I recently finished a project from the book Amigurumi Knits: Patterns for 20 Cute Mini Knits by Hansi Singh.

I bought the book because this woman’s idea of cute is wonderfully twisted. While the patterns for veggies and star fish are adorable, not everyone can see the sweet in jellyfish, earthworms, and spiders. Yes, the book includes patterns for all of these, and also for a praying mantis, a black-devil anglerfish, and (believe it or not) garlic.

But the pattern that intrigued me most was one for the Loch Ness Monster, which is the first thing I’ve made from the book.

I found out that, along with having a twisted sense of cute, the author has a slightly warped idea of what is reasonable to do when knitting. Because the pieces are eventually stuffed, she recommends using much smaller needles for your yarn to ensure a tight fabric. Maybe I overdid it, but I found some of the stitches really difficult to make with such tight knitting. I made several adjustments to her pattern (mainly for sanity’s sake) and everything worked just fine. And I loved the results so much I had to make her a little scarf from some leftover sock yarn that I love. (My husband says scarves are what all the stylish plesiosaurs are wearing…)

I think my next knitting project will be a sweater, but I’m sure other critters will be joining Nessie one of these days. Maybe I’ll make the Jackalope…