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I’m Alpaca Girl’s Fiber Arts Friday featured blogger!

April 14, 2009 by Katie Lee


The lovely Katy from Alpaca Farm Girl contacted me to ask if I’d talk about the fine art of crochet for her Fiber Arts Friday feature. How could I refuse? I am but flesh and blood.

You can read my hilarious insights and homespun wisdom right here.

Also, I know it’s shameful of me, but I gave Katy the scoop on two things I finished making recently: my crochet blanket (well I say “finished” – I’ve still got a row of edging to do) and my amigurumi Milo, which I made for my Milo-mad niece over in Australia. She’s already picked a hole in the back of his neck, which I think speaks volumes about the ingratitude of 2 year olds.

Filed Under: Shinykatie Makes... Tagged With: amigurumi, Craft, crochet, crochet blanket, Good Hooking

Amigurumi Dude – my half-arsed attempt

January 2, 2008 by Katie Lee

Oops! Just discovered this on draft from ages ago. I actually made this *last* Christmas, which makes this quite a feat of forgetfulness.

Thing is, I love the idea of making cute amigurumi dolls, but when I actually start, I find the whole process a bit too boring to keep me going. Lots of fiddly little bits and not an awful lot of mindless crochet fun, which is why blanket and hat-making command so much of my loyalty.

Anyway, as you can see, this is a fairly half-arsed little Amigurumi Dude, which I didn’t ever quite finish off. I’m not even entirely sure what became of the poor little fellow. He was supposed to be a Christmas king, and I was planning on giving him to my sister. But I probably fobbed him off on some innocent child who was visiting one day. One thing worth noting, though, is the fact that I took the trouble to *knit* him a scarf, which is a very rare occurrence and should probably be marked with some kind of national feast day.

My friend put the little tassles on. She’d popped in with her other half and before either of them knew what had hit them, both Al and I had got them assisting in each of our craft projects. We really are fun people to know…

Filed Under: Shinykatie Makes... Tagged With: amigurumi, Craft, crochet, crochet me, Good Hooking

Petrol Crochet Hat from Japan and Amigurumi heaven!

October 30, 2006 by Katie Lee

I went to Japan a few weeks ago. It was a long trip with a lot of work and very little free time. But on the final day we got 2 hours to do what we wanted to on the streets of Tokyo. What did I do? I ran to the Tokyu Hands department store (via Kiddieland to pick up some Totoro toys) to buy some crochet books of course!

As we all know, the Japanese make excellent crochet patterns and the books they have are just so much better than the ones I can get in the UK. They just seem so much more creative – and cute – which is why I was determined to get some books before I went back. I ended up having about 10 minutes to decide which books to get, but thanks to my pidgin Japanese (“Sumimasen, Amigurumi?”) I managed to find what I was after.

I got this absolutely lovely amigurumi book from Ondori, which contains a lot of patterns that are already available online for free (courtesy of some helpful translators). But it was only 280 yen and it seemed only right to hand over that small sum for the such great patterns. Can’t wait to make some of the kawaiiii toys.

I also got this book from the Let’s Knit series from Tezukuritown (click on the second button down and you can check out some of the patterns it includes). And the first thing I did when I got home was to sit and make this hat. It was too big when I made it the first time so I did it again with a smaller hook. Then it was too small, so I split the difference and did it again. But it was too small again. So I decided to go back to the original size and just do it tighter. But it was still too small. Just what kind of dark forces were at play here?

It was only then that I went back to the original hat (thankfully, I hadn’t unpicked it) and realised that I’d put in two extra rows by mistake. After taking those out I was left with a hat that was the right size. I try not to think about the 4 evenings I wasted doing all those retries… It’s best not to dwell on the lost hours… 🙁

But the fact that I did keep trying it is testament to the simplicity of the pattern – super quick to crochet and drawn in that excellent Japanese stitch diagram. So much easier than a written pattern – why don’t we use them?! I love this hat – and after last year’s hat making debacles, I think I deserve to have one success at last!

The two books together came to around £6 I think! Unbelievably cheap – and so much nicer than most of the stuff we have.

Filed Under: Shinykatie Makes... Tagged With: amigurumi, Craft, crochet, crochet books, crochet hat, Good Hooking, japanese patterns

Amigurumi

May 22, 2006 by Katie Lee

I’ve nearly finished my shrug – just one little teensy tie to do. Really, I don’t know what’s taking me so long. It’s shameful. But I just seem to have lost the drive at the moment. Not that I don’t still grab my crochet as soon as I sit down in front of the TV, but recently I seem to simply hold it whilst gawking at the goggle box. Progress is pathetically slow. I suppose I did go through a period of not watching TV at all and only crocheting, so maybe it’s time to redress the balance with some proper square-eyed behaviour.

Anyway, enough of my excuses, this is just a short post to say that I’m planning on jumping on that Amigurumi band wagon very soon. Crochet Me has a special on the little blighters and I really just can’t get enough of them. Just as with the whole crochet clothes business (and how I got sucked into it against my will) I’ve never had any desire at all to make crocheted toys – since they remind me of receiving crap presents at Christmas from my Grandmother (along with the thermal underwear, which funnily enough I’d probably rather like now). However, as with so much in life, the Japanese know how to make things that are a whole lot cuter than our western woolly ways.

Leigh, of Knit-Errant fame, did this lovely one from a pattern she got here; Amy from the Hook & I has hers well on the way and – OH MY HEAVENLY LORD – just look at what Google brings up: A whole blog of Amigurumis. I feel like everyone’s been having a party without me. 🙁

More Amigurumi blog stuff:
Amigurumi Girl
Gourmet Amigurumi
Amigurumi Crochet

And look at these! It’s Amigurumi The Dogs!

Dear me. I’m off for a lie down – this is all far too exciting.

Tags: crochet Amigurumi

Filed Under: Shinykatie Makes... Tagged With: amigurumi, Craft, crochet, Crochet Shrug, free pattern, Good Hooking

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