New Cards for Spring

Update and more cards:

I'm a huge paper crafting nut and I love to make Anna Griffin cards with her line of die cuts and card sets. I'm taking a little break from my toys while I get into Spring.

Here are the first two cards I've done. I like to do them in sets of two to four. I got these new balloon dies recently and set aside some card making time. You can make more than just cards with her line of stuff. Although I've never been into scrapbooking, I do love to do paper crafts, especially hand made books. 

I'm telling you, you've never seen anything as beautiful as what you can make with her die cuts and some printed paper. There's nothing like them anywhere on the market. They make the most intricate and gorgeous cards on the planet. 

Donkey Set

 I finished the set of donkeys from amigurumi.com monthly challenge. They call it an ami-along. I did have to buy a ball of dk yarn which I found at Michaels.

He's so cute! I love them both. I might make some more carrots because they are fun to make and Easter is coming so bunnies like them too. I'm taking a little break and playing with some decorative cards and die cuts. Then it's more crochet with Pablo the parrot coming up. On to the next...

Donkey! Donkey!

I got him done and he's so cute you know I just have to make more of them. He needs a bigger brother. 

I don't have a lot of dk yarn but I'm going to get some. I usually just divide my 4 ply worsted weight yarn into 2 ply and it does give me the right size of dk. It's best to use the coarser yarns like Red Heart Super Saver because it is thick enough for the stuffing not to show through.

But I used a softer yarn, Premier Just Yarn that I got at the Dollar Tree for this and the stuffing does show through, although it did give me the right size for the finished project. Coarser yarn divided into 2 ply with a c/2 hook works up a little tighter and you can overstuff it. But it can be fixed with a needle and thread if it starts to really bother me.

I am in love with this little donkey! He worked up in a couple of days of on and off crocheting. I don't sit and do this for hours on end. I move around a lot and I'm on the go fairly regularly. But he went pretty quick. 

Just go to Amigurumi.com and sign up for the ami-along. There's a new pattern every month and you can ask questions if you run into a snag. Happy creating!

 

Progress and Little Bear Done

I'm making good progress on my next project. It's a blue animal, but what is it going to be? It's going to be one of the cutest little animals I've ever seen. I hope to make several of them! It does have a lot of pieces but they come together so cute. You're gonna want to make one of these.

If you just can't stand it... you can go get the pattern at amigurumi.com.  While you're there you can look around at their books and patterns. They also have an "ami-along" you can join in monthly or by project. 

Always Working on Something

It's just what I do. I love to make things and that's why I get up every morning, because I look forward to it. I have these bear patterns in three different sizes and then I can use different yarns and needles to make even more sizes.

So I've been wanting to make these little bears for a while but I had so many projects in front of them that I just now got around to them. I have a boy pattern and a girl pattern for them. This one will be about four or five inches tall when I get her done. Her head is only two inches wide. The yarn is a little tricky to separate but it works.  I will have it done pretty quick.

Little Piggy Girl

Well, this is the last animal in her whole series of animal dolls that I've made using Little Cotton Rabbit's patterns by Julie Williams. I have made one of each animal, either a boy or a girl - but I'm nowhere near done making these wonderful dolls.

There are enough variations of the dolls and their clothes to keep me busy for quite some time. It's probably a safe bet that I will also be making any new dolls she comes out with too. They are by far my favorites of all the dolls I make.

And they come in different sizes so you can keep busy with them for as long as you like. I really feel like my knitting on these has improved with each one. I'm now pretty good at the seams and feel like I've nearly mastered the mattress stitch. My tension with the yarn is tighter and more uniform throughout the dolls. 

I saved the piggy for last and she is my new fav, but I say that about each one I make until the next one is done. I love them all! The deer and the lion are two add-on variations I haven't made yet. You can get the lion variation on Ravelry for free just sign up and search for it. 

The only changes I made on this piggy are: I colored the snout and inside ear with darker pink chalk pastels, I needle felted the spot on her face instead of knitting it in, and I made her tail with an i-cord instead of using the pattern instructions. The thing that makes them unique is what you change up on them. I tried to stick pretty much to the patterns but you can use these patterns to make unique animals and clothes with a little imagination and make them completely your own.

I just love those little shoes and anklets!

Serious Yarn Stash Growth

Since I started knitting and crocheting again, my yarn stash has been growing rapidly and I'm having some serious growing / storage pains. I have yarn in the closet, in bags in several places, in storage boxes, and I keep buying totes to put them in. It's time I got to organizing all this stuff before I start buying duplicate colors and yarns. That's what happens when you don't know exactly what you already have.

So I saw this shoe rack and thought it would be perfect for some of my smaller skeins of yarn, not the regular ones because they are longer and need more space to store. I could put another one on the inside of the closet but I need to see the yarn. This rack can also be wall mounted if you have the wall space. I don't. See how the bigger ones are hanging over the edge while they wait for me to get more organized?

I also bought some foam core board to make some cube storage for the bigger skeins and some foldable fabric cubes too. Foam core shelf units can be made to fit any space and it's perfect for lightweight yarn and project storage. Cardboard boxes can be covered and used too but they don't look as clean and neat. My yarn is overflowing already.

I probably will always be arranging and re-arranging my yarns by type and colors because that's always changing as I buy new yarn and work up projects. I love yarn! Still looking for some DT premier "flowers" yarns and hope I can find more colors. 

Michael's has some new yarns call Flecks and it's a little like the flowers yarn but the flecks and tufts of yarn are not as big as flowers - but I got one of each color anyway. It's probably as close as I'm going to get since Premier discontinued its flowers yarn. That's why it's in Dollar Tree. I'd love to find it in red. I love the novelty yarns too.