Splash of color; knitted amigurumi snake

Knitting: COlorful amigurumi snake; work in progress
This knitted amigurumi snake is coming together quite nicely, I love the colors!

It took me a few moments to decide on the colors for my newest work in progress a knitted amigurumi snake

And although I knew I wanted to knit something with bold colors, I had a hard time making a selection… After all, I have a lot of yarn that fits that description. After looking through my yarn stash, Which now has it’s own little closet I’m proud to say, I stumbled upon the above color combination.

My daughter says, just looking at the colors make her smile. I feel the same way.

Knitting: Colorful amigurumi snake
This is the wrong side of the knitted amigurumi snake, it looks almost as nice as the outside.

The wrong side looks as pretty as the outside, so colorful! I would say, this is a perfect first project for someone wanting to make a simple knitted amigurumi project or someone who wants to use more than one color in a knitted project. The additional yarn is carried loosely up the knitted side of the project. For myself it’s a nice break from some of my elaborate projects. The pattern is called Snakes and is found in the delightful book, Knitted Wild Animals by Sarah Keene.

I must say it felt great playing with fiber. I was extremely busy, Wednesday and Thursday, and so I was unable to do so, but yesterday I had time. And although I have plenty of works in progress that are near completion I decided to cast on 30 stitches and knit this amigurumi snake.

Dog; our Shih Tzu
Isn’t he cute? I took this picture of Mr. B a few moments ago.

I hope the recipient is pleased with his knitted amigurumi snake. The recipient is Mr. B, our Shih Tzu. The snake he has, I’ve had since childhood and it’s now looking quite ragged after all the attention it’s received from him. He sleeps with that snake. It gets washed weekly, and he’s not pleased when it’s taken away to be cleaned. Hopefully the new snake will be a suitable replacement. I’ll post pictures of the old snake, once I’ve completed this knitted amigurumi snake.

 

 

 

Crocheted amigurumi doll; almost complete

This past December, I relearned crochet…

It seems as if it was harder for me to relearn crochet, than it was to learn to knit when I was eight-years old… It took me a while to manage to have even crochet stitches, but I didn’t give up, I kept moving. During the process of relearning crochet, I refused to touch knitting for about five months. I found it helpful to do this, since I wasn’t automatically running back to my (knitting) comfort zone when I encountered a new technique. I kept practicing until I got it right. I follow that motto with everything…

Crochet: amigurumi doll
This crocheted amigurumi doll needs some clothes!

Using my own amigurumi pattern

If you look at my crocheted amigurumi Coraline post, you might notice that these crocheted dolls are similar, but not the same. With this crocheted amigurumi doll, I didn’t follow another designers pattern. This doll isn’t as slender as Coraline. Also, the head, torso, and limbs were created differently… I modeled this amigurumi doll after a plastic doll I had when I was a child. If I dig around, I might find it in my daughter’s doll collection.

Since I’ve always enjoyed creating my own designs, so I had fun playing with this crocheted amigurumi doll project. I still have a lot to improve, but I’m pleased with the direction of my crocheted amigurumi dolls. Eventually I’ll write a pattern, and perhaps put out a call for pattern testers, before I present the crocheted doll pattern as a downloadable file. I definitely won’t be calling it a Coraline doll pattern.

Fun with Hair rooting

I’m really having fun crocheting this doll for my daughter’s best friend. Her friend, birthday girl from yesterday, was really drawn to my daughter’s crocheted Coraline doll. The last time she was over for a play date, my daughter said she held her Coraline almost the entire time of the play date. My daughter went on to say, that she politely asked her if she could have Coraline. Just as politely my daughter said, No! Her friend really loved the rooted hair, it’s a technique I’ve used for over twenty years.

With my daughter’s doll, it took over two hours to complete the hair rooting. I did a lot, and tried to make it as natural as possible. Hair rooting is nothing new, people have been using it on cloth dolls for years. It looks similar to the hair rooting you see on dolls not made from cloth.

I must say, it felt great that she liked something I made enough to have one of her own, and so I knew I’d eventually make her a doll. After all, she’s fiber worthy! I’ve made her items before, and she has taken care of them.

Ideas abound while playing with fiber…

I started crocheting this amigurumi doll on Friday, the day before the party. And you know what? She would have been ready in time to wrap her up and sent with the other gifts… But, as with any of my projects, I had additional ideas, so this wasn’t included with those gifts. I’ll be knitting her a pair of boots, a raincoat, and the pants will be knitted too… I have an idea for a different type of messenger bag, and so I’ll be sketching out a few designs, after I return from  our Lutheran church today.

And this is why I rarely make items for anyone at the last minute! Because while making an item, I do get inspired. Regardless of what fiber art I’m working with, I always want to add a “little something else”.

Crochet amigurumi doll
Crocheted amigurumi doll; it’s time to add the facial features and navel.

Breaking into my Caron Simply soft stash

You can see in the above picture, that I broke into my Caron Simply Soft stash to make this crocheted amigurumi. Almost three months ago, I found peach and oatmeal colored Caron Simply soft yarn on sale for $2.00 apiece, and while initially I was conservative with my purchase, I went back and bought them out. I’m so glad I did, these have come in handy for my amigurumi projects. When I make items for kids, those that are sensitive to animal fibers, or people that I know don’t want to be bothered with special care instructions, I always chose yarn that you can simply toss into the washer/dryer.

My daughter’s friend will receive this gift from us sometime this week. We’ll include a nice note to accompany her, wrap her up nicely, and mail her off… even though she lives about twenty minutes away from us. My daughter loves receiving items in the mail, and I assume her best friend might like it also.

It’s Alive!

Yesterday, during my free time, I found myself knitting this project.

Knitting Amigurumi doll pieces
Can you tell what I’m knitting?

It might be hard to figure what I’m making… currently, it’s just a bunch of knitted pieces, but eventually this will be a knitted amigurumi doll.

I chose not to knit in the round since I wanted to add extra stitching details to this knitted dolls body, which is definitely doable knitting circular, but not as easy. Also I’ve never crocheted or knitted a flat amigurumi project… first time for everything, right?

It’s my first time knitting an amigurumi doll, and surprisingly enough I’m liking it more than the crochet amigurumis dolls I’ve made. Shocking indeed, since I didn’t think that would happen. Of course this means I’ll be making my own knitted Coraline soon. And as much as I loved crocheting Coraline, I wondered at the time how she would look knitted.

While knitting this doll, I felt like Victor Frankenstein, prepping my little beastie that I’ll eventually bring to life, and of course I became inspired to knit another doll, that one will be undead.

As a child my mother couldn’t understand my fascination with the darker subjects such as the occult, horror, etc., and banned me from reading such material. I still managed to read those books. It’s one of the few times I secretly defied her. That fascination has continued to this day, but these days I write stories, or put my ideas into sewing. It’ll be nice to expand that to crochet and knitting.

Knitting amigurim doll
Putting the knitted amigurumi parts together

And while this knitted doll is only body parts, I’m loving her! I’m not sure you can see her little lumps on her upper torso; those will be her boobs. The knitted increases were put in the right place, so the only thing left is to give them a bit of a “lift”.  Also, I’ll be adding a navel. Guess what? When you flip her over, there will be an actual butt, not just some shapeless thing. But that’s as far as I’m going with being anatomically correct. I wanted this knitted doll to be similar to my daughters Monster High dolls.

Of course, I’m using my Knit Picks Options circular needles for this project. Circular needles aren’t only for knitting things in the round (socks, hats, etc.)

Because this doll is knitted flat, there will be a lot of seaming. Since I love sewing (especially hand-sewing) I don’t avoid implementing it into my crafts. You know, I was content to start seaming when all the parts were knitted (I still need to knit the feet) I have an impatient nine-year old daughter who wanted to see at least one seamed body part.

Knitting making a dollhand
Seaming a knitted hand…

And so, last evening before she went to bed, I seamed a hand.

You know… I should have been working on a crocheted doll for my daughter’s best friends birthday party (which is tomorrow) and I promise I’ll do that… today. But yesterday the knitted doll idea I had spinning in my head, was begging me to make her, and so I listened.

Gothic Knits by Fiona McDonald

Where can I find the knitted doll pattern?

My inspiration for the doll came from Fiona McDonald. This particular pattern is from her book, Gothic Knits, as with patterns I follow, I deviated from the pattern; sometimes a little, often a lot. I’ve been a follower of Fiona’s artwork for quite some time.  I was intrigued that with many of the dolls made by her weren’t knit in the round.

With my next knitted amigurumi, I’ll knit in the round, and include a lot of details that I’ll be adding to this doll. Knitting this doll has brought back many fond memories of the numerous dolls I sewed from the age of seven on into my teens. I never played with them, but I sure loved bringing them to “life”.

One of the songs playing through my mind, while knitting this doll… I love Rob Zombie’s music.

Knitted amigurumi

The first amigurumi’s I made were crocheted earlier this year, but it wasn’t the first time I’d heard about them.

I’d discovered them through an amazing knitter who makes exquisite amigurumi dolls. She’s the most talented amigurumi doll artists I’ve seen thus far.  In fact, the moment my daughter saw the dolls she asked me if I could make some for her.

Initially I was planning on doing that, but the more I thought about it…  I  realized that perhaps I my first amigurumi items should be crocheted. After all, I accomplished a lot of  my “handcrafted yarn firsts” with knitting; sweaters, socks, pillows, glove, and hats. Which make sense, I have been knitting for thirty-three years but since I learned only to crochet in December 2011, there weren’t to many items that I hadn’t knitted.

Because of this, I decided crochet would get the first crack at amigurumis…

And so began my love of amigurumi, although it’s only been seven months since I started crocheting, I’ve easily made over forty amigurumi items, some were given to my daughter, while others were handed out to her classmates and the rest were donated to various local charities. It feels great.

While I know I could easily go to the store and purchase the item, which would reduce my time with the item. I enjoy the time I spend with each item, since I look at it as a “labor of love” since I’m taking time out of my busy schedule to make something for someone else.

Next week, I most likely will start working on a few amigurumi dolls while my daughter and I area away for the holidays. Of course she’ll be my tester, I’ll give her the first few knitted dolls, once I’m comfortable knitting amigurumis, I’ll start adding those to my list of items to gift to others. Soon, I’ll be making another crocheted, or perhaps knitted, Coraline. My daughter’s best friend saw hers, and I know she wants one for herself. And while she’s much to polite to come out and ask, she did make a point of telling me how awesome it was.

I just returned from a board meeting, but I’m sure sometime this evening, after my daughter is sleeping, I’ll flip though some of the knitted amigurumi doll patterns that I’d located earlier today, and I’ll most likely will work on the knitted beanie hat, before I go to bed.

Amigurumi: Crocheted Coraline

Coraline will be my first crocheted amigurumi doll. It seems appropriate, after all, I’m a huge fan of Neil Gamon’s work,  and have read Coraline many times.

Coraline Neil Gamon

When my daughter was five-years old, I read Coraline to her. It’s a children’s book.  Part creepy/part goth, with a twisted adventure that kept me consuming the pages, until I reached the end.

By the time I’d read Coraline, I’d already read many of Neil Gamon’s adult books. I was pleased that I enjoyed this “children’s book” so much.  What’s funny is, even though parts of the book scared her, she still wanted to hear the story. She’s definitely my daughter, she already loves horror,  and loves Stephen King’s books.

Speaking of King, I read my first Stephen King book, The Shining, when I was seven or eight-years old. I purchased it at a local five and dime store, tucked it safely in my book bag, and brought it home. I still remember the price; it cost me 0.25! The year was 1977 or 1978; and that was a lot of money for someone who received a meager allowance. But even at that age, spending my allowance on books was worth every penny!

And so began my fascination with horror, and I read through countless stacks of horror, along with other genres throughout my life. It didn’t take long for me to become jaded, and horror books or movies no longer scared me, but that still hasn’t stopped me from reading them.

But back to Coraline…

Last evening, I’ve printed the free crocheted Coraline pattern from Sharon Ojala website; Homemade Obsessions. If you crochet, you should check it out. Go on… it’s free!

When my daughter saw Sharon’s free pattern, she got excited and asked (quite nicely, I might add) if I would start working on her, and I did. I didn’t have any peach colored yarn, so I used white.

Amigurumi Crochet Coraline unfinished head

As you can see, Coraline’s head is almost complete.

I’m doing things a bit differently than Sharon, since my next step is to add her facial features; eyes, nose, and mouth. That’s always the fun part, for me, since I get to embroider. Perhaps, I’ll add the hair too, instead of waiting. I’ll be rooting the yarn, to Coraline’s crochet head. Just like I’d root for a regular doll. I was pleased to see that Sharon uses this technique too. After that’s completed, I’ll start working on the body. Who knows, I might have my crocheted Coraline completed before the weekend is over.

I wonder if any Neil Gamon fans read this site, at some point, perhaps a Coraline doll would make a nice giveaway?

Crocheted Amineko with amigurumi ball animals

 

Amigurumi ball bear 1

This crochet amigurumi ball, was made last evening. It didn’t take to long to make.

Once the amigurumi ball was complete, I crocheted the ears, and embroidered the eyes, nose, and mouth.

Looking through my stash; I’ll have to purchase single ply yarn, and perhaps some more embroidery floss, felt, and perhaps some eyes too.

Amigurumi ball bear 2

I think it looks like a cute crocheted amigurumi ball bear,  what do you think?

My daughter is insisting it’s a baby amineko.

Amineko Amigurumi ball 1

And she’s already presented Marigold and Mario, their brand-new baby. Just look at the proud parents.

Although I didn’t get a chance to post anything for finished object Friday, I have plenty of finished objects to share, and so most of them will be featured in next Friday. The past few days, I haven’t had time to  crochet Angry Birds, hopefully I’ll be able to do that this weekend. The lone crocheted Red Angry Bird that I made is rather lonely.

Today my daughter and I will be volunteering at our Lutheran churches food pantry; I’ll be bringing my crochet hooks and yarn. Occasionally we have down time, and I want something to keep my hands busy, while I chat with the other volunteers

 

Work in Progress Wednesday; Crocheted Red Angry Bird and crocheted bookmark bookworms

I’m not a big Angry Bird fan; but my five-year old nephew is, and so last week you could find me looking for appropriate Red Angry Bird crochet patterns.

Angry Birds

Initially, I was going to purchase eyes, but I couldn’t locate them in the local craft store I’d visited. Perhaps that was for the best? I do know how to embroider, although admittedly it’s been years since I’ve attempted to do some of the intricate embroidery I used to create, but I figured I should be able to handle the simple angry bird eyes, and so I gave it a shot…

Crocheted Red Angry Bird

Crocheted red angry bird 2Crocheted red angry bird 1

The only thing left is to create a thin line around the beak; currently the beak looks like it’s in one piece; we can’t have that! Additionally, I need to crochet some of his partners in crime; Black Angry Bird bomb, and perhaps one of those poor little piggies? Oink, oink, please don’t hurt me Angry Birds!

My crocheted Red Angry Bird was featured in last weeks, Work in Progress Wednesday; but I didn’t complete this Red Angry Bird as quickly as originally planned. I’ve been distracted with other crochet projects,  I should have it finished today. Perfect, since I’ll be able to feature it in Finished Object Friday.

 

h3Crocheted bookmark bookworm

Crocheted bookworm bookmarks

This is my first batch of bookmark bookworms. I’m making them for my daughter’s third-grade class; fifteen students are in her class. As you can see, these Crocheted bookworm bookmarks are almost complete. The only thing left is to add the eyes. The next batch I’ll make differently, they won’t be bookworms, but some other tiny critter that I can create; I already have a few ideas.

But back to those bookworms…

As a child, I remember receiving similar bookmark bookworms. One of my Sunday schoolteachers doted on her students, and was regularly making something for us. She died about three years ago.

Next week, there’s a Mom’s day at my daughter’s school, and so I’ll be bringing in the completed bookmarks, and passing them out to the children. I hope her classmates like them.

I heard about them via the lovely Kathleen,  she’s a talented fiber artist, I recently awarded her site with The Versatile Blogger award too.


Edited to add… I’m participating in Pay it Forward handmade! Stop by to see what the fuss is about!

Sites I’m linking too

  1. Tami Amis WIP
  2. Yarn Along
  3. Frontier Dreams
  4. Crochet Addicts CFS
  5. The Crochet Way