G'yarrrr-n

I kind of feel like I'm on a never-ending quest to find the "perfect" yarn for my amigurumi. A lot of people swear by certain brands, types, others just sort of use whatever is in their stash. I need to find something that I can easily access, love to use, and won't spend a fortune on.
My current stash, which is a good six years old by now, consists of Lion Brand's Micro Spun in a few colors, which I used for my first few amigurumi. It's a great yarn, has a nice sheen and works smoothly, but it splits like CRAZY which drives me insane. It's also only useful for smaller projects, and I'd like to do things that are a little larger down the line. The rest of my "oh God why did I get so much yarn what am I going to do with it" collection is tagless, but feel like acrylics or acrylic blends. One of them is a nice shade of green which unfortunately must be wool because it's scratchy and uncomfortable to work with. Since I also want to appease those that may be allergic or have ethical reasons against yarn that uses animal products (vegans), I'm trying to avoid wool as my "go-to".
Lily Sugar 'n Cream seems to be the one brand that hits all three of the aforementioned targets. It doesn't tear up my hands, the stitches have a great definition, and it costs $4 for 2 balls of it. One ball is enough for something on the smaller side - the elephant pictured above only used one ball. To bypass the fact that they lack a lot of colors that I foresee using, I've gotten a sample grab bag from Pisgah Yarn and Dye of their Peaches 'n Creme, and it's essentially the same as Lily's product. The only downside is I have to pay extra for shipping and can't simply drive down the road to pick up a few colors.
I should probably find a go-to acrylic though, which I'm thinking will be the Caron Simply Soft line. They have about a bazillion colors and it's the right hook size for my beloved 4mm hook, meaning I can probably use it in conjunction with my cotton stash.

Fun fact: I'm slightly bambakophobic, which is the long confusing word for "I can't touch raw cotton". Cotton balls, Q-tips, those cotton circles that you use for make-up and what not...can't touch 'em. If I find a bottle of medicine with a cotton ball in the top, I can't get it out. Even some cotton clothing and towels are enough, but it really depends on the items in question. Considering cotton yarn is among my favorites to use, I have to enjoy how ironic this seems. :D

New Book

One part of my "new habit" is to avoid buying books when the ones I already have cover exactly what I need to know to accomplish the same task. Example: I have half a dozen books on "comic book anatomy" and they all basically cover the same thing, just with different illustrations. As much as I respect other amigurumi designers and love their work, I don't see the need to buy a ton of books full of patterns when my main goal now is to create my own original work.
I've heard nothing but good things about Beyond The Square, though, mostly from other bloggers who own the book. I've picked it up a few times at the store just because the cover looked really cool but only gave in today and bought it.

In the 10 hours I've had the book in my possession, I haven't been able to try any of the motifs myself, though a quick scan through the book did show that a lot of the designs are really unique. I don't know what I'll use them for, but the combination of color and shape was enough to make me buy the book in the first place. Now I'm pretty sure I have to go ahead and make all 144. I might not be the type to use granny squares in my crochet, but something tells me I'll be able to apply the shapes to future ami designs and such.
Not to mention I have a ton of junk Microspun that needs to be used for *something*.

Elephant in progress

Yeah, my work area is a little cluttered ;p
This is the only ami I've been working on lately, I have two other crochet projects that are in progress, but they're gifts so I need to keep them secret. I've also made a few tweaks to the pattern as I went along making it, so once I finish it up, I should be able to have the pattern available as well.
Oddly enough I've been crocheting more than anything lately. That doesn't sound too terrible, but I've felt a little guilty for not working on my artwork like I told myself I would. Plus, you know, the whole "I'm an art student" thing usually means I need to worry about it a little more than I have been. That and I don't have physical therapy for a few weeks, so I should lay off the wrist abuse too.