RESOBOX Gallary even has come to an end...

I am so happy to hear back from the awesome people over at RESOBOX.

I shipped of 22 ami's back in November so they could be apart of the largest Amigurumi Gallary event.   Five of those Ami's (unicorn, 2 dragons, a flower hat octo, and a seahorse) found new homes while they where off in New York!!

So I offically showed work in a gallary and SOLD work!!!

There are no words for how happy that makes me!!  I just wanted to share that with you all!!!

Also I will be working up a chibi octo pattern to give out as my way of celebrating!!!  Keep an eye out!!

New Pattern!! Butterfly Tank, Cover UP

Butterfly Tank, Cover Up

So spring is here (mostly) where I live, and that means I can bring out all my summer tops soon.

Its still a bit to chilly on days to where a tank top alone, so I made a cover up that I can put on in the A/C or when its a bit windy.  It covers the shoulders and on me just down to the top of my bust.    Sorry for the short distance photo I had to take it selfie style as no one was home today to help me out and I wanted to get the pattern finished and converted into a PDF so everyone else could give this top a try.             
  
Its a simple repeat of 4 rows, so you can easily adjust it to make a full top or even a bolero instead of a cover up.  The patter includes written directions and 2 charts.    

I took a poll over in Reddit to see if this should be included in my free or donate patterns.  I was actually quiet surprised by the results-- it was a tie!    48 people voted in total and the vote was split evenly at 24/24.         
                       
So what I am going to do is offer it here for free~~ and if you like it enough that you want to donate please feel free to!

~*~*UPDATED PHOTO*~*~

Yarn!!

WOW so my order from Dizzy Sheep shipped super fast!

I placed the order on 3/30 with free shipping and its only been two days I am super impressed.  I also love the touch of whimsy in the shipping package.

I also like the personal touch of a hand written note on the package, and on the order slip.

They also bagged the yarn, and tied it off with a cute ribbon to boot. Its the little things like this that made me want to share my experience.  I will defiantly be shopping with them again. 

Thank you Dizzy Sheep I will have a happy yarn day.  Now I can get back to working on my Butterfly Cover up.

Well once I can turn the hanks into ball's, one of the times I wish I had a swift but I rarely buy yarn in the hank (unless the shop offers to ball it).

New Pattern WIP

So I am working on a tank top cover up pattern.  Something I can toss on when I am wearing a tank top and the A/C is a bit to much.

I started while gaming last night with an idea in mind.  I thought a butterfly motif would look cute.  I wasnt sure it would work, and I had just planned on figuring out stitch repeat and some how it just worked on the first go.  It will definaly need to be blocked when its finished so the butterfly's will stand out better.

My issue right now is I decided to use a ball of yarn I bought from a LYS and only had one of so I had to go and order more of it.  They didn't have the same dye lot so I am hopping it will match up well.  1 ball got me almost one finished panel, as this will in the end be 2 rectangular panels I sew together to make a short top that should cover up just the exposed skin on my shoulders and back and about 1/3 of a sleeve.

I am also working on making a small diagram of the stitch pattern

Also NYR update I got a few more motifs done I am up to 13, I decided the 'saddle' section of the hippo would be in Shoal, and the underside, legs, and possably head will all be in Eggplant!!

The Presentation I used at Kawa Kon!

People have showed intrest in wanting a copy of my PP presentation from the pannel I ran at Kawa Kon.  

Sorry it has take me so long to get it up, the weather here has been freezing-summer-cold-mild-frost bit which has my immune system just sputtering.  Now that I can focus here is the slide show!!









I want to give a huge shout out to a few people--

Twinky Chan --Thanks for letting me show off some your awsome work.    
                 
Crochet-gifs -- Invaluable to people just learning to crochet thank you for all the work you share.

Su-ami -- Your Micro crochet wow's people, and I love pointing your work out when I talk about crochet being an art form and not just a craft.
       
Lastly to all the people of reddit who sent me photos of blankets/amigurumi's/crochet to share.

Tunisian Hat top down- Is it possable? [hat pattern+math]

Yes.

So I fiddled around today with my need double ended hooks and some yarn.  I decided to see if I could start a top down hat worked in a Tunisian knit stitch.        
             
I worked the hat out for about 5 rows of increase and these photos below are the  results.  I realize I didnt use the best colors for an example work, since I used a white and black variegated MC with a black CC but it was the yarn I had that was handy and easy to unravel if I decided to try working the hat differently if it didn't work up like I had planned.

So here is what I used --
Size M/N 9mm double ended hook
Worster Weight yarn in 2 colors (Mc/Cc)
Stitch marker (I used a scrap of white yarn)
You need to know some tunisian before attmpting this, how to work a TSS(simple stitch) and a TKS (knit stitch)

Here is the basic pattern I started working--

R1- MR sc 8 (work normal sc)
 R2- This is where you will leave your loops on the hook-- I did this increase round by picking up a loop from the front, then back loops of the top of each stitch.  You should need to work off loops as you add them on, for me I was comfortable having 6 stitch's on the hook at any time.  You work them off as you would work a return pass in normal Tunisian with the CC, leaving 2 loops of the MC on the hook to maintain consistent tension. [16]
R3- Inc, tks  (the way I increase was to work a normal tss then in the same stitch work a tks)[24]
R4- Inc, tks 2 [32]
R5- Inc, Tks 3 [40]

Just keep fallowing this pattern of increases till you get the width you need for the person the hat will go to.  The Tunisian knit stitch has a natural curl to it so dont worry when it starts to curl out wards, once you start working the length it should work itself out. 

A little math to help you out--

C=2piR

What that means-
C= the circumference of the head
R= the radius you need to get to insure your increase row will leave you with the circumference you need.
pi= 3.14~~~~~

So lets say you want to make a hat for a toddler with a 18 head.  To make sure you work the right amount of increase and dont make a hat to small or way to large we need the radius (that is the length of the start to the edge of the hat ((or from the center of the circle to the edge))).

So 18=2piR  we divide both sides by 2;  9=piR;  and now we divide both sides by pi (3.14) so we get 3=R (I rounded up the real number was 2.86).  So from the start of the hat to the edge needs to be 3 inches (or 6 inches across from edge to edge) in order to be wide enough to fit.

If you want the math for the diameter (from edge to edge) its C=piD so that math would be 18=piD; divide by pi  D= 5.73 which I would round up to an even 6 inches.

Front-1

 

Back-1

Front-2

Back-2

New hooks in!!

I just got my new set of double ended Tunisian hooks in!!

 I was hestint at first on buying these.  I wanted some double ended hooks for a while, but local stores only had it in size G (which I bought) and its a bit small for some of the things I wanted to try out.

This set originally 'said' it costed $59.99 which is way out of my budget.  It was on sale for  $16.95 + $3.90 shipping in the amazon market place, the reviews mostly seemed honest.

What do I mean by 'mostly seemed honest'?  Well now days you can pay company's to boost your product ratings by leaving 5 start reviews.  Typically these reviews just regurgitate the details listed in the description with colorful adjective's thrown in.  I dont want to waste my time and money on a seller who pays to inflate their ratings.

Now that being said, I saw no reports of anyone paying out the $60 for these hooks almost every review payed the $20 (16+S&H).  The only real complaint's I saw where a few people mentioning that some of their hooks snagged the yarn, but its easily fixed with sanding paper/nail file and a touch of wax.

I opened some of them and they all felt smooth but working with them will really test them.  The kit come in size C-P, I have a shot of all the hooks semi in order from largest (on left) to smallest.  Then I took a close up comparison of the P and C next to each other.  I have to say I am hesitant to use the smaller hooks that C hook is about as thick as the bamboo skewers I use for grilling but not as flexible, where the P is sturdy and I cant image it snapping with out some very deliberate attempting. 

Once I get the time, I am going to try and make a top down hat using Tunisian crochet.  I will let you in on a secret- I hat working bottom up hat's.  I have yet to find a top down tunisian hat pattern, a month ago I was chating with u/StitcherUniverse over on reddit's r/crochet we where debating how to work a top down, at the time I did not have the time/supplies to attempt to work it myself and now I do!!  They worked through a version where the top had some small puckering issues I am hopping when I work it up I can come up with an easily repeatable pattern that anyone can work up.

Wish me luck!!