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)

A few more friends

The sun was shining in my living room window, so I took this of three of the donations I've made (think I have fingerprints on my camera lens, figures).

The pig is from Puffy Pals, by Sayjai of K and J Dolls (http://kandjdolls.blogspot.com/) available from Amazon Kindle.

The hippo is from Easy Crochet Critters from Leisure Arts

The lamb pattern is from Tiny Yarn Animals, by Tamie Snow

I hope these little friends will make someone's day a bit brighter.  Working on baby koala now... wish me luck! I'll need it if I'm going to get these done in time!

Penguin Invasion

The bad lighting in my apartment couldn't stop me from taking a few snaps of the finished penguin I made for my son's birthday.  I modified the design from Annie Obaachan's Super Cute Crochet (Quantum Publishing Ltd, 2009).  

I had to make him quite small so he would fit in the box, and he came out with a funny quizzical expression :) Nearly done with mother koala, must hurry up before time runs out!

A break for a birthday

I've been working away at making presents for my son's birthday.  I got some cuddly gray wool yarn to make a mama and baby koala, as seen in Ana Paula Rimoli's Amigurumi Toy Box (Martingale & Company, 2011).  Definitely one of my favorite books to work from so far, and my son has often expressed interest in the playful designs.  I've decided to make a little party in a box for him, a few little creatures around a tiny table with an amigurumi cake and a few little presents for the animals -- hats, scarves, maybe a little teddy bear if I can manage it with craft thread.  Last year I was having a medical procedure and couldn't make it to his birthday party, I'd like to make sure his birthday is extra special.  I'll be back to my donation projects as soon as I'm done with his little toy house, which shouldn't be very long... I can't believe he will be seven in just a few days.  Kids grow up too fast!

Of Ounces and Yards

Whew, been a long week.  The weather had me down with headaches.  I've been pushing ahead with my moose, regardless... the gloves do seem to help with the rash, as do my new crochet hooks (it hasn't gotten worse even when the gloves get too warm to wear them).  I'm sort of surprised at how fast the yarn goes -- and I'm at the end of my first bag of Poly-Fil already.  Not everything turned out quite right, but I have a few donations ready, and all that's left of the moose is sewing his horns together and making his arms and legs.  Haven't decided what to do for my next one yet, so many good options... this moose is larger than most, so I'll probably do a few small ones before tackling something so large again!  At least he didn't turn out cross-eyed, like my poor panda bear did.  I'm learning the value of clear directions and specific materials lists!

 I do hope this weather stops bothering me soon, I would like to be able to make faster progress.  I acknowledge my limitations, but often have trouble accepting them.  Anyhow, I think it's about time for breakfast, then to get this poor moose together :)

Prickly Progress

Well, the rash hasn't let up since the hooks were coated in polish, and it has spread to the insides of my fingers now.  Must be an additive in the yarn as well.  I've pushed ahead and I now have a hippo, a lion, and a pig finished, and I'm working on a giraffe.  Finally ordered the pellets for stability, and am hoping the craft gloves get here soon.  I can't stop stitching!! I think I'll try to make about thirty for my initial donation... so many cute designs to choose from! I've got supplies galore and it should last me awhile.  Send good vibes for my incoming packages...

With a little polish...

Turns out it was the hook causing my skin reaction, instead of the yarn.  Called the man of the house at work and asked him to bring home some clear nail polish to coat the hooks (hope it works).  He asks where he would obtain such an item.  Sigh.  When he got home, he told me that next to the nail polish he saw something called "top coat" and asked whether he needed that, too.  I told him he's never going to be beautiful if he doesn't know these things.  He says that's just fine with him.  It's true, he's the sort that can wear pink and still look masculine.  :) 

So with my crochet hooks coated, I ordered a fairly inexpensive set with bamboo handles online.  I don't know if they'll be any good, but nail polish chips and wears off.  I also ordered some crochet gloves, so hopefully one or the other will solve this problem.  I'm usually the type to shrug it off and keep going, but it's getting pretty painful.  I'm going to have to take a break for a few days, I think.  Hopefully my reinforcements arrive soon so I can give my partial hippo the feet he deserves!

The yarn bites back!

Apparently there's something in this new brand of yarn that I'm allergic to! I'm going to have to find a way to rinse out the yarn before I keep going on my little lion project.  Back to the old stuff until my hand heals, and it'll slow me down a little.  Just as well I suppose, since the lighting in my apartment is absolutely terrible, I'll probably try to find a good spot outside to take photos, or take them to a friend's house. 

I think the pig and the lion need a monkey to hang out with :)

Patterns Needed!

I want to make sure I don't use designs for this project without permission (at least, by posting photos here of the items I'll be donating.) If you have patterns of your own that you would like to allow me to use, please let me know! The more variety, the better. Anything you allow me to use will be fully credited (none of this is for profit.)  I want to have plenty of designs on hand that will be suitable for boys and girls of various age ranges, and some that are baby safe would be nice.  Feel free to post suggestions via comment, or you can link to my Google+ profile and send me an email.

I've emailed the hospital that oversaw my treatment, as I would like to look into donating to them first. If they have further guidelines, I will post them here as soon as I have the information.

Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive thus far. I know this is a brand new project but it is already off to a great start! :)

It Begins with a Stitch

 Some of my earliest memories involve hospitals.  Born with a rare birth defect, I've had a lot of experience with them, from endless trips to the ER until I was diagnosed, to two major surgeries at age four, and then follow-up testing afterwards to make sure the problem had been resolved -- tests which were painful, invasive, and frightening.  One time, when I went in for (yet another) round of tests, a technician gave me a doll that had been hand-made and donated to the hospital to comfort children like me.  I still have the doll, and the memory of how much better it made me feel.  I don't know who made it, but I've always been grateful.

Recently I've been learning how to do amigurumi.  I always loved crafts, and have been doing cross stitch, crochet, and jewelry making for many years.  What I would really like to do is make some creatures to comfort those who were, as I was, desperately in need of some.  I've created this blog to document my journey and in the hope that others will join me along the way.  I would like to think that this project will someday be bigger than I am; even if that doesn't pan out, I'm determined to add a little bit of happiness to what can be a dark and lonely place.