So, I haven't been posting about it a lot on my social media, but I have to admit that I've found a new crocheting addiction. As if my hundreds of dollars worth of yarn and thousands of finished projects and obsession with pattern writing aren't enough, I managed to get myself into another crochet hole I never thought I'd fall down. And that hole is amigurumi.
Now, if any of you guys have ever seen amigurumi I'm sure you've fallen in love right away. You can find anything from crocheted baby dolls to food with faces and I'll be honest, even a crocheted penis with generous pubic hair has appeared in my feed. Not that it's particularly my kind of crochet, but the point is that if you want to make anything there's a 99% chance you can find it somewhere. Part of the beauty of the internet, right?
I've always had a relatively love-hate relationship with those adorable stuffed animals. Anyone that knows me knows I'm the queen of giving everything names and personalities whether it be a stuffed animal or a plant or even a rock that I 'vibed with'. But the one time I made a baby lovey with an amigurumi animal on it I swear it felt like the most gruesome work I'd ever done. After that, I was relatively scared of ever doing it again. And the tiny animals as big as your thumb that seem to pop up everywhere didn't help the idea of them being a fun and easy project.
As many of you know I've found myself stuck in Arizona right now, across the country from my home. I've been here for three weeks and it looks like I'll be here at least three more, and there's never been a better time to take on new projects. So, I started an amigurumi project. And, well, that first one was pretty angering. Between the challenge of taking on something new and my perfectionistic tendencies I felt like I was doing every step of it wrong. And honestly, it wasn't the perfect dog. I'm mostly waiting for its arms and legs to fall off at this point.
Well, that was the first step to a big hole I've fallen down. My mother and I are single-handedly creating our own personal zoo in this house and I'm not even complaining about it. Turns out that developing little personalities for a variety of stuffed animals is not only a fun way to spend my time, but super fulfilling too. As dumb as it sounds it's like I'm making my own little friends even though I feel quite lonely these days. And even better, a myriad of them are gifts for my friends!
Even more fun, I've found a way to put a holistic spin on the stuffed animals I make as gifts! I'm someone who's always loved the talk around energies and astrology and all of that stuff, so for each stuffed animal I'm giving to friends I've been charging them with different intentions. Confidence for my friends with self-esteem issues, joy for my friends with depression, etc. And whether or not you believe in all that, and whether or not it's effective, seems a lot less relative than the intention and thought behind it.
So, I know I didn't quite get into anything deep or philosophical this week, but this is just how I felt. I wanted to share the joy that I've gotten out of all this. The fulfillment of still being able to show my friends love by crocheting them things for when quarantine ends. The intention of feeling like I can help them find joy and happiness. And the fun process of developing personalities for every little stuffed animal I make. So maybe there wasn't a huge takeaway or lesson in this blog post, but my point is that you should try amigurumi as a new crochet challenge during this tough time. Maybe it'll bring you a little bit of joy to see how cute they are when they work up. And even more than that, maybe you can make your friends and family happy, knowing you'll have something sweet to give them when all of this is over.
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