Little Totoro

Here we have a little Totoro amigurumi doll, as requested by my friend Lindsay. He was pretty simple to make, because most of him is just the semi-round body. The arms and tail were made based on other amigurumi limb patterns, and the ears were made using one decrease per row.

This is another custom pattern. I've been making up so many of my own patterns lately, that I think I'm going to type them up nice and sell them on Etsy, as well as my original Lulu store. I just need to get organized with that. A goal for the week, I think. XD

Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street

Sesame Street was, and still is, a huge forming influence for millions of children. I know it was for me. In fact, most of what I remember from my childhood involved Sesame Street. I’d watch it whenever it was on, I had the read-a-long books, and I had Sesame Street toys. To this day, Christmas on Sesame Street is one of my two most favourite Christmas movies¹ and the Sesame Street float is my favourite float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Hell, if I walk past a TV and Sesame Street is on, I’ll watch it. I’m 21 years old.

Street Gang is an in-depth look into how Sesame Street came into being. Author Michael Davis goes all the way back, taking a look at the start of children’s television, the creation of The Muppets, and the biographies of all of Sesame Street’s founders and performers. In fact, you have to read more than half the book until Sesame Street actually starts filming, but the amount of talent and determination that is documented in that first half of the book is extremely fascinating.

Of course, once the book gets into the filming and airing of the show, you get to learn more about all the characters that you adored as a child. Street Gang tells the story of all the separate Sesame Street Muppet characters and how they came to be, and it gives a short biography of all of the human characters. It’s truly inspiring to see how some of the cast and crew became a part of the show.

I have to warn you though, folks. There are very sad parts in this book. The prologue alone can cause tears; it’s a partial account of Jim Henson’s memorial service. The rest of the account, naturally, shows up towards the end of the book for more tragedy.

As sad as that scene is, I was really too young to remember Henson’s death, but that didn’t stop this book from finding something very sad that I do remember—the death of Mr. Hooper. Although Will Lee died in 1982, and the subsequent episode concerning Mr. Hooper’s death originally aired in 1983, I can still remember watching that episode in later years, especially the scene outlined in the book -- Gordon explaining Mr. Hooper’s death to Big Bird. I mean, I could hear Big Bird’s lines as I read them on the page.

But enough about that. Street Gang is a wonderful celebration of everyone’s favourite children’s show and it’s a book that I definitely recommend to anyone with fond memories of Sesame Street.

Cthulhu

You know I had to make him sometime.

I found a pattern for him by accident over at Instructables while looking for craft ideas that involve pipe cleaners. Even though I haven't read much Lovecraft (or really read any at all- I have the audiobook of The Call of Cthulhu), I love the imagery, and making a creature with both tentacles and wings would be an interesting challenge.

He's made with some green yarn that was salvaged from an old Slytherin scarf of mine, some pipe cleaners, and a couple of those gold pin things that you use for joints on paper puppets as a child. I wish I knew what they were called. XD

Shadow Heartless

Anyone who has ever even heard of Kingdom Hearts will recognize this guy. The Shadow is the most common form of Heartless in the game, and it's also one of the most fun little villains to watch scuttle around.

Because I had a huge ball of black yarn left after making 's Kamina pillow, I figured I'd go with my geeky amigurumi ideas and start making some awesome critters.

I did not use an outside pattern for him. I wrote my own as I went along, so this guy is one of a kind.

I do not know if I will ever make any other heartless creatures, but it's always a possibility.

Green Octopus

This little guy is a simple amigurumi octopus made from a bright green Red Heart yarn. The pattern for him was a free Lion Brand yarn pattern. The only change was the yarn used and that I made his eyes X's instead of safety eyes.

Corset Arm Warmers

Oh, look at my poor unfortunate man arm strapped into that thing. Unfortunately, I do not have any models here because the Gabbers leaves whenever I have a chance to take pictures. College friends should be aware that I may ask them to wear things for pictures to put up.

Here's a look what they look like laced and unlaced off of a person.




These were made following an easy knitting pattern from Punk Knits by Share Ross. The ribbing was simple, and it was a good introduction to intentional dropped stitches.

The Bermudez Triangle

To be honest, I only really picked up Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson because it had been banned from some schools for homosexual themes. Banning a book from school always makes me want to read it, and homosexual themes is just icing on the cake.

I didn’t really expect to like it, though. I had skimmed through the first couple of pages of Suite Scarlet and found I didn’t care for Maureen’s writing style, even though I regularly read her blog and watch her on BlogTV when I can. She doesn’t write like she talks, which is what I’m used to for young adult literature, but I did enjoy Bermudez Triangle.

Bermudez Triangle is about three girls, BFFs, and the experiences they have during their senior year. Nina Bermudez spends her first summer away from her two best friends at a student leadership program across the country, where she hones her Student Council skills and picks up a hippy boyfriend. Meanwhile, Mel and Avery start their summer jobs and fall desperately in summer teen lesbian love.

And then everything, of course, falls apart. They have to deal with secrets and betrayal and new friends coming into the triangle. Some days are good, some are awful, and many of them seem to be an odd mixture of those two states.

You know. Like regular high school.

There’s nothing spectacularly adventurous or out of the ordinary in this book, just high school drama, which doesn’t put it on any of my Top Ten lists, but it was really good. It was well written with great characters that all have believable dialogue, which is something that I look for in young adult books. I thought she handled Mel’s crushes and falling in love and coming out in a realistic way (it wasn’t melodramatic or over exaggerated) and I thought that, overall, it was a good story about friendship.

I would recommend this book mainly to teenage girls because I think that they can relate the most, but because I am neither a teenager nor a girl, it can definitely be a book for everyone.