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!?

WIP Wednesday 3 - One more step left for the Tear Fairy!

I was hoping to get the Tear Fairy completed for this week's "Work-In Progress-Wednesday" from Tami's Amis. Due the rainy weather I was unable to take my progress photos outside so I kept pushing back my work. Anyways, the next steps were to work on his face:



When I placed the black eyes in the crocheted circle, I did not place it in the center hole, but rather in between stitches in the next row. I used embroidery floss for his smile :)



Stuffed him super tightly and then sewed him together!



All he needs now are his arms and feet! I don't know why I didn't at least crochet those during the rainy weather! Oh well, I guess the finished project will have to wait until next week! I switched gears a bit since I was pushing the Tear Fairy aside and also worked on my Meden Patapon Amigurumi.



I had this project requested a long time ago and I must apologize to my customer for taking so long. Finding the right yarn was rough, finding the time was tough, and attempting to make some of her parts was frustrating! Once the Tear Fairy is finished and I write up a pattern, Meden Patapon will be my main focus. I needed some time away from Patapons. Anyway, I'll discuss her in the future.

On another note, my monsters were featured in the Super Cute Kawaii blog from their Flickr Friday! I didn't know I was cool enough to be noticed on there! Yay! Finally, in other news, school will be starting officially for the teachers and myself next week and then officially for the students the following week! I have a ton of presentations to prepare, my room to organize, technology to update and so much more! I'm getting a little nervous!!! Once school starts and everything settles, I'll have more time on my hands (sounds strange, but I will...hehe). G'night!!!!

World of Warcraft + Lord of the Rings

Ah, memories!!! My boyfriend and I decided to watch all three movies in the series The Lord of the Rings. Again! I love love love these movies. The story is so powerful and the movies were created so well.

After finishing the final movie today, I was reminded of some old World of Warcraft/Lord of the Rings online sillies! I love when my favorite things come together! I remember when I first starting playing World of Warcraft and I heard this joke from male humans. I think they have the best jokes of all the races but this one is their best!!!!!





This is next one is tops on my favorite Lord of the Rings/World of Warcraft jokes. Newer WoW players will understand the humor, but I feel like it will be most funny to the original WoW players who understand what it was like to quest with "noobs" and actually head to an instance (y'know take the flight path and walk, rather than this instant queue business, lol) and having to work hard in the quest chains to earn the key to instances...ah it's too much. I just love it. It describes WoW gameplay so well!

Click here to view WoW - LOTR Style. Enjoy! Hope it makes you lol! *Warning: mature language in the link* I'm sure many WoW / LOTR fans will have seen these, but if not I hope they made you smile!

WIP Wednesday 2 - Lantern Complete!

This lantern is new! Not the same one as last week's photograph.

This lantern was quite troublesome for me! I wasn't sure what the best way was to crochet a cube, rectangular prism, square pyramid...I don't even know what the heck to call it. My first thoughts were to crochet each side as a rectangle,, a square for the base, then the top and sew each together. I probably could have succeeded in this. Oh, then I also would have had to work in the colored edges. It was a lot of little pieces.

I decided that crocheting amigurumi typically means to crochet in rounds. So, I attempted to crochet a a squarish type of figure. I had never done this before and it took quite a few experiments! I think what I ended up with was pretty good. Perhaps the edges could be a little more defined? Not sure. Anyway, I crocheted the golden cube, switched to the reddish/orangey color to chain strands each time I got to a corner. Then I sewed each edge down to the corners. I crocheted the top separate and sewed it on top. I stuffed it a little extra at the top so it would have a pointier top.

It works for me! I don't want to make complicated patterns, but I also don't want them to be too simple, where they don't like what they're supposed to be. I'm keeping it so far, and if I get an epiphany later I'll make another!

Here are some WIP pics I took. I thought it would be easier to create a little movie rather than uploading each photo. Enjoy! (Lol!)

For other totally awesome WIPs, check out Tami's Amis WIP Wednesdays #2!!!

WIP Wednesday 1 - Ninokuni

Tami's Amis and Other Crochet had a great idea to do a "Work-In-Progress Wednesdays" where fellow crafters can link to their WIPs! So here are my details I've been meaning to discuss about my latest WIP.

I've been really good at starting an amigurumi and not finishing it lately... I already posted about my "Tear Fairy" (I'm not really sure what his actual name is) from a new Studio Ghibli/Level 5 video game called Ninokuni. Isn't he cute? Check out the trailer if you have not seen it yet!





If you're a fan of Studio Ghibli movies, then I'm sure you'll be interested in this game! I was so excited when my boyfriend told me about this and showed me the video on IGN announcing that it will be on the PS3!!!!! Yay! From what I know it's only out in Japan on Nintendo DS. I either need to get my hands on the game and not understand what anyone is saying in the game, or wait for the PS3 version. I'm most likely going to wait for the latter, hehe.

So anyways, as usual, my boyfriend suggested I crochet him while I wait for the game :)
This is what I have so far and it's tough to tell! Crocheting his nose separate was the easiest thing I thought. I am also not really familiar with crocheting a curved shape--kind of like a cornucopia shape.

I was working on creating the lantern that he has, but I was unsatisfied with my yarn choices so I stopped and have not gotten back to it yet! I did buy some new yarn, but have been so busy with an online class I'm taking. This is the last week and I have a lot of work to submit still but starting next week, I'll be refreshed and ready to continue working on him! Once I figure out how to crochet the lantern appropriately I'll be able to attach the lantern, nose and body together then work on the limbs.




On another note, if you're reading this and have not entered my contest to win Gorge the Monster, please enter! It's on my Facebook page!