I finished the amigurumi cat. I have named him (well, he was named from the start, unlike some of the critters I make) Oliver Donald Piano.

Or O. Don Piano for short.



The pattern if from the "Kyuuto: Amigurumi" book. I used a boucle yarn (I think it was from Bernat; I picked it up at the Michael's in my parents' town). The eyes are "Suncatcher" eyes; I picked them specifically because they matched the inspiration for the cat, and the nose is a vintage button.

I did make the back legs and tail longer than the pattern suggested; they were awfully stumpy otherwise.

I named him what I did because of this:



(That makes me laugh EVERY TIME I see it. I know the cat isn't happy - apparently it is growling at another one of the cats in its household - but it still strikes me funny every time.)

I can't remember if the video in question ever actually appeared on Cute Overload (because a growling cat, while funny, is not exactly cute), but I'm still digging out the 'cute overload in amigurumi form' tag for this.




Why I eyes ya!

It's time for another installment of "Cute Overload in Amigurumi Form!"

Meet Snailio.



Snailio Iglesias, that is.



He can spend his time singing "Shoo-be-doo-be-doo"

(Though given that he is Snailio IGLESIAS, perhaps it's more likely he'd sing, "To all the females I've love-darted before...." And then he'd need a Willie Nelson snail to sing backup.)

(And yes, technically, snails are hermaphrodites. To which both Snailio and I say, "Shut up".)

So Snailio can sing and be cool, but sometimes, because he's such a SMALL snail, he's more kind of like, "Ehn! Ehn!"



Sometimes it's hard to make progress when you are very small.

Pattern is from an excellent free pattern from Mochimochiland. If a person were ambitious, you could make up enough snails and slugs (a variation of the pattern) and make an odd sort of checkers set. Or you could sew a ring or pin finding to one and have a very unusual piece of costume jewelry).

Me? I think Snailio is going to live on the keyboard of my laptop, he seems happy there.


(The original Snailio post on CO is here)

Something else to be thankful for:

I finished the TARDIS.



This is part of my brother's Christmas present. It turned out HUGE - it is nearly 20" tall including the "light" on the top (and if I had been really clever, I could have used some of the white "glow in the dark" yarn that I got really cheap the last time I was at Micheal's for it. Oh well.)

The colorwork pulls in a little bit, especially around the "windows," but meh. It was a pretty big thing to knit. It's also a challenge to stuff and keep roughly square - if I had really wanted to be perfectionistic about it, I would have either made panels of quilt batting to go right inside the sides, or ironed iron-on interfacing to stiffen the sides, or, best of all, made a "pillow form" out of muslin in the proper shape and just used the knit part as a "slip cover." But I was mainly interested in getting this done, when I realized how huge it was going to be - there would be no flippin' way I'd be able to carry that up with me at Christmas time; it will take up almost as much room as a rolled up sweater in the suitcase. So I'm glad it's done, and I can take it with me when I go for this break.

Here's another shot, for scale. I added in a measuring tape (in inches) and the Little Emo doll so you can maybe get a better idea of just how large it is.



I hope my brother appreciates it.

And no, I won't knit you one. I hope that's the last I see of colorwork for a while. If I were making another TARDIS? I'd do it of cloth and applique on all the various bits using machine-stitched satin stitch. (And use the satin stitch for the "lines" that denote the door panels).

****

And here's another episode of Cute Overload in Amigurumi Form:



Rules of Cuteness fulfilled:

If your tail curls up, it's cute.
If your ears are small, it's cute.

There's also Beady Eye Factor, which is supposedly an anti-cute thing, but in this case, I find it cute.

It's a little mouse, crocheted off the pattern ("Mighty Little Mouse" in Elisabeth Doherty's amigurumi book). I used Vanna's Choice in "Tangerine Print" (which actually looks more brownish to me).

It's actually very similar to mouse-toys that were common when I was a girl - just little round balls of fluff, no feet or legs, with ears and a long narrow tail and a pair of shiny beady eyes. I had several toy mice like this as a child.

As promised, photos of the "Cute Overload in Amigurumi Form #1".

This is Rupert the Deer:



Those of you who are fans of "Cute Overload" will probably remember the "real" Rupert the Deer. His mom was struck by a car while he was still in utero, and so he was born via C-section (because, like Bambi's mom, Rupert's mom didn't make it).

Sadly, a high percentage of animal rescues like this are not successful. Adding in that Rupert was born prematurely by C-section and that he didn't have real deer-mama milk, Rupert didn't make it.

So I decided to memorialize Rupert in all his cuteness. The fawn pattern is from "Amigurumi: Super Happy Crochet Cute" by Elisabeth Doherty.

I pretty much followed the pattern as written.



The eyes, in particular...I wanted to do eyes like in the original pattern because they were so cute. (However, the original called for pink and burgundy felt, to give sort of an "eyeliner" effect. And Rupert is, despite the eyelashes, a BOY deer. So the colors I chose were more "natural").

I did change a couple things. I didn't do the crocheted-bobble nose; it looked kind of ridiculous and I wanted something more subdued so I just embroidered on a little nose. And I used felt for the spots rather than sequins and beads, because sequins, meh. (I'm not a big fan of sewing on sequins).

I also didn't use the pvc stuffing pellets in the leg. The pattern author warns that the deer won't stand up properly without them, but I figured since the legs were crocheted so tightly they almost stood up on their own (empty), I'd take a chance with the polyfill. As you can see, Rupert stands up fine, and he's a lot softer and nicer (and lighter) without the beads.

Rupert is quite extremely cute. I think he is one of the most cute things I have made.



And because Cute Overload isn't Cute Overload without October being renamed 'Tocktober, here's the obligatory 'tocks shot.



Not that deer really have "tocks" (or, if you're Forrest Gump, "BUTT-ocks, sir"), and crocheted toy deer even less so.

As I was working on Rupert, I had bits and pieces of babeh deer scattered all around me. And I was reminded of two of the terrible, gross-out jokes kids used to tell:

Q. What do you call a deer with no eyes?

A. No-eye-deer. ("No idea")

Q. What do you call a deer with no legs and no eyes?

A. Still no-eye-deer.



Rupert says, "That's not funny."