Over at *dAKnitters I am one of the Admin's (*DragonKissses) for the knitting and crocheting community. As part of making some changes and developments to the club we held our very first fiber art contest. The theme for the contest was voted on by the club members and the overall winning vote was for a contest involving plushies. Why not! Who doesn't love to snuggle up to a handcrafted work of art, work of love and an expression of one's own personality.

As a rule, contests have prizes and as a new venture for the club we started with the following prizes:
First prize was awarded to ~Sparrow-dream It was a handmade scarf donated by *MuseSusan

Second place winner was awarded a one-month sub on dA and a feature on club member's journal. Second place was tied: winners were: *DekeNicki which was donated by *evil-yuffie and *WenchFaery which was donated by *DragonKissses journal feature: [link]

Third place was awarded a journal feature from *DragonKissses which was an interview to get to know the Fiber Artist. Third place also was a tie between *DekeNicki journal entry can be found here: ([link]) and ~Money-Tree (journal interview will soon be posted)

So why not shine some more light on Fiber Art and post the interview as a news article. A way to build a community and to show others other forms of art that some might not think as of art. This art may not be produced with a brush on a canvas, a computer tablet, a pen to paper or with the use of photography equipment but it is made with needles, hooks, yarns of various kinds, patience, skill, an eye for detail and above all imagination.

Sit back as I introduce you to: *DekeNicki

Looking *DekeNicki's gallery on dA ([link]). You get a sense of her humor, her style and her talent. You also see her gallery has a great deal of fiber art pieces! In particular Amigurumi 編み包み

For those readers who do not know what Amigurumi is; Amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. Amigurumi are typically cute animals (such as bears, rabbits, cats, dogs, etc.), but can include inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features. Amigurumi can be either knitted or crocheted. In recent years crocheted amigurumi are more popular and more commonly seen. (information from and quoted from [link])

An Interview with the Fiber Artist

DekeNicki, how long have you been creating and making your fiber beauties?
Not yet a year. I made my first one last May while going to Israel - I figured a 10 hour flight would be a good time to try these things out!

What inspires you to make your pieces?
Umm... the works of Elisabeth Doherty are REALLY inspiring for me ( [link] ) but I just really wanted to make plushies of my own characters. And since I am really bad at sewing, this was a perfect way to do it!

What is it about Amigurumi that interests you the most?
I think the ability to really personalize them. You can make anything you want... and becuase you knit/crochet them, you can change the design at every stitch. ... and I'm a dork and like to cuddle with plushies! ^___^

If you were to pick three of your own pieces as your favorite what ones would they be?
I would say Frankie just because I got a DD on him and that made me so happy and proud! But my latest amigurumi is also my most detailed one, so I'm really happy with her as well!!!

I have chosen three of your pieces that I just adore!


And of course I need to mention your piece that was in the first official contest held by *dAKnitters “ Plushies are Our Friends Contest” which tied for third place.


What was it like for you to place so high in this first ever contest held by *dAKnitters?
I thought it was really cool!! I was more surprised that I won both 2nd and 3rd place!! That was almost better than just winning first place, or at least it was in my eyes!

If they have more contests would you enter if they were not plushie related?
I guess it would depend on what it was. If it was a 'sweater' contest, I just couldn't devote the time to it!!!! But yeah, I would love to see what else there is!

Fun Facts about you:

Five adjectives that you would use to describe yourself:
Cheerful, chipper, eccentric, creative, nerdy.

Besides dA, what is your most visited website?
Gmail. LOL! Me and my best friend, =holls have our RP there!

What other projects interest you?
Hats. I totally dork for hats. And scarves. I really, really want to learn how to quilt, and I'd like to knit afghans, but I have a horrible problem that if it's just 'knit in a straight line' I get really bored with it! So I guess one day when I can sit and just knit the same thing over and over again, I'd make a blanket!