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If there has been an upside to sheltering from the outside world for the last several weeks, it’s that many Americans have had time to either wrap up ongoing projects or commit to new ones. But if you’ve had so little to do that you’ve already mastered both baking and basket-weaving, you may be looking for yet another skill to add to your repertoire. Luckily, Yamaha, of all companies, has something just for you.
No, it’s not stuffing its EV crate motors into new project cars, mind you, but reproducing some of its bestselling motorized products in knitted form.
Someone at Yamaha took it upon themselves to release instructions to recreate vehicles like its E-Vino electric moped, Niken three-wheel motorcycle (don’t call it a trike), and Exult 36 Sport Saloon yacht in amigurumi; a centuries-old form of Japanese crocheting used to make stuffed animals. Patterns for all three can be found on Yamaha’s website, along with instructions for how to crochet a full-size replica of the Yamaha EF1000IS generator, which the company lovingly photographed being taken on a picnic.
If you’re a novice at crocheting, Yamaha also offers basic tutorials on the craft, though if you’re ready for more advanced needlework, you can move on up to needle felting. Yamaha supplies patterns for both the E-Vino and Niken in place of the yacht and generator, so you can felt a WaveRunner jet ski or a life-size piston and rod from the Yamaha SR400 motorcycle. Amusingly, Yamaha warns not to install the latter in a real engine, though knowing how the denizens of the internet think, we expect to see a video of a fully felted Yamaha bike engine within a week’s time. The only question is which YouTuber will do it first?
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