Fantastic Crochet buddies give me the best birthday

My birthday has just passed. My two crochet buddies did the best thing anyone could have done for me. Roz gave me a bottle of Pink Truck and Diane put together a notebook of amigurimi patterns for me to use as is or alter to my heart's content. Thank you Ladies - you are the best!
The Pink Truck will come in handy if i get frustrated by a pattern that is the notebook.

Do you have a friend that is "into" a craft of some sort? Take a page from these two ladies. For me the notebook was the best idea. If you have a scrapbooking friend and you sew maybe trims, laces and buttons that are too small for you to use would be appreciated by them. For a sewer, Maybe a decorated box or accordian file for their small things. Quilters appreciate graph paper, colored pencils. fabric scraps and LOTS of safety pins.

Remember the gift that shows you thought about what the person would like is the best type of gift.

Roz and Diane, Thanks again.

Amigurumi Puuchuu

For those of you with no interest in amigurumi, anime, crochet or altering patterns skip this. The rest of you..

This started because I was hitting sites looking for ideas. Someone posted this link on ravelery. For a crocheted Kerochan from Card Captor Sakura. My first thought was OH! I could alter that to make one of the aliens from Excel Saga.

So the pattern alternation saga begins. I have the basic form done now. I have already altered one thing. I made the head a closed ball, it just seemed to not be round enough when attached to the neck. Next the ears, after some playing I decided to chain 25 crochet 1 row starting with doubles for 11 stitches, then half doubles then singles to end. I couled them, and sewed them on.

Next, the diaper.. I decided to make that as a seperate piece and sew that one as well. THe rug beater weapon is a straw witn a chained 'beater. But I am stuck on the antenna. Will post a picture as soon as I get it done.

Falling behind

One of my goals is to try and complete one thing a day that i have been falling behind on. Between the dentist yesterday and feeling not so great today, I have now fallen behind. So In order to keep up with my schedule, tomorrow I will working on a pair of pajama pants for DH. The PuuChuu toy and After my trip to the fabric store, the bathroom rug. Keep on me about this.

The list:

2 pairs of pajama pants for daughter
3 pairs of pajama pants for husband (1 completed)
quilt for fireplace
PuuChuu
Bathroom Rug
average of 1 batch of CP soap a week
Quilt for Queen-sized bed
Liz's quilt
Olive's quilt
H&I Quilt
Daughter's cosplay costumes
My Cosplay costume
Fleece pullover for daughter
Throw for daughter's bed
Stuffed animal hanger for daughter's room
Bathroom Curtain
Crocheted sweater for work
Crocheted tunics
soot sprite
boot slippers
crochet tabi (have to alter a pattern or convert a knit one to crochet)
sweater for self
sweater for daughter

And that is what I have started on or in the works. I need to clear some room in the stash areas, so keep on me people. Otherwise I will get lazy, again.

Stuff

Here is the Calicifer toy completed. The most difficult part was actually getting the eyes right. The second most difficult was finding the orange fun fur. I went out and bought the stuff for this because I wanted to make him, but I am finding that small stuffed toys are great for using up those little scraps of yarn from larger projects. So far the best sites I have found for patterns anad ideas are www.lionbrand.com www.ravelry.com and www,craftster.org.




The rug is almost completed, but what color to border it in? Seems like everyone is split evenly on this.. I think it may boil down to what do I have the most of in my stash?

Pajama pants are the big thing again this year, but why do they call them lazy or leisure pants now? It seems that flannel is not recommended for children's sleepwear because of a lack of fire retardation. BUT the fire retardant fabrics have been found to release a chemical that may kill children too. So LEGALLY it looks like we cannot put our children (Under age 12) in any clothing. Our government at work.

The weather has turned chilly and it is time to break out the sewing machine, crochet hooks and all my other crafts that I tend to pursue in cooler weather. Let's face it sitting under a couple of pounds of yarn as you crochet a bedspread is no fun in 90 degree weather. Struggling with a quilt while sweat drips off your nose tends to make you hate quilting.

So my planned projects are:
Find a way to get the stupid guitar straps to not stretch when holding a 40 lb bass.
The crocheted Dalek
A quilt large enough to block the fireplace for February and one I will enjoy looking at when we are snowed in.
Soap (of course)
A quilt for ME
A crocheted bedspread for my bed for the summer.
Gi's
Cosplay costumes for Acen 2009

First Glove

Okay so I started the typing gloves based on a pattern I found on Ravelry by Nichole Verville. As I suspected my small hands are a pain. Hers crochet up to medium. So I am following her's atm with an eye to making it a small.

So far instead of Ch 18 13-14 looks like enough. And instead of 8 rows for the thumbhole it lookes lie 5 or 6 would do it. The pattern is so far fairly easy to follow But I am about to try making it for the OTHER hand now I will try with my changes. If it fits better them will make in some nice black wool blend or maybe even a thinner chenille.

New project

So I am looking around ravelry.com and I came across the perfect gift for many of my friends. A crochet Dalek. There is a knit one as well. The pattern is free (of course you can't sell it or BBC will get after you) There is only one small catch, the author asks for a donation for a family. No you don't have to, but if you don't you will probably feel guilty!

Here is the link. I'll post a picture when I get it done. Crochet Dalek

Yarn and Other Snobs

I teach and indulge in crochet. Lately, I joined a small group of like minded crocheters that are tired of yarn snobs and knitting snobs. These are the people who ask why you are not using the top of the line wools and are using that junk.

Here is my answer, I crochet because I enjoy it. I can create things that I like. I am allergic to most wools, so I use non wool yarns since it is difficult to crochet when you are crying. I work part-time at Jo-Ann Fabrics. They sell yarn. I get a discount and of course coupons. As a result I buy what I can afford. Yes, that is right not all people who crochet have tons of money to put into their hobby.

I have had some luck with wool-ease and cotton and wool blend yarns. But others still affect me. I do not crochet to impress people. The purpose of our group is camaraderie, sharing and a reason to get out of the house. One of the members started it because she tried to find a group in her area. Most were knitting groups and told her not to come if she did not knit. One said they would LET her come. Finally she found a group at a yarn shop who when she pulled out her WIP asked why she was using such a low grade yarn.

So for everyone who believes you MUST use a hand spun and dyed yarn, I suggest you move on. For anyone else who loves crochet and will put up with my woes when I try to knit (I am a rotten knitter). Welcome. This blog will include crochet, my soap making and other projects. Other members of Sunflower Unlimited who have items for sale or on display on the site are welcome to join the blog as well. Just ask Zeta to send you an invite.

Now without further ado, let me direct people to this site: www.ravelry.com It is a website devoted to knitting, crochet and who knows what else. Once you get there you have ask for an invitation. Mine took 5 days to come, but I have seen the list as short as 2 days. It has tons of projects. Lots of information and links to sales. It also has ways to keep track of your stash and projects. So for all of you knitters and crocheters looking for more projects or help with one it is worth it.