unproductive

I am not having a very productive week. On Friday I agreed to do a craft fair next Sunday, this means that all those little half finished products I've got, I wanted to try and get finished to take with me This seemed like a good idea but I have now got to the stage where my to do list is so long that I've had a little meltdown and threw my toys out of the pram.
 I knew I wouldn't make anything worthwhile of my unfinished projects in that sort of mood so I did what any self respecting crazy crochet lady does, I started a new pretty project.

I got this flower pattern off pinterest and thought it would make a nice flower garland for the front of our stall. I even treated myself to some new yarn from my local wool shop castaway yarns. Me being me I couldn't just follow the pattern as written so I fiddled around with it and did it my way. Its a really nice pattern, works up really fast and I love the way the colours work together. I've only a couple more to make now and then hopefully I'll feel more inclined to tackle my to do list :)

I'm linking in with Handmade monday. There are some wonderful craft blogs to enjoy so why not wander over and say hello

must have cute

 my little ghostly amigurumi has made it to the front page of cheezburgers networks must have cute that the 5th of my creations to make it onto this huge site in only a couple of months. You can buy the pattern in my esty shop here and as always custom dolls are available on request just message me here or on etsy and you could have your own little ghost without having to get your hooks out :)

Witch

Just a quick post to show off my little witch.

 I was going for a scary witch but as sometime happens with amigurumi they get there own personality and you don't get a choice how they turn out.

 I think she looks more like someone dressed up as a witch for a party than an actual witch but that leaves me scope to make a really ugly witch another time so everyone is happy. I still think she needs a cat though :)

Now I've got her finished and decided on the basic humanoid pattern I'm gonna use for the rest of the trick or treaters the other patterns should (famous last words) be pretty easy. Kinda wish I wasn't at my proper work this week as I'm on a crocheting whirl and don't want to stop.

Ghostly maths

I'd nearly downed tools last night after finishing the panda and lion and making a start on a rhino. I was looking forward to a glass of wine and watching a bit of telly after a days hard work ;) but I hadn't done any work on my Halloween patterns and so deiced to keep at it for another hour or so making a few small body parts and what not, giving more time to do the really creative bits today.

 Then something wonderful happened. I was making a witch's hat and it started to go crooked. I hadn't meant this to happen but it looked good so I stuck with it. kept going and ended up with a little hat any wicked witch would be proud to wear.

Now the maths geek in my head is waving, shouting at me and doing everything it can to get my attention, its practically wetting itself with excitement and when my tired brain catches up with what its trying to tell me I get really excited too. Inadvertently I've done something I've been trying to work out a way to do in amigurumi for ages. A pencil and paper and some much too complicated maths to do late at night after half a glass of wine but I figure it out, refine it and then simplify it to a workable pattern to make this...

There is probably some really good proper name for that but to me it a unicorn horn. Also its not crocheted and that's because when I tried the pattern and it worked really well, I couldn't help myself and turned it into this

I loves him so much.
 He is worked from the bottom up. There is no pipe cleaner in there. His twisty body forms that way as you crochet him and it all one piece apart from the arms. I have so many ideas for how to use this technique I can barely contain myself  but first I've a witch who needs dressing and a headless devil to sort out :)

ghosty pattern not available here in my etsy shop :)

Fat friends part 2

What is going on with the weather? Its hot, very hot. My room faces west and is on the first floor this means from about 11 in the morn till 8 at night it roasts in the sun, its like working in an oven. It makes crochet a nightmare to do. The yarn squeaks on the hook and the feel of wool is almost unbearable. I try to use cotton and bamboo yarn wherever I can but in this heat its the only yarn I've found that still works.

 as such I haven't got as much done this week as I would have liked but there are 2 new members to the fat friends family.

 I couldn't resist the suggestion to make a lion. The mane is made by loop stitch which is where you wrap the yarn around your finger to create a loopy finish. When you get you head round how to do it, its surprisingly easy and quick to do and gives a really nice effect. I had intended to make his face round but as I was pinning the mane in place it naturally caved in to create a heart shaped face which just melted my heart. I think he is my favourite of the family so far.

 Panda, why so sad?
 Maybe I was in a grump when I made her but she does look glum.
I had to make 3 body's for this panda as it just wasn't working out. First time the yarn I chose just worked out way too small. This can happen, even if a yarn says its a DK weight it can crochet up in completely different sizes and as test swatches are for baby's ;) sometimes its just a bit of trial and error.
 The next body I got the size right but I made it all in white and this didn't look right so I undid it and added the black stripe. I'm really happy with how she looks now but I think she might need a bit of bamboo to cheer her up.

 Panda and lion together :)

All the gang. How small is this photo. I'll have to play around with photoing the full family as this pics not going to do. You might notice what I was saying about yarn tension. All these are made from DK yarn but they have all come out different sizes. I don't mind this its one of the things that make amigurumi individual.

So there is only one more place in the family (for the time being anyway) I'm torn between a dog or a rhino so I'll leave the choice up to you :)

I'm linking in with handmade monday 

Cats in crochet

I'm as happy as a cat in crochet today.

Thats Cassi in a granny square blanket to prove my point :)

For a while now I've been umming and arrhing about getting my patterns into craft magazines. I've been really nervous about approaching them as I don't have a design degree, I'm self taught and I haven't been blogging and writing patterns for that long. I knew I could come in for some harsh criticism from the experts but today in a fit of bravery I decided to whittle off some emails and see what happened.
 I wasn't expecting to hear back anytime soon so I was bowled over to get a response from one magazine within a few hours. I'm not gonna say anymore till I know more but its all really good and exciting stuff. I've had some lovely feedback and I'm feeling really chuffed with myself and my little blog . I'm also gonna say a big thank you to all my readers. Its your visits and comments that keep my confidence up and inspire me to keep crocheting away like a mad thing and make more stuff to make you smile. Love and hugs to you all from me and my amigurumi creations :)

If that's not enough mushy stuff here's a pic of Cals new kittens nomming on the milk bar :)

Fat friends

The family of fat friends is nearly complete. All these patterns will be available in my etsy shop and when the family is complete I'll be putting all the patterns together as a package deal.

Newest members are Tiger

 Thank you to Shannon one of my facebook fans for the suggestion to make a tiger, I love him :) I tried doing the stripes a few different ways. first I used slip stitch in black yarn over the orange base colour. This looked good but the stripes were a bit to straight and just didn't look how I wanted them to. Next I tried crocheting the stripes and sew them onto the body, I really didn't like this, they stood off the body too far and looked too chunky and just plain wrong. Last I tried felt stripes, this worked great. I could get the shape and size of stripe right and by using a felting needle to attach them to the body they became part of the fabric of the body and didn't stand out. I think it was worth the trial and error to get him looking so smart, plus if you get the pattern it'll have the templates so you'll get it right every time.

Next up monkey

 Its not everyday you meet a blue monkey but you'll never forget him after you do :)

 The wild half of the fat friends all together. There is a panda on my hook at the moment to join the gang and I'm toying with the idea of a rhino too.

I'd like there to be a group of 10 when I'm finished as I think that 10 patterns for £7.99 is a good deal.
If anyone has any suggestions on who will be the last animal to join the family I'd love to here from you.

Zombie bunny crochet along

I thought I'd have a break from crocheting by doing some crochet ;)

What I mean is I put my amigurumi designs and pattern writing to one side for an afternoon and joined in with Ravelrys freaky amigurumi group crochet along.

This months pattern is a free pattern zombie bunny from a blog called the theory of creativity.

This is the designers photo of the finished zombie bunny.

Its been ages since I've followed a pattern and this wasn't written quite how I write my patterns so at first it took me a while to translate it to my way of making amigurumi. This was fine and I got cracking with some yarn I had left over from my Offalump. There wasn't a hook size suggested but I use my trusty 3.5mm for everything I make so I just used that. I had a bit of a problem with the instructions for the second ear. If you can see in the above photo the felt goes into the ear and the pattern seems to be a way of making a hole in the ear. I must admit I could see what the designer was getting at but I couldn't make it happen by following her instructions so I fudged it and made up my own way. I'm really please with how my Bunny's bullet hole ear turned out.

Quite a few people on the ravelery group had used embroidery thread instead of felt for the detail and I really liked that idea so I shamelessly stole it :)

So drum roll please........ complete with spooky camera effect here is my attempt at the zombie bunny

Its that time of week again so I'm linking in with handmade monday. Why not have a wander over and see all the other lovely craft blogs :)

The new batch

 Its too warm to crochet, my yarn is squeaking so I thought I'd share some pics of Cals new batch of kittens. Born on Thursday night this bundle of cuteness has been keeping me busy. Cal is doing most of the work but its so easy to waste hours just watching them.

 You can just about make out all 6 of the kittens in this photo. This was taken the morning after they were born.

 Look at those little paws :)

A mound of kittens being cleaned by mum. Cal is such a good mother, this will be her last litter but its really hard to not let her have anymore when she is just so content when she has her babies around her.

friends

I've been busy since my last post working on more amigurumis to join the family of Bubblebun and Bumblebear

So far we have a cat

So of course next I had to make a mouse

Hes a lovely chunky mouse and hes actually bigger than the cat but in the world of amigurumi anything can happen and I like that my mouse is bigger than my cat, its time mice got their own back :)

Tails a cute pink mousey tail and a chubby kitty tail.

Elephant. I've used a pipe cleaner to make his trunk bendy and so you can position it any way you want.

Here they are all together. I'm really happy with this group of patterns, they are very simple to make but they turn out so cute. I'm defiantly gonna add a monkey, maybe a few more things, but then this group of friends can go off and play together while I then get cracking on some Halloween patterns.

Bubblebun and bear

Every bunny needs a bear for a friend.

 This bear is the same basic body as the bunny. Its bigger because I used a different yarn so that I would get a bigger body shape without having to extend the pattern.

Don't they look so cute together.

I've had loads of ideas for more animals to make to join this little family, so I'll be adding more patterns from time to time :)

Hmm maybe a monkey or a cat next...

I'm linking in with handmade monday 

new bunny

Today I've been working on a new pattern.

 Ages ago I made these little bunnies out of fimo. They were a prototype for an amigurumi idea I'd had and had I was please with how they looked. Cute and fat bunnies, who could resist? I was playing with fimo again this morn when I remembered I'd never actually got round to making them into an amigurumi pattern.

If everything goes to plan, with a bit of luck, making a amigurumi and writing the pattern can be quite a quick progress.I do a lot of maths and drawing before I start,to make my first attempt and to avoid having to make lots of dolls to get the pattern right.

I was lucky with this bunny it worked out how I wanted. The most difficult was making ears that stood up. All my other Bunny's have droopy ears but I really wanted this one to have sticky up ones. I think I've found away to do this I'm happy with and will hopefully make sense to anyone who follows my pattern.

Its difficult to tell scale in this photo but shes about 6" tall.

 My job now is to translate the squiggles and numbers that I've written down and make it into a pattern that anyone can use. I'll then tempt my tame pattern tester with cheesecake and hopefully it'll be ready to go in my shop on Monday.

She still needs a name, any ideas?

Ghost on a swing

I've been playing with fimo again.

I deciede to make the bow and arrow set for my princess doll out of fimo and while it was out I had a little play. With halloween just round the corner I thought it was time to use my glow in the dark fimo and inspired by a picture on pintrest this is what I can up with.

 Its a glow in the dark ghost on a swing necklace!!!  Seriously, I could not be happier with this. I wore it to work yesterday and not only way this little happy ghost having a jolly old time on his swing every time I looked down but every time I went into the stockroom or kitchen he'd start glowing. He got a lot of looks, smiles and comments from my customers too :) I'm know I'm a big kid but I can honestly say I have never had a necklace that gave me more pleasure. I was giggling away to myself all day. I wanted to go running to the nearest park after work and play on the swings, but the I remembered I was a grown up who had a bus to catch and cleaning to do :(

 I got Leah our Saturday girl to model it for me so I could take some pictures.

Very bad picture as I had to play about with the contrast to get it to show up but look at it glowing :)

Ooh I do love glow in the dark stuff, what can I make next?. Stop Press!! I've just discovered some glow in the dark yarn so I can make a mini crochet ghost on a swing necklace :-D

Update;

 I got a lovely surprise my little ghosty was featured on cheezburger network must have cute and so I've decided to make a few more they are available to buy in my etsy shop