Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Totoro Costume, Snow Bunny & I Won A Hoodie

Last month I wanted to make a Totoro costume for my youngest son. He loves Totoro, but the said a costume would be too girly. He ended up being a ninja for Halloween. I still wanted to make that costume so bad. I ended up making a amigurumi using that idea. It was made for a swap over at Ravelry. I'm really happy with the way he turned out. I used the same design for the body as I did with the V Baby from my last post.

Have you ever looked at something you've created a long time ago and think.. I can make that better?! I did that the other day and preformed a major face lift on my Snow Bunny amigurumi. I cut off the muzzle, redid the mouth, sewed the muzzle back on with a bit of stuffing and fixed the eye patches. She looks like a new woman now (I mean bunny).

Yesterday I received an unexpected package in the mail. It was a hoodie from a Mountain Dew drawing that I had entered! It's really cute! I love the gorilla on it! This picture makes the hoodie look grey, but it is really black.

Revenge of the V Baby

Have you heard about ABC remaking the classic V alien miniseries from the 80's? I loved the old series so much! I remember watching it as a child. Staring in aw at the special effects (lol) and I was shocked when the green Alien baby popped out during Robin's C section! I hope ABC's new remake can live up to the classic series.....
The anticipation got the better of me and I made my own version of the green alien baby. This one is just a bit cuter than the original! He has hand painted sparkle eyes, embroidered fangs and glow in the dark eye patches. Glow in the dark yarn is so fun to work with!



I've also had time to make a few more coffee cozies. The hippo and robot cozies have already sold!

Button Eyes

Have you ever used button eyes for your amigurumi? I've always used safety eyes until I fell in love with a few patterns from Handmade Knit Amigurumi (大好きなあみぐるみ). Dachshund (いたずらっこのダックスフント), Button eyed Rabbit and Bear (ボタン目のうさぎとくま). I've only made the bear so far, but the Dachshund may be coming in the future. It's so darn cute!
I made the bear for a amigurumi swap over at Ravelry. September's theme was fruit so I added some strawberry buttons and crochet a big strawberry for her to hold. The pattern for the strawberry was from Amigurumi!: Super Happy Crochet Cute by Elisabeth Doherty. It was an easy pattern but adding the seed beads was tedious(although well worth it!).
This months swap is Halloween! I already know what I'm going to make but it's a secret.
Yesterday my computer arrived back from the repair shop! It seems to be back to it's old self. I spent most of yesterday updating Windows and putting programs like FFXI back on it. Luckly I had a chance to save all my files and photos, so I had to get those back on there too. Phew what a day! I even had to go flag down the Fedex driver to get the computer! >< They always have a hard time finding our house. He had to back up from halfway down the street.

Crochet-Along Pandas

Last week I finished up my panda for the Craftzine Crochet-Along. The pattern was made by the fantastic Tamie Snow from Roxycraft. She made some wonderful video tutorials that really helped with the crocheting process.
My panda was looking pretty lonely so I reduced the pattern down a bit and made her a lil baby. I also made a bamboo twig (they need to eat right).
Today they announced the giveaway winners and I won a signed copy of Tamie's Tiny Yarn Animals! Yay!!! All the pandas everyone made at the flicker group were so adorable!!
Dead computer update: Last time I blogged I was in the process of shipping my computer to the Gateway Repair Center... What a pain!!! Computer's are so hard to ship. Finding a box it would fit in was terrible. On the bright side it only took 4 days for the package to reach the Repair Center (gotta love FedEx) and the repair center only spent 3 days with it and mailed it back. It should arrive here on the 1st! I cannot wait!

Sea Critters & the Dead Computer!

Last month I joined an amigurumi swap group at Ravelry. That months theme was Sea Animals. My swap partner made me some adorable fishies that were her very own pattern. ^^ So for my swap I made an Orange Sea Otter from Amigurumi Collection Vol.7 and a baby Sea Turtle from Amigurumi Two, Crocheted Toys for Me, You and Baby Too. I loved how the Sea Otter turned out! So I made another one. This time in blue! I also made a little basket to put him in. The pattern was a free pdf from Pierrot.

Last week my computer started to freeze up and then completely died on me! Luckily I had enough warning to back up all my files. It's still under warranty and I have to mail it to Gateway for repairs.... this is going to take forever. Right now I'm on my kids Mac.. I can also use my husband's Dell (he has a suckish mouse ><). I still miss mine though.. it's just not the same. Also I cannot play FFXI since my husband plays. Taking turns is not so much fun.

Come Join Craftzine's first Crochet-Along: Fuzzy Panda Amigurumi

This month Craftzine will hold it's very first Crochet-Along! The pattern that will be followed is Fuzzy Panda Amigurumi from Tamie Snow author of Tiny Yarn Animals.
The first lesson with Tamie starts on Sept 7th at Noon PST.
Visit Craftzine for more information including the pattern and list of materials.
You can also join the Crochet-Along Flickr Group to upload your photos and to join in on discussions. They will be having random giveaways to participants who upload photos in the Flickr group. Prizes include: signed copy of Tamie's book, Tiny Yarn Animals, Feltique by Brookelynn Morris, CRAFT T-shirts, and Lion Brand Yarn!
This sounds like so much fun!!!!!!! Please pass the word around!

A Japanese Paradise!

Last weekend we went to the Portland Japanese Garden and to the Portland's Rose Gardens. It was our first trip to the Japanese Garden and I was very impressed. The kids had a fun time exploring. I really could have spent a few hours there looking at EVERYTHING.. but we had a 2pm Beaver's baseball game to get to. The Beaver's lost.. oh well.

I've been so busy during the summer I haven't had much time for my crafting. But I have managed to make a few things.

Mini wooden mushrooms!

Sleeping Lamb made with a pattern by http://harugurumi.blogspot.com

Coming soon: Sea critters, classic button eyed bear & more..

Hot Summer Days! Poor Chibi Totoro!

Portland is having a heat wave! It hasn't been so hot here since 1981... Yesterday the high temp was 106. Yikes! It's not supposed to be so hot here. Plus it's very humid so it feels worse. We don't have AC so as you can imagine it gets pretty hot inside our house. Yesterday it got up to 96!! It's a good thing we have a semi finished basement that we've made into a family room. It stays much cooler down there. So the boys and I have been chilling in the basement watching movies. This has also given me a chance to work on a few craft projects that I have neglected.

Poor Chibi Totoro had been sitting on my desk for six months with only the felt around his eyes needing to be sewn down. I made Chibi for my oldest son and he was so happy for me to finally finish it!

I took Chibi's picture on one of our pumpkin plant's giant leaves... Yay for miracle grow! We don't have any pumpkins growing on the vine yet but without a doubt if they survive this heat we will have giant pumpkins too!

Woot! Summer is here!

Yes! The lazy days of summer are finally here. School is out! The sun is shinning! Now I have time to get some mega crafting done!!

I have 3 different amigurumi projects I'm working on. I'm about to start a hexagon blanket (this one will take months).

Plus I just finished another batch of coffee cozies/wrist warmers.

Little Fawn (Bambi)

While I was up in Seattle in February I picked up a copy of Amigurumi Collection Vol. 7 from the very large Kinokuniya Bookstore located inside Seattle's Uwajimaya. I wasn't as thrilled with this volume as I have been in the past with some of the other collections. However, there are a few really cute patterns!

This is the one that made me buy the book.. Bambi!

If you ever use this pattern I recommend using something to weigh her backside down a bit. Like plastic pellets. This one is top heavy, but she will stand if you place her legs just right.

Spring Sewing

I've been neglecting the blog again.. so much to do so little time. It's spring and with that comes spring cleaning, yard work and a lot of school projects. I however have not been neglecting my crafting.

Lately I've been using my sewing machine a bit more than normal. I found 2 purse patterns that I just had to give a try. The first one I saw on the Martha Stewart show a long time ago and just now finally used it. It's a little reversible bag. Super simple and easy to make. I used coordinating Michael Miller China Doll fabric. The reverse side is black with colorful umbrellas. I was too lazy to take more pictures. http://www.marthastewart.com/article/reversible-purse?autonomy_kw=purse&rsc=header_3

I found the tutorial for this second purse on Craftster. http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=149376.0 It's a pleated tote. I'd been looking online for a pattern like this for awhile. Everything was either too expensive or looked to complicated for a novice like me. This tutorial was very well written and super easy! I used some decorater fabric I found in the remnant bin at the Joann superstore (my favorite place to find fabric).

Lacy Crochet

I've had this book sitting around forever... Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts: Lacy Crochet. I was afraid to crochet anything from it because I've never really used crochet thread before. It looked so tiny, delicate and difficult! So I gave in and tried it out... and ta da! I love it!!
I made the crochet hook case first. So simple and fast to crochet. The part that killed me was using the sewing machine for the liner. I seriously need to practice my sewing skills!


The scissors case was a bit harder.. and only because I made it harder by wanting to use matching fabric. So I didn’t use felt as the pattern called for. I ironed my fabric onto a heavy duty interfacing. It made it stiff and sturdy so the point of the scissors won’t make a hole in the fabric.

I'll be doing more things from this book! Maybe a case for my mom!

Kitten and Mouse buddies

I've been wanting to make this kitten and mouse from Amigurumi no Nakamatachi for awhile... and I finally got around to it. I crochet the kitten with Bernat Galaxy yarn.. a lumpy loopy furry yarn. It was really hard to work with but I'm happy with the look it gave her. The mouse was crochet with a nice soft wool.. a nice change after the crazy kitten's yarn.
Both patterns we pretty simple. But I did do a change up on the mouse's ears. It called for gluing on felt ears. I didn't like the way that was going to look so I crochet a couple ears instead.

Seattle Vacation!

Over Valentines weekend my family took a train up to Seattle. We had a wonderful time! Taking the train was really relaxing too.
If you love Japanese products and you are ever in downtown Seattle you must stop in at the Daiso in the Westlake Center. It's a Japanese shop and everything is super cheap. Most things are only $1.50! If I had brought an extra suitcase with me I would have bought a ton of things.. but since I had limited space this is all that I got...

We went shopping at Macy's and I finally got the Harajuku Lovers fragrance I've been wanting.. it came with a free tote bag. We also went to Pike's place were I found a Tokidoki Cactus Pup.


Before our trip we bought a Flip camcorder.. so I made a little video montage of our trip. Enjoy!
Our First Trip To Seattle

Mr. Moo

Meet Mr. Moo! Another amigurumi made from a pattern in Amigurumi & Komono. This guy was really fun to make. The pattern was pretty easy. Only the legs were were tough since they are crochet as part of the torso instead of being crochet separately and then sewn on. I gave him a pair of my purple hand painted eyes. I didn't like the bib's flower the pattern called for so I just sewed on a yellow star. Lazy lazy me.

Attack of the Cloned Sheep!

Becky from SMALL TIME SHOPPING contacted me about doing a trade. She had some really adorable handmade accessories. It was hard to choose what to pick from her shop but I ended up picking an adorable bee hairpin & 2 kitty charms. She even included an extra doggie charm and some really cute magnets.
She wanted a black sheep like the one I had previously sold.. only with a pink scarf. So I cloned her a sheep!

Coffee Cozies

I made another batch of coffee cozies. This time with a video game theme. Super Mario.. Donkey Kong.. and Batman.

The perfect amigurmi helper!

Last week I was over at my mom's house and she showed me her new cookbook holder. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be the most perfect book holder for amigurumi books. Whenever I am crocheting from a pattern in a Japanese book I am constantly looking down at the diagram. Sometimes (especially when the book is new) it will end up shutting. What a pain! I mentioned to my mom that I was going to go buy one.. she went out and bought one for me! She is absolutely the greatest mom in the world and I am spoiled rotten (so are my own kids). If you want one of these bad boys they are only $7.95 at your local Barns & Noble or online here.

Eye Batch

I finished up a batch of hand painted glitter eyes.