Yubbla

Here's my latest creature - a Yubbla. These are creatures that live in mossy areas around the roots of trees and rocks. They hop around, eating bugs and fungi, their horns giving them a good defence against any predators. They are very friendly and should be encouraged into gardens, as they are great at eating up pests such as slugs.








I got the idea for him back in the spring when I was looking at some very knobbly trees in Petworth Park.





It made me think of a creature that was faintly frog-like with bulgy eyes and big, round haunches. I drew a quick sketch and added in horns since they seemed to fit. Then I got busy making other things and didn't think any more about it.

Recently I started to make another creature using the green mohair but the shape was wrong. I looked at what I'd done and realised it would make the perfect body for my Yubbla. I found the old sketch and even though I tried out a few different ideas, it ended up looking pretty similar, although I did add a tail to make it less froggy. When it was finished I found it very endearing. There's something about the positioning of the eyes that means they seem to foloowing you around, but in a puppy way, not a creepy way.

This Yubbla is now up for sale in my Etsy shop.

Fuzzy Monkey

I love monkeys - toy ones are cute, and I could watch the real ones for hours. Whenever I go to a zoo I especially like the little guys such as spider monkeys, tamarins and marmosets. I watch their tiny little almost human faces and really want to translate that into amigurumi. The only trouble is that I've made a few amigurumi monkeys, but I don't always feel that I succeed completely, I think I try too hard with the faces and get them wrong.



So for my latest attempt, I kept it simple and didn't try to copy a real monkey. I have some neon green mohair-type yarn that I've been wanting to use, so I decided that would be perfect for the head and body. I made a very simple face, and decided that quite large eyes looked best but with no other features. I gave him long arms and short legs, which probably is more appropriate for an ape, but again it just seemed to work. He ended up with a stripy tail, because I thought a bit of blue mixed in with all the green would look nice, so that makes me think of a lemur. Anyway, I'm really happy with him, even if he is some bizarre primate mix, and he's up for sale in my Etsy shop now.