amigurumi

The Japanese art of crocheting or knitting stuffed yarn toys, typically creatures having oversized heads.

Noa has been mostly homeschooled, and is poised to graduate high school in this "severely" rural area. She has a self-described "yarn addiction" (does astounding lace work, Amigurumi, and other yarn art), and wants to learn how to work in glass, after graduation.

In amigurumi knitting, gauge sense is a little bit different from what it is in most other types of knitting. Since amigurumi doesn't really need to fit anybody, you're not obligated to work at any particular gauge. However, most amigurumi figures are stuffed with fiberfill. If you don't want this fluffy white stuff poking out of your creation, it's very important that you knit at a gauge that is tight for the weight of yarn that you're using.

Such a stuffed toy crocheted or knitted from yarn.

Pip Lincolne, owner of Meet Me At Mike's in Fitzroy, stocks cutesy, Japanese-style knitted or crochet toys, known as amigurumi. "When we started Mike's, we wanted to sell the things that we loved, which happened to be things with a childlike or nostalgic theme through them," she says. "We wanted to stock handmade items and discovered the Japanese craft movement a few months after.

And since most amigurumi tends to be on the small side, you will use these small diameter circular knitting techniques frequently.