Laohu Softie

The last time I blogged here was 6 months and 3 days ago. I started knitting this softie probably 1 year ago. I finally finished the softie and am finally posting again! This is a momentous occasion.


For those of you that don't know, this is my niece Pepa (she's really into drool right now). Pepa was born in the year of the tiger (this year) so as soon as I knew she had come into existence, I knew I had to make her a tiger. She did seem to enjoy it, and so did her parents, which is really the point, right? They named it Laohu (Tiger) and whisked it off to San Francisco with them. Bon voyage, Laohu!

Wordplay

Sometimes inspiration strikes in mundane words and cuteness is born. Here are two examples:
PANda

uniCORN holders

The interesting thing here is that the panda pan is intrinsically cute - no matter what you call it, that skillet is adorable! But the uni-corn holders are just platic unicorns until you know what they're called - the cuteness is largely in the name. Do you have any other examples of cuteness born from a play on words?? Leave them in the comments!

Cute Olympics

The Olympics aren't generally known for their cuteness (Beijing was disappointing in this department), but this year the mascots are adorable! They are designed by Meomi whose desktops I've been using for years. They are masters of cute at this design firm. Check out the Vancouver Mascots Web site - the recycling game is actually pretty hard!

I bet you didn't know sports could be so cute. Well, leave it to the softie artists to make anything cute. Schmancy organized a Softie Olympic Challenge and these skiing moon buns are some of the cutest athletes that came out of it. I just wish the real athletes were that cute.

Nicaragua

A couple weeks ago we went to Nicaragua for my friend Kate's wedding! We had a great time and visited a bunch of places. In general the Nica aesthetic does not place a lot of importance on cute, which is what I expected. However, I did come across a few cute things in my travels.

This limbless turtle is actually a light! Along with all its legless, headless turtle buddies, it sits around the edge of this fountain in a public park. Presumably at night it shines light on the pool, but this was a daytime sighting. This example shows that Nicaraguans do in fact have an understanding of cute - instead of just using a regular light, they made it look like a turtle - nice work.

I found these cute little critters in a museum of ancient stuff in Granada. What's really cool about this is that they're so old - evidence that even the native Central Americans loved cute stuff!


Lastly - a cute hammock tree! You may know that Nicaragua has a huge hammock industry - they are a people with a love of lounging, which could be why I got along so well there. Adult-sized hammocks are sold all over the place, but this store really knew how to do cute - mini hammocks, many of them, and they're hanging in a tree! Maximum cuteness right there!

In conclusion, though cuteness may not be an integral part of Nica culture, don't forget that you can find at least some cute stuff wherever you go! So if you have cute things you've come across in your world travels, feel free to share them with us!

Mini Sweaters

In December 2008 I made a mini sweater. It was loved by all. So in December 2009 I made a whole slew of them! Mini and multiple, they make great Christmas tree ornaments, which make great gifts. In December 2010 I will either have to fill a closet with mini sweaters, or maybe make something that can wear them...

Mini Gingerbread Houses

Every year around Christmas time I think about making a gingerbread house. Once in high school I made one with a friend but we put it on display in the dorm and people ate it. So I've never quite worked up to making another whole house. Then I saw these mini mug houses on Not Martha. My friend Sarah was coming over and I knew we had to make them. Ours were not quite as cute (or as photogenic) as the originals, but they are still pretty good! Edible, mini, and multiple, when you look at the whole neighborhood!

Giant Ornaments

These don't exactly exude cuteness - also I took the pictures with my phone, in the rain - but the attraction here obviously lies in the fact that they are GIANT! You see, giant Christmas ornaments make everything else around them look mini. And we all know that mini things are super-cute! So next time you are walking by Radio City Music Hall in New York, and it's Christamstime, keep an eye out for these giant ornaments and lights, as well as the giant nutcrackers that I was too wet to take a picture of.