Beautiful Blue Yarn

So today has been sort of One of Those Days. It is cold. I am forgetful and clumsy and frantic, and I had a midterm. The subject of my Japanese class was horribly depressing. I bungled the last few, vitally important moments of my Economics midterm. And I have another midterm tomorrow.

 

But I also have some gorgeous yarn waiting for me. 

And I am going to bask in that fact right now. Even though I can't go and hook it up in the gorgeous rows of shells I know it yearns to be, it is waiting for me.

And for now that is good enough to get me through.

Boot Lust

Hello everyone!!


I know, two posts in a week may seem a bit excessive but I really am trying to just follow my little bits of inspiration all the way through to the publish post button. Last week was pouring rain, and this week is cold and windy, so naturally I am thinking of boots. I actually don't own a pair of leather boots. I have ill fitting target rain boots, and that is about it.

So I went searching for some boots. And fell in love.

 

These lovelies are based on jump boots worn by WWII paratroopers, made from real leather, and handcrafted in the USA. They are also about $300. Yikes! But I still love them. I shall just abstain from actually owning them. *Sigh*. Fortunately, I have an open heart if not an open wallet, and managed to fall yet again...

 ... for these beauties. And they just so happen to be on sale! But how much is it really going to rain? And will they fit me if I order them online? Hmmm... I am still debating. 

 

The problem with internet shopping is that there are just too many options.

In craftier news, I have been very much occupied with a fantastical super awesome ravelry geek swap which is all about your favorite books! I am so excited to be finishing up my hand-made item(s?) and sending it off to my dear spoilee, but of course I cannot post pictures as it would utterly spoil the surprise. I have, in the meantime, done a couple of other little things...

... like this cute little pig pattern! I whipped one up for my friend's birthday, from this pattern. Even more excitingly, although I failed to take pictures of le petit porcine pre-presentification, the recipient is a talented photographer and may use her awesome skills upon my humble yarny creation.

More exciting projects that I am just itching to get my hooks into (hehe) include some simple coffee cup cozies and a ::gorgeous:: tea pot cozy, yarn funded by the commissioner!

So hurrah for awesome projects, past, present and future! I can't wait to post pictures of the scrumptious navy yarn that was picked out for this cozy, as well as all of my swap labors and mini projects. 

Hope everyone is well. Happy crafting!

Note: None of the photos in this post were taken by me, and clicking on the photo leads to the respective source links of each.

My Darling Rabbit

Hey everybody!

I know it has been a while since I have posted, but school sort of took me by surprise. I hope that this pattern will help make up for it!

My Darling Rabbit

Supplies:

Brown cotton yarn

White cotton yarn

4 mm crochet hook

yarn needle

stitch marker

some kind of stuffing

Pattern notes: This rabbit is worked from the legs upwards. Each leg is made individually, and then they are joined together and worked up from there. At various points throughout the pattern, it will become convenient to sew on parts of the amigurumi as you make the larger body, such as the tail, white stomach, and arms. These points will be indicated in the pattern for the main part of the rabbit, and the order in which the patterns for the various pieces are listed are the order in which I found it best to make them.

Stomach:

1. In white, ch 6
2. Row 1: Sc in 2^nd st from hook and across. When the end of the row is reached, sc down the other side in the backs of the stitches you just worked. (10 sts)
3. Row 2: Sc 2 in each st around. (20 sts)
4. Row 3:*Sc 1, then sc 2 in next* around (30 sts)
5. Finish off

Tail:

1. In white, make a small pom pom.

Arms (make 2) :

1. In brown, ch 4
2. Row 1: Sc in 2^nd st from hook and across. When the end of the row is reached, sc down the other side in the backs of the stitches you just worked. (6 sts)
3. Rows 2-3: sc in each st around. (6 sts)
4. Row 4: *Sc 1, sc2tog* around. (4 sts)
5. Row 5-9: Sc in each st around.
6. Finish off.

Body:

1. Ch 5

2. Row 1: Sc through the back loop of the 2^nd st from the hook. Sc through back loops only for the rest of the row. When you reach the end of the row, sc back through the remaining front loops. From now on you will be working in the round. (8 sts)

3. Rows 2-10: Sc around.

4. Finish off. You have completed one leg. Now, repeat steps 1-3, but when you reach the end of row 10 do not finish off.

5. Now you will join the two legs together by crocheting around the tops of both of them. Ch 2. join the first leg to any part of the top of the 2^nd with a slip stitch. Then crochet around the second leg until you reach the beginning. You might want to leave 1 or 2 sc between the first join and the point where you join the 2^nd leg back to the first. Now, ch 2 again and join to the first leg using a sl st. You should now have a single circle of stitches that can be worked up to form a cylindricalish shape that will be the torso. (If you notice that 2ch is leaving an awkwardly large gap you can just do 1ch instead).

You will notice that because of the 2ch there is a bit of a gap visible through which stuffing might escape. I recommend sewing this up now because later it will be an absolute pain to do. Also, at some point soon you should consider sewing on your pompom tail.

6. Now that you have formed the base of the torso, work 12 rounds even (sc 1 in each st). Consider stuffing the legs. Sew on the stomach.

7. The next few rows will be the head-ish section. *Sc2tog, crochet half way around, sc2tog*. Work the next row even. Then repeat from *to* for the next row. Now is a good time to start stuffing the torso.

8. Ears! Sc a quarter of the way around, about where is shown below. Then, slst to the other side of the oval. This is one of the ears. Work even for about 6 rows. Then, sc2tog all around. Repeat until there is one st left on the hook. Finish off and weave in ends. Finish stuffing the body. (I didn’t stuff the ears).

9. Join yarn as close as you can to the base of the first ear. Sc around to the other side, then sl st across the oval. Work even for about six rows, then sc2tog all around. Repeat until there is one st left on the hook. Finish off and weave in ends.

10. You’re done! Congratulations 

Sunset Feet and Rainbow Hands

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a very merry christmas and a happy new year. My holiday has been very full of hooky productivity, I am pleased to say. Here was my last minute Christmas gift for my mom: the secret socks!

I used Serenity sock yarn's paprika, and I am so proud of how these turned out. They fit her perfectly and everything! I only had one sock done on christmas morning, but thankfully mothers are patient and understanding enough to be thrilled anyway. Speaking of christmas morning, the reason that all of these pictures are so much more crisp and clear is... I GOT A NEW CAMERA!!! I am so excited, and I really love the ease of use and image quality and everything about it in general. Another holiday project that I finished just in the nick of time are these fingerless gloves for my aunt.

These gloves were pretty fun to make, although I didn't follow the full pattern, I stopped before making more of a thumb because I liked them just the way they were. Fingerless gloves are one of my very favorite things, coz even though I am always cold my fingers and hands are also generally busy, so these gloves offer the perfect balance of coziness and the ability to use my hands. 

I know you all are probably waiting with baited breath (what does that even mean, incidentally?) for this darling little rabbit, but I am not quite quite quite ready to put this one out into the world. I actually did a pattern test, working off of my own pattern and seeing the results, and I found a few minor improvements that I would like to make, so pleeeease be patient with me :) . 

Hope you all are having a great break (for those of you still on it) or a productive busy not break (to those of you who are not still on it)!

Finally Christmas!

Isn't this dog's knitted get up cute? He looks just like ravelry's mascot Bob too!

Once again, it has been far too long since my last post. But I am DONE with finals, and so ready to take a break. I have been working like mad to finish all sorts of crocheted goodies for my friends before we all left to our respective homes, and sadly enough I didn't manage to take pictures of them in my haste to get everything out on time. Hopefully I can coax my friends to let my take some pictures of the goods later, but for now I will just approximate.

For a video game player who I know, a pair of fingerless gloves to keep his hands warm at night when they are frantically hotkeying at a cold keyboard... (These are actually a pair I made my boyfriend, but the ones I just made are pretty much the same. But in black.)

For a science fiction aficionado, a Jayne Cobb lookalike hat from the short though sweet show Firefly...

Picture from www.worstedwitch.com

For my stylish headband wearing friend, a version of crochetme's winter headband pattern (ravelry link) in a Lily Sugar and Cream self striping blue, purple, yellow, white yarn.

Photo from crochetme

And for a lover of primates and cute animals in general, a sock monkey hat. Which... due to my slow sewing abilities does not yet possess eyes. But it will! I promise!

Image from coffeecupthoughts

So, hurrah for lots and lots of things that I made! It really is so fun to make things for people, it is the absolute best thing ever. Especially when they accept something that didn't turn out quite perfect just the way you wanted and they love it anyway. I love you guys <3

On the theme of making lots of things... I got a bunch of yarn for my birthday! It was so heavenly to walk around Jo-ann fabrics and just pick out whatever I wanted... and now I have such a wealth of yarn that I can hardly contain my excitement. I have started another project since I came home that I have been dying to try for a while...

SOCKS! I tried making socks with regular worsted weight yarn and they came out so awkwardly that I ended up caving and buying a bunch of sock yarn on my aforementioned birthday yarn splurge. I also tried knitting again, with the misbegotten idea that it would be super easy and there was no reason that I stopped knitting in the first place. Which, unfortunately, is quite false indeed. I just can't deal with how difficult it is to go back and fix mistakes on knitting. As soon as the stitches slip off of the needle, I am done for, as my carefully knitted and occasionally and incorrectly purled slip of knit dissolves into tangles of yarn. Thankfully crocheting is superfantasticallyawesome because it is so so so easy to count stitches and go back and figure out what the heck you are doing. I still dream of knitting socks some day as I stare at vegancraftastic's many gorgeous and apparently fun and easy knitted socks, but for now I will stick to the hooks I know so well. 

Also... I have some *very exciting news*! Perhaps I should have put this at the top but, my adorable owl pattern is being sort of featured in a UK Let's Knit magazine online article! When I say featured what I really mean is that this picture that I took of it (squee!!) is in the article representing an example of a free pattern available through freeamigurumipatterns.blogspot.com . I really believe in free patterns and sharing ideas and inspiration with everybody who wants to pick up yarn and try something out, so I am super happy! The article won't be out until February but I will hunt it down and link to it when it comes out! I also have a new pattern in the works that I am really excited about, of this little guy.

Isn't he just darling? I will try and get it together sooon but given my posting speed it won't be til after Christmas. In a brief aside, I have lost a couple followers over the last few days and it makes me sad. I know that I don't update very often and my pictures are rarely the colorful explosion that other crafty blogs offer, but I really try to make every post up to certain standards of my own, which is why I don't post more. Plus, I am a college student rather than a stay at home mom like most craft blog authors. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks to those of you who stick around and read my novel length twice a month blog posts, because you guys rock.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Sketches and Ink

 

In high school I used to keep a notebook that I would just draw in all the time during class. That sort of stopped when I came to college, but in the last couple of months it has been picking up again. I draw a lot of things... and I thought that even though this has been a crochet focused blog so far, that I could share a few doodles here.

I specialize in dorky self portraits, actually.

Though this one is probably much more realistic.

And random, more serious ones. 

And then, they just get random...

These next two were actually the inspiration for a crochet pattern that I have just finished...

Which will be posted soon! 

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Wind and Rain

Image from The House at Pooh Corner

I don't know what it is about wind and rain that makes me feel so peaceful. When the world is positively torrential outdoors, I love being cuddling up in a blanket with a good book and a cup of hot tea. I also get the strange urge to watch the Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. I think the idea of getting carried away by the storm captivated me as a child, and continues to, to this day.

I never posted the pictures I took in San Francisco when I visited with my Big Sister from Theta... so here they are!

These hats were so cute, and I was inspired by the range and consistent adorable-ness (if that is a word) of this seller. One of my dreams is definitely to have an etsy shop of my own someday, but I am afraid that school is pretty much a full time job right now. I do manage to squeeze in a few projects here and there though. Here is my latest finished object(s), a pair of amigurumi cats for my friends' birthday. They are twins, so I wanted to give them something cute and sort of matching, but not identical, of course. That would just be tacky. 

Here they are!

High fives...

Taking the spotlight..

EXTREME CLOSEUP!!!

All fancied up with bows.

Hurrah! I was really happy with how they turned out. The pattern is available here, and is called roly poly cats on Ravelry. I didn't name them, because then I might want to keep them (sort of like real kitties), but I think the recipient of the black kitty decided to call her Batsu (the Japanese for x or false, since her eyes are little x's), and perhaps that means that the companion white kitty would be called Maru? (Japanese for an o or true.) I even whipped up a little last minute wrapping too out of some magazine pages and a shoe box!

Thank you, Marie Claire and tape.

And then we had delicious sushi for dinner. I am actually not a huge fan of raw fish in general, but for these avocado-unagi rolls I happily made an exception.

As for more up to date news, I do have something on the hook right now, but it is a Christmas surprise for a family member and I don't want to ruin it! I know it isn't even thanksgiving yet, but I love Christmas with all my heart and getting people gifts makes me really happy and excited. I have already started shopping and planning... muahahaha! I can't wait for thanksgiving next week either, and a chance for some down time with my family.

I hope you all are feeling the holiday spirit as well, and have a great thanksgiving!

Until next time!