amiguruMEI gets the Liebster Blog Award!

amiguruMEI gets the Liebster Blog Award!

amigurumei amigurumi

These are stuff dreams are made of. AmiguruMEI has just received its first Liebster Blog Award from Sharon of Homemade Obsessions! Thank you so much for including us in your selection!

Liebster is a German word that simply means favourite, dearest or beloved. The Liebster Blog Award is passed on from one blogger to the next, and is usually bestowed upon those with inspiring content on their page, but have fewer than 200 followers. The Award’s purpose is to help spread the word for newer bloggers, which would help them gain wider recognition in the long run.

In accepting the award, the blogger should:

  1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to award the Liebster to.
  2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
  3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.
  4. Share five random facts about yourself that people don’t know about you.

After due consideration, Meimoirs have found five awesome personalities that are much deserving of the Award. They are:

Please visit their awe-inspiring blogs! And now here are five random nuggets about Meimoirs, as promised!

1) She enjoys watching the Studio Ghibli collection of animes over and over again, and have done so many times in the three different languages that they’re available in: Japanese, English and Chinese.

2) She is a fan of the Monkey Island and Legend of Zelda series of games. She once also spent hours building dream houses for her Sims in The Sims, as well as malfunctioning theme park rides (Rollercoaster Tycoon) and fruit-based pizzas in Pizza Connection.

3) As a child, she gave each of her Barbie dolls a first, middle and last name and recorded them all down on a piece of paper. She is guilty of having renamed the Pocahontas doll to Joan, simply because she looks more like a “Joan”.

4) She dreams of one day visiting the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, the Little Prince Museum in Hakone and the Moomin Cafe in Fukuoka, Japan. Her obsession with the Japanese culture (although the Little Prince is really French) has now moved on to encompass the weird-cute Anpanman!

5) She has successfully mastered the art of cooking Kung Pow Chicken and Japanese curry, and would rotate between the two recipes whenever she volunteers to make dinner (Uh oh!).

These facts serve as an introduction to the whimsies Meimoirs have in store for you. More will be channeled onto amiguruMEI soon enough!

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A rose among the thorns

A rose among the thorns

Panda oji-chan is often befuddled by the everyday.

Why do flowers have thorns? he asks.

bear crochet amigurumei prince
Sniff...
bear crochet amigurumei prince
Mmmmmm...
bear crochet amigurumei prince
Flowers are too beautiful not to have thorns. It's the only way they can protect themselves.
bear crochet amigurumei prince
Or not.

 

 

Panda Oji-chan

Panda Oji-chan

Panda Oji-chan believes that he comes from a planet far, far away.

He is a boy of few words, but many questions.

amigurumei bear prince crochet
If a sheep eats bushes...does it eat flowers too?

P/S Panda Oji-chan is fashioned after the Little Prince, the beloved character from the 1943 classic by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The book, known to be the most read and most translated publication in the French language, is a favourite of Meimoirs’. It tells of a “shipwrecked” pilot who unexpectedly meets a strange young boy in the desert. He calls him the Little Prince, and learn of his obsessions with a pet sheep, an arrogant rose and the dull yet colourful personalities whom he has crossed paths with during his intergalactic travels.

Read more about the thought-provoking allegory here.

Free pattern: Sayo and Nara-chan Easter Macaron Bunnies

Free pattern: Sayo and Nara-chan Easter Macaron Bunnies

Sayo and Nara-chan have always dreamt of seeing more of the world.

This year, they’ll finally get a chance to do so.

Nara-chan’s fantabulous macaron-baking skills have won them two free tickets to Perth, and just in time too for Easter.

rabbit amigurumei easter macaron
...Perth?

Why the sad faces then, you may ask?

Well, the bunnies are in fact afraid of kangaroos.

P/S: Make your own Sayo and Nara-chan! Here’s a free pattern for the Easter Macaron Bunnies:

 

Materials

1)     2.50 mm hook to be used with white yarn

2)      2.00 mm hook to be used with pink yarn

3)     8 ply yarn (white)

4)      Standard yarn (pink)

5)      3) Polyester fiberfill

6)      Darning needle

7)      Sewing needle

8)     Brown/black embroidery floss or sewing thread

9)      Black brads 4mm

10)  Silver/white brads 6mm (optional)

11)  Small white pom pom

12)  Decorative button (you may replace the macaron with other food or floral-type buttons)

13)  Fuzzy winter socks/gloves

 

Head

With white yarn:

Round 1: 7 sc in magic circle (7)

Round 2: 2 sc in each sc around (14)

Round 3: *2 sc, sc in next sc*, repeat 7 times (21)

Round 4: *2sc, sc in next 2 sc*, repeat 7 times (28)

Round 5: *2 sc, sc in next 3 sc*, repeat 7 times (35)

Round 6: *2 sc, sc in next 4 sc*, repeat 7 times (42)

Round 7: *2 sc, sc in next 5 sc*, repeat 7 times (49)

Round 8 – 13: Sc in each sc around

Round 14: *Inv dec, sc in next 5 sc*, repeat 7 times (42)

Place eyes (with black brads) just below the 12th row. Leave about 7 sts in between the eyes.

With brown/black embroidery floss sew on the nose.

Sew on the eyelids with brown/black sewing thread.

With the same thread, sew a small line beneath the nose.

Round 15: * Inv dec, sc in next 4 sc*, repeat 7 times (35)

Round 16: * Inv dec, sc in next 3 sc*, repeat 7 times (28)

Round 17: * Inv dec, sc in next 2 sc*, repeat 7 times (21)

Begin stuffing the head.

Round 18: * Inv dec, sc in next sc*, repeat 7 times (14)

Round 19: Inv dec all around (7)

Finish off by making a slip stich in the next stitch.

Cut yarn and weave in ends.

 

Body

With white yarn:

Round 1: 7 sc in magic circle

Round 2: 2 sc in each sc around (14)

Round 3: *2 sc, sc in next sc*, repeat 7 times (21)

Round 4: *2 sc, sc in next 2 sc*, repeat 7 times (28)

Round 5 – 9: Sc in each sc around

Round 10: *Inv dec, sc in next 2 sc*, repeat 7 times (21)

Finish off by making a slip stich in the next stitch.

Leave a yarn length of about 3 inches. Cut yarn.

Add on a cute belly button effect by sewing on a small ‘x’ with brown/black embroidery floss.

 

Legs

With pink yarn:

Round 1: 5 sc in magic circle (5)

Round 2: 2 sc in each sc around (10)

Change to white yarn.

Round 3 – 5: Sc in each sc around (10)

Round 6: *Inv dec in next st*, repeat 2 times

Finish off by making a slip stich in the next stitch.

Leave a yarn length of about 2 inches. Cut yarn.

Make two of these.

 

Arms

Round 1: 7 sc in magic circle (7)

Round 2 – 5: Sc in each sc around (7)

Use silver/white brads to add mobility to the arms (optional).

Finish off by making a slip stich in the next stitch.

Leave a yarn length of about 2 inches. Cut yarn.

Weave in ends (If you prefer not to use the brads, leave the yarn as is to sew onto the body later).

Make two of these.

 

Ears

Round 1: 7 sc in magic circle (7)

Round 2: 2 sc in each sc around (14)

Round 3 – 6: Sc in each sc around (14)

Finish off by making a slip stich in the next stitch.

Leave a yarn length of about 2 inches. Cut yarn.

Make two of these.

 

Assembly

1)      Place the arms (with brads) onto the body.

2)      Stuff the body and pin it in place onto the head.

3)      Sew them together.

4)      Sew on the legs.

5)      Sew on the ears.

6)      For the tail, sew a small white pom pom onto the back of the body.

7)      Sew a decorative button onto one of the arms.

8)      Cut a small ‘scarf’ from some fuzzy winter socks/gloves.

9)      Tie the scarf around the neck of the bunny.

10)   Add a dab of blush onto the bunny’s cheeks and you’ll have…Sayo-chan!

And since Sayo-chan has a penchant for acting odd without his other half, please make sure you repeat the entire process above to give life to Nara-chan.

As this is an original amiguruMEI pattern, kindly do not claim it as your own. You may place a link to this pattern from your site, but please do not repost it onto your page. Remember to share a picture of your own decadent versions of Sayo and Nara-chan with amiguruMEI!

Sidetrack: Ukulele + Amigurumi + MTV

Sidetrack: Ukulele + Amigurumi + MTV

Tomorrow is Malaysia Ukulele Day!

The ukulele is a miniature contraption that goes plunketty-plunk. Made popular in Hawaii, the craze for the toy-like instrument died down when the guitar rock-and-roll phenomenon arrived. In recent years however, more and more people have been giving up on the guitar in favour of the ukulele because it’s apparently a breeze to master! In Britain, certain primary schools are actually replacing the recorder with the ‘uke’, introducing it as the first instrument that children learn to play.

As a tribute to tomorrow’s event, let’s kick off with a video from YouTube on the Japanese ukulele duo, U900 – in their MTVs, they often appear as a bunny and bear amigurumi.

Wish we knew what they’re singing, but the clip is super kawaii all the same!

Turtle-chan retires

Turtle-chan retires

They say time is like the circus – always packing up and moving away.

Turtle-chan used to work in the circus, until he got left behind.

He now spends his time picking strawberries, selling them for a song in return.

amigurumei crochet green
There's only two types of people in the world...The ones that entertain and the ones that observe...

 

 

 

Luna-chan and the Little Prince

Luna-chan and the Little Prince

While the others have tried telling Luna-chan that size doesn’t matter, the big bunny knows better.

You can often find her in a melancholic state at her favourite spot in the garden, pondering about the mysteries of life.

bunny amigurumei grey crochet
Why did God make me so big?
bunny amigurumei grey crochet
I wish I was the Little Prince. At least he had the fox for a friend.