It all began with the idea of a hobby. You know, a hobby...that thing you do just for the joy of doing something. Its a time waster, lets face it. In all honesty, hobbies are mostly valueless and everybody you know can't understand why you do it.
Be that as it may, I went to Michael's craft store to discover a new time waster for myself. I was headed toward counted cross stitch because it was familiar, comfortable...I had waster time with that before. My sister Kathryn mocked me heavily when she saw the pattern for some useless counted cross stitch item in my hands. And due completely to her mockery and pressure I purchased instead a book entitled:
CROCHET CUTE ANIMALS
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| Adam |
Yes...I suddenly was filled with the need, the fire of desire, the raw hunger to crochet cute animals. With yarn in hand I began my first project. Now I will say that my first owl was hard for me. The wording was confusing, seemingly written in sand script or maybe Latin. I was fumbling and cursing when my mother patiently explained the basics of the pattern. Soon Mister Owl was complete, although slightly cross eyed and leaning on one foot and being affectionately called "chocolate jellybean" by Kathryn. I gave him to my sister Jen and began searching for my next project. Online there is a treasure trove of free patterns for just about every animal you can imagine.
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| Marmaduke |
And even some fungi, which was my next creation. My mushroom is a thing of beauty and I gave that to Kathryn, complete with a green grass lawn, flower and an acorn!
Maybe Shrooms aren't your thing? Well, soon after this I began to dabble in farm animals, specifically pigs. I found the pattern I wanted and with it, Charlotte was born. After Charlotte, there have been some variations in both size and color and even the addition of wings for those of you who appreciate the idea of pigs flying. I also created a penguin upon request. Marmaduke came out perfect and sits on a windowsill in the south of Florida, watching over the comings and goings of a dear friend of mine. I hear from Charlotte still and the adventures she gets embroiled in. My animals remain close to me, never losing contact no matter the distance from me and their adoptive families.
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| Charlotte The Party Pig |
Living at my parent's house for almost a month, separated from Dennis and lots and lots of yarn began to have it's effect on me.
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| Horatio |
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| Anniversary Love Pigs |
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| Ray |
The Manta Ray was so popular that first I made Wilbur (as seen here) for my step-daughter Denise and then I had to make another Ray for my father because the picture looked too cute to pass up. I created a panda bear that had such a round belly and butt that he could not sit on his own two ball feet properly but no one faulted him for that.
There came to be quite a animal family grouped on my mother's table...growing each day and decreasing each day, depending on my production and how many visitors we had. Time without Dennis flew a little easier with my hobby. And as it turns out, there were many laughs and snorts and gifts created from this time waster I took up. Some of my fondest memories are in the early stages when it was never really clear, not even to me, what I was creating. This would turn into a guessing game from my family which never resulted in an accurate guess. I also found that throwing the animal at my mocker resulted in a nice thud, an unexpected bonus. I'm still crocheting, working on pigs still in several sizes and a tree frog is next on my list. Thank you to my faithful fans and family who support my wildest projects. Maybe this will be a success story beyond my merest hobbiest dreams and my crocheted animals will take me to fame and fortune. Or a full cabinet in my mother's house of crocheted animals with the echo of the laughter they brought.
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| When pigs fly |
