Crochet

Recently I have become a little obsessed with crochet, specifically amigurumi. It started when my Great Grandmother gave me her collection of crochet hooks in April and has built from there.

From the outside they might look completely unrelated to the rest of my art, but there’s something about making them that encourages me to work harder with all my projects and give anything a shot.

When I first tried to make a chain it was the most impossible thing ever. The hook was awkward to maneuver, and I couldn’t understand for the life of me how to make my work look like a bunch of well made knots rather than a bunch of tangled ones. I was ready to put the hook back down and resign my amigurumi dream. Luckily for me, there was a power cut! I spent the 3 hours that power was out learning how to make a magic ring. By the end of the cut I not only had a magic ring, I had a small pink ball of amigurumi! Awesome!

There are few things as satisfying as conquering a steep learning curve, but where would I be without my trusty friend and teacher, The Internet? Not only are there some really brilliant and inspiring works out there (I especially love Melissa Stanley’s creations), but there is a sea of helpful advice in amazing communities all across the web. Youtube especially has been an excellent resource.

I am a predominantly left-handed person. A lot of lefties end up quite ambidextrous from the necessity of this right-handed world, but not me. I try and force myself to do double-handed things (guitar, videogames, and now crochet), in order to keep the analytical left side of my brain from becoming too sluggish and sleepy.

I also begin to think in three dimensions, which is something as a 2D artist I don’t do nearly enough. My work suffers from being “flat”, I’m hoping working with something in 3D will help me with this. Crochet is great because you get to see the shape emerge as you go, rather than knitting where you have to wait until you’ve finished all the pieces to see what it will look like.

So, after 5 months I’ve gone from this to this. I can now stitch while half asleep in front of the television. The two monsterbunnies are currently my crowning achievement, being made from a Frankenstein of patterns I’ve worked with so far. Having picked up this much of the craft in this short of a time makes me feel like there’s nothing I can’t learn more about if I dedicate myself to it. I also hope that eventually I’ll be able to say my amigurumi are art pieces, rather than an out of control hobby.