good mix of looking both realistic and cartoony.
I'm also proud of myself for being able to follow a Japanese crochet pattern without much difficulty. Though, I really don't think any knowledge of Japanese is required to complete this kit, outside of knowing what size hooks you need, since all the information is included in the diagrams and illustrations.
If you don't speak Japanese, I would recommend this kit for intermediate crocheters since you do need to have some experience and previous knowledge of crochet and amigurumi in order to interpret the pattern and to infer steps when needed, but if you are fluent in Japanese, I could see this kit being a good fit for an advanced beginner.
Overall, this is a great kit and you get a super cute rooster out of it!
Thank you for reading! <3
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