Taking advantage of the demand for such items in the lead-up to the celebrations, entrepreneur Chin Zhi Yin has turned to creating and selling adorable crocheted baby snake amigurumi plushies.
Amigurumi is a Japanese art form that involves crocheting small, stuffed creatures using yarn.
The 25-year-old said it wasn’t particularly easy to create “cute-looking snakes”, given that the reptile is feared by most people. So, steering away from focusing solely on red hues, he skillfully combined colours such as green, white and yellow when making the plushies.
The completed products thus appear in cheerful tones, reflecting the joy of the Chinese New Year festivities.
“The Year of the Snake is particularly meaningful to the Chinese community. It carries profound significance in life, representing wisdom and fertility, and marking a more meaningful start for everyone,” Chin told Bernama.
The former audit executive’s baby snakes come in lengths of 10cm and 16cm. To add a touch of uniqueness and charm, each of his snakes wears a hat, also crocheted by him.
Chin said hats carry deep significance in Chinese culture as they symbolise luck, good health, wealth, and perfect romantic relationships.
He revealed that the idea of crocheting baby-snake plushies came after his younger sibling crocheted dolls for a graduation ceremony in November. Fascinated, Chin decided to learn the art and managed to master it in less than a month.
“I then decided to create snake-themed crocheted items for Chinese New Year and started selling them online earlier this month,” he said.
Meanwhile, another entrepreneur, Niki Loo, also seized the opportunity to create and sell crocheted snake plushies – except hers come in red bags.
“This year’s zodiac is the snake, and a bag with a snake inside is considered good luck in Chinese culture,” the 20-year-old told Bernama.
“Combining the two makes a beautiful decorative piece for Chinese New Year as the bag can be hung or placed inside flowerpots.”
She said each snake plushie weighs about 120g and takes two to three hours to complete.