Year of the Horse 2014

Happy Lunar New Year!

31 January 2014 marks the first day of the Year of the Horse. Apparently people born in the year of the horse are said to be great communicators but can be impatient. They love attention and very popular among friends. Maybe there's where the term "show pony" comes from… 

I was a bit slow in coming up with an amigurumi pony this year and I also had a hankering for some hand stitching so I made Harry from felt. 

Harry is a Pony, despite what he tells ya, he is not a Clydesdale or a Brumby. He is not an exhibitionist he imagined himself as, though this is not to say that he can't a clown amongst friends.

Basically a simple 3 piece pattern I hand drawn but I did add darts the top of the head as well as on the body where the tail is to give him some shape.

A different shade of brown for the snout gives him a added dimension too.

 May the Year of the Horse brings you happiness and good health!

Stitch with love...

Look! I jumbo-sized the Monkey!

A couple of months ago I posted some photos of my amigurumi zodiac family on my Facebook page. The responses were overwhelming, so many kind comments, so much so that I had a request for a custom order Monkey (as inspired by Journey to the West story).

I thought "okay, I wanted to test the pattern again so this would be a great opportunity..." then I was kindly enquired if I could make him bigger... oookay... how big are we talking about? Brace for it - A giant jumbo size Monkey pretty please?? Roughly the same size as a standard pillow??

I thought, hmm this would be an interesting project cause I had never resized a pattern before and why not give it a try. BE INTREPID! as Liat Gat of KnitFreedom.com has said recently.

So to put things in perspective, the original Monkey is tiny, he stands just a hair over 12cm so I had to work out the jumbo sized shaping.

The result is pleasing! He stands 44cm tall with a cute pot belly... not quite as big as a full size pillow (3 quarters) but when I sit him up on my lap, he comes to just over my shoulder - so still very huggable!

I know! I went a bit trigger-happy with the camera and it's been difficult to just pick a few to show on the blog. After all there were 48 photos in total from start to finish... but I wanted to make sure that I captured them two together... you know, I won't see him again in the near future as he is going to be with his new family, who lives in another country, more than 8 hours away... by plane! did I say he was going far away?

Well with that, I say "Safe journey, Monkey! you will love the East!"

Stitch with love!

Billy the Goat amigurumi

Meet the latest member of my zodiac amigurumi animals - Billy the Goat.

Billy is only young so not very experienced in getting his pictures taken. He is playful when he is not trying to pose for the camera! I really think a buttoned up cardigan would look smashing on him but he is not that preppy, apparently... He doesn't even want to wear the bell!

This little amigurumi is made out of all simple single crochets in the round. I used some scrap black felt for his forehead and some 6mm safety eyes (he likes to stare!)

 

 

Here is the family so far... It makes me happy to see them together. I love how they all look different yet they seem to compliment one another... I am glad I took a group shot cause this gives me ideas for the rest of the animals and more importantly perspective on how my crochet and design skills have progressed.

 

I still have 5 more animals to make and then I am hoping to write up the the patterns for them. This is a slow long term project but I will get there.

Back to more creating....

Morris the (smart) dog

Morris is the newest member of the Lunar Zodiac animals family I have been creating this year.  Morris is extremely loyal, smart and a trusty member of the group. He also loves to dress nice.

Until next time...

Benny the Bunny

Benny is the latest addition to my amigurumi Zodiac animals family. He is a modern lad with the occasional attitude problem - who hasn't right? Benny doesn't say much and rarely goes anywhere without his cap.

Monkey

I have been excited about this new amigurumi for a whole week now. I did a sketch of a monkey a couple of months ago but only just got to start on him last weekend. As soon as I finished the head, I had other ideas or rather images from childhood stories flooded back. So off I went to re-sketch... As inspired by the mythical character "Monkey King" or "Sun WuKong 孫悟空" from the ancient story Journey to the West!

Once I have decided on the details such as colours, his jacket, his belt etc), the actual crocheting took no time... except for the cloud (all that increases and decreases) and the crown but I thought they have turned out ok. Although Hubby thought the cloud looks more like a poo - no imagination I say... Anyway, he made the steel staff for me just to add some realistic effect but I have also made a crochet version.

I have been trying to think of a name for him but came up with nothing so far... I kept thinking that any other names might disrespect the legendary story we have known for so long.

What's next? back to the drawing book... there are still 8 animals on my list to make!

Until next time...

Master "Chu" the Pig

So I have a confession to make... I didn't knit any of the scarf after my post this afternoon... I mentioned how I had 3 other projects on the go and this new amigurumi was one of the them.

"Chu" is pig in Chinese. I began designing this little pig a couple of weeks ago and did up some sketches. Then I made the head and ears straight away but couldn't decide on the body or more so how to make his "Kung fu" jacket. I tried out different stitches for a bit and finally had some ideas this afternoon.

So I picked up the crochet hook and started on the body/ jacket for Master Chu, then I before I knew it, 3 hours have passed and I was getting closed to the image in the head...

This time, he is all mine. Every row/ round and every stitch. I am very happy with how this amigurumi has turned out and now that he is done, I can be content with the scarf!

Until next time, blog soon and take care!

Zara the Mouse

Meet Zara the Mouse... She is my second amigurumi this year. My very own, not using anyone's pattern. Although after my mouse is done, I was flipping through one of the Japanese amigurumi books I have and noticed that Zara's tail looks like the mouse pattern in the book - RATS! No punt intended... just RATS! 

Perhaps the similarity has something to do with the fact that I studied this book so much when I first started making amigurumi 18 months ago. Anyway, I am happy with what I made but I am going to have a think about an original tail for the next Zara.

Until next time, take care and blog soon!

Newest amigurumi

This is my newest amigurumi creation - Pheobe the Tiger (Bebe for short) - for the year of the Tiger of course.

I have always had great admiration and appreciation of people who make their own amigurumi patterns and now that I have tried, I am even more convinced that my feelings were totally justified. And this is just a combination of simple shapes! Anyway, it took me a while because I wrote as I went and I made so many changes but I finished it in the end.

There are others in progress and hopefully I will get faster now that I have made one.

Until next time, take care and blog soon! xx