What's happening ~

This is one of my ongoing projects : making the written pattern for Sophie the mouse.  I plan to have it up for sale in my Etsy shop sometime in the near future, since it has become necessary to raise funds to continue my donations project.  I'll be selling the dolls I make to test my pattern if you don't want to bother making one yourself.  I've also designed a tiny bunny amigurumi that I'll be selling a few of, each one will come with a little home (I'll post photos when I've finished the design for those).

Donations project is coming along, I've finished 12 now and have the thirteenth ready to start when my migraines stop cycling. I'm so excited!! :) I've sorted out materials for 14 & 15 and made tags for them, so hopefully I'll be able to deliver this whole lot soon!  So many amazing patterns out there and I am determined to make an entire zoo's worth and then some!

Don't forget to check my Tumblr for more frequent updates - I prefer to keep this blog "cleaner" and more specifically donations-related, Tumblr has a lot more general crafting, questions answered, personal posts, etc, and I post pictures of my finished projects (donations, gifts, all of them) when they're finished. I know some of you get e-mail updates when I post here, and I don't want to spam you too much ^_^

Thanks to all of you for continuing to read this - I've gotten more support on this project than I would ever have hoped for, and I'm so grateful!

You might also be interested in Crafts for a Cause if you're on Google+ - it's a small group for now but I hope it will keep growing! Don't be afraid to share what inspires you, it's often contagious and that's the sort of bug we all hope to catch. <3

How to Make My Dad (or yours!)

Once I got my craft supplies back from the storage unit, I decided to make my dad for father's day!  Now you can too!  Here's how:

Ingredients:

-3.75mm hook & 3.25mm hook

-9mm safety eyes, color of your choice

-small amount of cream colored medium weight yarn for head/hands

-colors of your choice for pants & shirt, scraps can be used!

-lace weight yarn or craft thread for hair & mouth

-felt & fabric glue for the tie

Directions: 

*Head

Round 1: With cream color: make your original foundation row with six stitches (chain 2, 6sc in first ch, or use the magic ring method).

Round 2: 2 sc in each stitch around (12 stitches)

Round 3: 2 sc in next stitch, sc in next stitch around (18 stitches)

Round 4: 2sc in next stitch, sc in next 2 stitches around (24 stitches)

Round 5: 2sc in next stitch, sc in next 3 stitches around (30 stitches)

Round 6: 2sc in nect stitch, sc in next 4 stitches around (36 stitches)

Round 7-9 sc around (36 stitches) *depending on your stitch size and how you want the finished product to look, add or subtract a row as necessary

Round 10: sc2tog, sc in next 4 stitches (around)

Attach safety eyes and sew on the hair, make the stitches slightly loose so they won't pull when you stuff the piece.  I used a satin stitch to make my dad's hairdo.

Round 11: sc2tog, sc in next 3 stitches (around)

Round 12: sc2tog, sc in next 2 stitches (around)

Start stuffing firmly.

Round 13: sc2tog, sc in next stitch (around)

Round 14: sc2tog until piece is closed up enough to tie off.  Hide the end of the tail of yarn inside the head. Sew on mouth with pink embroidery floss or craft thread.

*Body

Note: before you make the body, check my photo.  If you want your dad's body to be thinner or taller than mine, adjust your design accordingly by adding/subtracting rows & stitches. For a taller dad, increase both the pants and shirt rows by one or two.  I'd increase them equally so your dad looks proportionate - but you know best how your dad looks!

Round 1: With dark blue (or "pants" color), make your foundation row or six stitches.

Round 2-4 are worked just like the body.

Rounds 4-6 sc around

At round 7, change to light blue (or shirt color).  I used a lighter weight yarn, so I had to increase the number of stitches - I increased every other stitch to expand the body a little bit so he would have a rounder body - I just wanted the base to be sturdy so it would stand. If your dad is thin and you want to make his doll thin, you may want simply use medium weight yarn and keep the stitch count the same.

Round 8: sc around with shirt color

Round 9: at this point you want to start very slowly decreasing.  With the DK weight yarn, I decreased every sixth stitch around. Do whatever looks right so you have a nice, even taper (this can also be fixed with stuffing later.) 

Round 10: Continue decreasing, I decreased every 4th stitch.

Round 11: If your piece needs to taper more, decrease every few stitches around.  I just crocheted around for rows 11 & 12. 

Leave the top of the body open with a tail end of yarn still attached for sewing to the head later.  Leave unstuffed so you can sew the arms on easily.

*Arms

Round 1: With cream yarn, make your initial row with 5 stitches.

Round 2: sc around (5 stitches)

Round 3: change to light blue (shirt color) and start using smaller hook, sc around (5 stitches)

Round 4-6 sc around. Leave a tail end and use it to sew the arms to the top row of the body.

Stuff the body firmly.  I put some plastic pellets in the bottom so it would be more stable when standing.  If you gave your dad extra thick or longer hair, you may need to put a coin or two or a marble into the bottom so it will stand up.  Sew body to head.

*Tie - make with felt and glue right at the top of the body.

And you're done! :) Please let me know how this pattern worked for you.  Happy crafting and happy fathers day to all the dads out there!

Party Favors!

I've been stressing about recent events, haven't been able to sleep much... so I've been working on the party favors for my son's upcoming birthday party. He said he wanted me to make chicks for him, and thanks to the wonderful world of the interwebs, I was able to find a great pattern!

Gotta watch these little guys, their numbers may get out of control before I know it...

This free design can be found here: http://lucyravenscar.blogspot.com/2011/04/tiny-chick-free-amigurumi-pattern.html

I used medium worsted weight yarn and a size F (3.75 mm) hook.  I used safety eyes and embroidered the mouth... I'm really bad at French knots.

So cute!  I'll be making around a dozen.  If I have time, I'll probably find another design or two.  Probably won't have more than ten kids show up, so I should have time to make a little collection... especially since sleep isn't coming easily.

Just look at that face... :)

Two for the road

Two more for the pile, tagged and ready to go!  :) Getting closer to my goal for my first donation drop-off.  Got some more books in the mail today and am very excited to try some of them out, who knows what will come next!

Still working out my upcoming housing situation... it appears that a house isn't in the cards, so I'm going to have to look into alternatives.  I definitely want to get these little guys to the hospital before I have to uproot.  More information when I have it ~

(Design credits: Puffy Pals by Sayjai for the frog, and the mini ami bunny from Amigurumi World by Ana Paula Rimoli)

Caught crafting again

And of course, after my previous musings on the animals that aren't yet included in my donations, I had to finally settle on...

...a hedgehog.

Design credit goes to Amy Gaines, from her book More Cute Little Animals to Crochet (Leisure Arts, 2010).  I have a lot of designs by Amy Gaines and they're all amazingly cute.  I never feel I can quite do them justice.  Sorry for the dark picture again.  Very, very, very early morning.  The little one was up several times in the night because of his allergies.  I got a second and third wind in there somewhere, and then just kept going.  It's fine with me though, when I have bad episodes it takes me forever to finish one thing, so I have to do what I can when I can.  One of his birthday presents was a trip to the circus, which is happening today... I'll get my chance to nap for a few hours while he's out, unless I get into another crafting frenzy. 

I'm all out of Keeping Up Appearances.  Got through the entire series already... guess I've learned all I can from Hyacinth for now.  I feel confident that I could hold an authentic candlelight supper, given the opportunity, even if I don't have any Royal Doulton with hand-painted periwinkles.  Such characters... I do love British television.

My craft box looks a little sad with no projects in it.  There's usually at least one thing partly complete in there... perhaps I'll just start another one... yes...

Sundry's Debut!

I'm pleased to announce that I've completed the very first Sundry the Second Chance Monster!

I've been too spastic to deal with patterns or to be able to make even stitches, which meant it was a perfect day to follow the yarn where it took me, and this is the result!  I'll have to get some better pictures when I have something other than my cell phone to take them with :) The flash bleached out the blue button eyes a bit, but she really is quite colorful! 

I may be able to post an actual pattern for her at some point, but it's tricky because the yarn varies in size, so I basically had to stitch differently in each row to make them even (ish). Here's the basic concept: if you can get a bowling pin sort of shape about 24 stitches around at the wide part of the head, decrease to 15 or so stitches for the neck, and then back up to around 30-35 around for the body.  Keep going until it looks like the "right size" (some of the rows will vary in width, so don't worry about the number.) 

I did the bottom few rows in the back loops only so they would taper, and began to decrease around, also in the back loops only.  *This is important, since it effectively fixes the gaps that are sometimes left between stitch decreases.  Stuff rather gently, since the silk yarn has no give -- it molds very nicely as long as it isn't over-stuffed.  Finish off when the hole at the bottom is quite small by putting a slip stitch across the gap.  Tie off and pull the end of the yarn through the body, pull tightly so that the bottom will sit flat (this won't happen if there's a giant knot).

Hair: Wrap silk yarn several times around the widest part of your palm.  Gather in the center, and sew to the top of the head.  This is tricky since the silk yarn is so dense, I used a yarn needle and 4 strands of embroidery floss.  Wrap around and knot at the bottom first, rather gently, and then make as many stitches as you can up the center part.  Cut the loops so you get single strands of hair.

Arms: Cut three rather long lengths.  Hold one end of them in your teeth, braid.  Tie a knot near ONE end, leave tails for fingers.  Use a large crochet hook to pull the braid through the body, pull to desired length.  Make another knot for the other hand, cut off the braid, leaving tails for fingers. 

Don't worry if it looks lopsided, this design is very mush-friendly and will hold its shape nicely!

:)

Enjoy & feel free to e-mail me/leave comments with any questions!!  These will be on sale at some point to help fund the materials for my donations.

A Very Happy Birthday

We celebrated my son's 7th birthday this evening.  He was very excited about his special dinner, his cards, and of course, his lemon meringue pie (he inherited his favorite dessert from me).  My mom did the gluten free cooking, and tried to make sure the house didn't burn down as the candles got lit.  It was nice to have everyone together.  He absolutely loved the little animals in the box-house.  I had the man with the camera take photos before I gave it to him so I could post them :)

Credits go to Ana Paula Rimoli, mostly, for designing the koalas, the cake, and the fish (I had to make minor changes because I decreased the sizes, emphasis on tiny cake, cough, hand cramp, cough), from her book Amigurumi Toy Box, and Annie Obaachan's Super Cute Crochet for the penguin.

 Animal House

The koalas are made of wool yarn, trying out new materials :) they're so soft! The cake is made of lace weight viscose (from bamboo) -- closest I could get to eucalyptus! Penguin and fish are acrylic, except for the craft thread I used for the penguin's mouth and feet (which are cotton.)

 I HAS A CAKE!

 The penguin has a fish... I don't think he'll have to share.

(omnomnomnom all for meeeee)