The Compleat And Actual Adventures of Marcella White Campbell

I wonder what made me think I could crochet a toy for one child and not the other.

There was much panda drama for this mama ever since (does no one else believe children should be silent after 6 PM?), leading me to start and complete a second crochet amigurumi in 48 hours, which has got to be some kind of non-hat record for me.

His name is Notoro. He is eating breakfast.

I used the Crochet White Totoro pattern, with some Sugar & Cream dishcloth cotton I have far too much of.

Totoros, by the way, are little (and very big) woodland creatures from the mythology of My Neighbor Totoro, one of my kids’ favorite movies from Studio Ghibli (they just produced Ponyo, which we saw the weekend it was released).

The main problem is that The Small One now thinks he is entitled to a Big Totoro as well.

Does he not understand that if I do that, then I have to crochet two My Milk Toof amigurumi for The Big One, and then I would have to crochet him another one to restore the delicate balance of amigurumi, and eventually (pretty quickly, if last night is any indication) I would have carpal tunnel syndrome, or, if not, we would all suffocate under an avalanche of crocheted kawaii?

I think this is an early indicator that, if Handmade Hanukkah is going to be a success, I’m going to have to go easy on the knitted fair isle sweaters and heavy on the crocheted anime creatures.

And buy some of those crochet hooks for people who hook too much (and the children who are good at accessing their ready store of guilt).