More procrastination...?

I swear I am working on getting my patterns all typed up and bundled. While doing it, I had an idea.  What would an Octo look like if I made it with a African Flower motif to start.  This is the result, I know if I make a second I have to work on the flower part as it left gaps big enough for stuffing to seen which means it can be pulled/worked out.  I used the left over yarn from my purse and scraps from the pillow shame I made back in april.



I am currently working on a Mythic Amigurumi Booklet that will have the patterns I wrote for chibi dragons, cthulhu, abnormal unicorn, and a dragon egg pouch.

Finaly finished! Crocodile Stitch Boots

Finally Finished! I really hope they fit her and she loves them.

I wasn't able to match up the color change on them, but I think it gives them a touch of kitch.  My hubby drove me all over town today just so I could find the right buttons to go with this color.  I picked a nice purple, turquoise, and lime green buttons so they would pop.  The button slip threw 3 of the stitches that look like scales/peddles  and can be adjusted so they are tighter by going over to the next set of V stitches (can only be seen from the inside so) or even to the next set of 3 scales/peddles.

Now that they are done, I will be going back to work on two blankets on for Miss Jordan, and the other for her dad.  I left the granny square blanket at my sisters so I am hoping that Jordan doesn't stretch it out to badly so the squares I am making fit with out causing it to bunch up.

Gift for Miss Jordan -WIP-

 Birthday Gift 

for 

Miss Jordan

 I have seen these booties all over for a while now.   
This is the Crocodile Stitch Child Boots designed by Lianka Azulay.  I had to make a few adjustments to the pattern, I made my soles in black so her mom can add black puff paint making them non-slip if she wants with out it being noticeable.   I made some stitch count adjustments as well to get the size just right for her so they would not be to small or large.

I am using one skein of Chroma Luau WW, with a sole of  a few yards RHSS black. 

I think the baby size in this boot look the best, I realize the bigger the shoe the more noticeable the flaws in the pattern.  The front decreases have left some gaps that when the shoe is stretched are noticeable.  The directions for finishing the soles could use better defining I fallowed what they wrote, and did not get the right stitch count I had to go back and modify how I worked my corners.  Fallowing their directions I always came up 4 stitches short so I made two increases in each corner instead of putting 2 stitches in each corner as the pattern called for.

If I ever had call to make an other pair of these boot's I think I will make the sole I wrote for my other boots and just make sure I end with the right amount of stitches because it is more foot shaped and less rectangular, these booties I would call super wide width if you use the patterns sole, that is coming from someone who has wide width feet herself.

I still need to find some buttons to use and sew them on for closure, and weave in all my ends.  The photos are of the semi-finished right boot.  I am going to start the left boot now, sadly I did not end in a spot where they will be perfect matches, the left will start with the sherbet orange instead of the blood orange like the right boot.

Winter head wrap or Neck warmer.

 I decided to make a project for me since I have been working on stuff for others for some time.

I was out at a festavil with my sister and bro-in-law and the squirt and I keep seeing these chunky head bands.  They where all imported from china made from flimsy yarn and probably would fall apart in its first washing but I still wanted one.  At last I spend my money on other things like hydration and did not buy one but I figured I could just make one.So here it is my first go at this pattern I wrote as I worked.  It is super simple if you can double crochet, increase, and decrease you can do this.

You just need to know a few things

• How big the persons head is that wants the item
• Your crochet guage - which means how many stitches and rows it takes to make an inch (or your perfured method of measurement)

Start off by chaining 4

DC in the 2nd chain from hook, Dc in next chain (also last chain)

Ch 2 DC INC in both st's

Ch 2 Dc, inc, inc, dc

ch 2 DC 3, inc, inc, dc3

What I am doing here is Increasing in the middle two stitches you can increase till the band is wide enough for your liking, for a child I would stop increasing right here.  For my head band (fits my head at 22 inches) I did 2 more rows of increase.  

Once you have your increase as wide as you want the band to be measure it from the start point to the mid section of your last completed row.  Take that number and times it by 2 so if you have 4 inches, you would times it by 2 to be 8inches.  This number is important for me that would mean I would need to crochet an other 14 inches of just even back and forth rows.

Now depeding on your yarn, hook, and guage these numbers WILL differ for most people, I used a I or J hook with a #5 Bulky yarn but I crochet it tightly as I tend to do so my guage was about 3 stitches and 1 1/4 rows to an inch.

So what you need to do is just DC back and forth stoping to measure every know and then till you get the lenth you need  (( Head size {22} - Increase section{4*2})) Once you hit that lenght you will start your decrease rows which will be the same lenght as your increase rows (its why you muliplied by 2) As with the increases, I did all the decreasing in the middle section.

Picking up from where I left off in the patter--

Ch 2 dc 3, dec, dec, dc 3

ch 2 dc,dec, dec, dc

Ch 2 Dec, Dec

Ch 2 dc 2

Leave a long tail.  

Using the long tail sew in a button that is roughly 1 inch wide, it should slip snuggly between the DC's from the starting row to secure the head band, and if your band is a little loose just go up a row or two.

I plan on make a flower for my head band from my previous post, like the ones I made for my sisters birthday gift.  I will use an alligator clip to attach it so that I can have multiple flowers to dress it up or down depending on my mood.

I wore it out today because it is getting cold here and the wind was picking up, it was nice and warm, and when I got to the store I just pulled it down so it sat around my neck keeping the warmth from my jack in.  It is not only cute but it function as a multipurpose warmer.  My jacked is a tight jean jacked and doesnt have the space for a bulky scarf to be tucked into but this winter head band/neck warmer worked great for me and did what I needed it to do.

As always if you make one I would love to see it.

As always I used the American terms for stitches.

Flowers! Irish Motif

I still need to get myself over to a crafting store and pick out a away to attach these flowers so she can pick and choose which one she wants to wear when ever she feels like a change of flower.


I am thinking alligator clips if I can find them in the right size.

Its been overcast for the past week so I just took shots of the flowers inside with the best lighting I can manage, I need to build me a light box I just dont have the space upstairs for it. I took some close up shots of some of the ones that just didn't come out in the group shot.  I hope Christine really likes these.  Most of theses where made with a bulky weight yarn with exception of the top middle (pink and grey) and the bottom middle two (yellow/blue and white) they where made with worst weight.

I didnt write down the pattern as I was working these they should be a basic Irish motif flower, but here is basicly what I did-

Chain 4 slst into first chain to form a ring
Chain 5 and dc into the ring, *chain 2 dc into the ring* do this 5 times then slst to the 3rd chain in the starting chain. You should have 6 chain spaces now.

Chain one, in the first chain space -sc, chain 1, dc2, chain 1, sc- repeat across all chain spaces you should end up with 6 peddles slsp into the first sc and cut off end.

Switch color and put a slip knot on your hook to start, slip stitch around the starting chain three from the BACK side of the flower  then chain up 6,  DC around the next dc post  (working from the back side of the flower this whole time) chain 3 and repeat all the way around, slst into the 3 chain in the begining chain up.  Again you shoould have 6 chain spaces.

Chain one - sc, ch 1, dc3, ch 1, sc- repeat across all chain spaces (I did a few peddles sc, ch1, dc, tr,dc,ch,sc to get a more pointy peddle) slst FO

For the one with a 3rd round -
Put a slip stitch on the hook and from the back side of the flower slip around the starting post of the last round, chain 7, dc around the next post, chain 3 repeat till you have 6 chain spaces.

Chain 1 --sc, hdc, dc2, hdc, sc -- repeat around finish off.



These work up quick and you only need a few yards (I believe I used less then 4 feet for the smallest flower)

UPDATE here are some shots of the flowers all finished and clipped onto the hat, yes I clipped them all on at once that way none of them will get lost.  I dont think she will ever wear more then one at a time, this is just so I know where they are.

Birthday Gift

 So I asked my sister what she wanted for her birthday (stipulation I was making it out of yarn that she had previously commented on wanting something made out of) and she bombarded me with tons of images of hats.  Here is the finished hat, its done up in the Puff Stitch with a DC boarder.  I originally planned on adding a short brim to it because a lot of the images I was shown had them, but this pattern sucked up this whole skein of yarn I barely had a foot left when I did my tail tucking.   

So no brim, but what do you think of adding a set of detachable flowers so she can pick and choose what flower she wants to wear with it, as sort of a dress it up, dress it down, dress it kookie how ever she feels that day. (And however many flowers I made -.-)

This way she can place the flower any where she wants and it is not stuck in some random location I picked that might not work well for her.

Sorry for photo quality I took these last night just to show her to make sure she liked it I was going to take photos today but its overcast out and they would not look any different.

Happy birthday! and Ood-er things

 

Ok I finally made that Ood!!  Since my wonderful hubby has a birthday this week and people have asked or mentioned Oods to me atleast 3 times this month I decided to make one.  It didn't quite work like I wanted so when I make an other (if) I will have to adjust the pattern.  I was hopping to work it all in one piece +arms, but it wound up more like five pieces. I went for natural light hoping it wouldnt wash out the color.

Mom's Gift

So I finaly got to give my mom the hat I was working on here.  I am glad I got to give it to her today, because its one postive thing on an other wise unhappy day.  For those of you who dont know my younger sister would have been 23 today and it still makes some of us sad angry and frustrated that we wont get to celebrate her birthday ever again.

Here is my prettyfull mom styling in her new hat. 

She had some cute scarfs made out of this mesh looking yarn no idea how she makes them but I want to try working with that yarn soon.

Currently I am trying to mock up a pattern for a Red Panda amigurumi because I want to.  I have no outstanding commissions, and I just finished a pair of slippers I made for my husband. Will post images of them when he decides to let me take pictures of his feet!!

Valentine's day early

So my husband gave me my Valentines day gift early so i figured I would give him his early.  I scoured threw about 500 penny's looking for special dates.  I made him a key ring out of penny's with his birth year, my birth year, and the year we got married.  It only took a drill, a clamp, a crap load of penny's to find the perfect dates and a keyring but I hope he likes it.  I like making gifts to give because I put a lot of work and thought into them, rather then buying  something he may or more likely may not use or want.

Gift spoilers for B-Days and Christmas

So these are some of the things I have been working on lately.  They are all gifts for family so family if you are looking act surprised when I give it to you!

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***There be Spoilers ahead***

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The ever unfinished Fab Four.  For my mom.  I super suck at wire bending but I did my best to make glasses, and now they all have noses.  Still on the list to finishing them mouths, belts, jacket buttons, and ties.  Still fighting with myself over if I should make interments or not, and if I do should i make just the guitars or do I then have to make Ringo a drum set?






























Here is what I am working on right now for my husband.  Any Doctor who fan's out there should know what this is with out an explanation, but for the non-whooviens I will explain.

There is this awesome British tv show called Doctor Who, its about a space and time traveling alien called simply called the Doctor, so you will offend hear people saying 'Doctor who?' when he is introduced.  One of his greatest enemy's are the Dalek's a race that the doctor at one point thought he killed off for the greater good of the universe.  This little crochet creation is going to be an old school version of the Dalek.  I still have a few rounds to go before I can stuff and put a bottom on him then work on his extremity's.  I think they will be the hardest parts to recreate.  He is going to be stuffed, but if the hubby likes him I might make an other  that he can use as a dice bag for all his gaming dice.











And last but by far not the leaset.  The project that gave me the MOST issues.  Probably because I was working on it while I had really bad vertigo.

The gift for my sister Christines birthday which is coming up on turkey day.  This is the project I had to keep unraveling because it just would NOT work up right.  I hope she loves it because it was one of the crochet items she had on her Pintrest list, and at that time I thought it would be the only thing I would be able to work up while the world was spinning around me *vertigo was bad*  I just cant believe how much trouble it gave me!! 

One of those days...

Have you ever had one of those days when for some reason you just couldn't do the most simple task?  The last few days have been like that for me.  I am working on an other birthday gift this one for my sister, that is coming up sooner then my moms and I get about 2000 to 3000 stitches in and have to unravel the WHOLE thing because I just cant seem to do the most basic shaping correctly. The first time it went all wobbly so I just assumed i over increased but I didn't see that when I unraveled.  Second time even though I wasn't increasing the shape was increasing.....  I have re-work this first 2K/3K about four times now and I think I have finally got it!!  Still need a few more rows before I can tell if it is going to look right *sigh*.  She better love it when its finished. 

Maybe I have just being crocheting to much and need a 24 brake?

Speaking of the Beatles dolls..... I have kind of put them out of sight and forgot about them >.> now I am dreading going over the to nose/mouth or not to nose/mouth question.

Sneak Peak 97% Finished

I thought I would post a peak at how the boot is going.
This one should be the left boot it still needs some finishing touches like the button closure and weaving in some tails.  I need to get someone to model these for me in better lighting my dark little corner does not do them justice, then again neither does my cell phone camera. 

Now I am off to decode my scribbles so I can rewrite them for a right boot!!

The Beatles WIP... or is it?

I am not sure if this is how I am going to leave them. I have an idea for nose's but if I do that idea there will not be room for a mouth.  So the biggest questions weighing on my mind right now is to nose or not to nose, to mouth or not to mouth or go with it as is.  I have a ton of tiny details i want to do but multiplet it by 4 and I feel like its to much work and might make it look over worked.  My only other concern is do I need to put glasses on one of them?  And if so which one?!!?  Left to right who I tried to make them look like--- The guy who married the asain lady, the one I can never rember, Paul, Ringo.


Things I want to make but think will make them look even more bulky then they already are--
Ties,  betls, fingers and thumbs which I know would not turn out well, a guitar, bass, a mic and some sort of drum set with sticks, mouth, noses, ears.... I think I am goiong to stop my ramblings here.


What do you think, should I attempt nose's and mouths or just do one or the other or neither?

Bookmarks and procrastination

I don't know about you, but it seems like I horde bookmarks.   I am going threw my list trying to organize them and I have no idea what half of them where marked fore.   >.<   

I seem to have bookmarked a lot of crochet sites that sadly no longer exist so I think know if I see a pattern I like instead of bookmarking it I need to download or copy it even if I don't think I will make it right away.  

I am using my bookmark mess as a excuse to procrastinate working on the Beatles dolls, the farther along I get with them the more and more I dislike how they are turning out.  I told myself that I can not start on an other personal project till I finish them.  So I am putting off making a Christmas present for my niece and other birthday's related gifts.  

I just hope I don't forget what I want to make her I have a cute idea for crochet boots.  I saw a few on pin crest but they where $35 so I thought to myself why not just make up a pattern myself.  It cant be to hard I already made a baby flip flop pattern I could use that as my base and work up from there.




>.> 
<.< 


 

Hush hush birthday gift for mom WIP

I finnaly got the blank dolls done!  I just need to make them wigs still need to decide if I want to do it out of yarn or felt.  I have to pick which one is going to get what color jacket.  Was thinking of doing Dark blue for George, Red on Ringo, Green or Yellow for John, and Light blue for Paul.  Still have alot of work to go they are only about half finished.  I got to make belts, ties, hands, sleaves with shirt cuffs, jacket, jacket collar, shirt collars, and finaly finish up the faces with eyes and noses and mouths!!

Egads now that I wrote it all out that's a lot of work.  If your wondering I made the pattern up for these dolls as I went along.  If enough interest is shown for the finished item I might type it out and put it up for sale for like $1 or just charge $60 for the four of them if you want me to do all the work!

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.