Mizzou themed Girl hat

Finally finished working on this one.  I wasn't sure how I was going to do the girls hat and still keep it girly and not looking like a bumble bee in the gold and black.  I thought I might do kitties ears and strips but as i was getting into the 3rd round of strip's I realized it looked to much like a bee theme and unraveled it all.

So its a  pretty basic hat with a black stripe at the bottom with a twisted edge stitch.  I made three different sized little daisy chain flowers with a pearl embellishment.

I am not sure if the edging I did has a real name I just came up with it when I set my work down and come back and realized about 3 stitches in one of them  looked wrong.  Apparently my hook got twisted around and I had not noticed it but it made for a cute edging.

Mizzou Tigers Baby hat

Front View

A friend wanted to know if I could make her two baby hat's with the Mizzou Tigers colors and theam one for a boy and the other for a girl.

So here is the boy version a basic 12in baby hat with ear flaps in gold and black.  I tried to make this one look like a foot ball helmet with a tiger logo on one side and the Mizzou 'M' on the other. 

Left Side

Right Side

Back

I am not yet sure what I will do for the girls hat.  Maybe a cute shell stitch with a big gold and black flower with the tiger in the middle of the flower?

Irish crochet cord bracelet

I got this stunning hand made glass bead today, a friend Karla keeps inviting me to come to the jewelry conventions she sells at.  I bought a few things while there but I couldn't pass this up.  Its got tiny crystals inside of it that add a little more sparkle and I knew it would be perfect for this bracelet.  My camera did no justice to the colors but its a shimmering rich purple with a river of silver blue and a few sparkling peek-a-boo crystals.

She also had a tiny bat that I was in love with but only one and I don't know what I would have done with one, but two I would make into earrings.  Check out her site @ studiosolana.com

I feel this bracelet is finished. just need to polish up the clasp wrap it and remember who it is for.

WIP First of 4

This is the first of four blanks.  I know so little about the Beatles I am unsure of where to progress from here.  White shirt, black pants, gray shoes, but what color jacket for which one I havent figured out yet.  I could do grey or black for them all or they can all have there own color.

 I am also still unsure about what to do about their hair and whether or not to do facial hair.  I know they have all had mustaches or beards at one point in time but I want to try and keep them looking like they are from the same year.  Dithering over if I should try to do yarn hair or go out and get some felt and make it felted hair, I do know if I go the facial hair it will be felt as yarn would be bulky and probably ugly. 

If anyone has suggestions for jacket colors or opinion on facial hair feel free to comment I will appreciate any input form someone who knows anything more about The Beatles then me.  Shamefully I don't even know all there names I only know three >.>Paul my moms first love, Lennon, and Ringo.  I know i should know the fourth's name because I have been scouring the internet for pictures of them to base the dolls off of but that forth one just keeps falling out of my head.

If it helps any my mom use to have her walls plastered from top to bottom with every poster that could be easily bought while we where growing up.  I think her favorite is a mirror with profile shots of there faces in shadow and there autographs but I cant seem to find an photo of it.

Here is the basic part of the bracelet I am working on as well.  I still have to figure out what I want to add to it.  If I want to do crochet Irish flowers or some other Irish pattern. 

Irish Crochet and Birthdays

There will be a round of birthdays coming up in my family before the end of the year.  I had what I thought was the perfect gift picked out for one of them only to be foiled by third party company's buying them all up to resell at 5 times there original cost.   So I have moved onto my next idea-- Crochet them something.

I am not sure how my fab four aka The Beatles will turn out but I am going to give them a go for my mom, but as a back up plan I am working on an Irish crochet inspired necklaces or bracelet.

I have already made my mom a Yellow Submarine for her birthday last year as well as a Paul McCartney, unfortunately I didn't write down the patter  I made up to make Paul and I did promise to make her the other boys so I am going to have to remake them all from scratch.  At least this time I will have a better idea of what I am doing. 

I am still trying to think of what I should do for my older sister, I have already over the years made for her a few scarfs and wrist warming fingerless gloves.  I cant mention any ideas I might have for her either because I am sure she will stumble across this post at some point.

I will post pictures of some ideas as I work on them.  I am sure most will flop in the beginning prepossesses because my inspiration right now is a complex Irish Crochet pattern that I don't have the pattern for just images.

My Neice enjoying some of the crochet toys I made

Little Miss Jordan and all her toys.

I have made a lot of toys for my neice over the past few months. By far her favorits are the Octo-Jelly's so its rare to get pictures of her playing with the others but her daddy managed to catch a few shots. Her she is seen playing with a little blue elephant while her newest toy the Panda Bear watches from her lap. I have been asking her mom to get shots of her playing with the elephant and she told me every time she hands it to her she acts like it has offended her so I am happy to see her enjoying it.




Here is a bigger shot of the elephant she is holding. When I was making it I was half temped to add a rattle like toy to its head so it would make some noise to drive them crazy but then I rethought that idea and went the safer rout of no rattle.

It was bound to happen though, she threw the elephant away in favor of her Panda Bear.


I think she is trying to tell her daddy something.  Maybe its- "I want more Chinese food none of that mush you call baby food." While nomming on her pandas leg.

 It has a cursive J monogrammed into its shirt  for Jordan.  I didn't make a mouth because it would leave loose strands of yarn or embroidery thread that she might get her tiny fingers tangled in or even figure out how to rip them out.   I felted on the eye patches and the nose.

And here she is with her favorite toy the Octo-Jelly. She seems to love squeezing their heads and pulling on their streatchy spiral legs. Last time I got to visit with her when I gave her the panda she seemed more impressed with my bright orange soda then anything else, so I made her a bright orange Octo-Jelly that still needs me to felt eyes onto it before I can give it to her.




Lastly here she is sporting the Bunny/Lamb hat I made for her, the ears depending on how you posistion them will make it look like a Bunny if they are upright or if you pull them stright down they have a cute little Lamb appeal to them.


Oh just a side note, if you wash a knit or crochet item NEVER put it in the dryer it will shrink!! If that happens just soak the item in some warm water with soap, rinse with warm water roll in a dry towel to get out most of the wet, then use a piece of cardboard cut to the side you want to stretch it out to the size you need it to be and let it air dry. Toys on the other hand should do just fine if they shrink up a little its not as big a deal because you don’t wear them.

Crochet Jack-o-lantern

I have been working on this guy all afternoon.  I just couldn't get the mouth to go on well sadly.  Its suppose to look like it has little vamp teeth in its grin but when I felted it onto the pumpkin they shrunk more then I thought.  He is about 3in wide and 1 1/2in tall.  I think I will eventually get around to making him a ghost friend, I have an idea I am playing with just have to figure  out how to make it work.

How to make amigurumi Octopus Tutorial

So my niece Jordan who gets a lot of my creations absolutely loves my Octo-Jelly's  as they call them.  She is 6 or 7~ish months old (BAD auntie for not knowing) and her mom had to ask me to make her some more because when they take it away to wash it she apparently gets very upset.

I made a Tutorial on deviant art when I first started making them, but I have improved on it or at least made it easier on me to make them in one whole piece.

This little octo amigurumi is probably the easiest to start off with if you have never crochet in the round before.  It simply is a ball, with spirals attached if you fallow the tutorial I made earlier.  The adjustment I made to make it easier is incorporating the spirals into the ball.  On the first decrease row after each decrease (you work the decrease and pull the loop threw three loops) I would chain a length about 22 ch and put 2 DC in each stitch up or more depending on how tight you want to make the spiral part of the whole body then sc into the next st fallowing the pattern for dec and sc's.  Then on the next round the decrease should fall right at the spirals so you just pick up a stitch on either side of it and decrease.  Working it this way will leave you with 6 legs, but you can always adjust the pattern to fit in 2 more I just prefer it this way as the spacing with the decreases works out looking cleaner.

Feel free to use my pattern and give credit to me but DO NOT claim it as your own or sell it if you want to give it to someone link back to here or my DA please.  I ask if you want to sell anything made with my pattern please donate part of your profits to a local No-Kill Shelter or Animal Rescue group even just $.30 will feed a hungry animal for a day. Not necessary but its a kindness I pay forward by not charging for the pattern.

Below are some of my Octo-Jelly's I have made.

Open Commisions!

I have open time for Commissions.  Keep in mind these items are HAND MADE in a ANIMAL friendly environment.  With all my animals its imposable to make sure they dont some how come into contact with my yarn stash, I do however try my best to keep all commission projects in their own bags but if I am not careful I will come back to a cat in a bag on what ever project I just put away weather i put it on top of the 7 foot tall book shelf or try to hang it from the edge of my desk.

I write all my own patterns and am willing to try making anything.  Stuffed toys, dogs, cat,s doll, monsters, scarfs, hats, you name it I will do my best to make it!  I wont ask for a penny till its finished and you have seen pictures of it and are happy with it. I try to keep my pricing reasonable but keep in mind shipping cost are out of my hands, i can give you a reasonable estimate if you provide a zip code (in the US) or country so you will know before hand.  I do payments through PayPal.

My pricing depends on what you want me to make!  But I am fairly reasonable you WILL NOT see me selling a 4in doll for $50 like alot of the dolls on etsy.  See something you like on etsy but dont like the price feel free to ask me and I will tell you if I think I can make it or not and what my price would be!

My small dogs, cats, dolls, chibi Cthulhus are all $10 +S&H  (about 3 to 5in tall)
  

Scarfs ranging 4-6ft long $10+S&H (length depends on the stitches used some will have more stretch as they are worn so they will be made a bit smaller unless requested.  Also can make them longer than 6ft but will have to charge an additional $.50 a foot ((AFTER 6ft)) up till 9ft. Add and additional $5 for a full scarf of complex stitches, or $2 for scarfs with fancy stitching 10in at the ends)


Hats $10 +S&H (depending on complexity if you want a peddle stitch hat like the stitch on my bag  it will cost a bit more because this stitch is more complex and will take me longer to work.)
    




All Images shown here are items I have hand made myself. Just a small sampling of what I can do for you.  You can view more of my work on my DeviantArt account @ embertouchtehfire.deviantart.com/

Hellow internets! *waves*

So I have been on a crafting kick for a while now.  I figured I might as well start a blog for all my creations. 

A little about me-  My name is Sara and I am a stay at home wife (aka laid off in '08 still unemployed) with two dogs Buddy a beagle and Chloe a lab boxer mix and two cats Dayton and Connie and a wonderful husband.   I love sewing, knitting and my biggest kick right now is crocheting.  I am in love with making Amigurumi, which is Japaneses, ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll.  

I think it would be awesome to be able to sell the items and patterns I make.  I have sold a few things but all where to friends or family so I have no idea if the 'big bad world' out there would even care for my creations over the tons of amazing stuff I have seen out there already for sale.

Totoro & Sprite

My first ever crochet creation was a Totoro and sprite,  I didnt have a pattern at the time so Totoro is litteraly a baby hat that I just keep making longer and bigger with ear's from a pokemon pattern with some alterations  and the sprite is just a smaller version. I was inspired to make these two after visiting a realy awesome anime shop in my area called Anime Egg Roll.  They had a large display of crochet items that just inspired me to take up hooking.   Their crochet lady eventual moved away and took all her items out of the store.

Blue Octo

 I have tentatively offered up my crochet services currently I have a few items there up for sale.

A Light Blue Octopus pictured to the right, a Dalmatian with hand felted spots, and a white Poodle.

Emmy & Howard

I also made two custom kittie cats for one of the owners of the store as a gift for her mother of the two rescue cats she owns Emmy and Howard.  I made each patter special to get them to look as close to the images provided of the actual kitties as possible. 

As well as doing a custom dog for a friend she dubbed him Mini Watson and made me the most awesome gift of a Pikachu glass charm bead in return.

I think my most popular items I have worked on that seem to sell out quickly to friends or family where my Chibi Chthulhu and my dice bags that are shaped to look like a blue public police box (or a Tardis for you whovians) 

It makes me so happy when someone actually asks me to make them something and they love it when they get it. 

I think if I could find a job where all I had to do all day was crochet my little creatures and creations I would be set for life.  I think it would be a job I would happily get up to do with minimal complaining!