Jordan and hats

This past weekend I got the chance to have my neice begrudgingly model the hat's I have been working on for the past week or so. She looked so cute but she thought it was to warm out and kept taking them off. These are some of the best shots I could manage.

Catigurumi Pattern

I promised this pattern a while back, sorry it took so long I misplaced my notes.

You will need an F hook, two colors of yarn a yarn needle and some stuffing and safty eyes.

As always I am using American terms, the only stitches you need to know are single crochet, increase, decrease, magic ring, and how to color change.As always if you need to know how to do the magic ring you can see my video here it shows how I started for my penguin but the concept is exactly the same.

Starting with the head/body

Mr - sc 6 (working in the main color you want the body to be)  end each round with a slip stitch into the first sc of the round and chain one
2- Increase in all stitches 12
3-Increase, sc repeat around 18
4- Increase, sc 2 repeat around 24
5- Increase, sc 3 repeat around 30
6- Increase, sc 4 repeat around 36

Row 7-8-sc all 36

9- Decrease, sc 4 around 30
10- Decrease, sc 3 around 24  Switch to belly color here when you do your slip stitch and work remaining rows in belly color. Add your eyes on now and start stuffing.
11-decrease, sc 2 around 18
12- decrease, sc1 around 12
13- Decrease all 6    leave a long tail to sew body shut and to use to attach the legs, I like to wave my tail threw the front loops of the last round and cinch it closed then weave and knot in at least 3 places.


Legs 4X
Mr sc 6
2- sc all 6
3-sc all 6
Stitch to belly I tried to keep them half ont the belly half on the body color.
Ears 2X
Worked in the round then pinched flat stitched about a row and a half from the first row.
MR 6
2- increas, sc all 9
3- increase once then sc remainding 10
4- increase, sc 4, increase sc 4 12


I did the tail in a new manner for me, its a bit tricky to explaing.  I think June from PlanetJune.com has a video that explains it better then I can.  Basicaly the tail is an I-cord done in crochet with a color change at the end if you want the tip of the tail to be 'painted'.  I made my tail about 3inches long

I hope she doesnt mind me linking her video here she just explains it so much better than I could.




When I make an other Catigurumi I will make sure to take alot of pictures to add to this post.

Ifsomething is confusing or unclean let me know and I will do my best to make it easy to understand.

Ouch!!

Connie  has decided she does not like the Yoda hat I am working on.  She keeps biting the yarn, then she will nudge my hands then bite them if I don't stop working long enough to pet her then put her off the couch.  Connie so more my husbands cat, normally she avoid me she some times lets me pet her but if it seems like i am going to pick her up she runs.  Today she is just all over me, but only when I am working on this Yoda hat.

Hat season!

Apparently Minions are 'IN' right now.  My sister wants me to make Jordan a girly minion hat.  I bought a pattern for this project, but reading over it I don’t like st count, its done in odd numbers and they have jagged color changes.  So I will be tweaking the patter, just a itty bitty tiny lot. I think I will make the base hat a normal yellow beanie, then add a band for the eye and strap sepratly then add in all the girly details.  It might take longer but I think it will look better then the patter I bought -,-

She also has a friend at work who wants 3 hats, piggie, owl, and a fox!

~~update~~

More hats requested!!  I will also be making a Yoda and Leia!!  I really hope I don't get my hats sizes mixed up I will have to make sure they all are pinned with a note or something.

I have to run out and pick up a few supplies I am short on since I made all those toys I haven't restocked my stash and I am low on a few key colors.

I will be updating this post with my WIP (Works in progress) photos as I get started.

Leia front view

Leia Side view

~~~~~~~~SIDE NOTE~~~~~~~~

Also a big thanks to Katie Board I finally got some Kahoot's comfort grips for my hooks! I am pretty sure these are the ones you recommended.  I finally found them at a Hobby Lobby over here but they where well hidden and only had two in stock.  I dont care much for the dark green I wish they had them in the bright purple color shown on the packaging but none the less I hope these help.

 These hat's will be the first projects that I get to use them on.  Extra special thanks to Christine (my sis) who bought them for me!

Amigurumi donut

Ok here it is! Took me the longest time to edit the video so you didnt have Torchwood blaring in the backround.  The video is about 14 minutes long.  Here is the writen pattern.

Light brown yarn, White yarn, G-4,25mm hook

In light Brown chain 12, making sure not to twist the chain slst into the first chain.
Inc, sc around
Inc, sc2 around
Inc, sc3 around
Sc all for 3 rows
Dec, sc3
Dec, sc 2
Dec, sc 1

 Here is where it might get a bit tricky, you should end up with 12 stitches at the end.  What I did was flatten it so the hole's lined up on the inside, and stitched about 1/2 of it together then started stuffing but it was kind of hard so I recommend you try and stuff ever 3 stitch you sew up.

Once that is done with white yarn (or any color you want the frosting to be)

Chain 14, slst making sure not to twist the chain.
Inc, sc around
Inc, sc2 around
Inc, sc3 around

Then in this last round if you want it to look perfictly iced just do it in sc, BUT if you want it to look like mine where the frosting looks like it is dribbling down the sides in spots then do it more like this
Sc 4, hdc, dc (into same st as hdc), dc, hdc, sc3, hdc dc trb (all in same stitch),dc, hdc, sc reapeat
You can do more triple crochets for larger 'drips' get creative with it.   Leave a long tail to stitch it onto the base, I recommend sewing it on one st in from the edge so it leaves it with that thick frosted look.  If you have long beads you could even sew a few of those on for sprinkles.

Look what came in the mail

I sold just over half of the items I took up to the MBG.

I got back 3 Unicorns, 8 Cthulhu's, and 13 Bunny's.  So my biggest seller is Unicorns.  I have to wait for my check, they pay net 15, so I assume that means they pay out twice monthly so I hope to be paid either on the 15th or at the end of the month.

Some of the bunny's I thought where the cutest where returned, that's ok I can always find a good home for them.  As always if something catches your eye that you want let me know.

I think when I hit 100 blog posts I will host a giveaway.  I just have to think of a good system for picking out a winner.

 

Octo Amigurumi Rewrite!

I got a request to rewrite my Octopus pattern, some people where having a hard time reading the Blue font agains a grey backround.  So here it is---

Amigurumi Octo

A beginers tutorial and pattern

You will need the fallowing--
A small amount of yarn any color you like- if its balled the size of a tennis ball should be more then enough to make one or even two
A stitch marker so you can see where your rounds starts and stops-  I used to use a scrap of contrasting yarn but I have had it get pulled out on accident (I think the cats do it on purpose but i will call it an accident till I catch them) so now I just use a bobby pin and it works great but like i said you dont have to go out and buy some fancy set of stitch markers a scrap of yarn will do (unless you have kitties like mine)
Crochet hook- Any size will work but check the lable of the yarn you are using (if there is no label just the thinner the yarn the smaller the hook the thicker the larger) The smaller the hook the smaller the finished item with turn out and vice versa large hook large octo.  I just used a US size F hook because my yarn is WW
Stuffing of choice -I use polyfil
Eyes - I used Safty eyes because they are child safe , but you can felt on eyes, or sew buttons on as eyes, or even embroider on eyes!
Yarn needle for finishing.

HEAD
You can start any way you feel works best for you I show two methods for how I start


 Start A Chain 2, then make 6 sc in the second chain stitch from the hook (the first loop)

 Start B Magic Ring 6 sc  (here is a video of how to start with a magic right it was made for my Penguin but its the exact same process )

R2- Increase (Inc) in each stitch (12)

 R3- Inc, sc repeat all the way around (18)

 R4- Inc, sc2 repeat (24)

R5- Inc, sc3 repeat (30)

R6-11 SC all (30) (you will repeat this round till you have 11 rows)

 R12- This is the decrease and leg's round- you can choose if you want to work the legs as part of the body (so you dont have to sew them on later) or if you want to have more then 6 legs just work the decrease and ignore the parts in bold where I have you chain a length to add in the legs.  I am going to have you do a FLO (front loops only) decrease which means you only hook under the loop closes to you and not both loops of a stitch this leaves a more eye appealing decrease and does leave a large gap that a normal decrease can cause.
 Work one dec, 'chain 22 (or if you want the legs longer/shorter chain more/less) DC twice into the 3rd chain stitch from the hook (I tend to add 3 or 4 if I am working with a thin yarn to get the twist really started), then 2 DC in each chain (or more if you want a tighter spiral) then SC into the next st' sc2  repeat from begining You should end up with 6 legs and 24 st's

 R13-Dec sc 2 (18) The dec should fall right at the leg spirals so you can just pick up a stitch on either side of the legs and work those for the dec and sc all other stitches

 R14- Dec, sc (12)

 From here you want to finish off the work, start by attaching your eyes and any other features you may like, then stuff.  I like to weave my working yarn tail threw the front loops of the last round of stitches and cinch it tight then secure and sew it shut. If you did the legs separate this is when you should find a placing you like and sew them in. I find between rounds 12-13 look best. The images I have of my progress where worked with the legs not attached but the process is exactly the same if you fallow the pictures and work them as part of the body.


I sorta rushed threw this so if something is unclear or worded in a way you dont understand just ask and I will help out!!

Felted eyes with a Jellyfish fuffle above the legs

In the Garden with Totaro and Hello Kitty

Only one day left to go out and enjoy the Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

They did a photo shoot out in the Japanese garden with some of the amigurumi I made with other plush items they got in.  I was so excited to see the post go up on there Facebook page, but really devastated when I realized all the comments where pretty much negative and all by the same person and having nothing to do with what the post containing the picture was about.  They where all just realy negtive feed back from someone who didnt seem to like this years Festival, which is sad because I had a great time.

I just find it hard to get and stay excited about having them post my work to their page when it is now connected to all that negativity.  It would be one thing if they didn't like the craftsman ship and where actually commenting on the toys in the image, or about the Gift shop in general which is what the post is about but why post such negativity, and negativity that is not even justified (candle light walks are by defection done in the dark by candle light, and the festival she is comparing it to last year was a special one time event hosted at the garden that was Chines and separate from the Japanese festival they hold every year) in this particular post.

Not to be a stick in the mud but man I was excited when I saw it had alot of comments and now I am just upset.

I blame this rant on all the Nigori Unfiltered Sake we had at dinner. #ThanksChad for the sake

Japanese Festival!

So we got to go out to the festival Saturday walk around and have some fun. I enjoyed the garden and even got a paper parasol painted with a Sakura tree on it to help keep the 102 degree heat off.

I have to say what I enjoyed most (besides getting to be there with my husband) was the Japanese ladies who did 4 different cooking demonstrations with samples of everything they cooked.  They als talked about how making bentos they always make sure to have 4 colors of food to make sure the kids are getting alot of the vitamins and minerals they need.

The top image, is a bento box one of the lady's moms used to pack for her to take for lunch to her kindergarten class when she was growing up in japan. 

The cooked all traditional home style items that would have been something they ate when growing up in japan and items they still cook today for their kids here in the US.

The items they made where--
Stuffed Lotus Root (In the bento box it is the item on the far left) which is two thin slices of lotus root with a ground meat mixture sandwiched between then lightly pan fried with a pan sauce over.  These where crunchy and only slightly sweet.  I plan on trying to make them for dinner one night, or even make a larger batch to take to the group I game with.
Japanese Style sweet Omelet (in the sample bowl image its on the bottom left next to the fake grass) This was a very different dish for me I had never tasted anything like it.  It was not  my favorite part of the sample but it wasn't bad just different... very um not anything like you would expect.
Steamed Veg & Japanese mustard dressing (broccoli and carrots)  They had cute little metel cutters that where about 1/2 in wide they used to cut stars, flowers, and even kitty faces out of carrot slices the sauce was realy good with them I could see it turning a broccoli hater into a lover easy.
Rice Ball with Sesame and salt - Literally just rice seasoned with sesame and salt but still good.
Finally my favirt item of the sample--
Butter Mochi!!  It was a very sweet and dense style Japanese cake which I can not wait to try making!

Here are some photos of the garden grounds, and some of the bonzi that were on display.

And finaly I will end the post with an image of the gift shops display of my amigurumi.