Amigurumi Goes Blogging

This story starts in the summer when I went to the Lincoln Antiques Fair and bought a sewing box, and contents for the princely sum of £5. A treasure trove of needles, cottons, rug making tools and crochet hooks. I vaguely remember having a go at crochet at school and quite liking it but failing miserably to make anything that didn't resemble an accident with a ball of wool and an over enthusiastic kitten.

Then at a craft evening at a friends house, I found in a pile of 'must have a go at that' craft books, "Amigurumi Friends". I found myself strangely drawn to these little knitted and crocheted creatures that obviously require years of formal training before you could even attempt to turn a ball of yarn with the help of some needles into anything recognisable.


Then came along My Love Bumps who set a challenge to set up a Pinterest board, pin crafty type things to it and then make something from your board.

Then I found this post on RedTedArt for a SIMPLE  (note how I have stressed the word simple) amigurumi teddy bear.

So what could be more natural than I pin that cute bear onto my board, dust off the crochet needle, get me some yarn and make like a Granny?

Here he is. The SIMPLE teddy bear, as posted by RedTedArt from Amieggs

Cute isn't he?

Well I had a go using some online 'how to' videos. You know, 'how to' tie a slip knot, how to make one crochet stitch, that kind of thing.

Casting on stitches, I have found, is the trickiest thing to do. Fiddly doesn't even cover it. I am not the most patient of people and I thought *cough* I could knock this little bear out in one evening. Yeah right. Five evenings later and I was finally stuffing the little f..ella.

So here is my crochet journey (edited) (heavily).

Casting on, and on, and on...

Crochet innit.

Ta da! A doily! Bugger, it's supposed to be a bear's head!

I was actually amazed that it became a pleasant way to pass the time. I have ordered a slanket and matching tartan slippers now, you know, to complete the 'not quite old enough to be doing this but secretly enjoying it' look.

So it seems I may need a bit more practise, and patience. And I need to actually count stitches, learn to read a pattern, or at worst, look at the picture of what you are aiming to achieve and make adjustments accordingly, addressing anything that differs wildly.

But enough of this waffle. You are desperate to see the finished bear I know. So here he is.

Bugger the Bear.

Named Bugger, early on in his creation, as it was the first word he heard and learnt due to its frequent repetition. He may have been sewn together slightly oddly, in that his head found limbs attached to it so was therefore promoted to the position of body and his body/head may be missing a snout as is traditional for bears but on the whole, overlooking these minor adjustments, I think you will agree that Bugger is a lovely little fella and will be henceforth the FiveGoBlogging mascot :)

It's like looking in a mirror!

Now I'm sure that when you pop over to LoveBumps blog there will be more craftiness occurring.