As soon as I decided to learn to crochet, I began collecting yarn like a maniac. A ball of this, a skein of that. I have tons of mismatching yarn and scraps leftover from projects sitting in my closet.

I started following @KnitsforNeeds to help myself find some new projects and inspiration because I haven’t been knitting or crocheting much lately. Knits for Needs is a charity that you can donate knitted and crocheted items to throughout the year to help those in need.

Most recently, Knits for Needs has posted about Prayer Squares, four-inch knitted or crocheted squares used while praying. Prayer Squares sent to Knits for Needs will be sent to Knit Wits who attach charms and prayers to the squares before donating them to chemo patients in cancer centers. These Prayer Squares are great for using up leftover yarns and yarn you just don’t know what to do with. Soft yarns will work best as they’ll be more comfortable to hold (- don’t use wool). For more information, read Knits for Needs Prayer Square blog post and/or join in the discussion on Ravelry.

I’ve started my Prayer Square and will post pictures when I’m finished. Is anyone else working on Prayer Squares? They’re a quick and easy project that will help give someone a little comfort, so I urge those of you that knit or crochet to start a Prayer Square and send it to Knits for Needs.

I got more done this weekend than I thought I would. Because of those many games I bought, I figured I probably wouldn’t be knitting or crocheting at all when I had free time (except at lunch). Alas, I could not stay away from my hooks and needles. Something about just laying in bed with my yarn and tool of choice helps me slowly forget about the rest of the world. Concentrating so hard on one task, I sometimes get way too deep into my thoughts and what I’m doing. I’m sure if I concentrated hard enough, I could get close to a meditative state.

I read somewhere that Friday was International Crochet Day, so I decided that even though I hadn’t picked up my crochet hook in quite a while, I was going to do something that involved crocheting this weekend. I started crocheting because I fell in love with amigurumi. I got out my copy of Amigurumi World, picked out some yarn and started creating a little cupcake of doom!

Unfortunately, I got to the part of amigurumi that I almost can’t stand—sewing all the parts together. This one isn’t even that bad, it’s just two parts connected to each other. I got almost all the way around when I realized that somewhere along the way, I’d started sewing into a different row than I’d started on. Frustrated, I undid all of the yarn and quit. Someday little cupcake will be whole but today is not the day!

During lunch today, I finished the I-cord on my most recent baby hat made from delicious “Candy Baby” Bernat Softee Baby yarn. When I got home, I sewed in the ends and ta-dah!

I really like the shorter I-cord on this one. It’s cute as a button!

I’m still fairly new to the world of crochet and knitting. I’d really like to be able to start designing my own amigurumi patterns so that I can sell my finished projects without getting in trouble with anyone for copyright infringement.

Does anyone have any advice as to how to get used to designing from scratch? How did you learn to design your own patterns if you do?

I’m sure other people around the web who are just starting out have the same types of questions, so any feedback would be appreciated!

Stitch Markers!

I received some cute tea-inspired stitch markers from tinkistwinkling.etsy.com! Very well-made and haven’t snagged a thing!

I’m almost done with my friend’s scarf but I haven’t picked it up for almost a week now. Same with the purse.

I’ve also restarted my knitted hat, there were some holes in it near the bottom that I didn’t notice until much later. I had cast on 44 stitches the first time I started the hat and I realized once I restarted the pattern that I had needed to cast on 64 stitches. Glad I didn’t bother continuing!

In other news, I just fell upon this site: What Not To Crochet. Now, I feel a little bad for the designers of these patterns who took many many hours of their time to create these patterns, but wow. These are the things that make people who don’t crochet think that crocheting is for old ladies or crazy cat ladies!

I have a few projects in the works right now. Two are gifts, one for a friend who’s moving away and a birthday present for my sister which will probably be late. I’m about 90% done with my friend’s project but only 10% done with my sister’s gift. I’m making a purse for my sister-my first attempt at a purse. I hope it doesn’t turn out too bad and that she won’t be embarrassed to use it. I bought some dark navy suede to crochet it out of. I really like how the suede looks! Maybe I’ll have pictures next week.

My aforementioned friend, Rachel, is moving to Denver. I’m a bit jealous but not of the cold! She grew up in Ohio so I’m sure she’s used to it but I don’t think I’d be able to handle it. I heard it’s actually kind of hot during the summer, just like here, so I don’t think she’ll need a scarf just yet. Hopefully she likes it ’cause I’ll be sending it along pretty soon! I followed this very beautiful pattern using JoAnn Sensations Licorice yarn. I love the colors in the yarn and hopefully Rachel will too, but it’s not the softest stuff I’ve ever felt. Maybe she’ll be able to wear it over a turtleneck or something. I’m not too wise in the ways of the scarf.

As for the baby accessory project, I started a new knitted hat this weekend and have gotten farther on it than I have on any other knitted project. I’m definitely getting the hang of the knit stitch and finally figured out how to work in the round. It looks tiny on the needles but I’m hoping once it’s all done, it’ll stretch a bit and fit a little head. We’ll see! Doesn’t look like it’ll take too much longer. I’ll probably finish this hat just using the pink Country yarn, then start another hat and try to switch out some colors to make a few horizontal stripes. Wish me luck!

Also, I’ve put the little squarish hat up for sale on Etsy! I’ve opened a shop but it’s looking a little bare right now. Hopefully I’ll have some more to sell soon!

Due to a bad migraine, I’m going to be skipping this week’s crochet post. Sorry, guys.

In the meantime, here’s a post on some really cute little crochet projects: My Little Mochi: Babies in the shop!.

I finished my first attempt at a hat! It’s baby-sized and square. It’s all single crochet stitches in Sensations Angel Hair yarn—which is a dream to work with! I finished it last weekend and added a cute little star button to it. I’m hoping that Amanda will be able to use it for a photo shoot at some point for a little boy.

I’m hoping the button isn’t a problem as the hat would only be used for photo shoots. I could see that an unattended baby might get a hold of it. :/

That’s about all the crochet news that I have. I’ve started my next hat. I’m not following a pattern, so I hope it’ll turn out well! Wish me luck!

I just wanted to write a quick post today because I should be crocheting, rather than writing about crocheting.

I was asked by Amanda Kern, one of my teachers from college and now a partner in crime (haha!), whether I’d ever thought of opening an Etsy store to start selling any of the crafty bits I’d started to make. I had been considering it for a while, though I couldn’t really sell anything that I’d made thus far because I’d been following patterns that didn’t allow for the selling of the projects created with them.

She has been great so far, giving me ideas for new projects having to do with the baby photography scene. You can see some photographs she’s taken of newborns on her photostream. So, Friday night we went out and she graciously (and generously) bought yarns so I could get started on making baby hats for her photo shoots!
So, Friday night I started creating a little square hat. I even worked on it through the commercials and movie trailers when I went to see The Happening that night. (Great movie, by the way, if you like M. Night Shyamalan.)

And yesterday, I went back to JoAnns and bought a couple more skeins of yarn and some cute little buttons that may adorn some future hats! They’re so cute. Button-buying could be addictive. :/

Well, I finally finished my amigurumi Totoro that I started for my sister!

The hardest part was sewing everything onto the body. Sometimes I don’t mind sewing, other times, I can’t finish fast enough.

And during this project, I learned a few things. Buy two skeins of yarns that have dye lots. Dye lots can look really different sitting right next to each other! Ack. I took a chance, thinking that the new skein I bought of the Sugar’n Cream yarn wasn’t going to look noticeably different. I know yarn companies warn you but I figured it was to appease really really picky people. How wrong I was. Oh well, you live and learn. Hopefully my sister won’t be mean and say she hates it because of the color differences.

As for advice, I want to start an Etsy shop selling crochet projects and illustrations. Does anyone in Blog Land have any advice for finding patterns that actually allow you to sell the finished project you create? The only ones I have found so far are on Lion Brand’s website.

And how much would you modify a pattern before you would consider calling the pattern your own? I’ve read some discussions on Ravelry about this but I never saw a straight-forward enough answer for me.

I don’t have too much to report on. I didn’t carve out very much time to work on my projects this week.

I have gotten much farther on my “secret” WIP, which I must finally unveil as being an amigurumi Totoro. I’m making him for my little sister (I think she’ll definitely catch on to what the surprise is when she sees the eyes I just sewed on). We grew up watching My Neighbor Totoro by Miyazaki because our grandfather, with no knowledge of anime or probably that the movie was originally in Japanese, bought us the Fox version of the movie on VHS. We watched that movie all the time. This stemmed an obsession of anime for years to come and an even bigger obsession of all things Totoro (and Miyazaki). We’re actually planning on getting matching tattoos of Satsuki and Mei (the older and younger sisters).

The movie is a big comfort to me. Sadly, I don’t own it because I don’t own a VHS player. The only English version of the movie that came out on DVD is the Disney version and they redubbed the voices. To me, the re-dubbing of the voices is bad but I’m probably biased because the Fox version was so much a part of my childhood. The inflection in the characters’ voices are all so different from the previous version. My sister and I were both disappointed. If anyone’s ever seen the Fox version, some of the random quotes my sister and I blurt out are, “I’m not stupid!!” and, with hands slapped together, “Hey look sis, I got one!”

I should probably just invest in a Japanese version of the movie and have it imported over to me.

Anyway, enough about Totoro.

I was able to crochet a couple rows of the Tiramisu blanket. So far, so good. (I know, it looks like a scarf at this point. So puny.) I am loving the red color of this yarn and the stitches are so soft. I can’t wait to finish this! I wish I wasn’t so easily distracted by the Internet and life. I could get more crocheting done!

Last but not least, a question. I was looking through my stash, taking pictures of a batch that I had ordered online a while ago but never took the time to take pictures of (for Ravelry). I bought this green Reflections yarn, thinking I would make myself a scarf with it. I enjoy making scarves but I honestly have no business wearing them here in Florida. So I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a different project that might be better suited for this yarn. I have 2 skeins (164.0 yards/150.0 m).

So I had a pretty good weekend when it came to crochet. I finished a scarf, started and finished this Hundred Yen Pouch, bought enough yarn to start this Tiramisu baby blanket, and some extra yarn to… dun dun dun, try and learn to knit!

Scarf

I created this scarf with Lion Brand Landscapes yarn, just a simple single crochet stitch throughout the whole thing, except the little “window” where I used double crochet.

I think this is the first project I should block before called it “finished”. The “window” bows in from the rest of the scarf just a little bit. I’ve never had to block anything, sooo I guess we’ll see. I guess you need an iron for that though and an iron I do not own.

I love the way the scarf turned out though, blocking or not. Who knows when I’ll ever get to wear it. It gets cold enough for a scarf maybe a day or two out of the year here in Orlando.

Hundred Yen Pouch

I have trouble keeping my purses and totes organized, even with a couple pockets here and there, I’m always fishing for my keys. I was reading Imagine—Melissa needed a pouch to keep track of all of her yen while living in Japan. I thought it was so cute that I decided to make one for myself in a slightly larger size so I could keep my keys and chapstick in it. (Honestly, I wanted to put my little cellphone in there but was too lazy to check the dimensions of my phone while I was working on the pouch to size the whole project correctly. Shame on me…)

So with the rest of my Landscapes yarn, I made my own Hundred Yen Pouch. It turned out great and was so easy to make, I want to make a few more. I’ve already gotten compliments on it from my family. (I think that means they want one. ;p)

Some in thinner yarns would be nice for this pattern, like the worsted weight Melissa used. And while I’m making things to compartmentalize my purse, maybe I could make a little cellphone holder. It’s going to get so scratched up in my bag with nothing to protect it. I’ll have to do some research and see how I should go about doing that.

Tiramisu Blanket

Since I’ve learned to crochet, I’ve been wanting to make a blanket so bad. I guess it’s the thought of being curled up in the corner of the couch, snuggled up and crocheting seems so nice.

I noticed fairly recently that I seem to have a lot of red accents in my apartment, so I thought it would be nice to create the blanket in a dark red to help bring out those random accents.

I really like this yarn, it was pretty cheap. I got the last seven skeins they had left at Joanns. (Hopefully that should be enough.)

Knitting

I don’t know what it is, but since I’ve been crocheting and researching techniques, yarn, patterns, I’ve felt a bit left out when it came to certain websites or patterns. I would see something so cute and want to make it but alas, it was for knitters only!

Saturday night, I started teaching myself with the help of knittinghelp.com. I was pretty discouraged at first, even with the videos, I was having trouble deciphering the movements. After a couple hours, I was finally able to get through a couple rows of knit stitches! Then I gave up for a while. I’ll let it really settle in my brain before trying that again.

If anyone knows of any other good “learn-to-knit” sites other than knittinghelp.com, could you leave a comment? As much as the videos help, I’m still having trouble and think some drawings might help.

Anyway, I probably won’t be adding another day to the blog schedule for knitting and will try to keep it to crochet on Mondays. (Might sneak in some knitting if it doesn’t defeat me.)

Happy Memorial Day, all!

I’m starting another project. I know I already have three work-in-progresses… I just can’t help myself. I haven’t finished the squid because the tentacles are a big pain. The doily is a long, detailed process—I really have to be in the mood to work on that. And the “secret” WIP is getting a bit repetitive and working up very slowly.

I’m getting a little cold, so I wanted to work on something that wouldn’t take quite so much concentration. I decided on a scarf. I’ve only been crocheting for half a year now and have already finished two scarves, so they’re easy enough. Saturday night I started a pattern with double crochet stitches and puff stitches, I got through about 10 rows and decided I didn’t really like the way it was looking with my Landscapes yarn and ripped it out.

I started over on Sunday, trying a few different patterns. I didn’t really like any of the patterns I was trying—they had detailed stitches but the yarn is so chunky that you couldn’t really appreciate the complexity of the patterns. So I did a couple swatches of single crochet, half double crochet and double crochet and asked my sister what she liked best—single crochet was the winner.

I’m still working out how I want the scarf to end up but so far I think the single crochet works well with the colors in the yarn. The yarn reminds me of candy, birthday cake with sprinkles or any other colorful kid’s dessert food.

It’s so soft, I really like working with it. Most yarns I’ve tried start to feel weird between my fingers, like I can feel every fiber as the yarn passes through my fingers, but this one feels nice.

It’s also feltable, I’m not sure if that’s a plus with me or not, seeing as I’ve never felted a thing in my life. Maybe it’s time to try. A little coin purse or something could be really cute!

I don’t really have much else to talk about for crochet. Since I’m getting sick, I’m sure Wednesday’s tea post will be full of “I tasted this” and “I tasted that”. (Or maybe that I drank lots of tea but couldn’t taste a thing.)

I haven’t made much progress on my latest work-in-progress this week. Things have been crazy at work and there has been a lot going on this week at home, a graduation, a birthday, a going-away, Mother’s Day. (Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mommies out there, btw!)

Because I don’t have much to show in the ways of progress this week, I thought I’d share my queue on Ravelry. (You must be logged into Ravelry to view my queue. If you don’t have a Ravelry account, you can click on the “Pattern” links below to view the patterns from my queue.)

• Amigurumi Snuggle Bunny (Pattern)
• Amigurumi Snail (Pattern)
• Amigurumi Fox (Pattern)
• Amigurumi Fuzzy Kitty (Pattern)
• Amigurumi Totoro (Pattern)
• 5 1/2 Hour Throw (Pattern)
• Waterfall Throw (Pattern)
• Amigurumi Elephant (Pattern)
• Lacy Baby Blanket (Pattern)
• Tiramisu Baby Blanket (Pattern)
• Tea Scarf (Pattern)

I haven’t ordered this list. After my current, secret WIP (which I’ve only completed 20 more rows of since last Monday) I think I may start the Tiramisu baby blanket or the tea scarf. I love making scarves—probably because they’re so repetitive and quick, but I’d like to try my hand at something larger, like the blanket.

If anyone’s already completed any of these patterns in my queue, let me know how yours turned out!

My most recent amigurumi creation is the “Cafe con Leche” pattern from Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet. What a cute pattern!

I created mine using the Lavendar colorway of Lion Brand Microspun yarn and a little bit of Mocha for the coffee top. (I didn’t even plan that!) I used a little bit of pink felt for the cheeks, some eyes I found at Jo-Ann Fabrics and some black thread.

The hardest part of this whole pattern was the mouth and sewing on the cheeks. I don’t have much experience sewing anything. I had to retry adding the mouth about five times (I’m picky), and I removed a cheek and reapplied it once.

This project would probably take a more experienced crocheter a few hours, it took me about 5-6. I’m getting better though!

And a few weeks ago, I finished this scarf for my niece. It’s cute—skinny but thick and full of beautiful colors. I can’t wait to give it to her on her birthday. She’s going to be moving to California where the weather is a bit nicer than hot hot Orlando, so I’m hoping she’ll get some use out of it.

Last but not least, my secret WIP. I’m making it for my little sister, wonder what it’ll be…

Happy Cinco de Mayo to all!

Alright, I’m actually going to start posting to this blog now that I have some things to post about. I’m going to be posting on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays about crochet, tea and photography.

Crochet Mondays will include mostly crochet-related topics, but I may wander off into other crafts.

Tea Wednesdays will include anything about tea. Mmm.. can’t wait.

And lastly, Photography Fridays – I will be posting one or more photos taken by me for your viewing enjoyment.

So anyway, now that we’re through with the introduction, let me get started.

I wanted to show off the crochet projects that I have thus-far completed. I started crocheting in December of 2007, so I haven’t finished too many projects. I started crocheting because I was wandering around Etsy and kept seeing these cute stuffed animals that people were calling “amigurumi”. I just had to figure out what that was and how to make my own. (The bunnies that Willy-Nilly Waterlily makes are absolutely adorable and the first example of amigurumi that I’d ever seen.)

The first amigurumi that I made was a pattern from the book Amigurumi!: Super Happy Crochet Cute, a little mouse. He turned out alright. Kind of silly-looking, but the cats loved to beat him up!

My next project was The Gabu, a cute little alien head… thing. He was quick and easy to make. I just recently started using him as a pin cushion. I feel a bit sadistic stabbing him in the head with pins and needles.

After the Gabu, I made a little octopus based off of the Ollivander Octopus pattern. I wasn’t able to fit more than six legs, so I’m not sure you could really call him an octopus, but I think he turned out to be really cute with his big, black eyes.

Working on the octopus inspired me to want to also make this Amigurumi Squid – isn’t he cute! I currently have the body finished, but only two of the tentacles. Only having 6 stitches around to work with is a real pain. The legs are taking me sooo long.

And right before I started the squid, I made this bird based on the Birds of a Feather pattern. I shortened the middle of the bird quite a bit and I didn’t have any orange or yellow felt to make a normal beak, so he ended up with a black one. I think he kind of looks like a swan to me. A short… fat… not-very-elegant swan.

And that’s all I have done so far as amigurumi goes. I’ll share my other crochet projects next Monday.

The last thing I want to bring up today is that Wibit at Roman Sock has been nominated for the Soft Awards for her super super cute pom Twinks! Vote for hers and your other favorite softies!