[Free Pattern] Chinese New Year: Money Bag Wonton Amigurumi Crochet Pattern・农历新年: 钩针编织福袋云吞

For last year's Chinese New Year, I served up some auspicious crochet jade cabbage dumplings. This Year of the Snake is another serving of auspicious dumplings. This year's dumplings are longtime favourites of Hubby and mine—wonton dumplings! Hubby enjoys them best in light wonton soup or in Cantonese wonton noodles. I like them best as-is, steamed or fried, or in the Sichuan-style chilli oil chaoshou (红油抄手hóng yoú chāo shǒu) with generous lashings of spicy chilli oil, black rice vinegar and a mountain of green onions.

During CNY, it is common for many households in Singapore to include dumplings or longevity noodles among the many auspicious foods on the menu, especially at the CNY Eve reunion dinner and on the first day of CNY. Well, another day to eat dumplings is the 5th day of CNY. This day is known as Pò Wǔ (破五), literally "break[ing] five", as it is the one day during CNY on which the 5 taboos can be broken. More importantly, it is regarded as the birthday of Caishen (財神), the Chinese god of wealth. On this day, some households do house-keeping in the morning, eat dumplings and light firecrackers. Lighting firecrackers is believed to chase away misfortune. Sadly, except for approved events, the custom of lighting firecrackers came to a stop, as lighting firecrackers has been legally banned in Singapore since 1972 for safety reasons. (And good reason too because they're dangerous and used to cause fires, serious or fatal injuries.)

Of the many ways to fold wontons, I made crochet money bag wontons. As money bag wontons symbolise good fortune, prosperity and wealth, it's no surprise that the most popular for CNY are the money bag (福袋fú dài) and the gold sycee or ingot (元寶yuán bǎo). Besides, isn't it appropriate to welcome Caishen and celebrate his birthday with some money bag wontons? Money bag wontons can be enjoyed steamed or deep fried. My favourite way is to enjoy them steamed. Which do you prefer?

Money bag wontons (福袋云吞) for Caishen's birthday (IG)

Wontons are found in the various regional cuisines throughout China, but are most commonly associated with southern Chinese cuisine, in particular Cantonese cuisine. They are also found in countries in the East Asian cultural sphere or with overseas Chinese communities, which includes my country and our Southeast Asian neighbours. Wontons are a part of Singapore's history and heritage. As one of the many foods that were adopted from Chinese cuisine, they too came to our shores with Chinese traders and settlers centuries ago.

For the wontons I make to eat at home, I like to stuff them with a filling of pork mince (70:30 lean-to-fat ratio), chopped prawns, chopped carrots, chopped shiitake, and a little diced bamboo shoot or water chestnut for added crunch. But for these crochet versions, they're stuffed with poly fibrefill.

And so, here's wishing everyone a prosperous Chinese New Year. May the year ahead be bursting with blessings and good fortune! 再来祝大家新年快乐，福气满满!

MONEY BAG WONTON AMIGURUMI PATTERN

Materials & Tools:

• Yarn in light yellow and medium green
• 2mm and 2.5mm crochet hooks
• Stuffing
• Stitch markers
• Scissors
• Yarn needle
• Safety eyes, embroidery thread (optional)

I used Scheepjes Organicon No.210 Buttermilk (leftover from the crochet ripple baby blanket) and Scheepjes Catona No.403 Lemonade and No.205 Kiwi, and DMC Natura Just Cotton N13 Pistache.

Abbreviations (US Terms):

R : round or row (as the case may be)
MR : magic ring
ch : chain
sl st : slip stitch
st(s) : stitch(es)
sc : single crochet
inc : increase
dec : decrease/invisible decrease
(...) : a set of pattern instructions
[...] : total number of sts in round/row

Finished Size:

Approx. 3-3.5cm × 3-3.5cm × 5.5cm
(The finished size will depend on the yarn weight, hook size and crochet tension.)

Pattern Notes:

• For the long tail cast-on crochet method, see these tutorials by Mandaloria or Fiona Meade Crochet.
• Feel free to include safety eyes or to add cute expressions or kaomoji on the amigurumi with embroidery thread.

WONTON BODY

Using light yellow yarn, work in rounds,
R1. 6 sc in MR. [6]
R2. 6 inc. [12]
R3. (1 sc, 1 inc) 6 times. [18]
R4. (2 sc, 1 inc) 6 times. [24]
R5. (3 sc, 1 inc) 6 times. [30]
R6-11 (6 rounds). 30 sc. [30]
If using safety eyes, insert them before continuing,
R12. (3 sc, 1 dec) 6 times. [24]
Stuff. Fasten off and leave a long tail for sewing.

WONTON TOP

Using light yellow yarn, work in rounds,
R1. 4 sc in MR. [4]
R2. 3 sc in each st. [12]
R3. (1 sc, 3 sc in the next st, 1 sc)^{[Note 1]} 4 times. [20]
R4. (2 sc, 3 sc in the next st, 2 sc) 4 times. [28]
R5. (3 sc, 3 sc in the next st, 3 sc) 4 times. [36]
R6. (4 sc, 3 sc in the next st, 4 sc) 4 times. [44]
R7. (5 sc, 3 sc in the next st, 5 sc) 4 times. [52]
Fasten off and leave a tail for sewing.

[Note 1] Instead of "3 sc in the next st", I did "1 sc, ch 1, 1 sc". Subsequent rounds, the sequence is worked into the ch-1 space.

CHIVE STRING

This part is optional.

Using a 2mm hook and medium green yarn, leave a length of about 30-35cm for the starting tail, make a slip knot, then make 36 sts with the crochet long tail cast-on method. For this crochet stitch, see the tutorial by Mandaloria or Fiona Meade Crochet.
Fasten off and trim the ends. Apply fray-check to the ends, if desired.

Alternatively, leave a tail to sew the ends down to the Wonton Body, if preferred.

TO COMPLETE

1. Gather R12 of the Wonton Body. Pass the yarn tail through every 3rd st of R12, at the end of the round, bring it back through the first st of R12. Pull the tail tightly to close the top of the Wonton Body. After closing R12, there should be 4 outer folds and 4 inner folds in the gathers. Secure with a small knot, and reserve the remaining length for sewing later.

2. Bring the 4 corners of the Wonton Top together and pinch to create gathers (4 outer folds and 4 inner folds). Using the tail, make some small hidden stitches to fix the folds in place.

3. Match up R1 of the Wonton Top to R12 of the Wonton Body. Using the remaining tail of the Wonton Body, sew R1 of the Wonton Top to the 4 outer folds of R12 of the Wonton Body.

4. Tie the Chive String around the Wonton, between R1 of the Wonton Top and R12 of the Wonton Body. If a tail was reserved for sewing, use it to sew the ends of the Chive String down to the Wonton Body.

5. Secure and hide all the ends inside the work.

Make as many or as few as desired. For me, I made 8 wontons, lucky 8 obviously! ꉂ(≧▽≦)

Money bag wontons (福袋云吞) for Caishen's birthday (IG)

I hope you had fun reading this and trying your hand at making the amigurumi. As for me, I'm off for some much-needed coffee and food. Ciao!

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Thank you for stopping by. If you made this amigurumi, I would love to see your version, so do share a picture of it by tagging me on Instagram @yotsuba_blythes.

While I'm happy to share my pattern without charge and would be delighted to see it being used, please note that my pattern is for personal use only. Please respect my legal and moral rights as the author with respect to this pattern and all the images herein. This pattern and images are not for commercial use, sale or distribution. The sale of this pattern or any of the images is not permitted without my prior written consent. If you wish to share this pattern, please link to this post and my Instagram profile @yotsuba_blythes. You are welcome to sell limited quantities of the finished items you have made from this pattern. Thank you.