FO: A Teddy for Teddy

Back in April, my sister had a baby :) When I was about to leave for the hospital while she was in labor, I grabbed all the stuff to make this adorable bear. When my first nephew was born, we had several hours of waiting around for him to make his appearance, and I was able to make this bib for him while I waited. This time I wanted to make a bear for my little buddy and grabbed my pattern and yarn and hit the road. But I had only been at the hospital for about 15 minutes when my new nephew was born. Wouldn't you know? Because I was actually prepared to sit and wait, lol. Anyway, my nephew's name is Teddy, so I thought it was a great opportunity to make him his own first teddy.

I used the Teddy Bear Bookends pattern from Stacey Trock's Modern Baby Crochet book. I've always wanted to make this pattern up, so this felt like the perfect opportunity. Interestingly, the bear turned out much smaller than I anticipated - I'm used to Stacey's animals being about 10 to 12 inches tall and this guy is about 8 inches - but that's only because I didn't read the pattern description since it's clearly noted in the book. It works out great though because he's the perfect baby size as he is.

I used stash yarn for this since I was grabbing in a hurry (plus I have soooo much yarn). The brown is Caron Simply Soft in chocolate and the cream is Red Heart Soft Solids in off white. I was able to make this bear the night after my little buddy was born in just a few hours - it was much faster because it was so small.

Just look at that cute little face :) I think he will serve my nephew well by the time he is big enough to appreciate him.

Here he is at about a week old - unsure of my gift.

Clearly he appreciates my offering, lol.

It was so nice to make a toy again and to know it was going to a very special little person. I hope he enjoys it for years to come! Welcome to the world, Teddy!

FO: Birthday Pokéballs for Luke

So... being the cool aunt that I am, I make my nephew gifts for his birthday each year. Usually I crochet them, but sometimes they involve sewing. Past gifts have been themed with shows and characters he likes (or his parents like). This year, he's turning 4, and he is mildly obsessed with Pokémon. He goes on Pokémon hunts with his parents and he loves to catch them. So we had the idea that I could make him some crocheted Pokémon. This was a little while ago - I had planned on a few characters and looked up patterns or started devising my plan of attack for patterns I would have to improvise. All good intentions here. Then life happened. I found myself 2 days before his birthday with nothing to give him, and the next day was Halloween so I certainly wouldn't have time to make anything then. I settled on making him a handful of Pokéballs. It's not as technically exciting as the characters I planned to make, but they were probably the part he would've used most out of a set anyway. So I went with it and just made as many balls as time would allow on Sunday night.

I started off with this free pattern from Nichole's Nerdy Knots and I made them a little bit bigger. Her pattern has you increase to 30 sts around, plain sc 2 rows red, 2 rows black, then 2 rows white, and decrease from there. When I increased to that 30 sts I decided they were just too small (I wanted closer to baseball size), so I kept increasing until I like the diameter I was getting. I ended up increasing to 48, plain sc 3 rows red, 2 rows black, 3 rows white, then decreased down. Easy peasy. That's the nice thing about such a simple pattern - it's so easy to customize. I kept the "button" piece the same and I like the proportions. I ended up with just slightly bigger than baseball sized balls. I also feel pretty clever for attaching the button piece on top of the color jogs on the ball, so this baby looks perfectly seamless :)

Can I just say how much I've missed the quick and satisfying feeling of making crocheted amigurumi? I've only crocheted 1 animal this year and that was a mystery spread over several weeks, so I haven't had this feeling of instant gratification in quite a long time. I had all 3 of these balls don in about 2.5 hours. It now makes total sense why I made so many animals a few years ago - I liked the feeling of finishing a project often :) I made sure to stuff them a bit more firmly then I normally would because I know these will be tossed and squeezed and thrown, all of which cause the stuffing to condense and not puff up as much over time. They aren't hard enough to hurt anyone, but they will stay puffed for quite a while.

I gave Luke his present on Halloween (the day before his birthday) because I thought he could use them for his costume. He was Pikachu! And my sister and her husband were going as Ash and Misty. This way they would be able to carry around the balls if they wanted when they trick or treat tonight.

I made sure to use all washable yarns for these since I anticipate them being chucked into some interesting environments. The red and white yarns are both I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby in fire red and antique white and the black is Premier Everyday Soft Worsted.

And now to force you to look at my cute nephew :) This was the big moment, lol.

 And then I had to get a few posed, happy shots. At least it seems that he enjoys them :)

And now Luke is ready to catch 'em all! Happy 4th Birthday, Luke!

FO: Bub the Bird

After all the knitting I did for Christmas gifts, I really needed a palette cleanser. I've had my eye on the Bub the Bird pattern ever since its release, so when I won a pattern of my choice from the designer back when I made my Candy Sheep, it was a no-brainer that I asked for this pattern :) I'd been itching to make it up, but I had sworn off personal knitting for Christmas projects at the time. So it only makes sense that I made this first thing!

This is the Bub the Bird pattern by Julie L. Anderson, and it's pretty ridiculously adorable. He reminds me of a character from the Disney animated Alice in Wonderland. I picked this pattern first since I knew it would be pretty simple - he's kind of just a ball with wings, legs, and a beak when you come right down to it. I knew there would be no fitting or math involved in making him, lol.

I used all yarn from my stash: Vanna's Choice in Colonial blue for the body and Scarlet for on antennae, Red Heart With Love in Daffodil for the legs and beak with Perfect Pink for one antennae, and Everyday Soft Worsted in Shamrock for the final antennae. I based my color choices off the main pattern example since I thought he was super cute and my brain just didn't want any choices at the time, ha ha.

I was thrilled to use a pair of my newly acquired pink safety eyes I got at The Sewing Studio on New Year's Day. I actually tried out these eyes, a blue pair, and an all black pair, but these were just so fun and honestly when else am I going to get to use pink eyes, amiright? I've only ever used a colored eye set once in all my creations even though I have several colors, so I had to take advantage of that opportunity. Plus I think the pink eyes really round off the slightly crazy design.

The wings and tail are all the same, and they used some interesting techniques for being such small pieces. I love their shape though, so it was well worth it. The antennae are made with i-cord for the yellow and then you increase to make the ball. It was interesting to hide the tails in them, but not as noticeable in person.

I love how his legs look wen dangling from something - the legs are just i-cord and then the feet are a really neat design so the come out webbed like duck feet. The "knees" are added after the fact with creative knotting, and I love him all the more for those knobby knees. He sits on one of my shelves by my sewing machine with his legs dangling down :) I think he's pretty fun.

So, that's my Bub :) This project was just what I needed after Christmas - cute and fun and frivolous. I definitely recommend this pattern, but maybe not as a first go. It's not hard, but there are some interesting shaping techniques that could be a bit confusing for a newbie. If you're a confident knitter, this pattern would be no problem. And I personally believe the world needs more Bub the Birds.

Christmas FO: The Mounted Bass

Another project I had to really do some hard thinking on was what to make for my father-in-law. He's a big fisherman, so my husband said I should make him a bass, but I couldn't see him just having a stuffed animal around. I half-heartedly searched Ravelry for patterns and when I saw this one I knew it was meant to be.

This is the Mounted Bass pattern by Amanda Lang. I had seen the faux taxidermy craze with other animals, but I never thought of doing a fish the same way! I had almost all the colors in my stash, and I knew I could slap this out quick enough to get it ready in time. I even had a wood plaque hanging around from my photography days as well as wood-plaque-colored spray paint. This project really just fell into place at the right time :)

That doesn't mean the project was completely easy. I must confess that I am spoiled by the quality and detail given in FreshStitches amigurumi patterns. It's not that I need someone to hold my hand - I've made enough animals by now to know how to put things together and what stitches to use - what  I missed in this pattern were the specific spots to attach the extremities. I take that kind of info for granted when it's available and only seem to notice when it's not there, and that's only because it takes so. much. longer. Seriously, it's much quicker to count out stitches and put things on a certain row than to look back and forth at the example photos and your project to see if you put the piece in the right spot. To me, it all goes back with giving as much info as possible to make sure that customer ends up with a finished item that looks as close to the original as possible - that's why people buy patterns, right? Anyway, this isn't to say that the pattern is bad at all - I still ended up with a passable bass and everyone liked him. This extra info just would've ensured the result and saved me time.

Anyway, I used Vanna's Choice yarn in Olive and White as well as Caron Simply Soft in Dark Sage to make this. Since I planned to mount him to the plaque all along, I only made one side fin and only attached one eye, lol. I kind of wish I had added the second eye now, but it's too late now. He's still cute :) Getting the mouth to lay smooth with the body shape was a challenge, but we got there in the end. I also kind of wish my plaque had been a little bigger, but I'm not worried about it. Again, he's still cute.

So there you have it - a mounted bass! I think it's a really cute idea for fishermen - imagine all the other fish options. You could make a mounted Nemo and really freak a kid out, lol. I'm glad it turned out so cute and my father-in-law liked it :)

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, Part 1: Meet Petunia Pig!

Well, I gave a little teaser of this project on Wednesday, and today I finally get to reveal my first animal since December - I've been in withdrawals, I swear! Meet Petunia Pig!

This pattern was gifted to me by the oh, so generous Natasja from My Crochet Plush and I was itching to make it all month. I needed a baby gift for a girl at church so I used it as an excuse to make this, lol, what baby girl doesn't need a cute little piggy friend?

The pattern is Phoebe the Pig by Adrialys and the yarn happens to be unknown acrylic yarn that I bought from a thrift store for 25¢ each! They just happened to be the perfect color combo, if I do say so myself. The yarn was really thick, plus I crochet really tight, so my piggy came out a little less plump than the example photo in the pattern, but I still like just as well.

The things I really loved about this pattern were the nose and the hooves. Just so cute! The nose was my teaser photo (posted here) - I lined it with a piece of a milk jug to stabilize the shape. I wish I'd had a clear jug handy because you can sometimes see the yellow a bit, but at least this makes it still washable. The arms and feet hooves are actually done in two different ways to make the arm a bit smaller than the leg. I love both methods and think they came out super cute.

And of course the back view. I like how the ears are droopy, kind of like a dog's would be. 

And no pig is complete without a curly tail! The tail has a hidden secret - there's a pipe cleaner in there so you can bend it in a spiral. I even had a pink pipe cleaner on hand, what are the odds :)

I really love this little piggy and I hope that its new owner does too!

This is just PART 1 of my FO Friday posts. Stay tuned for my other - it will be epic as promised!

Crochet Update: A Sackboy Gift

Back when I first started making amigurumi, I was also just getting to know my sister's husband, Justin, (not her husband yet at the time). He saw my animals and said, "You should totally make a Sackboy!" At the time, I wasn't all that great at crocheting yet and I think I just said, "Yeah, someday," and ended it there; but I filed that thought away for later. Fast forward to now. My sister just got married at the end of July and now she is living with her husband in Japan. Before Justin went back to Japan, we celebrated his birthday since it would be a few days after her left us. I didn't have anything to give him at the time, but I wanted to give him a fun gift that would be for his birthday as well as for saying, "Welcome to the family". I thought making his requested Sackboy would be good for the occasion.

This is Sackboy. He is the main character of the video game Little Big Planet. The coolest part about Sackboy (at least to me) is that he can change outfits and hairdos to customize your own character as you play. This guy I made is just the base model (before you get to change him).

I used this free pattern that I found on Nerdigurumi through Ravelry . I will say, I had a heck of a time with this pattern. Granted there are a few videos to show the techniques that I didn't watch, but the writing itself is very different than any other crochet pattern I've used. Also, I am not a big fan of crocheting through both loops on amigurumi. It's more of a personal preference, but I just prefer the results of crocheting through the back loop only. This pattern must be done through both loops in order to accomplish the shaping. Even though I was cranky about the pattern, I really have to say that the result is incredibly accurate to the  actual character.

I used Everyday Soft Worsted yarn in chocolate for the body and Lion Brand Microspun in Sterling for the zipper. The tan stitches were done with a tan embroidery floss and the smile is black embroidery floss. Because Sackboy can change his outfits, he has a zipper down his belly.The zipper pull is hanging there (you can lift it if you want to). I kind of free-handed the embroidery of the zipper and I extended it all the way down the belly. I used 12mm safety eyes too instead of the buttons that the pattern calls for. The head and feet use a technique that makes them have a flat circle which helps it to stand up (if you balance it very carefully lol). I also really love the hands - they have fingers! They were kind of weird to make, but the results are really cute. Because of how you stitch the pieces together, the limbs are kind of pose-able so you can move the arms and legs.

I carried the tan stitches all the way around to the back to make him more realistic. I'm really happy with how this guy came out and I hope Justin likes him too. Happy Birthday, Justin! Take care of my sis over there :)

Knitting Update: My Wee Ones Knitted Elephant

After finishing the Punkin' Hat, I needed a new project to occupy my nights at my in-laws' house. So I decided to finally tackle the Wee Ones Seamless Knit Toys Craftsy Class. I've had this class for quite a while and just never took the plunge. Now that I have the Not So Itty-Bitty Giraffe under my belt, I feel a little invincible with knitted toys lol. It was a great confidence builder, for real. So I figured, "I finished that big guy, how hard could a little one be?" Pretty hard as it turns out - not so hard that it was insurmountable, just hard enough to have to keep watching the class to learn how to do everything. I stuck with it all weekend and I am really loving the results:

The class includes the pattern.instructions for 3 animals: an elephant, a bunny and a hippo. Since the first one she shows the particulars about in the class is the elephant, I decided it would be easiest if I started there as well. The coolest part about this animal is that it ends up being one solid knitted item - none of his parts are sewn on after you make them, you actually pick up stitches and knit each piece onto the previous one. 

You start with the head, then add the ears, then the body, then the arms, legs, tail and eyes. I finished the whole head Saturday night, the body was complete by the end of Sunday (minus one leg), and the final leg with the tail and eyes I did on Monday.

I used Patons Canadiana yarn in Gray that I picked up at a local thrift store a while back. Incidentally I used the same yarn on my crocheted elephant too :) Look at his cute little tail!

I am really happy I took this class to make these because I really learned a lot of new techniques while making this guy. I didn't think there could be so many things to learn on something so small, but even with making my giraffe I still had never done the following things before:

• seamless knitting
• picking up stitches (correctly - I tried once before but apparently I didn't do it right)
• i-cord
• after thought limbs
• putting stitches on scrap yarn
• reversing a pattern, a.k.a. mirroring (this wasn't taught by the class, but I had to figure it out myself to get the ears to look right).

I think you'll agree, that's a lot of new techniques packed into such a small item.The picture above it how my elephant looked after the body was finished - he's an amputee! I will say that since this is my first time trying out so many new things, this isn't my best looking animal. His stitches are uneven in places (it's so hard to keep tension with so few stitches on your needles and I ended up with ladders in some spots). Considering that it was my first try though, I am really pleased with him. He looks like an elephant, so that's good, and my nephew immediately reached for him when I showed him, so I take that as a success.

I no joke spent at least 30 minutes on the eyes, lol, I would stitch them on and just not like them so I pulled them out over and over. I'm happy with them now though, so I don't really mind that extra bit of time to make him look nice.

I give the Wee Ones Seamless Knit Toys class 5 out of 5 stars. It is packed full of info and new techniques and you really have no need to be afraid to try them since you have the pattern designer there to show you every step of the way! It makes it so much easier than if you were just using the pattern - honestly I don't think I could have made this without the class. At least it would not look anywhere near this good if I had tried it alone. If you are new to knitting toys like me, I highly recommend the class. This little elephant really built up my confidence and now I feel like I can tackle most any animals I want to make. I can;t wait to make the bunny and the hippo now!