New amigurumi pattern: Mimi-chan the hedgehog

New amigurumi pattern: Mimi-chan the hedgehog

Hello! I’m sure everyone’s really excited about the release of Hello Kitty Crochet.

Before Sept 16 comes around though, how about I interest you in something else first, say, a cute little hedgehog named Mimi?

Hedgehog amigurumi
Hi!

Mimi-chan (short for Ayumi) is a baby hedgehog who loves watching the autumn leaves fall.

Her weakness? Sweet, ripe apples.

Hedgehog amigurumi
Apple!
Hedgehog amigurumi
*bari, bari* (the sound of munching in Japanese)

She enjoys clambering from tree to tree (when she’s not too heavy, that is).

Hedgehog amigurumi
Help!

No one has yet dared to tell her this: that her dreams of growing up to become a bushy-tailed squirrel is just that — a dream.

Hedgehog amigurumi
Ja ne! (See you!)

P/S

I had the pleasure of working with Craft Passion again to design this lovely hedgehog amigurumi pattern. (By the way, have you checked out Craft Passion’s hedgehog coin purse pattern? Totally adorable!)

The pattern is a fantabulous way to use up any fuzzy yarn that you have at home. Since you will be surface-crocheting directly onto the body piece that already has all the single crochets laid out for you, you should be able to see where you’re going 🙂

Feel free to give Mimi-chan a splash of colour! And when you do, send me a picture! 🙂

To make your own Mimi-chan, head on over to the fabulous Craft Passion for the FREE amigurumi pattern!

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Want to review Hello Kitty Crochet?

Want to review Hello Kitty Crochet?

It’s just a little over a month before our Hello Kitty Crochet book is released and we’re super-excited!

Have you pre-ordered your copy yet? Fret not, you can simply head over to these convenient sites below. (We’re still waiting patiently for our advance book copy — otherwise we’d share a closer look!)

Hello Kitty by amiguruMEI

WHERE TO PRE-ORDER HELLO KITTY CROCHET

Hello Kitty Crochet has the release date of Sept 16, 2014. Before then, you can just click on the book cover, which I’ve placed on the top right of my blog’s sidebar to order away!

WANT TO REVIEW A COPY?

If you’re an amigurumi fan and would love to review Hello Kitty Crochet on your blog, website and magazine, please do speak to Eric Smith, the Marketing & Social Media Manager at Quirk Books (eric@quirkbooks.com). Or you can drop me a line and I’ll make sure the message gets through to the fun team at Quirk 🙂

BEHIND THE SCENES

Here’s a sneak peek at what we did while working on the book. We bought a couple of Japanese Hello Kitty reads to help with the designing of the Sanrio bunch.

Hello Kitty books

Hello Kitty by amiguruMEI

Purin by amiguruMEI

Here’s Purin the custard-loving pup. Can you guess yet what other characters will make an appearance in Hello Kitty Crochet?

XOXO

Pola and Tux in Simply Crochet Issue 20

Pola and Tux in Simply Crochet Issue 20

A few months back, amiguruMEI was asked to design a special amigurumi pair for Simply Crochet Issue 20’s summer booklet.

We came up with Pola and Tux, the winter pals who just can’t get enough of the sun. Don’t you just love their sunburnt cheeks?

polar bear and penguin amigurumi
Hola!
polar bear and penguin amigurumi
I…need…more…sunblock…

 

polar bear and penguin amigurumi
You dive first!

I haven’t gotten my copy yet, but the duo made their debut in the inside back cover of Simply Crochet Issue 19. Woohoo!

polar bear and penguin amigurumi

Have you made your own Pola and Tux? Do share your amigurumi pair with us!

XOXO

amiguruMEI in Chinese Daily Nanyang

amiguruMEI in Chinese Daily Nanyang

A couple of months ago, I was featured in a local Chinese daily, Nanyang Siang Pau. It was such an honour to be interviewed by senior writer Bee Lay (who shares the same name as I do, only spelled and pronounced in a different Chinese dialect).

I was in haphazard mode when the interview was done – I had only slept for a couple of hours the night before after going on a one-day trip to an indigenous settlement about four hours away from home, for work. But the photographer was superb!

I love the picture on the cover of the features section!I

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I can’t read a word of Chinese (but I can make out some Japanese kanji!) so I got my good friend Samantha Lee to read it out aloud for me 🙂 If her name sounds familiar, well, she’s appeared in tons of international media! Check out her blog here. Her instagram @leesamantha is fantabulous!

XOXO

 

Obsessions Part 3: Le Petit Prince

Obsessions Part 3: Le Petit Prince

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, ever since I first heard the audio book back when I was still in high school.

And so my third obsession can only be about the little boy from asteroid B-612, and his adventures with drunkards, arrogant kings, a repentant rose and tame-able fox.

The Little Prince

I have a special corner on my table where I display all my favourite Le Petit Prince-themed stuff. (I got bunny Moco to model for the photos!)

The Little Prince

My favourite mug, perfect for milk tea afternoons.

The Little Prince

I have had many version of The Little Prince book. This one is super-heavy (a Christmas gift from my sister) and jam-packed with a host of other classics. The notebook is from Korea, by my friend and super-photographer Cheem of Snapshack Studios (we will be seeing some lovely amiguruMEI shoots from him soon!)

The Little Prince

And a pretty plate!

Do you love The Little Prince too? Tell me more about your obsessions!

XOXO

 

Obsessions Part 2: Shinzi Katoh

Obsessions Part 2: Shinzi Katoh

If you’ve heard of Shinzi Katoh, you probably share the same obsession that I have for the wonderful Japanese artist and his super-whimsical illustrated stuff!

Shinzi Katoh stuff

I first came across the zakka products while on vacation in Taipei, Taiwan over the New Year’s in 2013. The nostalgic Yongkang Street was peppered with zakka shops and what did I find but a shop named Zakka Club, which was filled to the brim with Shinzi Katoh goods?

I spent a fortune buying bags, decorative tapes, a mug, a 4-in-1 bento box set, notebooks — basically the whole works, to start my own collection at home.

Here’s a glimpse of what the shop looks like.

Zakka Club in Taipei Zakka Club in Taipei

The one thing I regretted? Not bringing home any one of the Shinzi Katoh bunny/piggy/frog softies with me! See how cute they were!

Zakka Club in Taipei

Here’s a closer look at what I did bring home with me.

Shinzi Katoh stuff

A そらべあ (Solar Bear) pencil pouch. The weeping bears were created to help spread awareness on the effects of global warming.

Shinzi Katoh stuff

I love these Cheri bento boxes!

Shinzi Katoh stuff

This is a close-up of one of the two bags I bought. I take this bag with me to my Japanese lessons, which I have been taking for over two years now. French + Japanese stuff always makes me smile.

Zakkaclub5

Isn’t this bag sweet?

I hope I can visit Taipei again soon and simply live on Yongkang Street. Zakka lovers will love it there. I learned all about the town’s zakka scene from this article.

懐かしいな!

Yongkangstreet

Alpengarden

Obsessions Part 1: The Moomins!

Obsessions Part 1: The Moomins!

Happy sweet Sunday!

Today, we’re taking a break from it all and I would love to share a series of posts on my “obsessions”.

(This was something that I had planned to share a while ago, but never got the chance to what with so many things happening at once 🙂

So do bear with me as I present you Obsession #1: The Moomins!

Moomin amigurumi by amiguruMEI

I’ve had an eye out for The Moomins ever since I caught a few episodes of the cartoon on TV many years ago. But it was not until I visited Sweden in 2012 that I went full-blown Moomin-crazy! (alas, the obsession only hit me when I returned home so I did not make one single Moomin purchase in all the Moomin-packed souvenir shops in Stockholm!)

So slowly but surely, I’m hoping that my collection of Moomin stuff will grow. I’ve since bought a couple of Moomin T-shirts off the racks of generous Uniqlo 🙂

I hope to one day visit the Moomin Café in Tokyo, Japan! Read more about the fabulous place here 🙂

By the way, have you tried making Little My from our amiguruMEI Little My amigurumi pattern? Share a photo if you have!

XOXO

Moomin amigurumi by amiguruMEI

Moomin amigurumi by amiguruMEI

Moomin amigurumi by amiguruMEI