Crazy Sexy Cute

Crochet Pattern- Bess in the cow costume amigurumi doll

by Owlishly

One of my favorite new craft projects is to make amigurumi dolls and toys. According to Wikipedia, "amigurumi" can be described as:

"The Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll. Amigurumi are typically cute animals (such as bears, rabbits, cats, dogs, etc.), but can include artistic renderings, and inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features. Amigurumi can be either knitted or crocheted. In recent years crocheted amigurumi are more popular and more commonly seen.

"Amigurumi are usually crocheted or knitted out of yarn. The simplest designs are worked in spirals. In contrast to typical Western crochet the rounds are not usually joined. They are also worked with a smaller size hook in proportion to the weight of the yarn in order to create a very tight-looking fabric without any gaps through which the stuffing might escape. Amigurumi are usually worked in sections and then joined, except for some amigurumi which have no limbs, only a head and torso which are worked as one piece. The extremities are sometimes stuffed with plastic pellets to give them a life-like weight, while the rest of the body is stuffed with fiber stuffing.

"The pervading aesthetic of amigurumi is cuteness. To this end, typical amigurumi animals have an over-sized spherical head on a cylindrical body with undersized extremities."

Cuteness - I'm all over that. So far, I have created two monkey dolls, an easter bunny, an easter chick, a ball-shaped penguin and three peeps. The best part about this craft is that if you can crochet a simple SC, you can make most amigurumis! They are great stash-busters, too.

Here are some particularly adorable patterns from our friends at Etsy. The possibilities are ENDLESS!!

ANIMALS

Amigurumi Cute Alien Rabbit- Crochet Pattern

by crochetpattern

Bee Gurumi Crochet Pattern
by LuvlyGurumi

DOLLS

PDF Pattern - Pippi

by AmigurumiParadise

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan Amigurumi Pattern KaiLan
by CraftyisCool

TOYS

Ace, The Airplane - Amigurumi Pattern
by DeliciousCrochet

HALLOWEEN

3 PDF Crochet Patterns - Jazzy Witch, Devil and Halloween Gang - Amigurumi
by kandjdolls

THANKSGIVING

Crochet Pattern- Chester the turkey boy amigurumi doll
by Owlishly

CHRISTMAS

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer - An Amigurumi Pattern
by KawaiiGurumi

Jane Austen Day

Jane's Dames - Mrs. Darcy Bracelet, by jackandella

Jane Austen Day
(with apologies to Oliver Wendell Holmes)
by Annmarie Martin Symons

It chanced to be Jane Austen day
on the Sunday movie station
with Sense and Sensibility,
Pride and Prejudice, and Persuasion.
I abandoned all my housework –
left a sink of dirty dishes
to pine, ah! bitterly I wept –
for a man in knee-length breeches.

I watched him striding ‘cross the glade,
Alas! Too late my birth
for my own Mr. Darcy as portrayed
by that devil, Colin Firth
in a sopping shirt – I nearly died!
Soaked clean through to the stitches
“Take me, take ME!!” I faintly cried
(Those breeches, oh those BREECHES!)

That night I saw him in my dreams –
How changed from on the TV!
The rift of space and time collapsed
to bring my Darcy to me;
That handsome rake was mine, all mine,
no hint of Liz in sight –
and so, alone, sufficed to say
we spent a lovely night.

By morning light, two hundred years
flashed forward in a blink,
and I awoke a modern wife
with dishes in the sink.
But though my fate is here and now
my aching heart still twitches –
and I’ll search for Darcy in my dreams,
my love, in knee-length breeches.

Mr. Darcy (The place where Mr. Darcy proposed to Elizabeth, Stourhead), by marymaephotography

Mr Darcy cross stitch wall art, by thetimeisnow

Jane - an art doll with handmade leatherbound book Pride and Prejiduce, by MothtoaFlameStudio

Jane Austen-1 Inch Button, by Goobeetsa

Mr. Darcy Proposal Mug, by Brookish

Saucy Riding Boots and Mr Darcy Pride and Prejudice Locket Charm Necklace , by hoolala

Jane Austen Wine Charm Set - Jane, Bingley, Lizzy, Darcy, by ripka

You're a great friend, but if the zombies chase us, I'm tripping you.

Zombie Girl Cosmetic Kits, by glittersniffer

Let's hear it for zombies! I love the idea of zombies, especially like the ones in the original Night of the Living Dead movies. How could these slow-ass seemingly blind zombies actually find and catch up to the remaining humans? It boggles the mind. You have to be a special kind of stupid or an extreme klutz to be captured by a zombie.

And I wonder also - why do they eat brains? It doesn't seem to net them anything - they don't get stronger or faster from having eaten them, they just keep on groping around until they come across their next hapless victim. And if they were to avoid being killed by the two people in the movie that actually have any brain cells to rub together, would they eventually digest and poop out the brains? So many questions go unanswered...

In honor of Halloween, and in honor of our zombie friends, who have gotten ZERO press since the whole vampire-chic thing began, enjoy these cerebralicious items from our friends at Etsy:

Zombies Versus Townspeople Halloween Checker Set, by PsAndQs

Severed Human Zombie Foot, by UncleScabby

Zombies Hate that I am so Awesome Kids Shirt, by tinaseamonster

margaret makes the other zombies a tad uncomfortable, by zombunny

Zombie Apocalypse pinback button 6-pack, by BarrelOfMonkeys

And another by tinaseamonster, but being a knitter, I couldn't resisit - this is hilarious!

Zombies are Crap at Knitting Book mark in Sleeve, by tinaseamonster