Om-Nom

I’m a little later than I intended with this week’s blog post because apparently, it takes me longer to do things than I realize. This week’s project was to crochet an amigurumi. I began my internet search with “small and easy amigurumi for beginners” and, after several rabbit holes, found a pattern for a darling Om Nom creature from the “Cut the Rope” game, which I have actually played before, but it’s been a few years.

The actual pattern called for a more neon shade of green, which I didn’t have but I decided to improvise…something I evidently do quite often. The directions to the pattern start with “create a magic circle,” which, I had no clue how to do…the hearts I made last week started with a simple chain. So, after multiple viewings of the same you-tube video on how to make a magic circle, I was ready to start my Om Nom. However, the directions to this pattern were written slightly different than the previous pattern…I knew that “inc” mean “increase” and “dec” meant “decrease,” but I wasn’t sure how or where I was adding or dropping stitches. A few rows later, I eventually figured it out, which resulted in less-than-accurate stitching, but, as I have no intention of inviting a professional crochet-er to critique my work, I don’t actually care.

I did make some intentional changes, specifically when I was about a third of the way through making the body when I realized the pattern was for a creature a bit bigger than I intended…so I may have eliminated a few extra rows to make him shorter…and save on time. I got pretty good (well, at least not terribly slow) at the whole crochet-in-a-circle thing when it came time to stuff the body and finish my last rows, gradually decreasing the number of stitches in a row, which was a new experience for me. Incidentally, the “end” of my ball didn’t look quite as neat as the beginning of it, so the “end” is at the bottom of my creature, where it will be seen less.

On to the legs, which started with brand new magic circles. Still trying to get a hang of them and somewhat horrible at interpreting directions in short-hand, the first leg turned out a bit wonky. The second one turned out a little better and the third and fourth were nearly unison. I finally felt confident in my leg-crochet-ing abilities just in time to move on to something different. My little Om Nom has an antenna…good thing he only has one because it, too, is a bit lopsided. There are two eyes, two pupils, and four teeth, all of which are definitely not uniform either, but I think the asymmetry adds to his personality.

With all my monster pieces created, then came time for the assembly. The directions literally said “Sew the legs to the body.” That’s it. They didn’t say how. Ditto for all other body parts. So, I improvised and experimented with a couple different types of stitches…primarily because I was totally winging it and didn’t want to take the extra time to research the best method for sewing body parts together.

Now, without further ado, I present to you, my very first amigurumi, Om Nom. While it is far from perfect, I think he’s kinda cute. On a related note, I learned a new factoid the other day, which I’m stealing and sharing now; I don’t know if it’s statistically accurate or not, but that doesn’t matter because I like the notion.

Lions only succeed in a quarter of their hunting attempts which means they fail in 75% of their attempts and succeed in only 25% of them.

So, while lions may have to try four times before they succeed once, after each “failure” they don’t lay down and give up with an attitude of “I’m never going to eat again.” And if they don’t give up, why should we? Whatever the challenge.

What new thing are you going to try this week?