I *heart* geeky crochet!

especially when it reminds me of my childhood. This Pee Wee Herman and Chairry amigurumi by Crafty is Cool blows my mind. The pattern is available from her Etsy shop. Oh! and check out her other amazing designs too!

Yoshi's story

I put together this Yoshi for my nephew Lukas. Needless to say, he loved it. So did I and nearly didnt hand it over to him. I have decided to make myself a purple one because, as everyone knows, purple Yoshis are better because they can fly.

you must crochet

I know what you’re thinking – Crochet is so lame. Your nanna does it. Your Great Aunt Sally does it. So why should a super-cool, awesome individual such as yourself give it the time of day?

Here are 5 fine reasons why:

Video game Amigurumi – Japanese art is amazing, and amigurumi is no exception. Ami – meaning yarn, and nuigurumi – meaning stuffed doll. Video games are ultra-cool and when Mario meets yarn, only good things can happen. Check out this amazing Legend of Zelda play set from Nerdigurumi, or this incredible Bowser by Janama at Cute Amigurumi! if you need more convincing.

Jack Rabbit's Knitted Atari Goodness courtesy of kotaku.com

Crochetdermy – What do you get when you cross the disgusting with the extraordinary? Crochetdermy, that’s what. Shauna Richardson has taken crochet to a new level with her awe-inspiring life-size yarned animals and you need to see them. Crochet is fast becoming a well respected fine art; artist Joana Vasconcelos has created some of the most intricate sculptures using traditional crochet patterns, while Jo Hamilton uses yarn to render realistic portraits of friends and family.

Its good enough to eat – another fantastic form of amigurumi is food. Everything edible has a woolly counterpart, a fact that CraftyAnna and Skymagenta prove beyond a doubt. If you can eat it, you can double-treble crochet it.

T.V. dinner by Nicole gastonguay ©2009

Guerrillas on the move – ever been walking down the street and noticed that boring streetlamp is now covered in a colourful assortment of yarn? No doubt your municipality has fallen victim to a yarn-bombing, or an act of guerrilla crochet. Gals and guys the world over are uniting in an effort to cover the most dull objects about town in a variety of yarny-goodness. Just ask the gals at Yarnarchy in the UK or check out the work of Yarnbombing from Vancouver, Canada, they’ll show you what’s what.

Photo courtesy of yarnbombing.com

There’s no place like home – unless you belong to a craft group. Home takes a temporary back seat once you join an online craft community like Ravelry or the Crochet Liberation Front. As you succumb to the addictive nature of crochet, share your new affliction with the many people you will meet online. Exchange ideas, patterns, trends and more with yarn-addicts the world over.

So there you have it, proof that crochet is not lame. From a humble beginning as your Grandma's fireside hobby, crochet has evolved into a modern pastime with a cult status. So why not pick up a hook at your local craft store and get started on that crocheted iPad cosy you never knew you wanted.

How it all began - or - how I became entangled in a love affair with crochet

A few years ago I had a superhero-themed birthday party. My favourite superhero in the entire universe is Link from The Legend of Zelda, so naturally I had to create a costume in Link’s image. As I was researching for my outfit, I happened upon this amazing piece of amigurumi by Deadcraft:



After I picked myself up — having fallen off my chair from giddy delight — I decided that my life could not carry on until I had mastered this craft and created my own huggable Link.

Having attempted crochet in the past with no success, I was reluctant to pick up a hook. My knitting skills were rusty and my teacher, my Gramma, lives 18 time zones away. Thank Google for the internet. Many balls of knotted yarn and GBs of monthly download later, I had managed to master the basics from watching various YouTube instructional videos. The results were supposed to be a monkey. My crochet skills might have been slightly sub-par but my ability to hide my mistakes rivals no other.


But that was ages ago, I now brandish a hook like a pro and have discovered that crochet is akin to smoking; it is highly addictive and those who refrain find it annoying when you light up, or in this case, yarn-on.
I see everything as crocheted; my salad sandwich, my Sunday drive, or even my favourite movie. My partner delights in seeing me happy, but frowns every time he has to untangle incessant bits of yarn from the vacuum cleaner.

Crochet is my calm, my escape from the pressures of life. I never feel completely at ease unless I have something on my hook. Teaching myself crochet is one of my greatest triumphs. It may not be rocket science, but it gives me endless pleasure.
Unlike knitting which seems to take forever, crochet’s joy is almost instantaneous. As the owner of a terribly short attention span, crochet fits in nicely with my impatient nature. 2 hours into a project and I already have a nice, woolly addition to my portfolio.

As for the Link doll, I haven’t made it – yet. I’ll get there eventually, but for the moment there are just too many other paths I need to follow, unraveling my yarn as I go.

Oh, and my costume turned out excellent:

Nicole Gastonguay crochet art

Nicole Gastonguay's work gives me so much happiness and joy, I cannot stop looking at it. I've visited her website so many times in the last few days and encourage you to do the same.
Just bookmark it, you'll thank me later.