I only like hippopotamuses, and hippopotamuses like me too~

....Is that a caterpillar?

Telus's advertisements can be spotted a mile away.  Usually it features an adorable baby animal on a plain white background.  A while back, they ran a hippopotamus ad with a super catchy song -- "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas".  I think there was also a lot of controversy afterwards for how the animal was treated.  At any rate, I'm reminded of that commercial every time I see a hippopotamus.

I want to play in a mud hole... 

This is another of Tamie Snow's patterns.  (See this for more information.)  I modified her feet pattern to make smaller arms.

Materials:
Bernat Softee Chunky yarn in Grey Heather
3.5 mm hook
6 mm safety eyes
Black thread + needle
Polyfill

Corn on the cob

Ever since I can remember, we have had a garden in the backyard in the summer.  Usually we grew squash, tomatoes and beans.  This year, we tried growing corn for the first time.  It was exciting!  The corn grew about knee high before starting to flower.  In the end, each plant only grew less than 5 feet high and put out 2-3 cobs.  The cobs aren't very big but they are delicious.  

Probably the hardest part of growing corn is figuring out when to pick it.  Despite websites suggesting to wait until all the silk is dry and withdrawn into the cob, I ended up relying on slugs!  Usually when the silk has been gnawed off, it's ready to pick.  I haven't tried opening up the husk to see if it's ready before picking yet, mostly because I'm not convinced rubber bands will keep pests out if the corn isn't ripe.  These days, I'm more worried about the corn being overripe.  

The perfect ear

To celebrate the ripening of corn, I wrote my second pattern with much trouble and editing.  It took me 2-3 days to get the pattern written and the corn made.  

And then I thought, the best thing for overripe corn was...

...popcorn!

As delicious as kettle corn is, I think I'd prefer to eat the corn fresh.  And I wonder if amigurumi without eyes is still called amigurumi?  Popcorn with eyes is really creepy so I left it out this time.

Materials: 

2.5 mm hook 

Loops and Threads Impeccables in Butterscotch

Red Heart Super Saver (worsted/medium) in Tea Leaf

Unknown cream colored yarn for popcorn (worsted/medium)

Polyfill for stuffing

Just like ships, we float through each others' lives...

Thinking back on today, I'm reminded of this song by the Umbrellas.  It was a peaceful walk on the seawall today with my friend SS.  We didn't talk much, which was a little bit of a surprise, but I don't think either of us minded.  It was fun picking up tiny little crabs and searching for sea glass amidst the debris.  We found a piece of glass with the word "FOOD" on it... I wonder what it's from?

Afterwards we went to Santouka Ramen - no photos because I was too hungry and it was too dark inside.  There was a line at 1:30 despite it being a Tuesday. The miso ramen was satisfying and enough to make me full; people have complained the portions are too small but I suppose I don't eat much.  The broth was rich, albeit a little salty - there was soft perfect pork, wood ear fungus, bamboo shoots, a chunk of kamaboko and chopped green onion garnish.

But anyway!  There were lots of wildlife out today at the park.  A set of three cormorants preened on a log (they seemed to have not moved in the three hours it took us to wander along the wall and back).  There were small ducks in a pond but seemed to have been chased away by a flock of Canada geese.  There was also a heron, and surprisingly, an intelligent and curious harbor seal that swam in close to the wall and looked around before disappearing.  They don't usually come so close in so I was surprised - it was only about five feet away.  But the oddest thing was perhaps this little guy: 

Why isn't there any ice...? 

Truth be told, he was getting rather unhappy at the bottom of my bag!  So he gladly sat in the sun for a few minutes while SS and I snapped shots of him.

I feel tiny!
(Photo credit: SS)

Edit [8/4/2010]
I remembered as a little kid, I used to watch this claymation short on television.  It was called Pingu.  I haven't seen it on TV in a while and I wiki-ed it to find out that the series ended.  The little guy I made looks more like Pinga (Pingu's little sister) than the troublemaking Pingu though.

Pattern Credit: 

This is made from a pattern in Tamie Snow's book, Tiny Yarn Animals.  You can check out her website here.

Materials: 

3.5 mm hook 

cream yarn (worsted medium - unknown brand)

black yarn (worsted medium - unknown brand but 100% acrylic)

Bernat Softee Chunky yarn in Grey Heather

~4 oz beanbag filling (aka polyester beads)

A small amount of polyfill for the head and wings

9 mm safety eyes