Sneak Peek

Been working on and off again for almost a month on this little guy for the Holiday Softie Awards. Not happy with the photography yet so I hope to have “real” pictures soon.

Crafting from Work

I know I am not the only one to carry a small travel project wherever I go. But sometimes it can feel like it when you are the only one crocheting or knitting in public. Most of the time you get a lot of stares and people asking you “how do you do that?” But that is to be expected. I know this so I do not take out my project unless I am prepared for this.

But crafting during my lunch break is another matter. I always worry about showing people at work that there are things that I would rather be doing than working. Lucky me, my supervisor does not seem to mind if I work on my crafts during my lunch break. In fact she often ask about what I am working on. I still do not feel comfortable whipping my projects out in the break room, but a quiet lunch by myself in a small conference room with a crochet project is just what I need some days.

Anyone else crafting during their lunch breaks?

Fibbery Web 2.0 Goodness

I had a stroke of luck late last week. I was very happy to hear that Crochet Me had entered it’s new beta for where the content is user generated. I posted the patterns I have available here and had fun digging around seeing what else was there. About 5 years ago when I started really getting into crochet it was almost impossible to find and patterns that fit my taste. Now with the some of the great new service like craftster and flickr it has become easier. I really like how the new crochet me helps you search quickly through many of these free patterns without having to dig through 100s of blogs. And it’s all free. Super cool.

The next day after playing with Crochet Me I got my Ravelry invite. It was all I could do not to dig through all day while I was at work. Ravelry has a great database of patterns. Unlike CrochetMe’s the patterns are not all free, but rather soemthign that lets you know before you buy or download basic info about the pattern and what others rate it. How great. Ravelry wants to make it when one day you will be able to sell your patterns trough their service. What a great idea.

All this talk about patterns. I should tell you what I have been up to. I have spent most of the last two weeks or so working on writing patterns. While I never lacked respect for designers, I have gained a deeper appreciation of how hard it is to write clear directions. I usually write my patterns in my notebook as I go, it is a strange shorthand that I doubt anyone but myself could follow. Hopefully I will be able to have some sort of pay off for all this work. Wish me luck!

Happy Cat Candy

A week or so ago my lovely kitten Rogetts reminded me that every once in a while kitties need a new toy. Or they might riffle through your purse, steal you headphones out and pull the insulation off while leaving a big mess in at least 3 rooms of your house. Oh well I reward the little brat with a new set of toys made that day before she could find anything else to destroy.

I had been thinking about making toys for a while now and had been doing some research on the way the cats see and interact with the world. Cats do not see colors the same as people. Contrast and pattern are more important so I picked colors that contrasted with each other. I read that acrylic yarn taste bad to cats from some website of unknown credentials. But the idea stuck in my head and I have noticed that the cats only run off with wool and cotton. So they get cotton toys because it is so durable. Oh and the cats love to move there toys around so I topped it all off some monk cords on each end. The cats seem to love them. I am sure that catnip stuffing has something to do with it too

Want to make your kitty a set of toys and save your headphones? Here is a free pattern to help out.

Materials
• Small amount of two colors of cotton sport weight yarn (the photos is show with saucy sport yarn and sinfonia)
• size c crochet hook, or the smallest size hook you can use with your yarn (you want the stitches to be very tight so the cat nip does not fall out)
• yarn needle
• cotton balls
• catnip

Ball
Rnd 1. In MC tie a split knot around your crochet hook leaving a 10-inch tail. Wrap the tail end of the yarn around 2 fingers directly below the hook to form two large loops. SC 6 times through both loops placing a marker in the last ST. Pull both loops tight. These 6 stitches are your first round. (Need a picture tutorial?)
Rnd 2. Join with cc, sc twice in each st replace maker in last stitch throughout the pattern (12 sts).
Rnd 3. Pick up mc again and *sc, sc twice in same st rep from * to end (18 sts).
Rnd 4. Pick up cc again and *sc in next 2 sts, sc twice in same st rep from * to end (24 sts).
Rnd 5. Pick up mc again and *sc in next 3 sts, sc twice in same st repeat from * to end (30 sts).
Rnd 6. Pick up cc, sc around (30 sts).
Rnd 7. Pick up mc, sc around (30 sts).
Rnd 8. Pick up cc, sc around (30 sts).
Rnd 9. Pick up mc, *sc in next 3 sts, dec 1 rep from * to end (24 sts).
Rnd 10. Pick up cc, *sc in next 2 sts, dec 1 rep from * to end (18 sts).
Rnd 11. Pick up mc, *sc in next st, dec 1 rep from * to end (12 sts). At this point stuff the toy with a 50/50 mix of cotton balls and catnip.
Rnd 12. Pick up cc, *dec 1 rep from * to end (6 sts). Break yarn leaving a 6 inch tail. With yarn needle weave in tail trough tops of the sts twice, pull tight to close ball.

Pill
Rnd 1. In MC tie a split knot around your crochet hook leaving a 10-inch tail. Wrap the tail end of the yarn around 2 fingers directly below the hook to form two large loops. SC 6 times through both loops placing a marker in the last ST. Pull both loops tight. These 6 stitches are your first round. (Need a picture tutorial?)
Rnd 2. Join with cc, sc twice in each st replace maker in last stitch throughout the pattern (12 sts).
Rnd 3. Pick up mc again and *sc, sc twice in same st rep from * to end (18 sts).
Rnd 4-13. Alternating cc and mc, sc around (18 sts).
Rnd 14. Pick up mc, *sc in next st, dec 1 rep from * to end (12 sts). At this point stuff the toy with a 50/50 mix of cotton balls and catnip.
Rnd 15. Pick up cc, *dec 1 rep from * to end (6 sts). Break yarn leaving a 6 inch tail. With yarn needle weave in tail trough tops of the sts twice, pull tight to close ball.

Monk’s Cord Ends
Cut off 2 8” pieces of yarn in mc and cc for each toy. Take 1 piece of each color, hold them together and fold in half to form loop. With crochet hook pull loop trough a stitch on ending row of toy. Hold one end of the yarn loop and twist the other end until it begins to fold in on itself. Not letting go of the twist, fold yarn so the ends touch. You yarn should wrap around itself and make a pretty cord, if not try again this time twist more. Tie the ends together so the twist stays then cut so the ends are even. If necessary move the body of the toy around on the cord so it is at the end. Repeat the process for the other side of the cat toy.

Marshal would like you to know he endorses this toy. Oh and that he is much cutter than Rogetts. And that is why it is ok for him to jump in front of the camera while I am taking pictures of Rogetts.

Off to Plush You!

On Monday I finally finished my Plush You stuff. 2 remakes of pieces I had done before and one new original.

I will start with the new guy. I have not come up with a real name for him yet (a reoccurring problem I have) but I referred to him on the inventory sheet as just “Cyan” for obvious reasons. He is made from Brown Sheep Company’s Cotton Fleece Yarn in Robin Egg Blue. He took almost a whole skein to make and was by far the largest amigurumi I have ever made at about 9 inches tall. The foot pads are made from fabric from a local quilting shop that I think might be an Amy Butler print.

Now lets have a group shot…

I made some stickers for promos…

And cute paper tags.

Blobs

I have so much finishing work left to do before these guys are ready for Plush You. It is kind of fun to see all the blobs heaped together though.

Gearing up for Plush You and finishing off more pacman(men?) toys

2 weeks ago I got a call from a my good friend Jonathan, that I made the original set of pacman and ghost softies, for asking me is I would be willing to make another set for a friend of his who was helping him move. I was a little weary about saying yes because I rarely make the same thing twice and those ghost take up a lot of time. But after a kind e-mail form the moving buddy I decided to go for it.

One of the main reasons is that I really wanted new pictures of the pacman toys. That towel makes me cringe every time I see it. I have learned my lesson and will never again do a quick shot with whatever I can throw together in 5 minutes.

Making the toys for a second time was surprisingly enlightening. I found that I wanted to change parts of the pattern a little because I have learned better ways to so things. I reduced the number of repeat rows on pacman’s body from 8 to 4, which gives him a better-rounded shape. I also came up with an alternative way of making the points; the result is a slightly different look but a little easier on the hands.

R1: Form Amigurumi ring and single crochet 3 times into it.
R2-5: inc 3 evenly
R6: sc evenly

All that is left to round out the set of pacman/men toys is to make and sew on the eyes for the ghost. I just realized that I am out of blue buttons so I will have to make a trip to Hancock today if I want to finish them. I have been stash-busting lately in a way to offset the cost of the new craft room. I like how it forces me to use what I have and try color combinations I might not otherwise have tried.

In the sprit of what I just learned from redoing the pacman toys I play on reworking some of the toys I have done in the last year to go out in the Plush You show. I already have a new Lil Ugly on the needles. This time knit and not crocheted so I can get nicer increases on the belly. Also I have not knit in a while and I miss it.

Someone’s naked

Guess I better make him some clothes. Finally got the base of this toy done after weeks of redesigns and frustration from moving and changing jobs. Now all he needs is a pair of pants. I am thinking blue jeans or a pair of blue slacks. Good news is that I now have a brand new sewing machine to make the little guy a pair. Yippee! How do you tailor pants to go on a toy anyway?

Not my best work but I was sleepy.

Woke up Monday morning and did not want to get out of bed for anything. Then I had this idea for a softie and needless to say I was out of bed and crocheting. Completed in less then a day this little guy is only about 2 inches tall.

Green Guy

I had been working on a piece called sibling rivalry for about 2 weeks when I finally gave up. The piece was going to be two bunnies giving each other black eyes. After finishing the first bunny’s head and body I started to work on the face and I could not get it right. Then I realized that I did not even like the idea all that much. So the bunny got dumped into the UFO corner of my stash awaiting the day I can think of something to do with a faceless white bunny.

So I started drawing out this little guy that I had in my head. I had this cute image of a big overbite and huge white teeth forming a grin. I wanted to make the toy child safe so the eyes, toes and fingernails are safety eyes. Also this is my first time stuffing with shredded foam. For right now I am calling him Green Guy until I come up with something better or the child he is for gives him a better name.

Look at that grin!

Safety eye toes. Eyes are not just for the head any more.

I hope I am not the only one who gets excited about finishing their last crochet stitch only to realize that there is about 3 hours of finishing work left to do.

Original sketch and the start of the head.