Hamster in a Cup Amigurumi + Our New Kitty Domino!

I loved using this pattern by sweees.

It's not just adorable it's usable. Under the hamster the cup can be used as a trinket box.

A few months ago we got a cat! For years my kids have wanted either a cat or a dog. So when my husband and I drove his brother (and his cat) to the vet and saw an adorable kitten for adoption we had to save him. One of the vet's assistants had found him in her yard following her cat around meowing at her. She lives next to the freeway... I don't even want to think about what could have happened to him. Poor baby! So she rescued him and brought him into the office and nursed him back to health and there he stayed for a few months. As soon as we saw him we knew we had to take him home!
When we brought him back into the office to get more of his shots done the assistant who found him came into see him and was really choked up. She loves him too but already had too many cats at home so she couldn't keep him herself.

We named him domino because he's black and white and has an almost perfect circle dot on his belly. He's a really quirky cat! He loves to stick out his tongue.

Cat's in Costume

Here's a project that took me a long time to finish. The patterns were in Chinese and were handwritten and photographed (so no google translate for me). She made some easy to figure out charts though. It was called "Dressing Bears" but I changed them to cats since I have a whole lot of cat's eyes to use up. I have quite a few different patterns I downloaded from her website all for these adorable bears in costume. Silent Dolls's Nest

Three new cuties!

Surprise.. Surprise! I've been busy crafting... :)
First up is Rawr!
I seriously love this pattern from MrFox.

Second we have Carrot Bunny by Stripeyblue. I altered the pattern on this a lot.

and lastly we have this lovely Octopus from 零起点魔法玩偶 (Beginners Magic Dolls)

Waiting for Spring to Arrive

I am so tired of winter! Mother nature is playing a trick on us here in Portland this year. It is going to snow here tonight! Snow this late in February is really rare for us.
I've been so ready for spring I couldn't help but make some fresh springy amigurumi. I originally started out making a snail for a swap at Ravelry but I loved it so much that I made another for myself. The white on the snail shell glows in the dark and so does the leaf one of the snails is sitting on. The mushroom didn't turn out as well as I expected but it was fun to make.

I've also made a purple bunny (it's the year of the rabbit now!).

The good the bad and the adorable.

This has been such a busy fall! I've been working really hard trying to raise as much money as I can for my son's 8th Spanish class trip to Spain in June. The class is going to spend 2 weeks there with host families and take spanish classes. Plus they get to go on tours of the area and visit some really nice looking beaches. I'm really excited for him! He worked very hard on his application. Only 18 of the students will be picked to go so we are anxiously awaiting the final pick.
In other news.. My husband is out of a job. The crappy economy forced Hollywood video to bankrupt! My husband worked at it's corporate office. So now he's on unemployment and there are just no jobs available in his field (real estate lease administration). I think I'm going to have to go back to work after being a stay at home mom for almost 9 years! It's scary!! I have absolutely no idea what I want to do. The last job I had was working as a R-Zone (electronics/video games) department manager for Toys R Us and before that I worked in a department store for almost 5 years. I'm not sure if I really want to go back into retail.
Anyhow here are a few projects that I've worked on lately.
Sitārā the blue elephant. The pattern was Padma by Dawn Toussaint.

Yet to be named purple monkey. The pattern was Manuel the Monkey by Dawn Toussaint.


Sea buddies. The pattern was 27-3K Whale, Frog & Seagull Amigurumi
by Pierrot. A Japanese pattern.

Better late than never..

It's been a long time since I've blogged! There's a lot to update...
My husband and I have been playing Final Fantasy XI again. We had taken a short break. On our 13th wedding anniversary we finally got married in the game. Pretty silly right? But it was fun and cute!

Last month a did another Ravelry $10 amigurumi swap. The theme was Hybrid Animals. So I made a Bunny/Seal using the Mimi Seal pattern from Amigurumi Collection Vol. 8. I used some Bernat Glow in the Dark yarn. I LOVE that yarn. It's so fun to work with. Bernat discontinued it though. I have about 10 skeins left of it.

I also made a chick for my swap partner. I winged this one (haha). I should have written down a pattern as I made it.

I made this last amigurumi for Easter but it is still available for purchase in my shop. I also winged this one also... next time I promise to take notes for a pattern.. This was the first time I've used chenille yarn and I was very happy with the results.

I have so many project I want to do... but I have too many half finished projects started. I'm working on a Hexagon blanket, lacey gloves, a tonberry amigurumi & a frog amigurumi. Plus I have a whale & a bird amigurumi finished just waiting to have their photos taken. So much to do and so little time!

Busy oh so busy!

Wow it's been a long time since i've blogged! I've been just way too busy... I haven't had much time to craft... but here's what I have been able to work on..
My youngest son wanted a brown tiger.. so I had to try out a pattern from Amigurumi Collection Vol.7.

I had some scraps of wool that were just too narrow for cozies so I used them to make a couple cupcake pincushions.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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!