If you’re a noob in the kitchen like I am, I strongly suggest you visit Michele Chen Chock’s wonderful blog, I Heart Baking! It’s filled with the yummiest and cutest Hello Kitty baked goodies!
Her book, the decadent Hello Kitty Baking Book, is so scrumptious-looking that I might just head out to get myself some flour and thingamajigs for baking!
I’m so glad that my Hello Kitty Crochet book is paired up alongside hers in conjunction with Hello Kitty’s 40th anniversary.
It still feels like a dream…it’s been barely a week since the release of my book, Hello Kitty Crochet and the love has been steadily pouring in nonetheless!
I’m very excited for all those who have yet to receive your books, I’m sure you’ll love the 25 patterns that I’ve lovingly put together for you. Write in and tell me which is the first pattern you went for and why! I’d love to see your work and share it here on my blog 🙂
In the next few posts, I hope to share a series of exclusive Hello Kitty Crochet tips, to help you make Miss Kitty White and the rest of her pals as picture-perfect as possible!
Ready? Let’s go!
Exclusive Hello Kitty Crochet Tip #1: The ever-important head-molding exercise
…
As mentioned in the “Special Techniques” part of the book (pg 11), most of the head patterns require a good squeeze to mold them into shape.
Step 1: Crochet as normal.
Step 2: When it’s time for stuffing, simply shape and squeeze the head piece so that the front (where the face will be) has a flattened appearance.
Step 3: Stuff with polyfill fibre according to this newly-shaped shape.
Step 4: If necessary, give it a few more squeezes after you fastening off.
Squeeze……and squeeze…
Tada! There you have it! Unique Sanrio character-shaped heads! Try it and let me know what you think 🙂
P/S Next up will be all about giving Miss Kitty White a sweet and cute face! Plus, don’t forget to send in a picture of yourself and where the Hello Kitty Crochet books can be found at your local bookstores to join my exclusive amiguruMEI giveaway contest!
Ohayou! Today marks the release of my book, Hello Kitty Crochet! Woohoo!
I would like to give myself a huge pat on the back for surviving the wait…and to you too, if I could!
Please allow me to say a big “THANK YOU VERY MUCH” (本当にありがとうございました) for all your love, patience and support — I couldn’t have done it without your constant encouragement and sweet words, raring me on to continue crocheting even through the most impossible of days.
As a tribute to this very special day, I would like to announce an exclusive…
1) Go to a bookstore anywhere in the United States.
2) Snap a picture of yourself posing with the Hello Kitty Crochet books on display in-store.
3) E-mail the picture over to me at amigurumei[@]gmail[dot]com
The prize?
A surprise amiguruMEI handmade crochet doll sent to your doorstep!
Okay, so how to win?
1) Be the first three to send in a clear and pretty picture of the above. Yes, three lucky winners!
2) Be my Twitter follower @amigurumei and fellow Pinterest pinner @amigurumei or Mei Li Lee.
3) Help spread the word!
And if you don’t win…
I’ll still share your pictures on my blog and give you a nice, neat shoutout for your kind effort!
Contest deadline:
Oct 1, 2014.
Questions, questions
1. Don’t worry! Photos can be from your phone, tablet or camera. I would prefer clear, sharp pictures but if shaky hands are your thing, send them over anyway!
2. Eligible participants can be from anywhere around the world. If you can’t be in the United States for now, why not get a friend from there to snap a picture for you?
3. Availability of the book — For now, my publishers at Quirk Books only have word that the book will be available in the United States bookstores. For my United Kingdom friends, the books will arrive in-store Oct 9. Yay!
4. For fellow Hello Kitty Crochet fans outside of the United States, please bear with us as we wait for upcoming news on the availability of the book elsewhere. In the mean-time, you can still order online via the book cover link on the top right sidebar of this page. For e-books, you can try here.
Best wishes!
XOXOXO
Mei
P/S And now I leave you with a fancy-schmancy photo taken by my good friend @peyday 🙂
Are you guys excited? It’s about 15 days till the release of Hello Kitty Crochet!
I just received my advanced copies and I’m so pleased with them! I’m sure you will be too when your copy arrives!
If you still haven’t purchased a copy, you can do so by clicking on the book cover on the top right sidebar of this blog 🙂
Many have been asking me about the contents of the book. All I can say is: everybody loves a good surprise! Here you can see Chococat, My Melody, Hello Kitty, Keroppi and Badtz Maru. Just who else have made it into the book? Let me know your guesses!
I hope you like Miss Kitty White’s pattern! 🙂
I love how cute yet sturdy the book is! I had a great time working with senior designer Amanda Richmond of Quirk Books, who have been ever so accommodating with my still-developing photography skills. I think she did a fabulous job with the design!
It still feels like a dream that I have a book to my name, and one that is attached to Sanrio and Hello Kitty too!
P/S Please do let me confirm on the availability of the book in Asia, particularly in Malaysia and Singapore. If all goes well, I may just get to meet all you Hello Kitty fans at a book-signing event! Stay tuned 🙂
Before Sept 16 comes around though, how about I interest you in something else first, say, a cute little hedgehog named Mimi?
Hi!
Mimi-chan (short for Ayumi) is a baby hedgehog who loves watching the autumn leaves fall.
Her weakness? Sweet, ripe apples.
Apple!*bari, bari* (the sound of munching in Japanese)
She enjoys clambering from tree to tree (when she’s not too heavy, that is).
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.
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! 🙂
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!)
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.
Here’s Purin the custard-loving pup. Can you guess yet what other characters will make an appearance in Hello Kitty Crochet?
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
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!
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.
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!)
My favourite mug, perfect for milk tea afternoons.
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!)
And a pretty plate!
Do you love The Little Prince too? Tell me more about your obsessions!
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!
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.
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!
Here’s a closer look at what I did bring home with me.
A そらべあ (Solar Bear) pencil pouch. The weeping bears were created to help spread awareness on the effects of global warming.
I love these Cheri bento boxes!
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.
amiguruMEI 