Stuffing explosion!!

So a while back I ran across a 10lb box of the polyfill I normally buy in 12oz bags.  Typically I would pick up a 12oz bag every few weeks as needed and it was running me $3-$4.50 depending on who had it in stock.  Well this 10lb box cost me $20, I am saving over half the price.  Bag by bag I was spending roughly $.26 an ounce, with this box, its closer to $.13 a ounce. 

Wayne my husband was spost to help me open it last night but we never got around to it.   I wanted to record the opening because exactly what I thought would happen did.

So imagine you have this big box that already is bulging outwards from the pressure inside.  I barely slit the ends of the special tape (it is the kind that has reinforced threads in it) when it ripped itself open and in fast slow motion (it was slow, but to fast for me to get my phone recording it in time) it exploided out of the box.  As I type right now it has grown to be almost double in size O.O since taking the pic.   I think I am going to need to find a spot to stash the full box and a small container to pull out rations to work with.   I know I should not run out of poly fill for a good long while so long as I dont get any pillow, or big sized toy requests in.

Which is better? WIP

So I am going to make two version of my black chibi dragon. This first one has the eyes I hand painted with the silver blue paint I mixed myself.  I was lucky I caught some day light towards the end of a rainy day so I got a good natural light shot of these guys.

The sun kind of made his horns hard to see against the wood of my bench that has faded into a beautiful silver.  I used yarn colors Steel and Black from Red Heart.  Steel was a vintage color I picked up at a yard sale so not sure if its still a colorway you can buy.

Besides trying to decide which eyes work best with these guys (hand painted or prepainted) I want to get everyones opinion on something else.   I want to get this pattern typed up into a pdf, but I am struggling with deciding on if it should be free or a donation pattern.  I am also thinking of making a booklet pdf with all my patterns in it free and pay and having it be a donation one and the only way you can get the Chibi Dragon pattern again it would just be for donations of $1 up to how ever much the donator thinks its worth.  
  
If I go with the booklet, it will be most the patterns on the site up to the dragon one.  Any patterns that I publish after, if the booklet seems to go over well, I will bundle up to make a second booklet with an other bonus pattern that can only be gotten in the 2nd booklet.  I dont know if this sounds like a good idea or if I am just nuts.  If I do make the booklet, it is something that if/when I start doing craft fairs I can get copy's printed to take with me and sell as well.

What are your thoughts, hand painted or prepainted?
Free/Donation and if Donation should I go booklet or does that not even appeal to you.

Chibi Dragon

I worked on this little guy for 2 days trying to get a good look.

I wound up reworking the wings almost 5 times, the ears twice, and the horns I didnt bother to keep track of how many styles I went threw before settling on these.

I aam still unhappy with the finished item.  I think when I make an other I will be tweeking things like the body, tail, legs, and how I go about assembling it. 
       
I was inspired by a old photo I saw a few years ago on the web, where they are no longer being made.

What is your guys opinion?   
  
Should I try cat eyes on the next one instead of my special hand painted ones?  They seem to blend in to well with the yarn I used this time, I painted them a sea green hat has a bit of shimmer to it. 

Next one I make I think will be a black version with gray wings and horns, I was thinking of painting eyes in a silver or silver blue shimmer but maybe the cat eye pupil eyes (which I can only get in yellow/green so I cant make my own colors) would leave it with a more dragon like look.

I even commented to my husband (before the wings and horns where on) that it looked more like a frog that had its tadpol tale still.

Chibi Turtle Pattern *FREE PDF*

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Chibi Turtle PDF

You can now download a copy of my Chibi Turtle Pattern.  I have not gotten feedback yet from my pattern testing pool so if you catch a mistake please let me know.


Its not as detailed as my moonkin pattern but it should be easy enough to fallow, if you need any help, if something is unclear or you just thing a step sounds wrong contact me and I am more then willing to help/fix/explain.

TURTLES!

I have now worked threw my Chibi turtle pattern 4 times, and sent it out to 6 volunteers testers over on r/crochet so once I get the feed back, on the first draft of the pattern I can make adjustments and start my next turtle that will be photographed semi step by step.  I will try to provide alot of photo support for the areas where I do something that is not a typical step done in crochet, and I know I will do a step by step of the back shell as it might be the most complex part for a beginner. 

It will also have to wait till I get my laptop back from dell.  So I can do my formatting adding in all the photos and finishing edits to create the pdf file for downloading.

So I will leave you with these two shots of the guys, Mikey, Leo, Raf, and Donny.  Now rember this is a patter for Chibi Turtles, and not Ninja Turtles.  You can accessorize them how ever you like o.- (ie use the bonus patters provided with the Chibi turtle patter ((super hero mask, and belt)) to create what ever you want.)

Aloha Crochet Contest voting is now over and the winner has been picked.....

Well the vote's have been counted.  Even though I am not one of the winners, I am still glad I entered it was alot of fun.

The Grand Prize Winner was u/cgsf, they made a doily out of some beautiful variegated crochet thread (click winners name for link to their winning project).        
1st Runner up was  u/zzzonal she made a sceanic halter bikini top with tapastry crochet, bonus points for showing everyone how to make a tapastry crochet bracelet.
2nd runner up, u/SunnyInDenmark.  She made a stunning set of tropical flowers.

I am not sure where I am in on the ranking, as the votes where only seen by the mod and host of the contest, but they did let me know I recived a whooping 49 votes.

So I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who voted, to the people who helped put the contest together, and u/SassySSS for providing prizes and motivation.

WIP TMNT pattern

I am going to write up a patter,  and make a set of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
It is hard to find a good pattern for them, I have seen a few and they just don't look right. 
I don't want to pay for a pattern that that I would just have to adjust and tweak when I could just write it the way I like the first time.

I will try to make a pdf freebie when I make the next turtle and have the pattern all flushed out.

I have a fully finished Ralph now.  There are a few tweak I will make on the next turtle I make.  Most will not be visably noticable as they have to do with the shell  and how I attached it, I am debating on attching it to the body before I stuff the body to sew onto the head.  I dont know if this will make it easier or harder,  I do know I need to under stuff the next shell.

I will be taking these guys to Fear The Con being held June 13th - June 14th, 2014 at the
Maryland Heights Centre.  They will be up for adoption when I am working the check in desk.

Still debating on if I should offer them as a set or sell them individually.  I do know I will be trying to make more then just one set. Maybe I will have a set that is for sale, then a few turtles with out mask's so people can pick there own mask color?  Then I could offer up diffrent colors outside of the red, orange, blue, and purple of the original TMNT.