Mokiko the Sandwich

I'd like to introduce to you a dear member of our little family. His name is Mokiko and he is a talking sandwich. I'm not sure how long Mokiko has been part of our family, but it's been about a year at least. He is the spawn of Joseph's imagination.


Here's the background story: Joseph is in charge of the bedtime routine these days and he always makes up silly stories that involve the kids going on some sort of adventure with an imaginary companion. Mokiko is often (ok, always) one of those companions. His inspiration may or may not be from the scene from "Muppets From Space" where Gonzo communicates with his alien kin via a sandwich. (Either way, the kids get really excited that Mokiko is in a movie whenever they watch it).

Ever since Mokiko came to be, Joseph has just used his hand to illustrate Mokiko talking. When the story was over and it was time to say goodnight, Akiko would often want to cuddle with Mokiko (aka. Joseph's arm) to sleep with. Of course, with her being on the top bunk and Joseph needing to sleep in his own bed with me, this was not possible and eventually he'd have to pull away from a disappointed Akiko.

I had known for a long time that Mokiko needed to be made into a puppet; something physical that could be left with Akiko to cuddle with at night. I kept my eye out for craft ideas that would help me bring him to pass.

Well, one day, after my finals were over, I was getting a hankering to crochet something because it had been a really long time and thought that maybe I should try to find some patterns for amigurumi food that I could add to the kids kitchen playset (I've done strawberries for them and made cupcakes and cookies for my niece). I Googled for ideas and came across some cute sandwiches. It finally dawned on me (seriously, it never occurred to me until then) that Mokiko needed to be crocheted into a puppet. I couldn't find any patterns that fit my needs so I decided that he was going to have to be improvised.

Now, it's important to note that while I consider myself a really good knitter and crocheter and I often get compliments for my work, I never improvise. And this is after being a fairly avid yarn worker for well over ten years. All my work is always from a pattern. I have always known, however, that I could improvise if the need be. Mokiko served that need.

I based my idea for his pattern off of a cartoon that Joseph had drawn of Mokiko a long, long time ago when he made a small comic for the kids. I also consulted heavily with Joseph about how Mokiko ought to look. Everything about Mokiko is improvised. I did not buy any yarn, but used what I already had on hand (in fact, his eyes are stuffed with extra yarn because I was too lazy to dig for my fiber fill).


So, Mokiko turned out to be a bologna sandwich, with swiss cheese, pickle, tomato and lettuce, between two conjoined slices of bread. Cute, huh? I'm really proud of him. Akiko is excited that she gets to sleep with him. Everything is sewn in with invisible thread except for the spear pickle tongue. "Why," you ask? Because in the stories, Mokiko often spits out his pickles at the bad guys in order to make them laugh and apologize. Of course this means that the pickle often gets misplaced in real life, but if it actually gets lost, it really won't be that big a deal for me to make a new one.

Mokiko was really fun to make and it only took about three days. I have a happy daughter and husband because of him. To top it off, I know now that I have some awesome improv crochet skills. Oh, and if it wasn't obvious, Mokiko's name is a cross between Akiko and Moses.