Amigurumi and more

So I promised to show more of my crafty skills, and here they are. Though first I should explain a little. It was my birthday just before Christmas, and for the day my mum gave me an amazing time. In the morning I got an hour long one-to-one crochet lesson, then the four of us went out to this beautiful place from our childhood and got to fly kites (something we always used to do as kids at this place) then we played board games and finished up watching a fantastic film called Joe's palace (directed by the amazing Steven Poliakoff)

Flying kites up on the hills.

So anyway, onto the crafting. I've been knitting for a while now, but for the longest time I couldn't get to grips with crochet. I could do the basic steps, and managed to make a scarf or two, but nothing remotely complicated. After my lesson though, I can now say I can crochet amigurumi :) 

What is amigurumi you ask? Well from what I have learned, it is a Japanese word which literally means knitted toy :) and you can make some damned cute stuff:

Amigurumi Bird and Snail

Teeny mice and my beautiful fish

Bird pattern: http://bittersweetblog.com/2007/02/19/birds-of-a-feather/
Snail pattern: http://amigurumibyknotty.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/free-snail-pattern.html
Mouse pattern: http://www.amigurumitogo.com/2014/04/little-grey-mouse.html (Youtube tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFEeRBwk5nE)
Fish pattern: http://apocalypseknits.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/fredde-fish-pattern.html

None of the patterns for these creations are mine - you'll find all the true artists at the links above. However, they allowed me to make these guys and I full on LOVE them. If you want to give it a go, I reccomend Sharon Ojala. She is the one who made the mouse, and has also done Totoro and stuff. You can also find her on Facebook, and she is lovely and commented on my first ever mouse.

Amigurumi is so much fun to make, and surprisingly easy. I want to make more, but I haven't decided what is next. I have too much work to do for now anyway. If anyone has any suggestions/requests please shout.

As a quick note on my work, I've started my next and new lab this week. I'm already excited as its back into the field of Neuroscience. Its a bit more focused on genetics than I'm used to, but its already interesting. So far I have a bunch of reading to do and some software to learn, but come Monday I start my research.
See ya next time