More unicorns! I swear, this little guys are the only thing people would have me crochet! Beautiful blankets, creeper toys, even the My Little Pony plushies I have planned.... Nope! None are enjoyed as much as these little chibi unicorns! I think I have made nine of them so far, maybe more! Most of them have been gifts, but since people have been asking me to make them for other people, I have started asking for a donation to the Aching Arms charity. These guys made such a difference when we lost our son last year, and it's nice to be able to give something back. I usually ask for a teddy bear to be donated in Quinn's name - a plushie for a plushie seems fair to me! It seems like such a small thing, but having that bear to cuddle when you have to walk away and leave your baby in the hospital - It's actually a very big thing.
As always, the pattern used is the Shy Little Unicorn, by Ana Paula Rimoli. The pattern is available as a paid download from Ravelry, but I have it as a pattern in a book - "Amigurumi Toy Box". It is a very simple pattern, and I have had very little difficulty in mastering it. In fact, parts of it are becoming permanently embedded in my memory now. It's not often I have to pull the pattern out to make a unicorn - usually only when it's been a while, to refresh my memory!
The first unicorn was actually finished a few weeks ago, before the end of the summer holidays. I started the latest three plushies at the same time, but one of them had a rush on it as it was for my son's LSA at the school he just left. Of course, it had to be ready before school broke up, and so it was the first to be finished. Fortunately, the unicorn was much loved! I do like it when gifts I make are appreciated - A lot of effort goes into them.
The remaining unicorns were a little less hurried. The first is a gift to my niece for her first birthday. I have made unicorns for all of my nieces, and so I couldn't let this milestone pass without making one. I'm hoping she will like it, though I am sure she will be completely spoiled on the day. I haven't seen a kiddies birthday go by yet in our family where the kiddie isn't spoiled - My son lead the way for this. Ooops! The second was a request from a friend, who wanted to give a unicorn to his friend as a birthday present at the end of August. It's finished well in advance (for a change!) and has already been delivered.
Hopefully I won't have to make any more unicorns for a while. They're very cute, I do agree, but making so many of the same thing can get very dull after a time. It becomes almost a chore to make something so cute, and surely that in itself is a crime to crochet?
One of the things in my seemingly never-ending 'to do' list has been to weave in the ends on my sister's wedding blankets. I should really have done this long ago, as they spent three weeks in South Asia on their honeymoon, but the weather was just too hot for working on a blanket. When I make blankets I spread them over my legs - I mean, where else would they go? And unfortunately, the short-lived British summer made this impossible! So the blankets were not ready for them coming home from Bali. They are ready now, however!
Fortunately for the blankets, the temperatures have dropped since my sister returned home (though probably not so fortunate for my sister, coming home from a tropical paradise to damp and dreary?!) and so I was able to bite the bullet. I hate weaving in ends with a passion! I usually like to weave as I go, crocheting each row over the ends of the last. I could do this for some rows, but unfortunately the nature of the blanket design meant that I had a lot of ends hanging out, and in the name of a speedy finish I made the rookie mistake of leaving all ends til last....
It literally took me days to get these ends finished, but I finally finished them several days ago. I am so glad to get them off my plate though - the blankets look amazing. I don't think I will ever use this pattern again, as I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed, say, Sophie. But I can't deny that it is a beautiful pattern, and I know that my sister will treasure it. And with the UK winter coming, you know they're going to need them!!
Success!!
Following my first attempt at intarsia, I learned a number of things. The biggest thing I learned was that I hate intarsia! I can't stress this enough. Working on the Star Wars blanket for my partner is definitely going to be a labour of love. I also learned a number of minor things, such as the need for a printer that actually works, or that there is such a thing as a ball of yarn that is, in fact, too big. But mainly I learned that the Star Wars blanket is going to take me a LOT longer than I realised, and that it will be imperative that I actually weave my ends as I go. As a result, I am trying to get up to date on all the little odds and ends that are lying around. Having half a dozen unfinished projects lying around when I am about to start a monster doesn't seem like a good idea.
The first project I decided to finish was my Truly Hooked circles blanket. The latest pack was pack six, and the colour scheme was yellow. And I do mean yellow - Like, the standing in front of you with a megaphone, screaming YELLOW!!!! at the top of it's voice sort of yellow.
I didn't enjoy this pack as much as the previous packs. It's not even the colour that bothered me (as it did others). I don't mind the brightness of the yellow - there were bright pinks and oranges in previous packs, and I'm fully expecting an almost neon green at some point. I love bright rainbow colours, so the colour didn't bother me in the slightest. What did bother me, however, was the texture of the really bright yellows. The texture of the yarn I use means a lot to me - I prefer soft yarn over the scratchy feel of cheap acrylic. In all of the previous packs I have gone on and on - almost gushed - about how wonderfully soft and squishable the yarn has been. When I received the first pack, I sat there for a good ten minutes just squishing the yarn over and over. When I was showing off the yarn packs the first thing I said to people was "feel how soft it is!!!" And this time I just couldn't feel it. I don't know whether it was the dye that hardened the yarn, or whether it was maybe a guest dyer (I know that the next pack features a guest dyer) but the neon yellow skeins had the feel of acrylic rather than the soft wool feel that I have come to be used to. That said, the remaining colours in the pack were as soft as I remember, and once I got the neon colours out of the way I began to thoroughly enjoy working with the skeins again. I don't expect that I will come across many more that I don't enjoy working with. Overall, the blanket club has been a wonderful experience! I would love to do it again one day.
I am really beginning to love this blanket as it works up. I have loved it from the beginning, but as I see it grow I love it more and more. It makes me feel a bit sad to think that it will be finished soon - We are two thirds of the way through the packs - but I am also excited to finish it! I am definitely keeping this blanket for myself. It's a bit small to go on my bed - I think it's the perfect size to be a single bedspread - but it will make a great sofa blanket, if I can only keep the cats off of it. I think what I really need is a box by the sofa in which I can store blankets for the cold nights that come with having those pesky British Victorian sash windows. I would also put my ever suffering rainbow ripple blanket in there, my scrap square a day blanket, and the three shop-bought blankets I have - though those would be right down at the very bottom, for when we are desperate!! Alas, our flat is way too small, but I can dream, right?
