Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Beware the Cephalopods


The what you ask? Cephalopod - a word known mainly to marine biologists and mothers of little boys - are the family from which come octopus and squids. After having two daughters it was a whole new world having a son. I now know more about the mating habits of crocodilians than any human should really know and I am coming to know much about the little man's current obsession which is none other than Cephalopods. So imagine my surprise when I found the most adorable patterns for the little critters at Hansigurumi's Etsy store! They are called amigurumi which is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuff animals. Who knew? I have borrowed this picture from her store so I hope that's OK. She makes the most amazing little animals and I purchased the pattern for the Octopus and the one for the squid. I really had to restrain myself from buying others as well but there are only so many hours in the day and no matter how cute I think the seahorse is he really isn't interested in those! She makes all of them out of Cascade 220 and so I was just planning to sift through the stash as I have lots of Cascade left from a broad variety of felting projects. But noooooo, I had to go to the yarn store to get some more yarn for my pal's FFBE bag and there was this gorgeous purple malabrigo in slight variations that just looked to me like a sea creature. Pair that with some ultra soft white Cascade for his underbelly and I was sucked right in! But I swear I'm not going to start him until I finish the shawl that never ends and another hat I'm working on. Really - I mean it!

7 comments:

Ursula said...

Great link to the marine knits! Just yesterday my sister and I were laughing about her obsession with finding a starfish pattern. (long, ridiculous story)

LisaW. said...

aren't those adorable...but hark...methinks thou doth protest too much.....i'm betting you already started it! it's crochet...it'll go fast!ps...thanks for the rockin girl blogger nomination...one day i'll stick it on the sidebar..one day...

Jknits said...

You are as bad as the rest of us
;) are you going to work on this before, after or during the Secrets of the Stole? Either way, it looks like fun.

Anonymous said...

Oh, wow! I HAVE to make one of those to go with my Monterey shawl and my friend Nancy's felted penguin. Thank you for the heads-up to it!

Ursula: I've made a starfish. Boucle wool, starfish-y-colored wool or mohair, and do I-cord legs, one at a time. When you have enough, put all the stitches on one set of dpns, do a few rounds, then decrease a few rounds, pull it up tight, and weave the ends down the insides of the I-cord. That's how I made mine. And having the center raise up a bit when you pull the stitches up tight just adds to the look. The boucle loops exactly go with the texture of the starfish.

--AlisonH at spindyeknit.com

Dorothy said...

Don't you feel like such a great mom right now? Isn't it great when our passions intersect with our kids' passions?

hakucho said...

I'm a mother of 3 boys, no girls...so you hit the nail on the head ;)
Work machines and trains were also very big in our house when the boys were little. You are lucky that you get the best of both worlds :)
I love the little marine animal patterns too. Very cute!

happy knitting :)

Brooke Knits said...

HI!! I saw a kit for a felted fish at stitches last year.. who knew my assistant likes fishes.. should have got it then!! I do plan on being at stitchs in Feb. We have to meet up. Perhaps dinner at Nicolinos (spelling?).