Mini Bird's Nest

We've all seen the Bird's Nest, right? The Beijing Olympic stadium?

But did you know they have mini bird's nest lamps all around the stadium?!?
They light up the paths that go all around that part of the Olympic Park.

I know, adorable right? I've previously discussed the fact that being mini makes things extra cute, as does having multiple things that look the same. But there's something more here, affecting our cute sensibilities. I think it has to do with the Bird's Nest being famous, and recognizable. Imagine if the Eiffel Tower had little Eiffelettes all around it. Or if Big Ben had lots of Little Bens leading up to it. Can you even imagine the cute possibilities? Why has no one else thought of this? Oh wait, the Chinese just did.

Softies on Vacation!

We (and the Animalicules) are back from vacation! Check them out visiting Ha Long Bay. We couldn't find kayaks small enough but they did get perfectly sized conical hats! Just the thing for keeping the sun off their sensitive eyes. And pretty cute too!

Merry Christmas!

This is a card some people have gotten to match their tree softies! Hope everyone out there is enjoying the holidays! Christmas was just another day for us, but tomorrow we're off to China and then Vietnam. I think I'll have internet at least some times during the trip so I might even be able to post a couple times in the next few weeks. We're all packed and I've checked the rules about knitting needles on the plane. Now just keep your fingers crossed that we don't get any blizzards or blackouts tomorrow! (Yes both of those have happened to me.)

Mini Sweater

I'm obsessed with this mini sweater and mini hanger. I made it from this Berroco pattern which you should really look at because they have a little tree covered in sweaters! Since I don't have a tree my plan is to make a bunch of these into a sweater garland. But since it took me months to get around to making just one, that may not happen for a while.

I think it's pretty obvious why this cozy little sweater is so cute: It's MINI! One of the most elementary rules of life is that anything in miniature is cute. Think of the smart car, mini erasers, toy poodles, etc. All mini, and all generally accepted to be cute. Granted, those tiny dogs can go either way, but you get the idea.

Perching Owls

These are some of the owls I made for last week's fair. The blue and pink one is sad because he didn't get adopted. But he's doing okay, thanks for asking.

Onto the business at hand: What makes these guys so cute? Well, there are many cute forces at work here. But in this case I'd like to focus on the main feature of this picture: Location Location Location! Where a critter is sitting, or in this case perching, has everything to do with its apparent cuteness. The juxtaposition of the whimsical against the realistic is what makes a photo like this pop. It might not work so well for, say, a knitted fish, but you get the idea.

Mini Craft Fair

Friday was the craft fair at work - just during lunch hour in the lobby, so a good one to try out. Here's what my setup looked like. Does it make you want to adopt animalicules? It went really well, I ended up selling most of the critters you see here. Which is why my etsy shop is almost empty now. I'm not sure I could do a real craft fair because I'd have to make so much stuff to get ready. The really interesting thing was that all but 3 of the people that bought stuff were people I already knew, mainly from my department. So it sort of seems like it wouldn't be a very sustainable business because once everyone I know has all the softies they need, that'll be it. Or maybe it means people only want to buy critters once they are already familiar with them. If it's all about brand awareness, that means I'll need a marketing department. Hmm...

Measuring Ducks

These ceramic duck measuring cups are incredibly cute, aren't they? You too can find them, at Anthropologie. I've seen them and yearned for them the past million times I've been in. But, I feel that I would need a spot worthy of displaying them and in my small kitchen, there is no proper spot. They would be so sad to be hidden away in a drawer, so in the store they must stay.

But why are they so cute? Why do they call out to me in their silent cuteness? It's partially the Property of Multiples, yes. Four ducks in a set, each one smaller than the last. But it's not only that - it's also the fact that they NEST into each other. This is called Nesting Theory - when things fit together snugly, their cuteness factor is automatically upped. It's hard to resist the nesters, but resist we must.