Did I tell you my friend Dana got a job at Twitter? I know! I am so much cooler than you now, if only by association. The next time I see the fail whale, I’ll be sure to complain to her personally for falling down on the job. Dana is shipping off to San Francisco soon, leaving Indiana and all our cornfields behind for street trolleys and outrageous housing costs. So, I made her a stuffed, crocheted Twitter birdie so she’ll remember me once she’s made all her cool new friends. (She already met Will.i.am during her first week!)

Dolls like these are called “amigurumi,” a Japanese term that combines the words for “crocheted” and “stuffed doll.” I used the Lion Yarn pattern for an amigurumi chick (requires free registration to view). I crocheted the body with a strand of teal yarn and a strand of blue eyelash yarn worked together, which gave it the fuzzy appearance. The eyes are black buttons, and I made the feet with yellow pipe cleaners so the bird can perch [...]

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My friend Jen was getting married and I wanted to give her something handmade. This was solely because handmade gifts are more meaningful because the maker had to pour time and work into the product and not at all because I’d already spent money for a plane ticket and hotel reservations in DC and wanted to give her something inexpensive.

Thus, Mr. and Mrs. Butterstick were born! And betrothed! And hitched! Damn, that was fast. Butterstick is the nickname of the panda that was born at the Washington D.C. zoo a few years ago. Jen watched the panda-cam obsessively after the little bear was born, so a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Butterstick presenting her with a butter plate seemed perfect.

I started Mrs. B two weeks before the wedding and was halfway done with her body when I realized, “Crap, this bear looked a lot smaller in the photo.” For the next two weeks I crocheted as fast as I could, ran out of black yarn and had to go on crafting expeditions for black felt [...]

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