0 Knitted Bunny

Well, today I became an auntie! So exciting! (Both my sister and the baby girl are well  :) )
Obviously I had to prepare for the occasion by making something cute for the baby. I used this pattern. I took these photos a while back but decided to save the post for the day. :)

I've made a few cute little stuffed animals before, mainly in the Japanese amigurumi style which have been crochet.  Amigurumi actually translates as knitted or crochet thing, so this is still technically an amigurumi!
This is the first knitted toy I've made.  The pattern has you knit everything flat and then seam it up, which is different to the crochet ones I've made.

I didn't change much in the pattern, other than sizing up my needle slightly. Oh, and I also seamed up the belly invisibly, unlike the pattern. This goes for the head and ears too- why would you want a visible seam in those places?

Pattern instructions- visible seam. Not sure why.

Mmmm, invisible!

At first I also seamed the feet invisibly, but it actually looked quite silly (they looked quite pointy and shrunken). Because the selvage was on the inside, it shrank the size of the feet. And since they are already small, a little bit of shrinkage on each side really makes a difference. So I pulled it out and whip-stitched the feet closed (in other words, following the pattern this time!). This way there is no selvage, and the feet were bigger, plumper, and cuter!

I made this lil' bunny using leftover wool from my Washington Square Cardigan, and its scarf is made from remnants from my Peabody sweater.
I made the pom pom too (acrylic I'd used for previous toys) and used the pom-pom method outlined here.

Pom poms are devastatingly cute.

The original pattern has safety eyes, but I opted to hand-sew on circles of felt instead. This is because someone once cautioned me about using safety eyes for baby toys- they can slip out of the fabric and be a choking hazard. No way am I going to risk being the Aunt whose present the baby choked on!!

I embroidered some shine with white thread to make it look less soulless.

It was hard to give this away as it's so cute... I hope it's treasured and drooled on a bunch! :)

Detail: Knitted Bunny

0 Not a Garment: Hedgehog Pin Cushion

So here's something I haven't done for a while: made a ridiculous craft! I really like ridiculous cute stuff, like the bunny amigurumis I made.  But this actually does have a practical purpose! I pretty much spend half my sewing time looking for my pins and I finally decided to do something about it! 

Hopefully strapping the pins to my wrist will solve that problem.

It felt nice to just do something crafty instead of garment-related.  It's so relaxing because you can just sit down, relax, and not worry about it looking flawless. All the oddness is just hand-made charm, haha.

It's made of felt, and attached to a strap with velcro on it, so it can go around the wrist. It was all hand-stitched together with embroidery thread. You can find the pattern here.

I used the same pattern I'd previously made a pincushion from, but I printed the pattern at 55% so it'd be wrist size. I added cardboard in the base for sturdiness.

Here it is with the older pincushion (which is now a total mess! haha!).

Basically I've realised that the way I sew is a totally inefficient nightmare due to my messy, disorganised space. I've been so focused on trying to make things I haven't set aside any time to work on the important non-sewing parts of sewing (definitely hints of keeping up with the Joneses I think!). And by trying to cut corners, I've made myself slower! So I'm going to try to mix more organisational stuff in with my sewing, as I desperately need it. My sewing space is the opposite of pinterest-y, shall we say!

And here is an action shot (lol):

I haven't used it yet because I haven't been sewing much lately (life getting in the way, and all that!). I will have to try and report on whether it's a good idea in practice or not. 

The slightly shocked expression almost makes me feel bad about putting pins in the wee thing though. Heh!

Detail: Not a Garment: Hedgehog Pin Cushion

0 Goron Amigurumi

I actually finished this project a long time ago but never blogged it. I felt maybe it was too incongruous with the general garment theme of my blog that's happening right now, but then I was was all "wait a minute, I can post whatever I like on my blog!".
So here is a weird little amigurumi I designed.

I have designed a few in the past, like these bunnies and this nerdy little guy. I tend to get wrapped up in complicated ideas and personal challenges, so naturally after my first few I decided to design something super fancy.
This took me basically forever to figure out, but I did it. Since then, I think I've only made one more amigurumi; It think I basically got it out of my system for a while, haha!

This was another design from the video game The Legend of Zelda. This dude is a Goron. It is a species that is basically made of rock. I made it for my husband but also well, probably mainly for the intriguing challenge!

All those rocky lumps on its back were plotted out and are various sizes for appropriate lumpitude.
I had to play with the shapes a lot to get them right. (A lot of pulling apart body and head and playing with limb sizes too!) The lumps are popcorn stitch which I also changed colour on as I went.

It was a challenge to simplify the shapes enough to make them in crochet while trying to keep it adequately Goron-like.

What did I learn from this project? I learned that designing something like this actually takes a pretty long time, and that I'm a sucker for adding lots of details (okay, I already knew that one). I like designing and making amigurumi but my practical side screams, "You can't wear that!! Focus on your closet!". So I probably will be doing that for the next wee while!

Of course, now that I've started study (eeeeep, btw!), I've got less time to sew (sad face), though I'll hopefully still have a few projects to share now and again...

Oh, and in other news, the Beignet Skirt won The Monthly Stitch Poll with almost half the votes (followed up by Gertie's Shirtwaist Dress and the Kelly Skirt in last place)! Yes, you have all decided for me that this month I'll be making Beignet! Again, may I say eeeeep, and wish me luck :)
Thanks for voting guys!

Detail: Goron Amigurumi

0 Merry Christmas!

Recently the Wellington Sewing Bloggers got together and had a mid-Winter Christmas!  Don't be confused, it's just that us kiwis have our Christmas in summer, so sometimes we play pretend Christmas in the middle of winter.  Makes perfect sense right?
Huge thanks to Joy for hosting, organising, and making it such an awesome time.

Much crafty fun and gossip was had by all of course.  And we had an ornament swap!

Me pulling a weird face while I open mine!

Kat opening the ornament I made!

All the presents together.  I love Mel's reindeer.. gotta make one!

Here's a close up of the cute wee angel I received from Maryanne:

I worked really hard on my ornament, putting way too much effort in as usual, haha!

I started with this pattern but had to modify it when I couldn't find the supplies I needed!

Anyway, I have this light box that I made ages ago, so I thought I'd better put the darn thing to use!  (Not sure if was worth making, but I guess it does make nice pics!)

The icing and cupcake part are amigurumi from the pattern.  The base is hand stitched felt (finished with a blanket stitch on the top and bottom, with running stitch for vertical lines).  I designed the cherry and hanger myself.  I got a tiny hook and some perle cotton for that bit.  So fiddly!  The hanger is just a long chain anchored to the ornament.  And the cherry is just a stuffed ball!  Not too complicated, but it took me ages, haha!  Micro crochet was fun though.

Back view for good luck.  You can see the felt seam here and the "sprinkles" a bit better.

The craft was a fun diversion, and it seems a lot less stressful than sewing can be- if you fail you don't have to try and wear it!  lol.  It was also good to keep my crochet in practice... you never know when you'll need it! :)  

I put a lot of love into it, so I hope Kat's tree enjoys this ornament for years to come.

Detail: Merry Christmas!

0 Nifty Acquisitions

Do you like pictures of old craft books?  Of course you do.  Silly question.

While visiting my husband's parents over Christmas, I was given some old treasures.  They are so neat.  Check them out!

Ooh boy, Thirteen HUNDRED!! :O

With all these stitch patterns, I could design fancy knitwear of my own!  (Well, maybe not YET!)  It also has a tips section.  And cool looking 70s illustrations:

Here are just some of the fancy stitch patterns.

And this too:  The Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlecraft!

This covers a huge variety of crafts, some of which I'll probably never explore... but still.  Neat!
The knitting and crochet sections are great, and I'm sure I could learn a lot from them.  I'd better get studying!

Just one example of the wonders within.

Do you guys sometimes feel like books are awesome to have, but find it hard to get around to reading and utilising them?  It's my goal to pick up at least a few tips from these great books.

I probably won't make lace.  But look at the lace!!

By the way... it's my birthday today!  (Yes, my real one, unlike last time.)  My husband was so sweet as to get me this:

Isn't it great?  I'mma put so many things in it.  Also how cute is the tape measure trim?

And a book too!  Isn't he the best?  I'm thinking of putting up a review.  Is anyone interested in this book?  I'd love to show you the designs!

It's a very happy birthday when you get crafty gifts! :D

Also, in other news, this weekend I am meeting up with my fellow Wellington Bloggers for the second time!  I'll be wearing a new dress made from something I obtained on our last adventure... You'll just have to wait and see (and guess!).  But the result is very vintage-looking indeed.  Stay tuned folks!

Detail: Nifty Acquisitions

0 Crochet Kick

I've been busy hooking!
These are some projects I've made over the last few months!
I thought I'd lump them all together since they're just a little bit of cute fun :)  Nothing too serious here!

I made an amigurumi bear for my sister's birthday:

Design by Ana Paula Rimoli

And later I made that bear's twin for myself.  I've had a kit for this for ages!
I love his little scarf :)

Why not crochet a cute apple dishcloth?  (Free pattern on Ravelry.)  Let's just say it looks a little worse for wear after use in the kitchen...  I was however impressed with its cleaning power!

Another amigurumi:

Design by Ana Paula Rimoli

Then I got to work having a go at designing a few of my own amigurumi:

I stuck with a theme of bunnies and tried to make a few variations.

Quite the line-up, no?

I also made a fancy DIY light tent to photograph my small stuff in.  These photos look suspiciously well lit, right?

All thanks to this weird thingy!

See the tutorial I used here.

Thanks to my husband for fiddling with the camera and knowing things about photography.  I really don't have a clue when it comes to cameras so he helps me out! :)

Now I've got some crochet out of my system it's back to knitting and sewing!

Detail: Crochet Kick

0 Now for something a little geeky!

Here's something a bit different!
My first self-designed amigurumi- a present for my husband :)
It's a wee monster called a "ChuChu" from the video game series The Legend of Zelda- a series my husband and I both enjoy!
I think these little guys are pretty cute, although they do cause a bit of trouble for our hero Link...

Especially when they get super-sized!

  Here he is sitting proudly atop my couch:

I spent quite a while getting the shape right on this.  I had to figure out how to form the little foot blobs as part of the shaping (I didn't want to make them separately and sew them on).  I was really rather proud of my solution!  :)

I couldn't resist getting some photos with Link:

Watch out! You're in danger!

Just kidding.  Friends forever right?

Aand here's a shot of the back:

The bottom:

And of course you gotta have a macro shot!

What a little goon!

One last shot:  Here is a pic with my hand for scale!

This was really satisfying to design and rather fun.  And I'm happy to report my husband loved it :)

Edit:  I have uploaded the pattern for anyone who wants it.  Get it here. :)

Detail: Now for something a little geeky!

0 Chihuahua Amigurumi

Well after my first amigurumi, I knew I had to make another!
Luckily I had a friend who wanted me to make her one, based on her own pet chihuahua!
For this one, I used most of the basic body from the bunny I first made, but designed my own ears and tail, as well as adding in some fancy colour changes :)

I have to give him away :(

It was a lot of fun designing the amigurumi, and it isn't hard either!  All I did was use the basic principles I had learnt from the bunny design I made, and researched how to change colours.  The hardest thing about this project was finding the supplies!  All over the internet people seem to recommend 10ply acrylic or cotton, and it seems that in New Zealand 10 ply is incredibly hard to find!  We seem to have mostly 8 ply, for some reason!  So in the end I just bought 8 ply, and it worked just fine.  In fact it seemed just as thick as the yarn from the bunny kit, so maybe I'd just been using 8 ply all along..?

The other thing that proved impossible to find was the safety eyes.  I couldn't find them here in New Zealand so I ordered some from etsy.  These are 9mm by the way :)
 

I was a bit worried they wouldn't stand out black on black- but they are nice and shiny so it works :)

The tail is simply felt!

Of course I had to take a photo with his friend the bunny :)

You can see how different the yarns are- The acrylic I bought is quite fuzzy, with less stitch definition as well as ending up a bit firmer.  It doesn't necessarily make it 'worse', I think both are quite attractive, and suit their designs well.  Somehow though for future projects I think I will prefer the kit yarn, which I suspect may be cotton.  I'll have to continue my search!

My hand might give you an idea of how big it is!

Yay!  Amigurumi are a lot of fun :)

Detail: Chihuahua Amigurumi