Mei Mei a Chinese Kokeshi Doll

I'm not sure if it's appropriate for me to say Mei Mei is a Chinese Kokeshi doll. There must be a different word in Chinese that's equivalent to the kokeshi doll, but I don't know it, so go with me here.


I just think her hair style with the long strands in the front and the bun in back looks Chinese. At least that's the way I remember them from Bruce Lee movies. No negative connotations here because I am a big martial arts action fan. I love Jet Li.


Getting back to Mei Mei... She was created because I had a request for a Ni Hao Kailan doll. Do you know her? She has her own cartoon. In fact, here is a picture of the finished doll.

Yes, she is wearing headphones. No she doesn't wear them in the cartoon. That's just the way my friend wanted it.

Getting back to Mei Mei. After making Ni Hao Kailan's hair, I decided to try it out on my little kokeshis and it worked out great. So I wrote up a new pattern for it and it's available in my Etsy shop.

Check it out!

Who is Mugsy?

The first time we saw Mugsy, he was a mess. He's a stray black cat that lives in our neighborhood. Part of his ear looks like it was bit off. He was thin and scraggly, so his silhouette looked like a Halloween cat. Still, you can see that he was muscular. He was a scary looking cat. We thought he was terrorising another little stray cat outside, so we gave him the gangster name, "Mugsy".

We'll as time went on, we softened up around Mugsy and he started to grow on us. As it turns out, he is a very gentle guy around us and our other stray, although it seemed like he was getting into cat fights somewhere else in the neighborhood. He'd show up now and then with more battle scars.

So now, wheneever I make a black cat, I think of Mugsy. I even named my new pattern after him. Amigurumi Mugsy is about 5 1/2 inches tall and 4 inches wide. He's also fun to make, and fun to look at.

Little Lion Doll amigurumi pattern

I started to dress my amigurumi kokeshi dolls in animal costumes. I've made frogs, bunnies, cats, dogs, pigs, lambs, etc, but the most popular one is this little lion. So I wrote up a pattern for it. I've made it in many zany colors too. The last one was black with a hot pink mane. They are fun to make and don't take much yarn. The pattern is in my Etsy shop at http://www.mutts.etsy.com/.

NEW PATTERN - Chibi Amigurumi Kokeshi Doll

I've been making amigurumi kokeshi dolls for a few years now and people have been asking me to write up a crochet pattern for them. So I started out with the most popular one, which is this little girl with the two hair buns. She really looks more like a Chinese girl to me.

The pattern is called "Chibi" Kokeshi Doll. “Chibi” means small in Japanese but this little Chibi Kokeshi doll is not short on being cute. Kokeshi dolls are traditionally made out of wood with simple lines which makes them ideal for making into amigurumi.

It's on sale now at my Etsy shop or in my Ravelry pattern shop. If you are thinking about getting it, get it now before the price goes up in August.

Enjoy!

GRAND OPENING OF NEW SHOP!

Announcing, the grand opening of Amigurumi Friends Studio Shop on Etsy!  I'll be listing my finished works in this shop.  My old shop will continue to sell amigurumi patterns.

I've also got a new look. 

The girl with the cat is sooooo me and was designed by Christine of doodledesignstudios on Etsy.  The pink blooms clipart was designed by TracyAnnDigitalArt also on Etsy.  I love her work.

I've been spending the last week on the computer leaning CorelDraw X5 and Corel Paint so that I can design and maintain my own logos, business cards and webart.  It's been awhile since I've done any computer graphics, so I'm trying to get up to speed on what's current.

I've still got my labels for my plushies to be made and then work on a new interior design for my craft show booth.  So much to do, and so little time before the holidays.

Back to work...

Piglets!

Whenever I sell at craft shows, people always used to ask me "Do you have any pigs?". Pigs? Why pigs? I didn't know pigs were so popular. Oh and not just any pig. They wanted pink pigs. So finally I buckled under the pressure and created this piglet. He's round and plumpy. He's got stumpy feet, perky ears and a twirly tail. Okay, I give up, I guess he's cute.

I just finished writing up the pattern for this little piggy, so people can make them to their hearts desire. And of course, I will too, in many zany colors and combinations, because you just can't have too many of them...I guess.

Time for a new look!

The production in my studio has come to a standstill. It seems like I'm slacking off. I mean it's summer time and the weather is getting hot and making people lazy.

Actually, I'm busy at my computer. I finally have a chance to rethink my brand. It's time to redo and renew. It's time for a new logo, a new banner, heck, a new Etsy shop. My current shop, mutts.etsy.com will continue to have my amigurumi patterns. My new shop, amigurumifriends.etsy.com will have products from my studio. So for those of you who can't visit me at local craft shows, visit me online at my shop where I'll list my one of a kind amigurumi kokeshis and critters, sock dolls, plushies, and whatever else I start making.

Not yet though...I'm still in the design process. Then construction will begin and then, hopefully I'll have everything up and running before the summer's out...

Harajuku Amigurumi Dolls

I'm starting to experiment with different hairstyles for my amigurumi dolls.  This is challenging since I can't even style my own hair, but hey, you have to start somewhere.  I like the hairstyles of cute anime characters so I took some inspiration from there.  Those gals have some freaky cuts and wild colors, so yes, this is going to be fun.  It's a work in progress, but here are some of the "gals" so far.