FO: Tower of Owls

I couldn't just give my nephew one owl for his birthday, of course, right? lol. He wanted owls of all colors. While that's a fine idea, I just didn't have enough time to make multiple large owls. Thankfully, Stacey Trock has designed a pattern for just such situations ...

I made 3 tiny owls instead! I used the Nel the Tiny Owl pattern from Fresh Stitches. I've had this pattern for over a year and I never made it up before! What a crime.

So, all the owls are made with Vanna's Choice for their white areas and the Mustard color for their beaks and feet. This purple guy has I Love This Yarn in Grape for the main color and Vanna's Choice in Wild Berry for the eye circles. I bought the wild berry yarn because I loved the color over a year ago (again - it's a theme) and I've never managed to use it until now. This was the first owl I made.

I made the next two owls simultaneously. The green body color is I Love This Yarn in Christmas Green and the eye circles are Red Heart Super Saver in Spring Green. It's funny - I have I Love This Yarn in several colors, but I very rarely use them on anything. After using the green and purple for these owls, I want to use it more often - this stuff is so soft! It was really nice to work with.

This final guy has a mystery acrylic yarn for the orange body (I got it at a thrift store - full skein, no label) and the yellow is Red Heart Super Saver (also thrifted, so I'm not sure of the color name). All of the owls have 12 mm eyes which I found surprising. I figured they would use smaller eyes since they are smaller owls, but the 12 mm really does look best.

The only difference between the larger owl and this little guy is that it doesn't have a tail. I kind of miss the tail! They're still cute without one, but I think I may come up with some little nub next time.

So there's the little owls. I had fun positioning them for these photos :) I love the top picture - I stuck a chopstick through them all to get them to balance on top of each other like that.

Just like with Red Bee, Luke loved his little owls. This picture was taken just as he opened the present. I couldn't resist posting this shot even though my sister was talking just behind him and was captured making a very unfortunate face (sorry, Kelly). So pardon my fancy editing, lol.

Isn't he just the cutest 3 year old?! He had a Curious George themed birthday party, and we had a banana hunt and pin the yellow hat on George and we made pinwheels. Good times were had by all.

So now Luke has a whole multi-colored owl family :) They all sleep in his bed with him every night, and I'm told that he enjoys arranging them just so. I'm really happy with how they all turned out, but I'm mostly just happy that Luke likes them so much. Yay for owls!

FO: A Birthday Bee

Every year for my nephew's birthday, I like to make him a crocheted toy gift. I made a fishing game and Star Wars toys, but now that he's 3 years old he is able to have a say in the matter. About a month ago I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he said, "a pink bee!" 

Bee is what Luke named my first ever Nelson the Owl I made for my sister the year he was born. Luke adopted the blue owl and re-christened him Bee, so now all crocheted owls are called Bee. He LOVES Bee. He sleeps with Bee every night and carries him into my sister's room if he decides to sleep with his parents.Recently I volunteered to give Bee a "special bath" since he was looking so dingy after years of love. Luke was on a Bee kick and requested a pink version since he's obsessed with all things pink lately. My sister wasn't too keen on explaining why her son carried around a pink owl to strangers, so she requested that his birthday version only have a little bit of pink, so I went with red for his body and pink for the eye circles.

I made this guy up with all stashed Vanna's Choice yarn (Scarlet, Mustard and White) along with some thrifted acrylic yarn for the pink eyes. This was a very simple project to do, and I managed to make him the day before Luke's actual birthday.

Side view - man it's hard to photograph white yarn on my white background. I employed all the tricks I learned from my other two times I made this pattern - mostly I remembered to sew the head on with the white yarn across the white section (I made a Valentine owl and it looks like it slit it's throat but stitched it on with pink yarn, lol). The pattern is really easy, just time consuming because it has so many little pieces.

I love its little tail! I didn't have the blue Bee on hand to compare, but I knew this red version came out a bit bigger. I guess my tension has really lightened up over the years.

Luke's reaction when he opened his gift did not disappoint :) Even though he technically requested this gift, I doubt very much that his toddler attention span remembered, so he was nice and surprised. He hugged him a lot for the rest of the night, and I'm told that Red Bee (as this one is called) sleeps with Luke and Blue Bee every night. 

So there you have it - a Red Bee, lol. I'm glad I was able to make Luke something that he seems to love so much. If only all my handmade gifts were so deeply enjoyed, right? I'm really happy with how this project turned out, and I'm even happier that the recipient likes it just as much.

FO Friday: Ashton Mystery Revealed! Meet Larry :)

This past month has been one of my favorite annual events - the FreshStitches Mystery Crochet Along! The way it works is that there are 3 clues each containing several pieces to crochet. You have no idea what you are making - you just follow all the directions and collect your pieces, waiting for the final clue that tells you how to put them all together. After completing all my pieces, my project looked like this:

I played around with where the pieces could go and tried to figure out what it would be, but I had absolutely no idea, lol. I knew those blue pointed pieces would be ears, and that the big piece was the body, and I had a suspicion about the others but that was it. I just embraced the surprise of the whole thing and waited for the final clue to be released this past Monday. So, without further ado, this year's mystery animal is:

A super cute puppy! I've decided to name my guy here Larry - he looks like a Larry, no? I really love the shape of him, very unconventional compared to the bodies of other FreshStitches animals. This guy just makes you want to hug him, which is exactly what my toddler nephew did as soon as I showed it to him (after the hug, he tossed him aside, but we'll take the hug as a good sign, lol).

The legs are attached flat to the body, which makes them easy to bend so he can sit down. The points of his ears are tacked down to stay in that folded over position. I think he's just adorable :)

He even has a cute little tail! Since I had no idea what I was making, I just went with crazy colors that I loved. I used Red Heart With Love in Jadeite (seriously my favorite color right now) and Peacock. They are a really nice combo and I think it came together nicely.

Look at that face :)

I had so much fun with the mystery this year and I just love the design - Stacey has done a great job again at stumping us all! If you've never participated in a mystery crochet along before, I highly recommend it - they are a blast and it's so much fun to see the creatures everyone else makes. I will definitely keep up what is now my tradition (this is my third time making the FreshStitches mystery animal). I hope you join us too!

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 :) 

WIP Wednesday: So Many Projects!

This week is suddenly full of WIPs. Firstly, my sister needed a gift for a baby shower on her husband's side this coming weekend. She can't attend herself, so she thought one of my animals would be a nice gift to make up for it. Since I had so much going on already this past week (and she only asked me last week), I decided to go with something quick and easy.

 Isn't she super cute?! I used the Jay, The Bird pattern from FreshStitches and just added baby safe eyes and a flower (as per request). The bird is only part of the gift - a large part, but I still have a little work to do tonight.

In exchange for my bird, my sister offered to buy me a pattern book - sounds like a sweet trade to me! I chose Modern Baby Crochet by Stacey Trock. I've wanted this book ever since it was released and it definitely does not disappoint. I'm using one of the patterns to complete the other piece of my sister's gift - can you guess what it will be?

I'm also into week 2 of the FreshStitches Mystery Crochet Along. The first clue was released last Monday, but I was so busy sewing and whatnot that I didn't get to make up the pieces until Friday night. Clue 2 was released this past Monday and I've just barely scratched the surface of it (*cough* I've only done a few rows *cough*). I'll get the rest of the pieces made up this weekend sometime :) I certainly still have no idea what it is, though I think it may be something with pointed ears...

And in case those projects weren't enough to keep me busy, today is the official first day of the Marion Knit Along with Untangling Knots. I've always loved this design so I jumped right in when this KAL was announced. I've had all my pattern corrections and yarn swatches ready and waiting - now I'll finally get to put them to good use :) I will confess, I'm a bit worried about my decision to use a cheap acrylic yarn, but this is for science, folks! I must know how it will turn out! I know I will be the pariah of the KAL group (hopefully they don't think I'm too trashy, lol), but I seriously have so much of this yarn from before I "knew better". Here's hoping it works out ok.

And of course I am still plugging away at my Emelie Cardigan. It's such a lovely design :) I've started increasing for the bust now, and I am actually surprised it is already this big. I was fully expecting this to take forever because of the thin yarn choice, and I am happy to be proven wrong.

So there you have it :) I certainly have a lot to work on (plus I really need to start my nephew's birthday present), so I'm hoping for a lot of time this coming week. Head over to Tami's Amis' Blog to see what others are working on this week too!

FreshStitches Freebie: Sammy the Starfish

Today is a great day, friends! Stacey at FreshStitches has released a new pattern, Sammy the Starfish. As a perk for those who follow her, she is offering the pattern FREE TODAY ONLY! If you'd like to crochet this little cutie, head over here to download the pattern for free! But hurry! Tomorrow morning, the pattern will revert to its normal price of $5.

I hope you enjoy!

FO Friday: Ravellenics Edition

Well it's that day of the week again and I have not just one but TWO finished items :) And this week both of my items qualify for the Ravellenic Games on Ravelry - I've never participated before, so I'm very excited to have a few items finished for it. First up is my much blogged about Blue Angel Shawl:

I finished this up on February 15th at 10:30 pm and it is my entry for the WIP Dancing event. This was made with the Blue Angel Shawl Pattern by Stefanie Japel that I bought as a kit through Craftsy. I've mentioned my many woes with this shawl already in other wip posts, but I really do like the finished product. I had a lot of yarn left when I finished where the pattern indicated, so I added 2 additional repeats of the lace border and I am super happy with this decision. I think I like it better with the wider lace border :)

My finished shawl measures 43.5" wide and 21" tall. My only complaint now that it's all finished is the bind off. The pattern says to just bind off like normal and then add a picot edge (which it tells how to do). I took this to mean just a regular bind of (k2, pass 1st st over 2nd st). I even went up 3 needle sizes (when the pattern only said to go up 2 sizes) and I made sure to bind off loosely, but it still is WAY too tight. I couldn't even stretch the edge out wide enough to be straight when blocking. I honestly had to pull the edge so hard while blocking that it felt like the yarn might break, and it still isn't perfect at the corners. Also because it's so tight the little picots curve forward even while you wear it. So, I have to strategically wrap this to look nice. Oh well, lesson learned for my next shawl I guess - ALWAYS use a "super stretchy bind off".

I really do love the lace though :) It was a bear, but I am happy with it now. Also this was made using Cascade Heritage Sock yarn and I am definitely a fan - I can't wait to use this yarn again!

And my second Ravellenics item is for the Toy Tobogganing event: Meet Husky Dave the Dragon!

Dave here earned his name as a collaboration between my husband and me. We were thinking of D names to go with Dragon and settled on Dave. Then I mentioned how he ended up with a bigger-than-called-for bottom since I somehow increased way too much (I still don't understand how I did that). So my husband suggested Husky Dave and the name stuck, lol. I made Dave using the Dragon pattern from FreshStitches. I actually won this pattern in the November 2012 Photo Contest with my Shirley the Alpaca and I had never used it until now. A crime! I decided using this long stashed pattern would be a good goal for the Ravellenics and I'm so glad I did.

The coolest part of this pattern is that it's designed like a "choose your own adventure" book. The pattern includes all kinds of different features you can choose for your dragon - you just make up the ones you want and it tells you how to put them all together. Pretty cool huh? Essentially I could keep using this pattern 20 times and never end up with the same result. This time I chose to give him small horns, wings, beady eyes and an arrow tail. You can also give him scales, cheek flaps, buggy eyes or a wider tail.

I love the cute little nostrils, lol. I also love this fun color combo. The blue is Everyday Soft Worsted in Azure (a new fav), the pink is Red Heart With Love in Hot Pink, and the green is Red Heart Super Saver in Spring Green. All of these yarns were in my stash - I love that about amigurumi. You can just choose colors from yarn you already have and they still always come out cute :)

So there are my Ravellenics projects :) I would like to think I could finish another item by Sunday when the Olympic ends (which is the deadline for Ravellenics projects), but I'm not going to beat myself up about it. I did finally pull my Purple Boob Holder out and figure out my mistakes last night. Now I'm knitting the body and it's coming out well, though I doubt I can finish it in a few days. We'll see.

That's all around here this week. Head over to Tami's Amis' Blog to see the beautiful things others have finished this week :)

WIP Wednesday: A Dragon In The Works

So I managed to finish my blue angel shawl over the weekend, which left a big gap in my creating. I didn't really feel like delving into one of my long time WIPS, so I did what anyone would do ... I started to make an animal :) This is the Dragon pattern by FreshStitches and it is a "choose your own adventure" type pattern. She gives you lots of options for the features and you decide what your dragon will have (scales, ear flaps, wings, small or large horns, arrow tail or thick tail, etc). Believe it or not, I won this pattern a year and a half ago and had yet to make it up - I know, right?! It's so cute! So as part of my personal goal for the Ravellenic Games, I decided to make up at least one or two animal patterns I've had for a long time. I wanted a bright and fun colored dragon and I am thrilled with the color combo :) I made all my pieces first so I can attach them as I make the body, so this should finish quickly.

I also finished Gone Girl (ugh - book review to come soon), so I just started listening to The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. This one has always intrigued me and it's been on my "to read" list for a long time. Then last night while browsing through the downloadable audiobooks from my local library, I came across this and checked it out :) It's definitely interesting so far! I love listening to books while crocheting or knitting, lol, making me more of an old lady.

So that's what I'm up to this week. Head over to Tami's Amis' Blog to see what others have going as well!

I Got My FreshStitches Buttons!

Back in December, Stacey at FreshStitches announced that she would be selling some cute buttons with her designs on them and she was having a sale to kick them off. I just had to grab some for myself, but they sold out quickly. Stacey was nice enough to honor the sale price for anyone who purchased them, so I went ahead and ordered them but had to wait for the next batch to be made to get them. Well, they just came yesterday!

HOW CUTE ARE THESE?! I grabbed a few of some and just individuals of others, but I now have at least one of each of the buttons she made :) These will now decorate my sewing room and my project bags for a nice little piece of fun. Stacey has most of the designs back in stock, so if you want to grab some for yourself (and seriously, who wouldn't?!), head over here.

Thanks, Stacey! I love them!

FreshStitches: 31% Off Sale for Stacey's Birthday!

It's a fantastic day in the world of crocheted amigurumi - Stacey Trock's 31st birthday! To celebrate, she has put out a sale code to get 31% off all patterns! This is more than generous or her, and I always make it a point to get a pattern or two each year :) You can use the code on the FreshStitches website or on her Ravelry Store. Keep in mind it's only on the individually sold patterns - not any of her published books. It does include the ebooks though - I grabbed the Rainbow Amigurumi book last year :)

Just pick the patterns you want and use code STACEYS31ST at checkout to get them for 31% off! This code is only valid for 24 hours, so make your purchase before midnight EST!

Crochet Update: A Thanksgiving Turkey!

Yesterday, I really wasn't feeling well. I ended up just hanging out on the couch almost the whole day. While I was there, I wanted to at least get something done, so I decided to finally make myself a turkey :)

This is the Alvin the Turkey pattern from FreshStitches. It's rated as intermediate, which I think is a good assessment. His pieces are a bit tricky to position correctly, so he took about 5 hours in all to make.

The brown yarn is Red Heart Super Saver in Cafe Latte. The red and yellow yarns are Vanna's Choice in Cranberry and Mustard. I happened to have all these already in my stash :)

My favorite part about this pattern is the shape of the feet! The way you make them is very clever :) I took this to my parent's house for dinner and my nephew immediately hugged him and carried him around, so he is definitely a success with the kiddos :)

I'm so glad I have a cute little turkey to make my house feel a bit more festive for the next few weeks!

Crochet Update: Magnetic Fishing Game

So, November 1st was my nephew's 1st birthday! Very exciting :) He's walking everywhere now and he is into everything, lol. I've always seen the magnetic fishing games and thought they were so cute. When my planned gift fell through (it is lost in the many boxes around my house somewhere), I decided Luke needed a fish game for his birthday. So I whipped this up!

Isn't it cute?! I just love how it turned out. I used the Wal the Tiny Fish Pattern by FreshStitches, but I modified it a bit to make it smaller. I only increased up to 30 stitches, and I only did 5 rows of plain sc for the centers. I also left off the eye balls and just embroidered eyes, and I left off the fins. But the coolest part is this:

Their mouths are magnetic! I used 5/8" metal washers and just crocheted through the center hole - basically it worked like a magic loop but with metal - and the stitches encased the washer. So the black mouths are another modification, but I still just did 6 stitches around them and that covered them just enough.

See how you can just see a little bit of metal through the black? That made it to where the magnet would still grab tight enough to pick up the fish.

Each fish looks just like this and making them smaller really helped with their overall weight, making them easier to be picked up by the magnet. I only stuffed them a little bit - there is a little ball of stuffing in the body and another smaller ball in the tail, just to give them some dimension. I used all yarns from my stash since these fish only took about 22 - 25 yards each. So some of them are Vanna's Choice (cranberry and radiant orange), some are Red Heart With Love (blue hawaii, violet, and daffodil), and even some Red Heart Super Saver (spring green). The black yarn is Everyday Soft Worsted. Once i got the pattern figured out, each fish took my about 35 minutes - definitely not bad!

After I got the fish finished, I had to make the pole. I bought a 5/8" wide dowel rod and cut it to about 15" long. My dad and I ground down the edges and I sanded them smooth. Then we drilled a hole about 1" down from the top. I played around with several types of magnets, and this circle one worked the best for my quicky project. I took some white sport weight yarn (type unknown - I've had this over 10 years, lol) and I threaded it through the hole in the pole 3 times, then tied several knots and secured them with fray check. I measured out about 12" or so of white yarn, then wrapped through the hole in the magnet, tying several knots and also securing them with fray check. I certainly don't want it coming undone :) It was actually really easy to put this together and now I even have plenty of parts to make it again.

It ended up being a huge hit! He may not understand it right now, but he thinks it's pretty cool that his pole picks up the fishes :) Also all the other kids at the party jumped at it and played around with it, so this was definitely a good idea - and kids of all ages played with it! Even my dad :) My sister has already requested different types of magnetic sea creatures to add to the set for Christmas. And when he gets a bit older, we can use this to teach him his colors. Gotta love a multi-purpose toy:)

I am thrilled with how this set came out. It's cute, quick, and well loved - you can't get better than that!