Creepy Critters

Amigurumi are cute, but are usually fairly creepy looking.  Here's an adorable hedgehog pincushion:

Pattern: Waste Yarn Hedgehog
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential (now Stroll) in Black for details, Wild Fire Fibres BFL Sock from the sock club for the face, Madeline Tosh Tosh Sock in Loopy Ewe sock club for the body.

Needles: US1.5/2.5 mm, DPNs
Timeframe: October 2 - 4.
Mods: A few.  I started with the disappearing cast-on in black, CO 4 sts, Round 1: *K1, M1* around, Round 2: *K2, M1* around (12 sts), switch to brown and continue from Row 1 of pattern.

After the first set of increases (work rows 2 - 5), I made French Knot eyes, then switched to the darker color and turned my work so I was knitting on the inside, giving reverse stockinette as the outside.  I followed the directions otherwise, but didn't weave in the ends, just left them inside, and ran the final tail through the live stitches twice to close up.
Problems: None.

I used scraps of what I've already got to knit this adorable little guy.  I think he'll look better with pins in him too.  He's been sent off to a friend who should have him by now and so shouldn't be surprised by this post.

And a not-so-adorable Hedwig-esque amalgamation of patterns:

Pattern: Pocket Animals and Forest Friends (Owl and Robin)
Yarn: Jo-Ann Sensations Angel Hair for the body, Dupont Sayelle gold for the beak and feet, probably Red Heart acrylic for the eyes.

Hook: USF
Timeframe: July 2007 - September 17, 2010 with a hiatus of being in the US while I was in Japan for nearly 2 years.
Mods:  Some.  I crocheted the body as one piece instead of multiple, I crocheted the wings from the Robin pattern, and I didn't make the horns. 

Problems: None really, yarn wasn't the best though!.

For crochet and knitting, the yarn you use can have an effect on the finished product.  Knitting tends to be fairly neutral, depending on your technique, so a neutral yarn, with no inherent twist, is desired.  Crochet tends to induce at least some twist, again depending on your technique, so either a neutral yarn or a yarn with the opposite twist is desired so that you'll have a neutral outcome.  Of course, one can knit or crochet with any yarn one desires, but some yarns create better finished products for some techniques.  The yarn that I used for Hedwig had an inherent twist the same way as the twist I induced, so the wings and tail curl in a not-so-good manner.  A better crocheter may have re-jiggered the second wing to knit backwards so the twist remained the same, but I did not, so have one wing waving hello and one wing beckoning you closer.

Ah well, such is life!