Photos

I really enjoy the challenge of trying to bring to life other peoples' ideas.  So far, I've had requests for a cat with a crochet heart on it, Superman, a ballerina, Princess Leia, a sporty cat, Where's Wally, geeky cat and various striped or t-shirted versions.  Each one takes a bit of planning and I love seeing these creations coming to fruition piece by piece.  Sometimes there's much trial and error (involving ALOT of unpicking and restitching) before I finally finish a cat, but just to see the end result brings a lot of joy to my heart and I feel like a proud doting mother.  It always tugs at the heartstrings a bit when I have to send them out to their new owners, but I'm just glad that other people get to enjoy these funny little personality-filled cats as much as I do.

Each one takes between 8-15 hours to complete (sometimes more).  I work on them in my spare time, fitting in an hour here and there so overall they end up taking around 1-2 weeks to finish.  I seem to have gotten quite addicted to making them and just wish there were many more hours in the day.  Happy crocheting everyone!

 

Prototype

I started out making my very first amineko using grey wool I had left over from failed attempts to make a scarf.  After dusting off the crochet cobwebs he slowly and surely started to take shape.  Bit by bit I pieced him together...and ended up with a dopey looking lump of a thing!  So unbelievably cute and likeable, I immediately fell head over heels for this little creature.  Alas he was kinda strange looking...short legs and arms sewn on too low.

So began my 2nd prototype.  A black cat with retro mustard and turquoise t-shirt.  This one turned out completely opposite.  So unbelievably and painfully KOOL.  That's right, kool with a K.  Just look at his expression!  No one messes with this Kool Kat.  They are brothers, always together, never too far apart from one another.  Being prototypes, they have been thrown, pulled, tugged, bitten and squashed.  They are survivors!  Amineko are very robust creatures, ready to take on the world!

After these 2, I got busy starting on more...I wanted to make hundreds, I wanted to build an amineko army!  My plan was to make a whole heap and sell them at a market stall.  I posted pics of them on facebook, got a few orders, created my facebook page and got overwhelmed with the positive response.  Alas, as soon as they were finished I'd have to send them off into the big wide world.  So my market stall idea has been put on hold as has my amineko army.

It's Only The Beginning

When I was a child my mum used to crochet us scarves for the winter, with little tassels on the ends.  I used to watch her crocheting and beg her to teach me (my dream at that tender age was to one day make my own tassels!).  I vaguely remember her always trying to put me off, but I was persistent and stubborn so one day she taught me how to chain stitch.  She had a little test for me...If I could crochet a chain then unravel it cleanly without the wool getting caught up in itself, she would teach me how to crochet!

What a task!  With great pride I would diligently chain, then try to pull it out.  Time after time it would get caught up in itself and even when I thought I'd finally gotten it, I'd proudly present the chain to my mum and she would pull the end, only for it to always get tangled and stuck.  She refused to teach me the next step in crocheting until I passed that test.

I finally taught myself how to crochet from a couple of craft books that my dad had bought for me (no YouTube back in those days!) and promptly stopped crocheting.  I never did make that scarf with tassels.

I picked up crocheting again in Year 8, making a few shoulder bags with the aim of selling them to friends.  I sold a grand total of 2 and that was the end of my crocheting career.  Throughout high school I dabbled in making the odd crochet lace square or circle but never really finished anything.

After years of being busy with full-time work and other hobbies, I started getting the urge to get back into craft again.  I stumbled across sock monkeys and tried my hand at making some using stripey socks.  I was a bit too ambitious as I had trouble getting my stripes to line up and had problems with my sewing machine's tension wheel.  I managed to finish one, but didn't enjoy the process.  Sewing just wasn't to be my thing. 

Whilst flicking through a Lincraft catalogue (loooove junk mail), I came across a book called "Hello My Name Is Amineko" by Nekoyama.  Nekoyama published her Amineko Life book in Japan in 2005 but it wasn't until 2010 that it was translated and released in English.  This book, for me, was the beginning.....