About me – Sonya's neverland

I’m the mostly happy owner of a neurodivergent brain, with the curiosity and creativity of a toddler, but thankfully with better fine motor skills. I’ve been into arts and crafts all my life (music, pottery, papier mache, cross-stitch, embroidery, making things out of literally any material I could get a hold on, including pebbles, discarded household items and sometimes not discarded household items, the loss of which produced some yelling), since creating things is – to me – one of the greatest joys.

In 2016, after the death of my beloved furry baby Kiko, I fell face first to knitting and crocheting, while watching episode after episode of Critical Role. The soft yarn and the hand motions guided me gently out of my grief, and in a few months friends and family “enjoyed” many yarn gifts. In 2018, in the middle of our dungeons and dragons campaign, a friend announced that she was moving back to her birth place, and I decided to make her a gift: her lovely moon elf cleric of Tymora in an amigurumi. I had never delved in amigurumis before, so I looked to the internet for advice and happened upon Lucy Collin and her incredibly easy and fun amigurumi patterns. After I had crocheted my friend’s character (and my own little half-elf sorceress), I decided to make amigurumis for all of my party (the Lycky Basterds), by modifying and tweaking Lucy’s patterns to eventually make a human wizard, a tiefling paladin and a tabaxi rogue.

Soon after the end of our campaign, I joined a different party with a human barbarian, whose appearance (and name) was inspired by Hellblade’s Senua. Since I had now gained some confidence and experience, it was inevitable that my toddler brain would want to start experimenting with other materials. The result was Simue, an amigurumi that felt almost alive. It was not long after that friends started asking “hey, could you make this character for me?”, to which I never replied with a negative. When I didn’t make a character for one of my campaigns or one of my friends, I would make characters from Critical Role, which was by then on its second season.

The Lucky Basterds: Wiston (human wizard), Naynar (half-elf sorceress), Lukas (tiefling paladin), Seeker (tabaxi rogue) and Cary (half-elf bard – deceased). The first amigurumi d&d party.

By 2021, I was being asked so frequently for little (and not so little) amigurumis, that I decided to hesitantly make a fiverr account, in case people I didn’t already know were interested in my creations. Beyond all hope and expectation, I started getting some commissions here and there, and this gave me the courage to create my own page, where I would be able to share photographs of my amigurumis, along with their little stories.

As a person who never received the “how to adult” manual (and would have probably thrown it away in any case), I could only name my little venture “Sonya’s Neverland”, a place for everyone who does not let adulthood get in the way of mischief, creativity and fun. Steve Stivaktis provided me with the best possible logo for my yarn adventure land, and here I am now, equally happy, nervous and proud to share my creations with you.

Thank you for reading through my ramblings, and for looking through my portfolio. I hope it made your day a little younger and more colourful.

Sonya