i have not been very good about blogging lately - i actually have a backlog of potential blog entries. the desire to actually post them seems to have left me. i'll try to be better. here are a couple of cool things i've found online lately:

jimbo's front porch - this fella makes really lovely crochet hooks to earn money to renovate his old family property. nice hooks.


i also like these:
by hisano takei



by john murphy


by jenny almen gennerfeldt

my new favorite blog!

check out resurrection fern - she makes sweaters for snails for pete's sake! it's fabulous. plus, her mushroom pictures are excellent. i wonder where she's located. i have mushroom envy.

sooo cute! and the baby's not bad either

sweet little cyrus seems to be enjoying the cuttlefish i made. the pattern was designed by jessica polka at wunderkammer.

new from wunderkammer

from jessica polka's amazing wunderkammer, a taxonomy of crochet stitches and forms.

wunderkammer

i just stumbled across this wonderful blog: wunderkammer is a reconsideration of a "cabinet of curiosities:" crocheted specimens from early natural history collections and embroidered fictive science textbook illustrations

some recent book purchases

radish rattle

i got the idea for a radish rattle after learning to crochet in the round from my japanese amigurumi crochet books. a friend found me this egg-shaped rattle and i crocheted a little radish suit around it. i love the alliteration: radish rattle radish rattle radish rattle. i sent this one off to wee isabel today.

amigurumi

i switched from knitting to crochet a little over a year ago, and i've found it so much easier. this is my first project from last winter:

i gave the dog to my friend reto. here's the pup in action at reto's house:

then i made another one, using the same pattern, but thinner yarn and a smaller hook. the result - a 2/3 size version, and possibly even cuter (the real matching puppy doesn't hurt either):

here's my book of choice. i've collected a bunch of others as well, which i'll add to the blog eventually. i've gotten them on ebay or from friends who took trips to japan (thanks rayme!). the text is all in japanese, but there are clear charts that surprisingly simple. in fact, i still don't know how to read an american style crochet pattern, only these.