Crochet. Amigurumi Style.

I'm improving my crochet skills over here and I think I'm getting addicted to the craft.  I've got a long list of projects I want to try and once I finish one I start scheming what to crochet next!  Here's what I completed a couple of days ago.

It's a belated graduation gift for my nextdoor neighbor.  Do you like how I posed him in front of our collection of Peanuts paperbacks?  Very scholarly, indeed.  Actually, my Dad saw these photos posted on my Facebook page and thought I had made a penguin.  Really?  The wise old penguin, eh?  Either way, it's cute and here's the link for this Amigurumi Graduation Owl from Lion Brand Yarn.

I also finished this little guy and gave him to my step dad for Father's Day (along with a Starbuck's gift card, of course). 

It's the first project I've attempted from the book that enticed me into learning more about this craft of hooks and yarn and intimidating pattern directions - Ana Paula Rimoli's Amigurumi World:  Seriously Cute Crochet.  The pattern in the book is for a mug of cafe con leche but I altered mine a bit because I didn't want to go out and buy a light brown yarn when I already had a perfectly tea-colored dark brown yarn.  So, a mug of hot tea it is.  Until I gave it away as a father's day gift, at which point it became a mug of coffee.  It's a very versatile specimen.

Here's another mug shot to give you a better representation of its actual size - which greatly affects the cuteness factor: