Hurricane FO: A Pair of Birdie Rattles

After making my Lions on Saturday night, I had to get situated for another project on Sunday night (when the worst part of the storm passed through). When packing my yarn, I deliberately chose colors that I could use on multiple projects for multiple babies. Next up were a couple of birdies!

This is the Sweet Tweeter! pattern from Modern Baby Crochet by Stacey Trock of Fresh Stitches. I just love her books, and I love this pattern. It's so simple (and quick) to make, but babies seem to love the shape and they make for a fun opportunity to use bright colors. This one is for a particular little girl, so having already made a pink one I wanted to make this different and chose purple. I used I Love This Yarn in the hGrape colorway for the body and Red Heart With Love in Daffodil for the beak.

And of course I added a rattle :) Rattle all the things! I haven't seen the baby this one is intended for in a while, but I'm hoping she likes it.

Since the storm was still raging, I settled in to make my second bird rattle of the night. This is where I had to do a lot of starting and stopping as well as crochet by candle light and/or flashlight, lol. Our power kept going on and off while I was making the body of this birdy, but I was undeterred.

This is another bird intended for a baby girl, and I just love this color so I try to fit it into projects wherever possible. I used Red Heart With Love in Jade for the body and the same Daffodil for the beak.

And this has a rattle as well :) Don't you just love their little faces? I used 10 mm safety eyes for both birds, and I like to put them a little closer together then the pattern calls for.

And here are both birds just after I finished them :) This picture was taken by candle light and with my camera flash, lol. I hope the little ladies I made these for like them and have as much fun shaking them as I do!

FO: Birdie Rattle

After my return to crocheting baby toys a few months ago, I kept the momentum going with another gift. A girl from church who I've known since she was born was about to have her first baby. How's that for making me feel old? She had a girl, and I always like to check out the gift registries for baby showers to see if there is any type of nursery theme the mother has in mind. This time around things seemed pretty general to "baby girl", but there were a few woodland animal printed items, so I went the animal route.

I knew I wanted a smaller toy since this was for a fresh baby, and looking through my Ravelry library I came across a pattern I've always wanted to make up - Sweet Tweeter! from Stacey Trock's newest book, Modern Baby Crochet. I've had the book for quite a while and only just used it! Isn't that nuts? It's a great book, and I will certainly be making up at least a teddy bear in the future. Plus the blankets are adorable. And the other toys. The whole thing is just great, so I foresee going back to it lots in the future. Stacey's patterns are always so cute and easy.

I love how the body is all one piece and that the tail gets nice and flat. I did sew a few hidden stitches right where the body meets the tail after I closed up the birdy just to make sure the stuffing doesn't move around and fill the tail later on. I also made sure to stuff this birdy quite firmly - in my experience the stuffing compresses over time with lots of squeezing, so I wanted to make sure it doesn't get too soft too quickly. I also put a rattle in the tummy to make this more interesting for the baby :) I'm all about the rattles lately, folks. Yarn-wise I went with some acrylic workhorses: Red Heart Super Saver in Perfect Pink and Red Hear With Love in Daffodil. You really can't go wrong with these yarns for kids. It's funny - when I bought this pink yarn for my Bing Bong project I thought I would never use the left over. I certainly was wrong there! I've used this yarn a ton. It's such a nice pink color.

I did use safety eyes on this rattle. Usually I go with felt for a baby, but I just had a feeling that this would be fine on this project. I think these eyes just make the bird even cuter :)

So that is my first Sweet Tweeter! This is such a simple and quick pattern I know this will become a go-to for gifts. Who doesn't love a cute, rattling bird? Even though I made this back in February (!?!), I only just got to give it to it's new owner - Zion :) I hope she enjoys it as she gets older!

FO: The Bird and The Bee

I already revealed half of this project on Wednesday, but I wanted to show everything here all together :)

Last week my sister asked if I could make her an animal to give as a baby shower gift. I had a lot of other projects in the works already, so I decided to make something simple. I decided to use the Jay, The Bird pattern from FreshStitches, but make her girlier. My sister also requested she have a flower in her hair.

I call this little lady Jayne, The Bird :) Isn't she cute?! I just love how she turned out. I used Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Baby Pink and Yellow, as well as Red Heart With Love in Hot Pink for the flower.  

Since this birdy was for a baby baby, I went with baby safe eyes. I used my Sizzix paddle punches to cut out circles of black and white jersey left over from some of my recent t-shirt making endeavors and it worked out really well. I hand sewed the eye pieces on and then embroidered her eyelashes with some black yarn scraps. The flower is the "Little Flower" pattern from the book Crochet Garden by Suzann Thompson - it ended up being the perfect size! Just the little touch the project needed.

Mr. Bee here is actually a slightly altered version of the bees from the Buzzy Bee Mobile pattern from Stacey Trock's new book, Modern Baby Crochet. As part of the shower all of the guests were asked to make something to contribute to the baby's mobile - cute idea, right? When my sister saw the bees, she asked if I could make one but add wings. I made the bee body up til the point where you start decreasing so that I could get an idea of the scale of the wings. The wings I made were just free-handed, but it worked out well. 

Bee Wing Pattern:

1. Chain 10

2. SC into 2nd stitch from hook and all the way down (9 stitches)

3. Turn and SC 4 stitches. Fasten off with a long tail.

4. Bend the wing in half (pivoting at the end of the 4 sc stitches) and sew the wing together down the center.

Mr. Bee is made of Vanna's Choice yarn in black, mustard, and white. I added 6mm eyes and an embroidered smile to give him more personality. While I was making him, my husband suggested he should have a stinger. After brainstorming for a short while, I decided to tie off at the end but not pull the knot to the inside like I usually would. I kept the knot outside, tied it tightly, then cut off the excess leaving a little pieces sticking out. I put some fray check on the stinger and it was done :) I think it came out well.

I really enjoyed the break from my larger projects to make these. Sometimes quick and cute can cure your problems :) 

Crochet Update: Meet Jay and Little Red!

I'm so glad I finally get to post this!

Back in April, I did a photo shoot for my buddy Jack's 1st birthday :) It was really fun! We tried to do the get messy with cake and then have a bubble bath type photo shoot, but Jack just was not interested in getting messy, lol. Before we got into the cake though, we just did some regular portraits. I didn't know what Liz (Jack's mom) would want as far as pictures went, so I brought a few animals with me in case we needed props. That may not have been the best idea since Jack latched onto my red bird and did not want to let him go. Consequently, we have many shots where the bird makes an appearance.

Like so.

As soon as I finished the shoot, I knew Jack needed a red bird of his own to go with his pictures :) One that has baby safe eyes (Jack really loved chewing on the bird). Now I know that I can't give something to Jack without also giving something to his big brother, my main man Sawyer. Incidentally, Jack loves red and Sawyer love blue. I learned this back when I made each of them hats (here and here). Since the bird is such a quick pattern to make, I just made one in each color!

Meet Jay and Little Red :) I used the Jay the Bird pattern from the Amigurumi Woodland Animals class on Craftsy. For Jay (the blue one) I used Red Heart Super Saver in blue and for Little Red I used Caron Simply Soft in red (I've had both of these skeins since high school - yeah). For their beaks I used Red Heart With Love in Daffodil and the eyes are Simply Soft in black with white embroidery floss for the french knots. The funny thing is the birds came out slightly different sizes. The blue on is a little bigger than the red - this is just because of the thickness of the yarns. Oddly enough it coincides with their recipients because the blue bird is for the older brother :)

Aren't they just too cute?!

Both birds have safety eyes - I didn't want to chance Jack borrowing his brother's bird and chewing on it too. I really love the addition of the french knots for the little "glisten" in the eyes - adds so much more character.

I had to show this picture. The bird on the right is Milbert the Red Bird - my first ever amigurumi (also one of the first things I ever crocheted). Look at their size difference! They are made using the same yarn and same pattern - the only difference was me. I wasn't so great at tension back then so Milbert has quite a few stitches that are larger than others, also he is much more oval shaped than Little Red. Little Red is more like a ball with wings whereas Milbert is bigger and more oblong. Funny how much difference even tension can make. I still love them both :)

I've had these guys done since the end of April, but I wanted to keep them a surprise until I gave them to their new owners. In the interim, they've been sitting on my knitting basket looking cheery and bright. I've gotten so used to them being there that I might have to make more for myself to replace them, lol. They are so fun to see when you walk into the room.

I gave the birdies to their new owners last night and they went over very well :) The boys are about to go on a cross-country road trip, so I hope these can add a little fun to the car ride. Thanks, Liz, for letting me give your boys a little surprise!

Crochet Update: Meet Blue Boy!

Last Monday night (after a day full of yard work), the husband and I decided to order a pizza and watch a movie :) Of course, I can't just watch a movie - my hands have to be moving. So I made this little guy:

Meet Blue Boy the blue bird :) I used the Georgina the Tiny Bird pattern from FreshStitches to make this. I grabbed the Rainbow Amigurumi eBook a while back and hadn't tried out any of the patterns until now. The best part of all the patterns in this book - they are small but still use a size H hook, a.k.a. they are very quick to make. I had Blue Boy finished by the time the movie was over, so he took about 2 hours.

This guy is actually very small - he fits in the palm of my hand. I used Deborah Norville Everyday Worsted yarn in Royal Blue (left over from other projects) for the body and the yellow yarn is wool that was left over from my Roosevelt the Monster kit from FreshStitches. I actually still have more of this left - that's how tightly I crochet. Also, this little guy has 9mm eyes, unlike the usual 12mm eyes the bigger animals get. I think it goes with his proportions a little better.

I really liked this pattern ... until I got to the middle and beyond where you have to start slip stitching to make the curve in the back. For a normal person this wouldn't be an issue, but when you crochet really tightly like me, it makes for a difficult time and very sore fingers. I had to literally shove the hook in the stitches with my nail and then yank on it to get into the stitch to crochet the next line. So if you are a normal crocheter, you would love this pattern. I'm not sure I will make it again until I figure out my tension problem.

I'm really happy with this little quicky project :) I can't wait to make more from the book!

Crochet Update: Meet Milbert :)

I would like to introduce you all to Milbert :)

ISN'T HE CUTE??!!! I just finished him - he's the first project in the Craftsy Amigurumi Wooland Animals class and I am in love :) He came out so cute and everyone I show him to immediately says, "I want one!" so apparently everyone else thinks he's super cute too.

Back View

Top View

Bottom View

What he looked like before he got stuffed.

I love that he is completely seamless on his body. The class has you make his beak and wings first, then you make his body. This way the other pieces are all ready to go when you get close to the end and you can attach everything from the inside and hide all your threads and such. The bottom was the hardest part, but it still wasn't really hard, just cumbersome. You stop when you still have about 4 or 5 rows left to go and that's when you add the stuffing, so for the last 4 or 5 rows you are pressing the stuffing down so it doesn't get all caught in your crochet hook. It sounds much more difficult than it was.

I'm really glad that I took the class to make this. Stacey Trock gives some great tips that really simplified things and she shows how to hide your knot which I never would have figured out by myself.

So far, I am really happy with this Craftsy class and I'm excited to get started on the next animal - a bear! I would definitely recommend this class and right now it's on sale for only $14.99 :) This class is totally worth the cost and now would be a great time to snag it if you want to make cute animals for yourself or your friends.