AARRGGGHHH Matey

Ok this is what happens with my creative life... I get really going good making one thing, having a blast crocheting these little dolls from the latest book I bought. I'm on my second doll working my way through the book and then something catches my eye. So I start thinking about making something while I'm making something.

The next thing I know, I'm dragging out my paints and dusting them off to take a free class. Then I get all caught up in paint. But my paint is not organized and I'm struggling to find the right colors I need. So I made a few of a certain type of layouts and a couple of paintings.

Then I run across a sale of my favorite acrylic paints for .54 cents a bottle... but I don't have room for them until I clean and organize my paint stash and throw away some dried up paint that is older than my cook stove. So I decide to go through all my paints and make a color chart so I'll know what I've got. So I do that for a couple of days while I'm ordering new paint colors that I don't already have while being careful not to duplicate any colors I already have..

This is the process I go through when I create something. One thing leads to another and I get derailed for days before I can get back to what I started with. And I'm very lucky if I'm still interested in doing the thing that I was doing when I got pulled away from doing it to do something else. 

I have to say that I've been pretty much crocheting and knitting dolls a lot for most of the past two years so it has really held my attention for a long time so maybe I need a break from it. So it's spring and right now I'm on a flower painting kick. It's still too cold to garden. Who knows how long this will last. But at least I got my paints organized and documented so that is major progress any way you look at it.

And I'm in love with this guy. He's everything you'd want a pirate to be. The tats, the eye patch, the peg leg, the parrot and look at that handsome smile with those gold capped teeth. And I've always loved a man with a good beard. What a charming fellow!

Summer Fun

It's all about keeping cool in the summer sun. Some people go to the beach and some people stay home in the A/C and crochet. I don't live anywhere near the ocean so I'm one of the latter, but I love to dream about the sea and all its creatures keeping cool in the ocean.

So I ran across this book that I fell in love with. It's called Aquatic Amigurumi by Natasha Tishchenko . I found her patterns on etsy under natura.crochet. These are so colorful. I had a hard time deciding on what to make first. It's rare that I literally want to make every creature in a book but these patterns are so cute.

I started with a mermaid. I usually don't get into a lot of 'people' or character type dolls but I love these.  I want to make every one of them! The fish are also all adorable. 

Love her hair and the way the starfish give her lower half some texture. I crochet over handed but she turned out pretty good and well proportioned. I crocheted the side scales right onto the body instead of having to sew them on later.

If you like to crochet a lot and want to make several different patterns, buy the book. You would spend a lot on patterns buying them one at a time. This book will keep me busy for a while. 

There's so many little starfish and guppies you can crochet in this book. I just love the pirate with his gold capped teeth and the parrot on his arm. Oh and you just have to make a kraken!

Spring Is Coming Soon...

... I promise. I write this as I'm looking out my window at an inch of snow on the ground. Last week we had 60 degree weather. I know it's coming and I already have my real flower, veggie and herb seeds in the dirt in a seed starter greenhouse. But I don't have to wait for beautiful flowers. Just look at what I found! It's a book about crocheted flowers. It is called Crochet Collage Garden by Chris Norrington and it just came out a few days ago.

While you're waiting on your book to arrive you can get some free patterns from the book by signing up to Bookmarked Hub .com and it's free to sign up. That should hold you for a while. That's what I did. It only takes a short amount of time to make several of these. They go really quick.

It is written for UK crochet instructions. You have to translate it to American terms outside of the UK. A treble crochet is a double crochet in USA terminology.  So we use the equivalent of DK yarn over here where DK yarn is not easy to find locally. In America it's a weight #3 yarn we call light worsted yarn. My ferns and flowers are made with a #2 equivalent weight yarn. I usually split my #4 worsted into 2 ply because I can and it keeps me from having a thousand different weights of yarn skeins in every color of the rainbow. You should use what you have. You could have a bouquet in no time at all. 

What I really like about the patterns is that they are quick to work up. If you've ever worked on a large project you know it helps to break up the monotony with quick projects here and there. I fell in love with the fern pattern. Once I caught on, it flew quick and like most of the patterns, you don't need to refer back to them once you have one under your belt. And there are diagrams for all the patterns plus written instructions so you should be able to figure it out. 

You will want to block your work especially on the ferns. You can also use a spray fixative or stiffener if you want. If you are going to display them out in the open like in a picture where you can't wash them by hand when they get dirty or dusty you might want to do that to help dustproof them.

You are going to love this book. I've been struggling with a creative block since the first of the year. I just didn't want to make anything and that is so unlike me. My creative block is over and I have my cro-jo back! I think I will be busy this spring. Gardening, planting, painting, cleaning and making these flowers. Happy crocheting!

Chicken Fever!

Uh oh... I heard about some chicks at TSC a few days ago and now I want some. The only thing holding me back is that I don't have a place to brood them and keep them safe from other animals until they are big enough to go out in a coop. But I want some chickens... and my own eggs if I can afford the start up costs.

It's much cheaper to just buy them at the store even at these prices but it's not about egg prices. It's about food supply and self sufficiency. It's about control. And stupid news articles telling everyone how bad it is to raise your own chickens and eggs. It's unhealthy... really? Why would anyone want to eat lesser quality food than what they could grow for themselves??? Really? Do my brains look scrambled?

Do you really believe that home grown eggs are causing people to have foot long blood clots? It's not the eggs and we know what causes that. Every fiber of my being tells me that is a lie. Go do research on the health benefits of raising your own food compared to mass production of chicken meat and egg producing factories and you tell me what is better for you to consume. Have you seen how these birds live crammed on top of each other in cages and how they are treated? It's inhumane really.

And in the past few years the mass destruction of millions, yes millions of chickens on a global scale. And not in a humane way in some instances. Go look up the 2022 Iowa 5.3 million chickens destroyed  where they literally cooked them alive because one bird tested positive for bird flu. It doesn't take a genius to conclude that something is going on here. And now I've read that the govt wants us to register our gardens too... but why? No thanks.  But back to my chickens... 

I've got chicken fever. And I'm not the only one. There is a growing trend of people who are buying chicks up as soon as they hit the farm supply stores. Mail order chicks are backordered until May and June. People are catching on to what is going on and I'm not a conspiracy theorist but if you are wise you can see the hen scratch on the wall. 

In the meantime I guess I'll just have to make my own chickens. You can't eat these but they sure are cute! 

Now I've got to go plan my real life coop so I can have me some real life chickens and some real home grown eggs too. If I build it... they will come.

BOCK!!  BOCK!!

More Pica Pau and Others

As much as I love to crochet and knit, I also have a paper crafting addiction. And Christmas is coming so it's the perfect time for paper crafting and I have to say nobody does paper crafting like Anna Griffin. She takes it to another level. But first - I have wrapped up my needle arts projects for now and here they are.

I discovered this little sweatered moose on etsy and fell in love with the sweater look. This one is called Magnus Moose pattern by Femke Vindevogel of Sweet Amigurumi Design. His sweater is just darling. He was a delight to crochet.

And then I found Jules the Reindeer. The sweaters are all crochet but there is a little bit of yarn embroidery on them to imitate the knitted look. I just love his little red mittens.

And I had to visit Pica Pau one more time. What better way than to go back to book one and pick a beautiful Panda in a polka dot skirt? This one went fast. I had her done skirt and all in one day! The others took about 2 days each to make. That's why I like crochet... it's faster than knitting. But knitting looks so smooth and soft... they both have their own goodnesses. I like both!

But for the next month I will be in Anna Griffin Create 8 land. I won a golden ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory!!! Well, it's just as good to have a ticket to the annual Create event she holds for the last 8 years. See you there!

Cosmo the Snail from Pica Pau 3

The snail. I had to make a few adjustments to this pattern. It took me a while to figure out the diamond pattern on the sweater because it is written for yarn under crocheters. I don't do yarn under. I think however you learn to crochet is how you do it. I can't do yarn under. I could have used the tapestry method but with all the color changes, I didn't. It would have cleaned up the edges a little but I managed to get through with the pattern recognizable anyway.

I understand yarn under makes a neater pattern when you do pattern work but it's extremely difficult to do for a yarn over person and it really slows you down if you didn't learn to crochet yarn under. I had to move the pattern one stitch to the right to make it look right. And I did get it to line up to my satisfaction.

The shell. The shell will not come out right for yarn over crochet people. It just won't. I tried it several ways and then just decided to make it one color all around, then chain stitch eight lines from the center out going on top of the increase stitches and they lined up perfectly. It looks just as good and it is tons easier to do than all that color change in the round work.

I love the pattern and everything came out good for me using a soft worsted yarn and a size 2mm hook. The main color is "It feels like butta" yarn in a light blue. This yarn is chain woven so there is no splitting off a ply. My snail turned out to be 11 inches tall including the eyeballs. You will get a bigger animal every time with RHSS (Red Heart Super Saver) yarn so just don't use it unless you want a bigger animal. It is a coarse yarn and my least favorite of all yarns. When I do use it, I am always sorry except that the brand has so many beautiful colors I like. I pick my yarn by the color and then adjust it to suit me either by separating the plys or using smaller hooks and needles.

Sometimes I will make a two inch sample to get the right gauge. I don't like making animals over 11 inches tall because they take too much time, too much yarn and too much stuffing. I really, really like the snail and you could do any pattern you want on his sweater and he will still look great! I'm on to the next... probably a panda or two.   

The Land of Pica Pau

One word. Amigurumi. If you like to crochet animal toys then you already know about Pica Pau and the books by Yan Schenkel. I fell in love with these animals, O.K. not all of them (I have my favorites) a few years back with the publishing of her first book. I made two of the animals from that book. I made a rhino and a gator. My favorite is always my latest, this one is from Pica Pau 3.

Then when I discovered her second book, I made a few animals from that one too. Pica Pau 2 did not disappoint. I also made two animals from that book. I can always find a couple of animals to fall in love with. I did the zebra and the lobster. My lobster turned out really big. I might make another one using smaller weight yarn and a smaller hook later. Mine's so big he looks like a pillow!

One thing I've learned from these patterns is if you use the yarn over method like I do, you may need to cut off a few rows on a head or body pattern to the the right look and keep it looking proportioned. The author used the yarn under method and adjustments need to be made. I also use a 2mm hook instead of a 2.75mm so my animal won't be so big with my medium weight worsted yarn. Hmmm... the alligator and the lobster should have been adjusted but that's how we learn. If you yarn over crochet then your animals will be longer. You should cut off a few rows as needed if you want them to look right. Just a heads up.

I wanted to keep my animals under 10 inches so I separated one strand off of my worsted weight yarns where I could because I had a lot of it in every color. Now Pica Pau 3 is about to hit the market and I've already pre-ordered my copy. I got it from Amigurumi.com and got the free .pdf  of the book to download immediately! Yippee! I didn't know you could get that until I ordered. What a great thing! So now I've already made two animals from that book and it hasn't even come out yet. 

I'm almost done with the snail from Book 3. Just have to do a few more finishing touches to him. I had to make some adjustments on the pattern here and there but He is coming along.

Swimming Right Along

I just hopped right over Spring and went into Summer when I saw these little fish and shells. I took a crochet course on Domestika with an artist named Marianne Seiman and made some pretty shells. You can get a free trial of most classes online and cancel any time you want to.

So I made some shells and then I found some wonderful tutorials on youtube done by Linda Di Martino and she has filled up her aquarium with crocheted fish and sea life. I fell in love with the fish and all the plants in her aquarium! 

So I tried my best to follow along in Italian with broken English subtitles and wrote down the basic instructions the best I could figure out. 

I love the Angelfish and the butterfly fish!

But the puffer fish just blew me away. Look at that little pout! It takes me a long time to watch, write down the instructions and then make the item, refining my instructions as I go. So that's what has taken me so long on all these sea life projects.

And I found a little blue lobster by Kara Lyon which is also a free pattern... yes, I am really into sea life mode at this point... I found out that embroidery cord/thread is size 5 and that is what I really needed for these. I did experiment with all kinds of threads and yarns. You can get it at Hobby Lobby in limited colors or you can get it the cheapest in packs of embroidery cords. 

Double twisted works up fine but you can use the six strand embroidery floss in a pinch. You get more yardage and color variety in the 36 pack than you do on the spool. So that's what I prefer for these and they turned out beautiful with a sheen to the final product. Yarn makes them look fuzzy. Now I'm not sure what to do with all this size 8 thread but I'm sure I'll figure it out. Those colors are gorgeous.

Then, I found Spike the scuba diver. He's a free pattern by Nancy Anderson. He pulled me away from my fish for a little while. But he was worth it. I love Spike! So I'll keep working on these but I'm getting the itch to paint... I'll go see if there are any free courses or trial offers online but it's a pretty good bet some flower paintings are about to be made. Skillshare has a 1 month trial going on now with an artist I really like named Suzanne Allard so maybe I'll go check that out...

So I've been pretty busy all through the month of March with Summer stuff. I think I'm finally going to get into Spring for April though.

Amigurumi Dogs and Cats

These are the cutest crochet patterns. The pups and kittens are so easy to crochet and the instructions are easy to read. They are called Ami Ami Dogs and Ami Ami Kittens by Mitsuki Hoshi. 

There are a total of three of these books and she has more of different kinds of crochet items. They are written in diagrams and listed by stitches and rounds instead of row by row instructions.

These are the easiest diagrams to read because it's all single crochet and in the round. Very simple.

You can use plastic eyes and noses or embroider them. I also insert pipe cleaners into the legs and tails so I can pose and bend them. 

I can get one or two a day done depending on how busy I am. They go pretty fast and I stuff them with polyfil. 

The largest one is about 4-1/2 inches tall but it depends on the size hook and type of yarn you use. I used four ply worsted with a D hook for all of these.

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I'm not going to make one of each one but I'm not all done yet. I still want to make a Papillion, Boston Terrier and a Schnauzer of the dogs. And I still want to make an American Shorthair, Munchkin, Siamese and Calico of the kittens. 

I love these little faces!