Update Explosion!!

It's been a while!  I had a bit of a knitting slump in August, and then I have just been a bit lazy about knitting and posting things.  So here is a mega update!

First off, I finished a beautiful shawl.  The pattern is called Cladonia, and I decided to take this project on after seeing one of my knitting friends make it as well.  This is the first project that I have successfully blocked and I absolutely love it!  It's a great weight for fall.

 

(I apologize for the bad quality of this picture)

I also whipped up two hats from the book "Weekend Hats".  And because it's my favorite color, they are both green!  The beret is made with hand dyed yarn.

I didn't use quite the right type of yarn for this project, so the hat ended up a little floppy.

I made some hand warmers which have been wonderful for the cooler days.  They don't match but I think that gives them spunk. 

 

Last but not least, my mother requested this as a gift for a friend of hers.  It's very free hand and I didn't bother writing down the pattern as I went.  Anyways! I give you Gunter:

 

And along the lines of Adventure Time projects, no, I have not yet finished Jake the Dog.  I have been really lazy about that project...I will hopefully get to is soon. :)

Blue

I finished my hat for my friend!  It was a Navi hat!  I really like the way that the yarn I dyed worked out.  The hat ended up looking kind of pixel-y which worked really well since Navi is from a video game and all.  Anyways, here he is with his brother as Link at Comic-Con:

 

Here are some more images where you can see the hat a bit better.  I used some thin wire to hold the wings up, which worked quite well.

I recently got an itty bitty crochet hook and some embroidery yarn and tried my hand at making an little octopus!  It is super cute!  It made my hands hurt a lot to use the little hook, but it was worth it!  And then I turned it into a key chain!  Woo!

Also, I finally started to make Jake the Dog for my sister!  Hopefully I will finish it within the next two weeks.

Balls

Narwhal complete!  I had originally planned for my narwhal to be a little longer and thinner, but it wasn't until I was about halfway down the tail that I realized that he was going to be pretty short and fat.  I didn't want to pull out my work, so I went with it.  I showed the finished body to my boyfriend, and he ended up dubbing it a "Narball", which was very appropriate!  (I also hummed this very appropriately themed song all week while I was making this).  Ultimately, the narball ended up being quite cute, even if his body is a little out of the ordinary.

I also made another Katamari!  I finished it in about a day!  Weekends are awesome!

La laaaaaa

la la la la la la la

Katamari Damacy

doo doo doo!

Song!

Beartato Pattern

Materials:

Crochet Hook Size G

Main Color: TLC Essentials in Taupe (1 skein)

Secondary Color: Any black yarn of Worsted Weight (1 skein)

Tapestry Needle

Sewing Needle and black thread

Black, White, and Light Tan Felt

Stuffing

Some sort of stitch marker. I prefer to use the method found here.

Ears (Make 2):

R1: With main color, sc 6 using magic ring method

R2: sc2 in each stitch around (12 sc)

R3: [sc1, inc] 6 times (18 sc)

R4: [sc2, inc] 6 times (24 sc)

R5-R6: sc in each stitch around

R7: [sc2, dec] 6 times

Body:

R1: With main color, sc 6 using magic ring method

R2: sc2 in each stitch around (12 sc)

R3: [sc 1, inc] 6 time (18 sc)

R4: [sc 2, inc] 6 times (24 sc)

R5: [sc 3, inc] 6 times (30 sc)

R6: [sc 4, inc] 6 times (36 sc)

R7: [sc 5, inc] 6 times (42 sc)

R8: [sc 6, inc] 6 times (48 sc)

R9: [sc 7, inc] 6 times (54 sc)

R10: [sc 8, inc] 6 times (60 sc)

R11: [sc 9, inc] 6 times (66 sc)

R12: [sc 10, inc] 6 times (72 sc)

R13: [sc 11, inc] 6 times (78 sc)

R14: [sc 12, inc] 6 times (84 sc)

R15: [sc 13, inc] 6 times (90 sc)

R16-R46: sc in each stitch

At this point, you want to add the ears (folded flat) and face. Using your felt, cut out Beartato’s face pieces according to the template to the left (Please note the template is not perfect. It should be used to give you a general idea of shape and size, so edit as you see fit). Using your needle and black thread, sew on his face (order: muzzle top and bottom, nose, mouth, teeth, eyes). As far as placement is concerned, just sew things on where you think they look good. When I did it, the top of Beartato’s mouth (top of the black felt) fell between rows 30 and 31, the eyes just a row and a half above that.

R47: [sc 13, dec] 6 times (84 sc)

R48: [sc 12, dec] 6 times (78 sc)

R49: [sc 11, dec] 6 times (72 sc)

R50: [sc 10, dec] 6 times (66 sc)

R51: [sc 9, dec] 6 times (60 sc)

R52: [sc 8, dec] 6 times (54 sc)

R53: [sc 7, dec] 6 times (48 sc)

R54: [sc 6, dec] 6 times (42 sc)

R55: [sc 5, dec] 6 times (36 sc)

At this point you probably want to start stuffing your Beartato. Continue stuffing until you are satisfied over the next few rows.

R56: [sc 4, dec] 6 times (30 sc)

R57: [sc 3, dec] 6 times (24 sc)

R58: [sc 2, dec] 6 times (18 sc)

R59: [sc 1, dec] 6 times (12 sc)

R60: decrease 6 times (I find that decreasing at the end gets difficult and doesn’t look good, so just decrease enough so that the hole at the bottom can be decently sewn up)

Tie off and sew in loose ends making sure that there are no holes toward the end.

Arms (Make 2):

R1: With secondary color, sc 8 using magic ring method

R2: sc 8

Repeat Row 2 until piece is about 5 inches long.

At this point, you want to crochet the end of the arm together. To do this, squish together the end of the arm that you are working on such that there are 4 sc on one side and 4 on the other with the thread coming out of an edge. Then sc 4 on one side while also sc through the 4 on the other, closing the arm. (See picture)

Fingers:

Slip stitch into the first of the four remaining stitches.

Chain 4, turn work

Skip the last chain you made, and then sc in the first three chains

Slip stitch into the next sc on the arm (second of 4)
Repeat until you have 3 fingers.

(I know this part is kind of confusing. What you end up with is three fingers that are flat and made out of a chains and single crochet. It’s like the first row of a crocheted scarf: you chain a length, skip the last chain, and then continue to sc the rest of the length back. But in this case it is very small)

Legs (Make 2):

R1: With secondary color, ch 2 and then sc 4 times into the first chian.

R2: sc twice into each stitch (8 sc)

R3: sc 8

Continue to repeat Row 3 until the leg measures around 4 ½ inches long.

Shape the foot my sewing a bend into it at about row 5.

Attach arms and legs. I sewed the legs onto the body a little over an inch apart. I sewed the arms on at the very edges of the mouth and slightly above it.

And with that you have a Beartato! Please let me know if you run into any problems. I am still very new to pattern writing and I know how I explain some things can be confusing.

Gifts Received!

Some pictures of my knitted gifts with their new owners!

Helena with Tree Trunks,

and Asher on his new blanket!

Catan Blanket 2

It's done! The baby blanket is completed! It turned out wonderfully!


Also, recursion! (And our couch area because I think it's pretty cool!)

Tower of Hexagons

So, it turns out that making small hexagons takes a lot less time than large ones. I have finished making the hexagons for the Baby Catan Blanket in less than a week! (When I made this blanket (larger) in the past it took weeks to crochet the hexagons. )

I have started to sew the pieces together and will probably be done either later tonight or sometime tomorrow! I will post pictures of the final project then!

Once upon a time....

I told my self that I would never crochet crap loads of hexagons ever again. That was a lie.

Catan blanket round 2!

Chrsitmas Gifts!

It's been a long time.

Mostly I just haven't been crafting. I got a full time job this summer in the Chicago area. I lived with friends of the family and just didn't really get around to making anything. Then school came around. It was my last semester....which doesn't mean that I worked really hard or anything. In fact, it was quite the opposite. It was my smallest credit load and the classes weren't all that difficult. I just didn't really feel like making things.
That is until November came around and I realized that Christmas was just a month away. It was time to make gifts!!

I made a few things, mostly for my boyfriend's (Alex's) family.

I made this Rikke hat for my Alex's brother's girfriend.


I made said brother a Wisconsin hat. He had one that was similar to it back in the day, but it got destroyed when his apartment caught fire. (He really liked it!)


I made Alex's sister a pair of mittens. I end up only finishing one for Christmas, but fortunately her birthday is on the 29th of December, so I was able to give her the second one then!




And last but not least I made said sister's husband some Star Wars ornaments for their tree:




So, that is it for now! I will probably update again soon as I have gotten back into the crafting mood!

Update!

I'm back! Due to a combination of it being the last month of school and a knitting slump, I have not posted for quite some time. But now it is summer and I have much more free time than I used to! So hopefully posts will continue more regularly.

So...since I didn't do much, I don't actually have than many projects to post. I made a headband:
and some gauntlets for my very loosely based link costume:
I also finally took pictures of my striped cowl that I will be selling on Etsy.
So yes. Updated! Currently working on another crocheted twenty sided die. Hopefully will be done with that in a weekish. Have not been working on my leggings...they are boring to work on...will finish them eventually... Also maybe lost the notes I took when making Beartato? :( Hopefully I will find them soon so I can type up the pattern.

Happy Valentines Day!

Finished Ornaments

Well, after a few days of crafting, I have finished all of my ornaments for my boyfriends family. Here is the finished Krampus:

Front:



















and back:



















And here are the three kittens:















And some snowflakes. The larger one can double as a coaster!






































Also, making bread is like crafting but with flour right? So, I proudly present my first ever bread experiment!! It's cinnamon bread, also for the BF's family.















I have yet to see one cracked open! I hope they are all cooked in the middle...otherwise that would be bad news bears.

Anyways, enough of the crafting for others. I have been working on something for myself recently. I am working on a super cute cabled sweater! I have chosen to do it in a gray and I am almost done with the back piece. Hopefully I will have it done in a week or two!

Anyways, this is probably the last post before the 25th, so Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and all that jazz!