I Wish Totoro was MY Neighbor

I joined the Miyazaki fans of the crochet nation and made an amigurumi Totoro and his little friend from the film My Neighbor Totoro. Everyone and their mom seem to have crocheted a Totoro as there's a million posted pictures online.  A generous soul posted a free crochet pattern  but I decided I wanted to make up my own pattern.   For the most part I really like the way he turned out.  I love that I got the ears to narrow at the base yet still stand up but I'm disappointed that the nose isn't quite right.  I actually started him back in Portland where I finished his body, ears and face. He traveled to CA where I didn't do any work on him and then back up to Seattle where a few months after starting I FINALLY picked him up yesterday and finished him.  I even whipped up his little friend from the movie that perches on his head in the Studio Ghibli logo.  I would also like to make the little blue guy and some of Totoro's accessories like the leaf he puts on his head, his whistle or the umbrella.  All tasks for my never ending list of things I want to do. With all that said here is my Totoro contribution to the infinite abyss that is the internet.

Hooray! For another finished project!

Funny Money

Felt is an easy medium to work with when children are running around therefore I made several felt projects when in CA with Jenny. You just need to keep track of your needles and scissors so that little hands can't find them. I've already introduced you to Nohko the ninja, my next felt project was a wallet from the book "Big Little Felt Universe" that I reviewed in a previous post. Cypher said she wanted a wallet and the book had a pattern so I lovingly obliged.

The wallet itself was very straight forward and whipped up rather fast. The day I made the wallet Cypher woke up and told me she dreamed of pink butterflies and that she could pet their wings without hurting them. This meant I had to pass on the cherry embellishments the book suggests and replace them with pink butterflies (that she can pet :) Below is the larger butterfly on the front of the wallet.

My favorite part to make wasn't the wallet itself but my whim of a 4 dollar bill. The grumpster on the front was just my doodling with a back stitch. A funny guy on funny money. I didn't bother making coins, I just gave her some real ones.

Felt is so much fun to experiment with, it's inexpensive, colorful and can test your creativity or let you lay back and enjoy the ride of an easy project.