Hey everyone it’s Mother’s Day! Do anything special for mom today?
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Going along with our little monkey of the month theme, we decided to make a Mother’s Day monkey amigurumi! Surprise!! Yeah, not much of a surprise but hey it’s a good idea especially if you’ve completely run out of gift ideas for mom this year. Why not just make a hand-crafted and personalized monkey amigurumi for mom? Moms always like what their children make them. It’s like being back in elementary school and bringing home a teacher-forced-me-to in-class art project for Mother’s Day. And with nothing else to do with it, mom will slap a magnet on it and show it off on the sustenance box: the refrigerator!!!
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Well, hopefully you don’t think of it that way! 
We love our mommies and I’m sure they’ll love anything you try to do to thank them.
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But if you really want to do something personal and special for mom, then take the crochet mom a Mother’s Day amigurumi approach.
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Of course, this monkey would not be considered a mom if it didn’t even have a kid monkey to go with it!
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What do you think? Does the apron on our Mother’s Day monkey amigurumi make it look motherly?
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What’s mom going to bake today? Cakes, cupcakes, pancakes?
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How about all of the above. 
If any of you remember from my first few posts, those are NOT hats!!! They are cakes!
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They can hold hands too! Well somewhat…
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This is mom’s favorite lipstick. And here is our little kiddie stealing mom’s lipstick and going for a joy ride~
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Oh, and don’t worry this family is still not complete yet! Are we forgetting someone? More monkey amigurumis to come!
Thanks to all of you for looking~ Happy Mother’s Day! Maybe I should go and get a I<3MoM tattoo! hahaa…ouch.
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Posted May 7th, 2011 at 11:44pm (Comments: 4)
Filed under Amigurumi, Animals, Easter, Gardening, Mother's Day, Spring
It’s time for the Monkey of the Month, and this month I’ve made an Easter Monkey Amigurumi! What else would you think of for the month of April? I was actually thinking of a rainy themed monkey, because “April showers bring May flowers” but Easter is just too cute to pass up!
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What makes this Easter Monkey Amigurumi, well, Easter-y, is the nest of eggs on its head. The nest is just a small cap-like shape, and the eggs I crocheted out of that super thin yarn I got from Taiwan (the same yarn I used to make the baby whale amigurumis). My sister and I trialed with so many different types of eggs before we settled with that nest of eggs! We first tried a felt plushie egg, but despite stuffing it, it still didn’t quite look three dimensional enough to look like an egg. Then we thought about crocheting a big egg with worsted weight yarn, but found it hard to make the Easter Monkey Amigurumi pose with such a large egg! So, finally my sister suggested I crochet three small eggs and put them in a nest on the Easter Monkey Amigurumi’s head. I was hesitant at first, because that’s a lot of work!! It doesn’t look like it, because they’re so small, but it’s actually a lot of stitches…just to crochet some eggs…BUT it did work out the best, so I shouldn’t have been so lazy heh.
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Can you guess what else makes this Easter Monkey Amigurumi so special?? You probably can’t tell from the pictures so far, but…
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TADA! It stands!! All on its own…awww…kinda like seeing your baby stand for the first time, huh? Haha not quite, but something like that.
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As you can see, it relies solely on the garden wire stuffed in its tail to stand, which is amazing to me because this Easter Monkey Amigurumi sure is mighty plump! I used my original pattern to crochet the body, and after I finished I realized that the body is way too big for a standing monkey. Future note to self, if monkey is to stand, give it lipo…
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And, just for kicks, let’s make the Easter Monkey Amigurumi look like Godzilla!
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I told my sister to take nice pictures of the Easter Monkey Amigurumi for me because she usually takes really good pictures. I was thinking white picket fence, grass, nice sky blue backdrop, some flowers…I got most of what I asked for, but somehow I also got small buildings that make the Easter Monkey Amigurumi look more like King Kong than a cute Easter-themed monkey…what can I say, she always likes to put her own little “cute but dangerous” twist on things <slaps forehead and rolls eyes>…
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Although, after looking at them for a while, they are nice pictures after all. As I say this, I just know she’s rolling her eyes at me too and thinking that I have “such common taste” with that all too familiar disgusted look on her face haha!
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Nice houses too. The house on the left was a birthday present from my mom, and the one on the right was a souvenir from San Francisco. So random that we have these things lying around the house!
The Easter Monkey Amigurumi is available for purchase at my Etsy. That’s it for now! Thanks for looking~!
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Posted April 12th, 2011 at 11:51pm (Comments: 2)
Filed under Amigurumi, Animals, Easter, Spring
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Continuing on with the springy animals…today we bring you sheep amigurumi! Not yetis. -_-
We’ve waited a long time to get our hands on this expensive fuzzy yarn, so when our mom collected enough Joann coupons in the mail, we bought two squishy balls of fuzzy black and white yarn. I love black and white! You can never go wrong with it. So I sat around and tossed the yarn from one hand to the other and thought “if I could juggle, I’d juggle these”. Hahaha no. What I really thought was “ah…soft, squishy, soft, squishy…sheep!” And there you have it. Black and white sheep amigurumi.
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The semi-drooping ears and extra fluff on its head gives it the signature “sheep” look, right? Well at least that’s what we were aiming for because without the ears sewn on, it really did look like a yeti. I mean yetis are nice–with their cute faces and all–but nah, maybe next time!
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Of course we can’t forget a fuzzy little tail to our sheep amigurumi!
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Here’s the black sheep version
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Now the black sheep amigurumi was pretty funny to make. When I sewed on the ears, for some reason I just really liked to pinch the bottom ends of them inwards to make it pointy. Why? I don’t know…I just like to see sharp and edgy things…? But anyway, I handed it back to the crochet master for her approval and she said, “WHAT? Why is it that when I give things to you they always turn out sharp and scary looking?!” And then she quickly molded them back into its cuter shape. Yeah, the dark colors and the sharp ears without the round pink felt pieces in them really made it look…devilish. >]
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But don’t worry, they’re happy little friends! Cute, soft, and fuzzy!
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Thanks for looking~
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Posted March 26th, 2011 at 2:13am (Comments: 2)
Filed under Amigurumi, Animals, Chinese zodiac, Easter, Spring
I know it’s very late, but Happy Chinese New Year nonetheless, and to celebrate it I made a rabbit amigurumi for the year of the rabbit!
Here I made the rabbit amigurumi celebrate against a Chinese New Year-inspired backdrop. The fancy decorations in the background are actually red envelopes, and to top it off I added a little Chinese chocolate gold nugget too. May the new year bring much luck, happiness, and prosperity to us all!!
I think the most important part of this rabbit amigurumi is the shape of its ears. I basically crocheted a test tube shape (please excuse the crude image comparison, lab geek talking here), pinched the bottom open end of it to create a concave shape, and sewed it in place onto the head. I wanted to achieve a 3-D effect, rather than just a flat shape for the ears. To finish off this rabbit amigurumi’s ears, I cut out a smaller test tube shape from pink felt, lined the inner ears with it and glued it in place. Sounds pretty simple, but actually sewing the ears in place with that concave shape is kind of difficult, so if you’re ever going to do something similar, it may take a few tries but it’s so worth it!
Which reminds me, someone once asked me what kind of glue I use for my amigurumis. The answer is Aleene’s tacky glue, which I buy from either Michaels or Joann’s, whichever store is having a sale or gives me a coupon. The only reason I use it is that’s what was lying around the house at the time I started crafting. It is definitely much better than using regular school glue, a mistake I once made when I used school glue to stick felt polka dots onto a mushroom amigurumi I made for a friend’s birthday, only to find that all the dots fell off within 2 hours (that, and my friend wasn’t exactly “gentle” with my handiwork either…)! Just a little bit of tacky glue goes a long way too, because when you slather on a bunch onto a small piece of felt it soaks through to the other side of the felt and doesn’t stick very well because it’s so wet. The felt piece also hardens as it dries with too much glue, and maintaining the softness of the felt is important for both visual and tactile purposes. I’ve always wanted to try hot glue, but never got around to it. If anyone has better suggestions, please share!
Ok, I’ll stop talking about glue now. You’re probably thinking, “Gosh how much can someone talk to me about glue?!” I know I can be pretty wordy, but I just wanted to share my experiences with glue with you.
Back to the rabbit amigurumi…of course with Easter coming up and all, I couldn’t resist making this rabbit amigurumi an Easter rabbit too!
The eggs were cut from felt, stuffed and sewn together, and then decorated with some glittery glue. My sister’s handiwork – she’s so good with small details.
Oh, and the tail was crocheted from Joann Sensations Beautiful Yarn. It’s super soft, and so fuzzy – perfect for creating contrast with the worsted weight yarn I used for the body. I know it sounds wrong, but I find myself pinching the tail a lot because it’s so soft! Don’t worry, the rabbit hasn’t turned around to bite me yet so it’s all good.
Here’s a side view. Notice how the ears are sewn on in a concave shape.
After I made this rabbit amigurumi, I liked it so much I decided to make another type of rabbit – a floppy-ear rabbit amigurumi!
The body and everything else is exactly the same as the other bunny. The only difference is the ears. The ears on the floppy ear rabbit amigurumi are huge! If I were to ever make it again, I would definitely use a sport weight yarn instead of worsted weight yarn just for the ears. But it’s ok, the floppy ear rabbit amigurumi still has a special place in my heart, even if other people think it looks like a dog!
And here the rabbits are very happy together. All of a sudden, I can’t wait for spring to come! If you’re interested, you can purchase a plush rabbit amigurumi of any color you’d like at my Etsy.
As always, thank you for looking! Please stay tuned as I attempt to make all the animals of the Chinese zodiac! So far, I have more than half done and will be posting them as time permits. Oh, and one last bit of info – my monkey amigurumis were chosen for the 2012 Crochet Me Amigurumi Calendar! The patterns for the monkeys, and also a pattern for a polar bear (fondly named Polar Lucibear) will be included in the calendar! Thank you very much to all who have expressed interest in a pattern for the monkeys. Please wait patiently with me for publication of the calendar to get your copy of the pattern! I’ll be sure to update you on the calendar’s status.
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Posted February 22nd, 2011 at 5:28am (Comments: 14)
Filed under Amigurumi, Animals, Chinese zodiac, Easter, Spring
This series of amigurumis began with the birth of Bolt the friendly raindrop. It was mighty hot this April and there were barely any showers in SoCal. Where did all the showers go?! How will the May flowers grow? Thus, Bolt came to the rescue!
And since it is now May, I thought it would only be appropriate if Bolt had some friends. Let me introduce Sunny the Sunflower and her counterpart water bucket, Polly. Together, these three make any garden warm and friendly!
The PDF pattern for Bolt can be found at my etsy: janama.etsy.com. Patterns for Sunny and Polly are pending!
Here are some more pics if you’re interested.
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Posted May 18th, 2009 at 5:38pm (Comments: 2)
Filed under Amigurumi, Gardening, Spring
