WIP Wednesday 7 - Best Pals Pattern (WIP 6 skipped)

This is WIP Wednesday 7 and not 6 because I wanted to keep up Tami's Amis blog since she is hosting the WIP Wednesday blog-share. I skipped number 6 because I didn't get any crocheting done! You gotta take a break from things every once in a while!

Over the weekend, I did get to work on my Best Pals Pattern that I talked about in the last WIP Wednesday post. I have all the text written for the pattern, but I really like to include photos so I am recreating each animal and taking photos that I can go through to add to the pattern. The sunlight is different these days since the seasons are changing so that makes it tough to take photos! There is either too much sun which gives my amis a weird neon glow or it's too gray outside. I don't know what I'm going to when Fall really hits!


I'm designing each of the animals in the pattern to have a different facial expression. I want to showcase different ways of making the face besides just different shapes for their body parts (ears and tails mostly). Can you guess which animal I have planned for each of the four featured in the photo above? They could be anything, but I made them each with a certain animal in mind.

Finally, I wanted to show off this awesome decal I got from etsy shop Macetera for my MacBook Pro. I love it and everyone is jealous even if they don't know who Totoro is! Only one co-worker at the school I work at recognized that it was from a Hayao Miyazaki film because her husband and daughters watch his films. I promoted his movies every time someone asked about my decal so I hope they remember if they ever come across Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli films when movie-hunting!

For the Love of Shoes

Who doesn't love shoes!? I'm taking a break from crochet-talk today and want to spread the word about Kelsey Jayne's original shoe designs and her etsy shop ForTheLoveOfShoes. The top photo is of what's called a shoe last that Kelsey a.k.a. ForTheLoveOfShoes designed and handpainted. It's such a unique art piece! At her shop, you can find painted shoe lasts and artwork of beautiful shoes. Kelsey is a shoe designer in New York City for Joan and David shoes so she knows what she's doing!



See how cute her shop is? You should totally order some of her artwork for your room or office. They make great gifts too, if you're stumped on what to get your sister, mother, girlfriend...whoever!

I requested custom shoe designs for my little sister as graduation gift. ForTheLoveOfShoes created sketches of a style of shoe I knew my sister liked. The sketches exceeded my expectations! They were perfect. I framed them myself and surprised my sister! She has them displayed in her room on a shelf full of her shoes which you can see in the video below.

You can Like ForTheLoveOfShoes on Facebook to keep up to date on new artwork.

By the way, if you want real shoes you should check out ShoeWoo!

WIP Wednesday 5 - Best Pals Pattern

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Thanks for keeping me going, Tami! Work-in-Progress Wednesdays always come sooner than I expect! School started officially yesterday...I barely had a chance to sit down! Of course I wore heels too and after a summer of wearing flip-flops and flats my feet were just a tad tired. In fact, my entire body was tired! Anyway, I realized today that I can only get so much done in a day and I shouldn't stay for too much longer after school gets out to work on things. There is always tomorrow and people will just have to wait! Everything is going very well though all in all and I do feel the excitement now of my job. Helping teachers incorporate technology and showing people new tricks is fun and I feel good about what I do.

Moving on to the crochet part of things...I started to make a pattern for what I like to call Best Pals! It will include how to make bears, bunnies, puppies, kitties, piggies, and who knows what else. It's meant to be like a starter package for amigurumi beginners!




I have all my notes written out because I've made the lil guys several times, I just never photographed the steps and pieces and I like to include progress photos in my patterns. I know I appreciate them when I purchase patterns because sometimes the text just isn't enough!


Here's all i have so far from the weekend. It's really windy outside and getting a little dark so my photos didn't turn out so well. I just placed an antique effect to give it a little something. I know, I did say I was going to focus on my Meden Patapon...I just can't seem to get the motivation! I don't know what's gotten into me! Maybe because she's turning out to be harder than I thought. She'll make an appearance soon. I promise.

Tip - Yarn Color Change

This is how I change colors of yarn in the middle of an amigurumi project. There may be other ways, but this is how I figured out how to do it! This project shows changing colors when beginning a new row. Your last stitch of the previous row is where you actually begin the color change. So, if my patterns says to complete 30 single crochet (sc) stitches and then change colors for the next row, you will pull your new color up during the 30th sc. Sounds weird, but then it makes it so you actually end with your last sc being that original color and then already being ready with your next color in hand to being your very first sc of the new row.

Insert hook through your last stitch.
Pick up your new color yarn.

Pull the new yarn through your stitch.

Yarn over with the new color, and pull through the two loops (one will be the original color, the other will be the new color). Your final stitch will be the original color!

You now have the new color to begin your next row...

...and your first sc of the new row will be your new color!

When you know you're good to go, snip off the original color leaving a tail to sew/weave/hide the end. You'll have to do this with the tail of the original color as well as the beginning tail of your new color so when you begin with your new color, make sure you leave a long enough tail! I usually give myself 6 inches or so with these tails--whatever is long enough for you to put a needle on the end and poke through a couple times. It's always better to have more than not enough.

WIP Wednesday 4 - Tear Fairy Complete

Voila! Finally finished and ready to share with Tami's Amis for her WIP Wednesdays. I know, took me long enough, right? I've been a busy girl with the start of the school year! The kids officially start next week so I'll still have some details to take care of to get everyone and everything situated and then once we're all in a routine, I'll be able to relax a bit more. Anyway, I crocheted the little Tear Fairy to be sitting since I have no idea how to make this guy stand on his own with such tiny legs. Plus, I figured his legs could be used as support if he falls over since his nose is heavy. He sits very nicely though! Sometimes you have to press on him and flatten out his bum a little but is just wonderful to me!






Now that I have my companion, I just need the game! Gahh!

Edit--I just did a google search and according to dshyper, this guy is named Shizuku (which translates to "droplet" in Japanese). Cool, huh!?