Amigurumi love

I need to stop spending so much time on Pinterest. But what's a crafty mum to do when she is feeding an infant in the middle of the night? Browse Pinterest for inspiration of course. I confess there is a tiny part of me (a VERY tiny part!) that gets excited about getting up at 3am so I can look at Pinterest. The problem is there are too many great craft ideas and my project list is not getting any shorter these days...

Anyway, yesterday my husband was talking about a crochet elephant which was his favourite childhood toy.  So imagine my surprise when later that night I was Pinterest-ing - and I came across one! So I clicked on the board - and discovered... the world of amigurumi.

Just look at these.

And these.

How cute are they? I am hooked! I have always had a soft spot for Japanese animal characters - just love their distinctive features.  And I have been crafting for years, how did I not come across amigurumi before?!

So I looked into it a little bit. Amigurumi is the Japanese art of crocheting small stuffed animals and dolls. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll. There are literally hundreds of free patterns for amigurumi animals and dolls on the web, and loads of supercool ones also for sale. I simply have to brush up on my crochet skills to have a go at making these little cuties. I used to crochet as a child,  mainly doilies and doll blankets in garish colours. But I am hoping it's like riding a bike and it will come back to me!

So I leave you with some more amigurumi wonderfulness (Elvis is my favourite). Links to all the amigurumi on this page are on my Pinterest board here.

Have a great day!