kupo!

Like many others before me, I am a sucker for moogles, those mind-bendingly cute characters from the Final Fantasy series. I've been asking Santa to get me one for years, but alas, I am yet to wake up on Christmas morn to find one bouncing around the house. So, to fill the void, I had to settle for making one.

I did a lot of research, and ended up splicing parts together from various patterns (most notably, this one), and adjusting as I went along. The actual crochet part was a breeze, and especially rewarding when I finished the boring cream colour.

However, it was the assembly part which turned out to be much more laborious than I had anticipated. I'd estimate total assembly time at about 4 hours, over a few nights (including time for head-scratching and getting another glass of wine). This is mainly because I am such a greenhorn, but also because I didn't want it to be crap, or to disfigure myself with the hot glue gun in my haste. So he's not perfect, but I feel he is good enough to prevent me from dramatically throwing myself from a window (admittedly, this would only be about a 2 metre fall, but the sentiment is there).

Ziggy the Moogle
b. 15.11.08

long live the crafternoon

Recent months have brought a welcome diversion. The crafternoon has always been with us, lying dormant, until we forget about the more important things we think we should be doing. The crafternoon is the coming together of friends in the post meridiem daylight hours, to participate in many kinds of art, craft or creative pursuit. The crafternoon has had many revivals over the years, passing down through an enthusiastic stream of like-minded friends, families and flatmates.

It has recently enjoyed a resurgence in my life. It began with a common need between Melissa and I to get back to our crafting roots. Melissa was dreaming of quilting, and I was coveting amigurumi. I already knew how to crochet, and Melissa knew how to sew, so we could skip the boring part and get straight into it. Thus began what may go down in history as our most prolific and enriching crafternoon period yet.

You probably already know what amigurumi is. If not, in short, it is the Japanese craft of making knitted or crocheted toys. To me, amigurumi means taking an animal, character, inanimate object, or something you just made up, and translating it in crochet to look super cute. Already super cute? Make it ridiculously cute! It's simple, really.

So allow me to take time out from creating more amigurumi, thinking about amigurumi, and generally being consumed by amigurumi, to post about my first amigurumi. His purpose was to teach, and he succeeded. Now I can look at him and see all my mistakes, and things I could have improved. He is a great source of pride to me, being not only my first amigurumi, but the first project of any kind I have actually finished in ages (unfinished projects are a hobby in themselves). So, in all his flawed glory, I present to you, King Dingus!

King Dingus

b. 25.10.08

The crafternoons are continuing, and more people are being infected. More projects will follow here, at a delay anyway, since many cannot be unveiled until after Xmas, and also, I'm lazy. I hope to get some pictures of Melissa's quilt for the record too, and maybe the projects of the other infected crafters.

A tremendous boon from our crafternoons is that I also get to spend time with my delightful neice. So if you will excuse me, I need to go and get ready - I don't think I need to spell out where I am going this afternoon...