My niece is doggy crazy. Real, plushie, animated or doodled, it really doesn't matter - she loves them all. So when it came to her second birthday, it was only natural to crochet her a dog of some kind. There are lots of patterns out there on the internet, but I really wanted to crochet something from this book that my mum had bought me for my birthday one year. The book is "Cute Crocheted Animals" by Emma Varnum, and can be found here.
The book itself is filled with easy to read patterns for a handful of animals - cats, rabbits, etc - and a lovely selection of outfits to crochet an entire wardrobe for your creations. The animals work up at around 10 to 12 inches, depending on the hook used, so in theory could also be used with many of the Build-a-Bear costumes.
At the time my niece had to most adorable little beagle puppy called Molly, and so I decided to make her a matching Molly dog. The book, as wonderful as it is, doesn't have a pattern for a dog, however!! This greatly surprised me, as a dog is probably one of the more popular crochet animals, surely? Up there with rabbits and cats, I'm sure. While the book didn't have a dog it *did* have a fox pattern, and so I decided to use that as a base. The colours and markings were almost perfect, however to be a beagle the ears definitely needed to go. I could probably have free-handed a pair of floppy ears, but I decided to be lazy and instead to search for a free pattern, and I found a perfect one on the Hello Stitches blog (the pattern is for an entire beagle, though I only used the ears!).
Apart from the ears, I followed the pattern "by the book", and I thoroughly enjoyed crocheting this little lady. The pattern was easy to follow, and she worked up pretty quickly! I can't say I'm a fan of carrying yarn for changing colours, but that's personal preference - I find it an awful waste of yarn. That said, it's better than the whole thing unravelling, so what can you do?
When it came to the wardrobe, I couldn't only do one outfit. Every little girl I know likes to be able to dress and undress their dolls and toys, so I made two outfits with the intention of making more at later points (which I still haven't done - Ooops!!) All of the clothing patterns I used can be found in the book, along with many more accessories, such as shoes, ties, etc. So this little doggo has a casual outfit, complete with shopping bag, for when she's popping about running errands, and then a sparkly, frilly outfit for going to parties! Maybe I went a bit gender-stereotypical with that (bad Tig!) but there was so much to choose from!
As with the plushie, the clothes pattern worked up very quickly and were easy to follow, although I have to admit to getting a little bored by the time I was making the second outfit. But then, I was using up scrap yarns for that outfit that I wasn't particularly fond of. The crazy thing is, I later went on to make my daughter a matching Molly cardigan, and she's worn it quite a lot, so even though I found the small one boring and didn't like the yarn it can't have been that bad!!
Amigurumi Amish Animal Puzzle Balls! Amigurumi Amish Animal Puzzle Balls!
Amigurumi Amish Animal Puzzle Balls! Amigurumi Amish Animal Puzzle Balls!
Amigurumi Amish Animal Puzzle Balls! Amigurumi Amish Animal Puzzle Balls!
Amigurumi Amish Animal Puzzle Balls! Amigurumi Amish Animal Puzzle Balls!
Ahem.... Good to finally get that out of my system...
The amigurumi Amish animal puzzle balls (or amamani for short) are exclusively designed by Dedri Uys of Look At What I Made. I have blogged about her patterns many times before - I can't help it. They're great! The animal puzzle ball patterns themselves are available from a variety of sources. The free ones such as the plain ball, or Olive the Octopus, can be found on her website, while the paid ones can be found in downloadable PDF form from Annies, or paperback form from Amazon. Apparently I'm crazy, as I bought the digital download but then decided that I wanted the paper copy of the patterns anyway. (Or maybe they're just that good!)
Currently, I have completed the turtle ball - who we are calling Atuin - for my daughter, and am partway through the dinosaur for a friends' nephew. These patterns are actually much simpler than I originally thought - so much so that I can already complete the basic puzzle ball pattern from memory, without the book to hand. They don't take long, either. Or at least they wouldn't, if I wasn't juggling my nursing daughter as well as my crochet!
The yarn for this project came from my new local yarn store - Westcliff Wools. I had originally planned on using left over yarn from my crochet Christmas jumper four years ago, but I couldn't find it. I assumed that I had used it in my Fugly blanket, and after I had been to the yarn store and bought new yarn I found the original yarn in my wardrobe. Ooops! Still, it spurred me to sort my yarn out into colour coded bags so that I would always know where everything was in the future!
The yarn used for the turtle was a chunky weight yarn - the pattern called for an Aran, but there weren't enough suitable colours at the store in that weight. I did um and ah for a while, weighing up the choice of a funky coloured or a larger turtle, and as much as my friends were pushing me for bright colours, I had my heart set on more realistic colours - well, I have to use my degree somewhere, right? To that end, I left the store with three 100g balls of King Cole Big Value chunky, one eack of Bayleaf, Caramel, and Koala for the turtle, as well as two balls of King Cole Fashion Aran for the dinosaur - one each in Stonewash and Hint of Denim.
The pattern is pretty easy to work up - sometimes in the round and sometimes with rows for shaping - and in total it took me about six days, on and off (though mostly off!) That said, I did get a little confused when trying to navigate the book - Rather than step by step, the turtle pattern starts off with "Make x number of wedges from this page", and "crochet this number of lids from this page", before continuing to give the instructions for the head, legs, tail, etc. In addition, the back leg follows on directly from the front flipper - something that took me quite a while to figure out. The flipper ends with "do not finish off", but you flip over the page and there's a new heading and you're back to "row 1". However, I eventually worked it out, and once I did I had no further issues, and overall I enjoyed the pattern enough that I do plan on making several more. I definitely would like to make the Octopus, and I think the basic ball pattern would make a great gift for future babies.
Except my baby, apparently. The turtle didn't impress her... Maybe my friends were right and I should have made it more colourful?
Ah well, maybe she'll grow into it?
Always on the lookout for new patterns, I jumped at the chance to crochet something new when a friend asked me to make a couple of ninjas for her. She wanted specific ninjas in bright pink and purple - she had seen pictures of them online and fallen in love with them - and I was fortunate enough to find the pattern on Amazon for relatively cheap.
The pattern is relatively simple, although I still don't quite understand the unusual pattern of increases when crocheting in the round. I find that - more often than not - a pattern requires increases every n*6 stitches. This pattern didn't follow that formula. It still works up lovely though, and was a welcome distraction from the multitude of blankets I have been making! The pattern worked up so quickly that I feel fairly confident that I could make several of these in a day, were I not baby-wrangling at the same time. It was darned cute, too! I used scrap DK acrylic yarn and a 4mm crochet hook.
In fact, they are so cute that said baby saw them, and she fell in love with them too!! Have you tried telling a four month old that they can't have something? Ok, she is a bit too young to understand reasoning. I might have gotten away with putting the ninjas high on a shelf while she wasn't looking...but....well....she's just too damned cute as well! I can't say no to her! So against my better judgement I let my baby play with the purple ninja. She played, she drooled, she chewed and she threw the ninja around... Luckily the ninja held up through it all, but I couldn't send my friend a drooly ninja... So I made another one!!
To thank her for letting my daughter claim the first ninja, I also made her a baby elephant, Meimei. Meimei is a free pattern, available from Look At What I Made. As a side-note, this blog happens to be the same pattern blog from which I got the pattern for Sophie, and the same designer who has written the patterns for the Amish puzzle balls I am currently making. I love these patterns so much and will often browse the page looking for new ideas.
There are several elephant patterns by this designer, and they all use the same head pattern. I own the pattern for the elephant puzzle ball, and had previously crocheted the elephant lovey for a friends baby, so I felt confident crocheting this mini elephant plushie.
Meimei herself is easy to make, and as all of the pieces are crocheted into the body as you go, there's actually no sewing involved! Amigurumi often involves a lot of sewing, and the Little Lady Ninjas are no exception - arms and legs must be sewn onto the body, which must be sewn onto the head. It's not a difficult task, but it gets very boring very quickly. It's nice to find a pattern which doesn't need any sewing. One downside to Meimei is that I found it very difficult to place the eyes levelly due to the asymmetric way the head/face is formed. Maybe it's just me - again I used scrap yarn and a 4mm crochet hook, so maybe I just crocheted too tightly for the safety eyes to fit in the right place.
Difficulties aside, she was still an enjoyable make, and I hope she's very happy in her new home!
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?
As I find myself melting over my current WiP's, I can definitely say that Summer is well and truly here! Today is the hottest day of the year so far in the UK, with temperatures reaching 35C. Melty!!
Summer brings with it the end of the school year, which is especially important this year as my son will be making the transition from primary to secondary school. He is rather upset about leaving, as he will not only be leaving his friends behind (he is going to a different school than the majority of his friends) but he will also be leaving behind some wonderful teachers. One of the people he is leaving behind is the LSA who has been working with him for the most of the last seven years!
Proud parent moment: He received the Headteacher's award at his school yesterday!! Lookit how grown up he has gotten!!
As such, I have promised that I will make a unicorn for him to give to her. I am currently making another three of these unicorns in total - one for my son's LSA, one for a friend who has put in a request (I did say they were popular!!) and one for my baby nieces first birthday next month.
The pattern used is the same one I use for all over my unicorns, and can be found over on Ravelry. Be warned though - it is not a free pattern. It is wonderful though. The directions are simple, and it works up quickly and easily. I could probably put one together in a day, if I tried, with the mane being the most time consuming part - As I give my unicorns to children, I have to make especially sure that the mane is well secured!
I just use any yarn I have lying around in my stash - I never buy anything specially for it - and the customisation possibilities for this pattern are amazing. It would make a great zebra, give it a yellow and orange mane and you have a Ponyta, or freeform some wings and you could turn it into a great Twilight Sparkle allicorn lookalike! Out of all of the patterns in my library, it is definitely the one that has got the most use.
On that note, my son's unicorn needs to be ready by tomorrow morning.... So I better get a wriggle on!
So, another project on my never-ending 'to-do' list - The singing sunflower!
Ok, so it doesn't actually sing. I found this pattern through Facebook, and when I saw it, I knew I had to make it. In fact, I have to make ten or twelve of them. In the game I play, World of Warcraft, there is a companion called the Singing Sunflower. It is acquired through an annoyingly difficult Plants versus Zombies style mini-game which tends to rely on luck rather than any kind of actual skill. Once (If!) you complete the game though, you are rewarded with this cute little sunflower pet, which does sing:
Daegore with his Singing Sunflower
So when I came across this free pattern by Ink and Stitches, I immediately noticed the resemblance to my annoying, sickly sweet, loyal little sunflower.
So, when I finally get some time in between projects with a deadline, I plan on making one of these sunflowers for each member of our guild's raiding team. Official Ænigma mascots! That's a lot of sunflowers though. Our raiding team is growing regularly - It started with about 8 people, and now we have 14-18 people regularly turn up on a Wednesday evening! That's a lot of crochet time!
What to make for my Minecraft mad son who already has everything he could possibly think of? Ok, well not everything, but he has a lot - Minecraft T-shirts, minecraft jumpers, three versions of the Minecraft game, posters, figures, keyrings, toys....the GIANT Creeper blanket I made for him two years ago?
Well, he didn't have a Minecraft plushie. So after trawling Ravelry (like hardcore drugs for idle hands) I came across this plushie creeper pattern, by Minke van der Zee. And if you go to that Ravelry page you'll find that she has more Minecraft patterns, perfect for that Mining Mad small person in your life.
I used King Cole Moods Duet yarn, in the Meadows colourway, and a 4mm hook. I was hoping that the varigation in the yarn would reproduce the speckled pattern of the Creeper texture from the game. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way as the colour changes in the yarn seemed to line up in places, making the creeper look a bit....stripey! Such things don't seem to matter to my son though! He loves this Creeper almost as much as he loves his blanket.
The creeper is made by crocheting multiple rectangles and sewing them together, rather than crocheting in the round. This is supposed to give it a more rectangular appearance. As you can see by my photos though, I seem to have completely failed at this! My creeper hasn't kept the original shape after stuffing. I'm not sure whether it needs more stuffing, or less, but it doesn't look quite as straight edged as the one in the pattern.
It is still loved though, and this makes me happy. :)
As I may have mentioned in the past, I have three furry little bundles of assholery sharing my home with me. Yes, I just called them assholes, but yes, I am masochistic and I love them for it. I am sure any cat lover knows this feeling all too well. My cats are Heidi (10), Greebo (5) and Wicky, (3).
Wicky (short for Gallywix - a character from World of Warcraft) is the youngest and therefore the biggest asshole going! Oh sure, he looks pretty enough, but underneath that fur is the biggest cat-jerk known to man! But he's so cute, so what am I going to do?
The other day I noticed that he was chasing yet another bottle cap around the floor, out of the rubbish bin. He does this all the time. Seriously - It doesn't matter how much I spend on cats toys, something out of the rubbish will always be much more amusing. Just like cardboard boxes and clean laundry are the comfiest beds, and the sofa is the best scratch post! But as the masochistic cat lover I am, on my never-ending quests to fulfill my cats' desires, I decided that I would make him a toy that he might actually play with - A catnip mouse.
I don't know why I decided to do this, because he has had catnip mice from the store before, and lo - he actually only played with the mouse for all of ten minutes - but it was something to do, and for those ten minutes he left both my sofa and my laundry alone. Success? I think so!
For the catnip mouse I used worsted weight cotton from Sugar and Cream in the Jewel colourway, with a 5.5mm hook. The pattern was found on Ravelry by Meelai - The Easy Peasy Catnip Mouse Toy. As the name suggests, it really is very easy to make. I made two mice, and each one took me less than an hour. I stuffed the mice with standard toy stuffing bought from Hobbycraft, and a small amount of dry catnip that I bought from the pet department of the local Wilkos. I am sure that it can be found in any pet store though.
The most difficult part of making the toys was after I got the catnip out from the cupboard - My catnip came in plastic tubs with little caps on. Once the caps were removed all three of the cats started going absolutely mental. Trying to pour dried catnip into the toy with three cats trying to knock it out of my hands was quite the challenge! If anyone else intends to make one of these mice for their pet, I strongly urge them to do it without the cat in the room at the time!!
I made two mice for three cats, and I did expect to have to make a third as the initial interest in the mouse was pretty mental. But, as with any toy I have provided for the little fur-demons, after ten minutes the novelty wore off and they haven't touched them since...
Oh well.
Get it ouuuuut, get it ouuut, get this song out of my head....
Seriously, that song is driving me crazy! Every little girl I know is still Elsa crazy, even after all this time. So when it came to my niece's birthday, no other theme would do!
As my niece did not yet have a blanket - which has since become a family tradition - I wanted to make her a blanket with a Frozen theme. A C2C character blanket was on the cards, but then I came across this Dusty Snowflake throw from Red Heart. I love the Red Heart patterns because they come with nice instructions, but many of them also come with video tutorials for those who find written instructions difficult.
I didn't use the recommended yarn because trying to get the Red Heart yarn in the UK worked out at over £10 per ball. Instead I used Caron Simply Soft - 6 balls of 'Paints' in the Oceana colourway, and 4 balls of 'Party' in Snow Sparkle. As usual, I got my yarn from Wool Warehouse. This yarn was super soft, but still acrylic for better washing and manhandling.
As great as the blanket was - and it was very soft and warm - I wanted to include something that she would appreciate immediately. Sticking with the Frozen theme, I found some Anna and Elsa patterns on Ravelry. Unfortunately, the patterns are no longer available for free as the patterns have been sold to a publishing company, but the patterns work up really well and are well worth buying, should you have any Frozen crazy girls in your life.
Fortunately for me, whatever I make for my niece is very much appreciated. These items were made for her birthday 18 months ago now, and the blanket has got so much use it developed a hole!! Fortunately it was a nice easy fix, and she can use the blanket again. I love it when things get loved that much. <3
It was my son's teacher's last day of school today. We only got a couple of days warning and didn't have a lot of spare cash lying around, but he was incredibly upset about her leaving and wanted to give her a present. Of course, he only decided this yesterday, at about 6 o'clock in the evening... It's par for the course with him really - Like when he decided at the last minute that he wanted his name on the Creeper blanket I had already designed, got supplies for, and started making....
I don't really mind - but time was very short. He decided at about 6 o'clock in the evening, on a night where I had other arrangements that would keep me busy until about 11pm, and he needed the gift by 8:30 the next morning.... So what to do?
Ravelry to the rescue!!
I trawled Ravelry for ages, trying to find a gift that would not only be quick to make but one that I had the supplies for in my stash. For some reason, Home Alone 2 came into my mind - the scenes where the kid gets the two turtle doves from the Christmas tree and then gives one to the pigeon lady? I decided that it would be super cute if I made two Amigurumi minis, one for my son and one for his teacher. And with his help we decided that a cat would perfect.
I found the pattern for these on Ravelry - It's the Amigurumi Witches Cat, by Lucy Collin.
The pattern is incredibly quick to work up, albeit a bit fiddly - especially if you are masochistic like I was and use the recommended colour yarn - Black! I found I couldn't tell one stitch from another, and couldn't see where to put my hook a lot of the time. But that is a problem with my bad eyes, not the pattern at all!
I used some sparkly Poundland yarn that I had in my yarn drawers with a 3.5 mm hook, and for eyes I used some 6 mm black safety eyes. I did have larger coloured eyes, but they were brown and they just didn't look right. Since black cats are lucky, the black seemed like the perfect colour to wish his teacher all the best in whatever she does next, and I did try to add a four-leafed clover charm to the neck, but it was just too big and the poor cat kept face-planting the desk!
The cats definitely seem to be a hit - Obviously I can't know what his teacher thinks until school quitting time, but they are very popular on Facebook, and my son was showing his friends on the way into school. They all made the same "Awwwwww!!" noise. So I am assuming this is a good thing!
Now there's nothing left to do but wish his teacher all the best in her new life.
