My First Amigurumi!

I spent all afternoon yesterday cleaning up my crafting space and my sewing table, reorganizing everything, in preparation for some birthday present sewing I had planned for last night and today.  So I sat down in my nice new clean organized space last night, and everything went downhill from there.  My machine doesn't like knits - it tries to eat them. And it was just one thing after another.  I truly believe with sewing if you aren't feeling it, it's just not meant to be.  I started and stopped 2 different projects, because with each one, some random error would occur - slipped stitches, eaten knits, bad binding..ugh.  I tried pj pants (my old fallback), a t shirt bag (new but simple project)...then I decided I was done fighting my machine.

I went through all my pattern books, crochet magazines, any idea source I could.  And nothing!  Not that there weren't great ideas and patterns in them, but I wasn't feeling it.  Nothing spoke to me and seemed like something I could make joyfully in a small amount of time.  I haven't felt that creatively bankrupt in ages.  I laid in bed just thinking about what I could do. It's honestly most important to me that I'm excited about making a new project, pouring myself into it.  To me, it's not worth doing if I don't at least enjoy making the concept or knowing that the recipient will enjoy it.

At last, I woke up this morning with an idea.  I love when that happens.  Inspiration strikes at the strangest moments. For me it was watching a thunderstorm blow through at 6AM with A, who is terrified of thunder.

An amigurumi! If you don't know what that is, it's basically just a cutesy Japanese-type yarn plushie, made with crochet or knit.  The gift was for a 2 year old, which is perfect age for a goofy little yarn plushie.  And my favorite crochet trick in my arsenal right now is the corkscrew spiral.  Can you see where this is going?

It's an OCTOPUS!  8 corkscrew legs, puffy little body, two little beady eyes...he's adorable and I wish I could keep him forever. I can write out the pattern one day, if anyone is interested, but for now here's some pictures for you!

The action photos are so much more fun than the plain Jane ones, don't you think?

I used this yarn...Sugar 'n Cream in Pyschedelic.  It used a little less than a whole skein (which is only $2 or so).  I used safety eyes, polyfill, and plastic beads in a small fabric baggie to help weight it.

What do you think?  I'm pretty sure little C would love it, so I think his friend will too.  I usually gift their friends something store-bought and something homemade together, so either way they don't feel like they're getting ripped off.  I hope they're too young to think that, but I guess I just don't know anymore.