Monster Under the Bed

The creation of this monster involved two firsts for me in the art of amigurumi. The first was that the pattern for this monster is the first crochet pattern I have purchased on line and had sent to me via e-mail. I purchased this pattern and two others from Ana Paula Rimoli’s etsy store. Ana is the author of the Amigurumi World book’s 1 and 2, and, as you know, I have made many amigurumi’s from her patterns. So, I knew that the pattern would be well written and would produce a cute amigurumi. Because of a sale at her etsy store, I bought all three patterns for about $3.00, which I thought was a great price for the patterns plus no shipping charge because she just sent them to my e-mail address.

The second first was the the amount of improvising I did on this monster. When I crochet an amigurumi, I follow the pattern very closely. I try to make my amigurumi look just like the picture on the pattern. As I crocheted the pieces for this amigurumi, I decided to make a few changes. I wanted my monster’s arm and legs longer than what the pattern called for, and I wanted his spikes fatter than the pattern said to make them. Although, I believe that the resulting monster from following the pattern exactly would have been just as cute as mine is, it was fun to make this monster my own and give him the details I wanted. I am very excited about this pattern because I can crochet it again and change it to make an entirely new monster, different from the pattern and this one. I do have to keep one feature the same on my next monster though since I have an extra eye now.

Sorry, this monster has already found a home. My husband named him Bart and he lives on his computer desk with alligator. I think he is secretly hoping that Bart will eat all the fabric in the stash, so he wants to keep him around for a little while.

I’ve Finished…

I finally got a chance to do some sewing and did so with some success. I finished the baby sleepers and bibs which is a good thing because I have been invited to another baby shower for a colleague at work. And it’s good thing I found out that the new nephew’s mom does not like Pooh so I can give this sleeper away to someone else and make another one for him.

The two sleepers sewed up with only minor difficulties, like matching the stripes, but as always were fun to sew and exciting to finish because they are always turn out so cute. Years ago, I found this Pooh and Piglet design on the internet somewhere. I have always wanted to stitch it on something, so I specifically
picked out the yellow fabric just for this design. I wasn’t  impressed with the design as it stitched out and I will not do it again. It looks very good on the top side but the back of it is a mess. I trimmed many threads and used some web knit over the design to hide and soften the back. But I am afraid the design will not withstand much washing and it will probably need to be ironed after each wash, which I feel is not acceptable for a baby sleeper. So, I am concerned about giving it away. Fortunately, the teddy bear design on the other sleeper stitched very well
and is so cute on the stripes. On our last visit, I raided Mom’s stash for brown ribbing and we found a small piece that I used on this sleeper. Now, neither one of us have brown ribbing left in our stashes. Oh well, I guess I will just have to go fabric shopping and buy some more ribbing.

The bibs worked up easily and quickly and the results are so cute. I took the pictures before I washed the bibs so the top stabilizer is still over the designs.  And in other good news, the husband was able to find me a great new source of tip towels for a great price and they are of excellent quality. So I am quite excited and I am back in the bib making business. I can now use the white tips towels from my new source or make my own if I want another color than white.

P.S. I also got two new shirts cut out for the husband and so it was a very productive sewing day for me.

I’ve Started…

I’ve started several projects, but I have yet to complete any of them. I dislike it when I do this. I am very much a start one project, finish it, then move on to the next project person. Of course, I have many UFO’s (unfinished objects) hiding in my closet, but that is because I have lost interest in completing them for one reason or another. The projects I am working on now are all ones I plan to complete, but I have gotten ahead of myself in getting them started.

I started some new sleepers for the new nephew that is on the way, but while embroidering the designs on the sleepers, I embroidered a couple of towels for bibs rather than finishing the sewing on the sleepers. So, the unfinished sleepers and bibs sat on my cutting table. Before finishing them, I decided I wanted to get another flannel blanket ready to crochet around, so that lead to a trip to the stash. While digging through the stash for flannel, I ran across some lighter color knits and decided to pull them out to make the husband some new summer shirts. So, now added to the unfinished sleepers and bibs are flannel pieces ready to stitched and skip-bladed and fabric, pattern and supplies for the husbands shirts.

I’ve also started another amigurumi creature after finishing the teddy bear I crocheted. I have most of its parts crocheted and I’m now working on the head for that. We went on vacation last week and I like to crochet while traveling. Since I’m down to the stitching of the face, stuffing and the sewing of the pieces together of this amigurumi, I started another amigurumi for the trip. I now have the second amigurumi’s parts crochet waiting to be stuffed and put together.  So, to add to my already full cutting table, I have two partly constructed amigurumi’s on top of everything else.

I have decided though not to continue to work on all these projects all at once. I am going back to the complete one thing, move to the next one process. So, stay tuned to see the completed items.

P.S. I did not purchase a single inch of fabric on this vacation. Amazing! It’s a first for me!

Made from England

Not in but from England. This teddy bear is constructed from the yarn and eyes that I transported half way around the world a year ago this last November.

I chose a pattern from the free patterns on the Lion Brand Yarn Company’s web site. The pattern’s picture was of a white Christmas teddy bear. I did not want a Christmas bear so I did not make him a scarf. This is the first time I have crocheted with suede yarn. I enjoyed working with the yarn. It crocheted very smoothly with no splitting of the yarn’s threads. I did have to be careful when making knots or undoing stitches not to pull the fuzzy part off the yarn, leaving me with a just a thread. The eyes and nose were simple to put on making the face no problem to put together. The pattern did not call for a mouth so I didn’t add one. I have not decided if that is the right decision or not.  He may get a mouth yet. Sewing this teddy bear’s parts together went smoothly as well, but is still not my favorite part of the construction. The black suede yarn was nice though. It hid a lot of the constructions stitches. All in all, this teddy bear stitched up rather quickly and easily.

I don’t know what to think about this teddy bear now that he is complete. He is not as soft as I expected him to be compared to the yarn. (He is certainly softer than any other amigurumi I have made.) Compared to the picture on the pattern, he did not turn out correctly at all. I don’t know if it is the difference between the yarns used or the black and white colors, or just me. I have sat him on my sewing table so I can stare at him and see if he will grow on me, like the snowman did, but he has not. This is the only thing that makes me like him because he is somewhat of a misfit in my opinion and who doesn’t love a misfit.

So, Mr Teddy is looking for a good home. Does anyone want to provide him with one?

Coffee Time!

This post should be named “Finally a follow up to the post Ring around the Collar” or also known as: “The Idea that didn’t quite work.”

If you remember correctly, in the last post about a two piece collar or a collar with a stand, you will remember that I was brain storming about a way to attach the collar other than the way I had been taught years ago because I was having such a difficult time getting the stand and collar sewn to the shirt. Well, my idea did and didn’t work. It did work in that I got the collar attached to the shirt, but it didn’t work it that it didn’t make the attachment any easier or the results any better. I have not given up on my idea for attached the collar my way, I just think it needs some fine tuning in actual application. Hopefully, it will not take me a year to try again.

Now about the shirt. My mom bought this fabric at a yard sale. She said she did not know why she bought it but that there was a lot of yardage and I could have it. I know why she bought it. She knew subconiously that her daughter would love the bright colors and would want a shirt made from it. Judging from the amount of yardage, I bet this fabric was purchased to make kitchen curtains, so if you see me in my shirt, please don’t say, “Oh, you match my kitchen curtains” or I may have to give you a Razz-berry!

The rest of the construction of the shirt went well. I have not wore the shirt yet, but I am very excited to do so.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

As the new year begins, everyone is excited for the fresh start and of course making some new year’s resolutions. I don’t normally set any NEW new year’s resolutions. I just renew the same ones from the last year that I broke, which are the same ones from the year before which are the same ones from the year before that… This year besides renewing the same old resolutions from past years, I am going to add a new sewing resolution to the list.

While reading another blog, the writer said that she considered herself a beginner seamstress because there are so many sewing techniques she has not tried to conquer. This got me to thinking, with everything I have done, there are many things I’ve never done or even tried to do. Yes, I am pretty good at making all my sloper patterns, but I have never tried a zipper, regular or invisible, in a dress. I have never attempted a tailored jacket. I have never made a quilt. I have always wanted to try making stuffed animals, but have just never gave it a go. With my new love of amigurumi, the desire to sew stuffed animals has greatly lessened I will admit. I have everything I need to create any of these projects already. There is plenty of fabric in the stash and lots of sewing supplies in the closet. I even have the patterns for most of these projects. So, this years new year’s sewing resolution is to try new sewing techniques.

That is a pretty big resolution. My first step will be just to sort through patterns and books and write a list of things I want to learn and try. Then I will plan each project and try to set some time limits. If the time limits pressure me too much, I will just ignore them. I hate to sew under pressure. It takes all the fun out of sewing. Hopefully, by the end of the year, I will have a few new sewing techniques mastered.

So, wish me luck as I start my new year’s resolutions! And a very Happy New Year to you all!

Tis’ the season

This was not a big sewing Christmas season for me. With friends coming to visit at Halloween and a trip to see the parents for Thanksgiving, not to mention several Christmas concerts, parades, and trips to visit friends, I have just not had the time or been motivated towards Christmas projects this year. Although I did do a couple of things that I will share.

Last fall, Mom called and asked if I would embroidery the Denver Bronco’s emblem on a fleece jacket for my Dad for Christmas. Mom sent me the jacket and I was happy stitch it up for her (and for Dad). I have stitched this design before on a couple of baby sleepers for other relatives, but I had to reduce the size to fit the small sleepers. It was nice to actually stitch the original design at it’s original size and it stitched very well. Unfortunately with the dark blue color of the jacket, I had to pick colors that would stand out on it, so I did not get to use the colors I would have liked to, but the colors I used worked well enough and I am happy with the end results. Hopefully, both Mom and Dad will like it too.

.

.

.

.

.

My sister sent me a pattern for a crocheted snowman ornament because she knows how much I like to crochet amigurumi’s. Since I have her name for Christmas this year, I decided to make her one to go with her Christmas gift. Although the snowman was very fun to crochet and worked up really fast, I was not totally happy with the pattern. Next time I will try to make his head more round instead of so pointed. I stitched his scarf a little longer than the pattern said so I could easily tie it around his neck and it would lie against his body instead of stand out. The hard part for me as always is stitching the crocheted parts together and the face. Even though there was very little to be stitched together on this snowman, it was still a fight for me. I am not totally happy with his smile either, but it was the best one out of several tries. For his eyes I used some glue on wiggle eyes instead of the black ones the pattern used. At first, I was wishing I had used the black eyes. His wiggle eyes make him look like he has had too much Christmas nog. After having him sit on my desk and smile at me for a while, I have become fond of his face. It has given him some personality. I hope my sister likes him.

This little taste of Christmas crafting has made me want for more. So, maybe next year I will be more organized and start my Christmas sewing and crocheting in July or even better yet January.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Here is wishing you a most Joyous Holiday Season, a Very Merry Christmas, Bodhi Day (Rohatsu), Chanukah/Hannukah, Id al-Adha, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Yule, and any others I missed along with a very Happy New Year!

I would like to take this time to thank you for reading my silly blog this past year. I really only started it as a personal journal for myself to keep notes of different things I had done in the past and what worked and didn’t work and maybe help someone else out along the way.

I very much hope that it has done that for you.

My readership has continued to grow in leaps and bounds this year and I thank you for that. When I first started this blog I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to read my ramblings but as time has went on and I see just how many are reading it I have tried to make it more interesting for people to read and to have fairly regular updates.

I would hope that if you would like to see something covered or even if you don’t like something on here you would let me know in the comments so I can try to do a better job in the coming New Year!

-Lanita

Inexpensive Panel

This blanket is not cheap in the fact that the fleece is thin, but in the fact that I did not pay a lot of money for it. Inexpensive describes it better. Last year for Christmas my sister crocheted around one of these Snoopy panels and gave it to me, so I do not need another one when I have the beautiful one that she made. Her blankets are always so nicely done. But, last summer while digging through Joann’s remnant bin I found two of these panels. Someone had opened the packages, so they were wrapped as remnants and marked for half price. At the time, the sales was half off the current price of remnants, so I bought both blankets for half the price of one blanket originally cost. I could not pass up that price even though I already had one of these blankets at home. Somebody, somewhere needs a Snoopy blanket I thought to myself.

My husband picked out the bright red yarn to stitch around this blanket. Because it was regular sized yarn, I use the skip-stitch blade #1 to cut the holes in it. Although the fleece of this panel is thinner than the fleece I have purchased off the bolt, it did not suffer from the gapping hole problem of the cheap panels I had crocheted before. The fleece stretched back nicely after I pulled the yarn through. I crocheted the peaks pattern around this blanket because I think the look is more unisex. When I do a scalloped edge, to me, the blanket becomes feminine, even though I have made several boy’s blankets with scalloped edges. (The color helps to make the scallops more masculine.) Since I don’t know who will be sleeping under this particular blanket, I wanted it to work for anyone. I had a lot of fun crocheting the edges of this blanket. It kept me entertained during many a car ride this holiday season.

Cheap Panels

I purchased a couple of cheap fleece blankets. I use the word cheap instead of inexpensive because the of how thin the fleece is and how poor the edges were finished, but the blankets had nice photos of animals printed on them and I thought these would make fun blankets for kids. Of course, the little thread that was used to finish the edge would never do, so I removed it and  crocheted new edges around the blankets. This became more of a challenge than I expected and a good lesson about crocheting on a thinner fleece.

.

.

.

.

.

I started by removing the thread edge which just took a couple of minutes. I tried to crochet using the holes that were left from the thread, but they were too small. So, I got out the skip-stitch blade and got to work. On the first blanket, the yarn I chose was a thinner baby yarn so I used skip-stitch blade #2. All was well until I started to crochet. As I pulled the yarn through the holes, the thin fleece stretched and did not close  back up around the yarn as heavier fleece would do. This left large holes especially on the side of the blanket with the stretch of the fabric. I had to pull the yarn through the holes very carefully to minimize the size of the holes. Even with being as careful as possible, I still have holes that are far  larger than I wanted. After finishing the first row, I about gave up on the blanket, but decided to persevere and see what the end results would be. Now that the blanket is done, the end result looks better than I expected but if you look closely the holes are definitely still there.

.

One the second blanket, I picked a heavier yarn to use and this was a big mistake. It is a good thing I used the baby yarn first of I would not have completed either blanket. Because of the heavier yarn, I used the skip stitch blade #1 to make my holes. As I pulled the heavier yarn through the holes, there was no amount of care that could be taken to stop the gaping holes that resulted. I stitched about 1/3 of a side and decided that the resulting holes were just too large to keep going. I finally made a trip to the store and purchased some thinner yarn in the color I wanted. I removed the heavier yarn, but the fleece did not recover. I carefully stitched with the thinner yarn, but on that section of the blanket, there are still huge holes. With the thinner yarn, I decided to go ahead and finish the blanket. Luckily, I was smart enough to start at the bottom of the blanket so the gaping holes are on the bottom and not the top. As before, the end results are better than I expected, but not as good as I had originally planned on.

One good thing about this whole endeavor, I purchased my first skein of Caron brand yarn, and I loved it. It was nice yarn and crocheted very well. I would not hesitate in purchasing or using that brand again.