Crochet has run amuck...and I like it...

I have a love/hate relationship with crochet.

I love it because it (at least for me) works up quicker then knitting and I like the fabric the stitches produce. I prefer it for throws as its looser and has a cozy feel that always reminds me of home.

On the other hand...whoever thought up the crochet pattern for the toilet roll cover should be shot. Add to that crocheted kleenex box covers, doilies and lumpy trim meant to decorate the collars of your dresses and let's just say that crochet has a propensity to be....well....tacky.

(I'm currently ducking and covering, hoping to avoid all the dirty looks intended to kill from crocheters of the aforementioned items...sorry guys....)

So today I realized that I have absolutely no ability to still function intelligently when I'm not working because I thought I had to go back to work on tuesday. When in fact, I'm not required to report to cubicle hell until wednesday. (Yes, calendars were invented for a reason and you would think after all these years I would be able to follow one. Apparently if I'm not producing detailed drawings for transmission parts and creating presentations for meetings that require me to obsessively date stamp everything, I have no concern for such petty things as what day of the month it is.)

In honor of finding the extra day of vacation (that was there but I seemed to forget about), I parked my butt on the sofa, pulled the dog up next to me and decided to surf around on etsy. If you aren't familiar with etsy, you need to be. Its the crafting community at its best. Everything on there is handmade and its like attending a million art/craft group meetings in one sitting. (And if you are into buttons, check out my sister-in-law's store, Barrel of Monkeys. She's the button queen.)

Tonight etsy introduced me to something new: amigurumi. Amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small animals and anthropomorphic creatures. There are tons of patterns on etsy for these little buggers and I fell victim to this one:

I'm stalking my email, waiting for the pattern to show up. (I love love love that the pattern gets emailed instead of snail mailed. Its cheaper for one thing and there is nothing like instant gratification.)

Is this little guy not hysterical? I goofed around looking at patterns for about 45 minutes and I giggle snorted the entire time. Here, have a look at what people are up to with these things:

goldfish
life size pug dog
mummy
thin crust pizza
cannoli
captain jack sparrow
wrestler
turkey drumstick
harry potter characters
south park characters
yoda
tea set (yes, an entire tea set)
pancakes
banana split
appetizers

And there's way more then that on there. I think the food is really neat. What would I do with it if I made it? Who cares?! Its cool! How did I not know about these???

Oh! Oh! My pattern has arrived! Woo-hoo! Excuse me while I go obsessively read it and root around in my yarn stash....