Sweater Frog

It's been a little while, I know! I have made a few creatures since May, but somehow they never got their portraits made, and subsequently, never made it to this blog.

Here's a new design- I'll call him "Sweater Frog" because of the stripes.  I couldn't find the exact kind of frog I wanted to make online, so I created my own (for my mom, who has placed several "orders" in the last few months.) He features bug eyes made of felt, an embroidered nose and mouth, pink stripes and froggish feet.


Pattern will be posted...

Alligator a la Vanna

I made this little guy when a friend asked if I could make an alligator for a relative's baby whose nursery was alligator-themed in lime green and navy blue. I'm about two months late... and I haven't made the back spine in navy yet, becaue I haven't bought navy yarn yet....

But I thought I'd post him because he's pretty cute as a spineless alligator. The pattern can be found in this little Lion Brand Vanna's Choice booklet.

Mobile for baby brother

I've been working on another design by Ana Paula Rimoli from her "Amigurumi World 2: Toys for Me and You and Baby Too." I wanted to make something for Stephen and New Baby (due in 10 days!!) and this model was just the thing. I changed the color scheme to blues and greens and I might make a different mini critter besides the white bear that she has with it.

Stephen saw me stuffing the balloon portion of the amigurumi with polyfill and he wanted to join in the fun. The balloon and basket are completed, but I haven't made the little critter to go in the basket yet. Will post those later :)

Happy Rain

My friends have four children, each with a unique "nature-y" name. Anna Rain will be celebrating her 4th birthday tomorrow, and I wanted to make her a little gift that reflected her pretty middle moniker. This is what I came up with...

To make a happy rain mobile, I went pretty random on the cloud. I'm afraid I couldn't replicate what I did if I tried. It involved adding stitches only on the top side to get the asymetrical bumpy look. The raindrops are more cut and dry:

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Happy drop

(Note, leave a long tail in the beginning to suspend drop from cloud.)

R1: ch 2, sc 3 in second chain from hook

R2: sc 2 in each (6 sts)

R3: sc 1, 2 sc repeated three times (9 sts)

R4: sc 2, 2 sc repeated 3 times (12 sts)

R5: sc 3, 2 sc repeated 3 times (15 sts)

R6: sc 4, 2 sc repeated 3 times (18 sts)

R7: sc 5, 2 sc repeated 3 timnes (21 sts)

R8: sc 6, 2 sc repeated 3 times (24 sts)

R9: add eyes, 5 sts apart and sc 24

R10-11: sc 24, embroider mouth

R12: sc 2, dec 1 repeat 6 times (18 sts)

R13: sc 1, dec 1 repeat 6 times (12 sts)

R14: sk 1, sc 1 repeated 6 times (6 sts)

R15: sk 1, sc1 repeat 3 times, tie off.

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Rainbow hanger
(Note: Be sure to leave tails at either of each color to sew rainbow to cloud's head.)
R1: ch 15 with purple yarn
R2: turn and sl st 14
R3: sc 1, 2 sc to end with blue yarn
R4: sc 2, 2 sc to end with green yarn
R5: sc 3, 2 sc to end with yellow yarn
R6: sc 4, 2 sc to end with reddish-orange yarn

Brown Bat

I had no idea how complicated it would be to make a bat amigurumi. And, actually, the head and body were a cinch... it was the wings that got a little complicated. I knew I didn't want to spend the time trying to come up with crocheted wings, but the felt I have is rather limp. There was also the problem of attatching the wings to the body... something I should have thought about before stuffing and closing the body and attaching it to the head.

My solution: Make crocheted arms for the bat with long tails for sewing. Double up the wings and sew some green craft wire into the wings along the top edge, hiding the stitches by sewing the crocheted arms over the location of the wire. I desperately need some lessons on sewing and embroidering, as I feel my wing edges are quite messy. The wings attach to the back where the arms are and near the bottom of the wings. This was sort of an afterthought when I realized how floppy the whole thing was. I cut two little slits in the front piece of felt of each wing using very tiny and very sharp sewing scissors. In retrospect, I would have cut these before sewing the wings together. After attaching the wings to the back at the arms, I ran the remaining tail through the slits and attached the wings further down the back. It would be difficult to actually sew on the wings while still crocheting the bat's body because they run most of the length of his back, so maybe my "mistake" was actually the most logical way to put this critter together.

OK, here's my attempt at providing a pattern for the crocheted parts:
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Head
Note: R1 is actually the bat's nose rather than the top of his head.
R1: ch 2, 3 sc in second ch from hook
R2: 2 sc in each (6 sts)
R3: 2 sc in each (12 sts)
R4: sc 1, 2 sc repeated 6 times (18 sts)
R5: sc 2, 2 sc repeated 6 times (24 sts)
R6: Sew on nose and add pony bead eyes about 8 stitches apart, sc 24 (24 sts)
R7-9: sc 24
R10: sc 2, dec 1 (18 sts)
R11: sc 18
R12: sc 1, dec 1 (12 sts)
R13-14: sk 1, sc 1 until you can close it off.
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Ears (make 2)
R1: ch 5
R2: turn, skip one stitch and sc back to the beginning of the chain; tie off and leave tail for sewing ears to head.
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Body
R1: ch 2, 7 sc in second chain from hook
R2: 2 sc in each (14 st)
R3: sc 1, 2 sc, repeated 7 times (21 st)
R4-7: sc 21
R8: sc 6, dec 1, repeated 3 times (18 sts)
R9-13: sc 18
R14: sc 5, dec 1, repeated 3 times (15 sts)
R15: sc 4, dec 1, repeated 3 times (12 sts)
R16: sk 1, sc 1, repeated 6 times (6 sts) tie off, leaving tail for sewing body to head.
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Arms (make 2)
R1: ch 14
R2: turn and sl st 12 starting from the second chain from hook, then sc 1. Tie off and leave long tail for sewing wings to back.
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Wings
Draw desired wing shape on paper, then cut out and use it as a pattern to make 4 wing shapes in beige felt. If you've got any pen marks on the wings, be sure to hide those sides on the inside of your wings. Measure out two pieces of craft wire so that when they are folded in half, they are just a little shorter than the top edge of your felt wings. Use a needle and thread to sew each wire to the inside of a wing. Make sure to sew the second wire to the opposite side of the second wing... since they should be mirror images of each other.  Then sew each crocheted arm to the wings, opposite the wire side, covering any messy stitches from where you sewed the wire. Cut two small slits in each wing front about an inch below the base of the crocheted arms. Use brown embroidery floss to sew wing fronts to wing backings.
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Attaching
Consider using straight pins or safety pins to position the wings where you want them. Next, using a smaller crochet hook (like D) weave the tails into the bat's back to attach the wings. String the remaining tail through the slits you cut in the wing and attach it to a lower point on the bat's back.
Brown bat may look a little frumpy at this point, but his wings can be reshaped by gently bending the wire to the desired angle.

Bob & Larry

Stephen is quite fond of Veggie Tales, and I thought Bob and Larry's spherical and cylindrical shapes would lend themselves to crocheting in the round. Larry was pretty easy. I think I started with 5 stitches in Round 1 and increased by five each round until I had 25 stitches. Then I just continued with 25 stitches until he seemed a good "Larry" length and decreased by five until I got down to ten, then skipped every other stitch to tie off. The eyes are black and white felt, the mouth black felt with an embroidered white tooth. I had to study Stephen's DVD boxes to get this to look right. I'm not terribly pleased with my embroidery skills though! The nose begins with R1: chain 2, 3 stitches. R2: 2 sc in each stitch. R3: 1 sc in each.

Bob has a really fat, flat head/body. He's about 22 rounds total. To get the flat top, I started R1 with 7 stitches and increased by 7 each round until I had 42 stitches. There's three rows of 42 after that, and then I decreased to 35 and held it at 35 stitches for a row. Then I decreased to 21 and held it at 21 for a second round. Then I decreased by 7 until I could tie off. Bob has bigger eyes than Larry, the same kind of nose and a simple embroidered mouth. He's also got a green felt star-shaped calyx sewn on the top of his head.

I should have written down the exact "recipe" for these guys, but I was making them in whatever spare bits of time I could find lately... which is not very much!

Cactus gets a new pot

I sent Sofie Sajuarita to my grandma Tilsch out in Arizona as a present from my mom. She used to have a green pot... but after looking at it for a while, I decided a smaller, more tailored, terra cotta-looking pot would be better.

Loveable lion

This is probably my biggest amigurumi so far... he's almost a foot from head to toe. He's on his way to Vancouver, B.C., where I hope he'll be loved by my good friend, Dorothy's new baby boy, J.T. I followed Ana Paula Rimoli's pattern from "Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet."

Some notes on this loveable leo: He's made from vintage "Bucilla" yarn from France. He features safety eyes (instead of my usual pony beads) and, of course, a hand-stitched and embroidered muzzle.

I've also been making a scarf for my friend, Jennifer... sorry no pictures of that.

My next idea is to work on some plush sports balls that can be thrown by enthusiastic toddlers without causing harm. I also plan to make a Bob the Tomato, Larry the Cucumber and maybe some French Peas for Stephen. I just need to get some white felt for their huge, buggy eyes.

Spiralfly

I saw instructions for making a crocheted spiral online... The directions are for using three colors, but I decided to try it with two for fun the other night. It looks like a lollipop, but I decided to make two of them and turn them into a butterfly. He's very similar to the Hershey Snail. In fact, I pretty much followed the body and antennae pattern that I posted earlier. I made two spirals for the big wings, and two white circles bordered in white for the smaller wings. I'd like to give an exact pattern, but I didn't really write anything down as I was doing it. Sorry 'bout that.

Bumblebee design

I spent five hours selling my "emigurumis" yesterday at our church's craft fair. Both teacup kitties and a bear got bought :-) I also had an order for a brown and yellow bee... and here he is! Pattern below....

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Body

R1: (yellow) ch2, 5 sc

R2: 2 sc in ea (10 stitches)

R3: 2 sc in ea (20 stitches)

R4: sc, 2 sc around (30 stitches)

R5: add eyes, sc 30

R6-R7: sc 30, embroider mouth

R8: sc 2, 2sc around (40 stitches)

R9-R17: (brown) sc 40

R18-20: (yellow) sc 40

R21: sc 2, dec 1 (30 stitches)

R22: sc 30

R23: (brown) sc 30

R24: sc 1, dec 1 (20 stitches)

R25: sc 20

R26: sk 1, sc 1 (10 stitches)

R27: sc 10

R28: sk 1, sc 1... until stinger comes to a point! Tie off.

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Wings (make 2 using white)

R1: ch 2, 5 sc in second loop from hook

R2: 2 sc in each (10 stitches)

R3: 1 sc, 2 sc around (15 stitches)

R4-R6: sc 15

R7: sc 1, dec 1 (10 stitches)

R8: sc 10, tie off, flatten and sew shut.

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Antennae (make 2 using brown)

R1: ch 10

R2: sc 2 in second bump from hook, slip stitch to end, tie off

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Nest Buddies

In addition to using my new Heritage yarns, I also picked up a pretty skein at Big Lots that I thought would make a good hedgehog back. This morning I got inspired and decided to make a nest and some birdies instead. There's still a little left for a hedgehog...

A-cute-triments

My mom has already got dibs on Mini Bunny. I decided to dress her up a little this morning.

Tea Cup Kitties

 Here's my newest inspiration--to put my kitties in teacups. Last night I made this little Siamese and periwinkle teacup duo.

I was excited to find another non-Wal-mart place to buy yarn in Hopkinsville: Heritage Crafts on LaFayette, about 2 minutes from my house. They don't have a lot of yarn. In fact, I bought a skein of almost every color he had stuffed on a low and dusty shelf, still in the original plastic. The hole-in-the-wall shop has been in the same location since 1972! The cash register operates without electricity. I think there might even be some of the original merchandise there too :-). But Heritage is a gem down the street where I was able to buy the Paton's Canadiana cream and blue yarn used above. Yippee!

This morning I used a mossy green Paton's Canadiana yarn to make Gray Mini Kitty a scarf and teacup of her own.

Hershey Snail

This is my first amigurumi design. I did look at a lot of snails on Etsy and elsewhere on the web, so it's not like I didn't borrow inspiration, but the pointy shell and antennae are my own take on this friendly garden snail.

Here's my pattern:
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Shell
R1: ch 2, 3 sc in second loop from hook
R2: 2 sc in each around [6 stitches]
R3: hdc 1, 2 hdc around [9 stitches]
(All half-double crochets are done in outer loop to give the shell the swirl pattern)
R4: 2 hdc in each around [18 stitches]
R5: hdc 1, 2 hdc around [27 stitches]
R6: hdc 2, 2 hdc around [36 stitches]
R7: hdc 2, dec 1 around [27 stitches]
R8: hdc 1, dec 1 around [18 stitches]
R9: hdc 1, dec 1 around [ 12 stitches]
R10: hdc 1, sk 1 around [6 stitches] tie off, leaving long tail for weaving shell to body
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Body
R1: ch 2, 5 sc in second loop from hook
R2: sc 2 in each around [10 stitches]
R3: (If stringing pony beads into stitches for eyes, add them now five stitches apart. Adding the first eye at the first stitch of the row also makes a good row marker.)
R3 - R19: sc in each around [10 stitches] (Stuff head and embroider mouth at R5 or R6. The rest of the body is "stuffingless"]
R20: sc 1, sk 1, tie off [5 stitches]
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Antennae
R1: ch 17
R2: In second bump from hook, sc 1
Then sl st the next 14 bumps
Finally, 2 sc in last bump and tie off
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Assembly notes
I used my crochet hook, but you could use a yarn needle to weave the shell to the body. Note that the highest attaching point between the head and shell is almost right behind his eyes. This will give him a curved up neck.

To secure the antennae, choose a stitch on the top of Hershey's head. Stick your crochet hook through it to make the holes on either side of the stitch a little roomier. Then hook one end of your antennae and pull it through the holes so that one antenna sticks through each hole evenly. I didn't secure them in any other way because it was a pretty snug fit, but you could use body-colored yarn or thread to sew head and antennae together.