I Sleep With One Eye Open

Because I have nothing else to write about, I will announce that my cat is secretly plotting to kill me. I think it was all that talking about having Roasted Cosmo for Thanksgiving >_> he must have heard...

Exhibit A:

Look at those eyes, o_o he's watching me... it's like he's just daring me to grab my yarn back, but nooo, I'm not falling for that trick >: I know what those claws can do.

Exhibit B:

Look! LOOK!! D: its a subtle threat I say! Like he's anticipating what yummy delicious meat I'm going to taste like *cries* And he's taunting me with yarn *sobs*

Exhibit C:

>: solid (what?) proof! And... and... sometimes he just sits outside my bedroom door staring at me! Staring at me with those adorable slightly cross eyed blue eyes, they're calculating something I tell you! Like he's measuring the distance between the door and my bed, and taking notes on when everyone else in the house goes to sleep so there will be no witnesses. Dear God it's going to be death by pet *sobs uncontrollably*

...help me... he's staring again...

Umm, I Have no Title...

So I frogged again :D Only it was one of those going overboard type of frogs. I made a mistake a couple of stitches on my last row and, again, I wasn't really paying attention and I frogged way too much XD. It wasn't until after that I realized I didn't really have to do that :/ I kind of like frogging, except until I realized I didn't even have to x_x heh

I think thats what I love most about sewing and knitting and crochet and even art. I start out with absolutly nothing and then go from nothing to frustration and frustration to frustration and frustration to disgust and disgust to indifference and indifference to eyeing it and eyeing it to swearing I'm going to finish it if its the last thing I do and swearing I'm going to finish it to frustration and frustration to finishing it and finishing to withdrawl and withdrawl to thinking I did a pretty good job :D the end.

At least that the usual way I go about completing things, I rarely ever frog an entire project without first finishing it, same thing with books (even if I'm hating it), I HAVE to finish it only so I can just say I finish it. I'm the type of person who will kick myself mentaly if I don't follow throw with something I start, which is probably why I rarely have more then two projects going on at the same time :3 I'm starting to learn that I might stay saner if I do more projects though, and just rotating the projects as I get frustrated/disgusted/indifferent to whatever I'm currently working on.

Also sorry about not blogging on the 16th, was just lazy :p and yesterday I had a really bad migraine, I could barely do anything really, just plurked a bit.

Ribbit...ribbit... *cry*

I have a problem with reading patterns when I'm not paying attention x_x why, oh, why do I knit when I'm preoccupied? I had to frog the rows I already finished because I miscounted my stitches >_> see, see, this is why crochet comes so much easier to me. It's easier for me to fix my mistakes in crochet then it is in knitting :/

Problems with worrying about the fires in SoCal + watching CNN + knitting a pattern I'm super unfamiliar with = OMG WHY!?! STUPID STITCHES!! *insert flailing arms attached to yarn and various curse words here*

... o_o now if you'll excuse me I'll be going back to work...

Because I'm Lazy :<

So I missed a couple of days in my NaBloPoMo quest, the first day I excuse myself because I made a post on my personal blog :p *points to post title* but yesterday I just wasn't feeling so well and totally forgot NaBloPoMo :/ ... and because I'm lazy.

So now onto some of my WIP's. For some reason I tend to start and finish crochet projects more easily. Maybe its because its what I started out with and what comes more naturally to me, but there you have it. It tends to be a lot easier with me to finish, even if its making me grow grumpy-angry-person-beware horns on my head I'm more inclined to finish it, no matter what. It might also be because if I'm having a problem with a pattern its easier for me to fix on the fly then with knitting, I have to think more when I knit and I don't think that's good for my brain :( poor brain. Plus in keeping with this posts theme, because I tend to be lazier with knitting then with crochet.

So its no surprise the that an easy project like the Cozy Doctor's Mask one from Pearl of Civilization is taking me forever and a day to make. It's not that I'm having any real problems with it, its just that I tend to be really lazy and neglectful with my knitting o_o;; I also modified it just a tweak, nothing big (because of my poor brain) just used a different yarn and needles so I had to adjust it since the gauge was off, I'm also doing it with moss stitch :3 because I thought it was prettier lol.

And tada~, will post photos once I start along with the project more. I decided not to use any of the three scarflette pattern I was going to use for my new project :D I'm such a flip flopper. I'm going with this one (ravelry). Only problem is I was too lazy to go back to Jo-Ann's or my LYS to get some size 8 circular needles so I just barely managed with 9" straight needles o_o and I do mean barely.

Why go through all the trouble you ask? Because I'm lazy... :<

Beware my pointy sticks!

So I had some yarn I wanted to use up and decided to make a scarflette (have I mentioned that yet?) and realized some of my needles disappeared in the move (I moved house about a year ago @_@). I was missing size 13 and 9 (US) straight needles which I never really noticed since I mostly crochet. And I remembered Clover supplies were on sale at Jo-Ann's (spree, YAY) so off I went. I decided to buy 7, 8, and 11 (US) straight needles as well as some 8 and 9 (US) DPN's, oh, also some cable needles, after that I had to leave the store as quickly as a could before I spent to much :D. I've come to realize I have to stay away from store's when they have sales lol, I end up spending WAY too much.

I was still missing the size 9 and 13 straights so I though it would be a good chance to check out the new Daily Fiber Yarn Company. I feel bad about not seeing it earlier, its such a nice store! I don't know the names of the two ladies that were there (should have asked huh?), but they were both very friendly and helpfull. I also had my slouchy hat on and compliments will go a long way with me lol, made me feel so proud about my first ever hat :D So I bought my size 9's but they were out of 13's and I decided to by some 13 circulars instead. I wanted to look around more but knew if I did I'd eventually end up spending too much, so I payd for the needles and went straight for the door. Poor me lol, but at least I can fill in more of my needle card :D lol

Now I just have to decide which project to start...

The Softies Review

The Softies Kit and Book by Theresa Laskey

First off what's the diff? Both have some of the same projects, both have instructions on individual projects, both have basic embroidery how-to's and both come with patterns, but that's about it.

There are 25 projects in the book and 15 projects in the kit, only 5 are the same in both. Two of the projects they have in common are Treeling and the Cake. One of the cutest softies in the kit is the Hambone, and one of the cutest in the book is the Ms. Tea Bag.

Biggest difference between the two is that the kit is a... kit o_o; Meaning it already comes with embroidery floss, needle, and felt to make your first ever softie :D, the pattern cards are nice and handy for the on the go projects, and everything fits in a nice box. The book, on the other hand, has 10 more patterns then the kit, 20 of which aren't seen in the kit. They have a lot of super cute ones like the Lonely Dollop (buy it and find out XD) and the trio of teeth (sweet, crowned, and cavity). The photos in both are great, making you totally prepared to potentially come across three softies in your dentist office or spot a furry softie floating by under a cluster of balloons.

I found the directions to be very straight forward and easy to understand. The patterns are all labeled clearly and are a no brainier to figure out. The only problem I really had was with the kit, I would of liked to have the kit be about a project other then one that's already in the book, but that's just a personal thing.

If you've never made a softie and are looking for something to start you off with the kit might be the thing for you, if you're looking for some inspiration and lots of ideas the book might be ideal. Then if you've become totally obsessed like me, just buy both :D The extra pattern cards make a perfect means to spread your crafty/softie obsession to friends.

FO to you too o_o;

So I finally finished my creativeyarn puff hat :3

It took me a while but Tada~ I'm still not %100 sure about how it would fit on my head but. I still need to get a hair cut, my hair is just too afro like for test fitting right now XD But I'm happy I'm done~ all those puff stitches ate up the yarn lol so it was super annoying to unravel, redo, check, unravel, redo... well you get the idea... So now I just need to carve out some time to get a haircut, I really want to see how it looks on :D

Onto other news, I decided to add an old scarf I made when I first started knitting. Well not exactly old since I only learned around 4 years ago, but seems so long ago~ All done with one skein, long, and garter stitch, so knitting 101. I'm also adding some photos of the Doctors Mask I've been knitting off and on since like August. I'm using some soft baby acrylic yarn, soft enough to not irritate my face, but acrylic for heavy washing. Why am I making a doctors mask you ask? I have no idea, hooray! I just kind of felt like it lol. Instead of the stockinette stitch I'm using moss stitch, just because I thought it looked nice, and just wanted to try moss stitch.

And onward to another project :D I have some bulky yarn that I had no idea what to do with, so I was thinking of a scarflette, one of these (warning, ravelry requires username/password) uno, dos, or tres.

Baibai~

Why God WHY!?! /melodrama

So I realized my head is abnormally big :D

Rather if you were able to felt my hair into a ball it would be equivalent to an adult sized head, with hair to spare (creepy visual o_o).

I ended up finishing the Hat Numero Two hat and realized how cute it was. So I decided to try it on only to come to terms with the fact that it doesn't fit my head ;_; More then that, it didn't even touch my head, the hat just kind of floated at the back of my head hanging onto my hair. It was literally something like 3 inches away form my scalp and sitting on top of nothing but crazy frizzy hair. Which made me sad ;_; (pity me) and made me realize I really needed to get a haircut :D, I'm thinking of going super super short again :3

So in the meantime, I adding another row of decreasing puffs and starting another project with some bulky yarn I have. I plan on either making some cute fingerless gloves or a scarflette, and I have to decide on knitting or crocheting.

The cake!

So I had bought The Softies Kit a little over a week ago at my local Jo Ann's store (yay for coupons) and decided to try out a softie. The kit came with 2 pieces of felt, a pink and a white, matching embroidery floss, an embroidery needle, patterns, an instruction booklet, and project cards. The first project you'll see when you open up the box is a simple pink Party Cake; the felt and floss are pink, so if you use that expensive education your parents have paid for you'll come to the realization that the Party Cake is your first project :3 (or was that just me?). Anyway, I opened up my box, took out all the felt pieces, embroidery floss, needle, and Party Cake pattern pieces and quickly got to work cutting the felt and separating the floss.

One of the things I had planned to do was changing the whipped cream and using a different technique that I found online, where you ask? I have no idea ._. I just remember it being in Japanese so I just saved the pictures and lost the address ^^; The pictures didn't show anything about stuffing it, but it was looking kind of flat to me so I added some polyfill anyway, only it was making the flaps all fuzzy, and as we all know fuzzy whipped cream is either really old or you seriously need to take some cooking classes. Alas, I had to resort to gluing the flaps down with some fabric glue x_x I feel so much like a cheat now lol, a satisfied cheat, but a cheat nonetheless :D.

If you noticed that my cake looks a little different from the one on the project card you A. just read the sentence above the picture (yay!), B. didn't notice till I pointed it out (tsk tsk tsk), or C. noticed the little bead thingies on top of the cake (how observant you are \o/).

Well, when I was getting ready to sew the whipped cream to the top of the cake I realized that I had no cute-little-red-mini-pompom (;_;) and I couldn't just leave the cream all lonely on top so I decided to go back to the crafts store (on another day, since I'm lazy :3) and buy a little bag of cute-little-red-mini-pompoms just like what's on the project card. So I waited a week for my 40% off coupons to arrive in my e-mail, because I can never resist using those coupons, and headed back to Jo Ann's for said cute pompoms. On the way to the craft section I passed the beads section and thought I could use those little seed beads for "sprinkles" on my cake, while looking around I decided to just use a larger glass bead instead of a cute pompom, after all I was armed with a coupon (yay coupons \o/) and using a 40% Off coupon on 99¢ PomPoms would push me over the edge from frugal shopper (D: sporadic frugality?) to penny pinching crazy lady, something I don't plan on being till I have some children I can embarrass :3.

And after sewing the top on and adding the beads I finished my first ever softie (yay me! \o/). Now what to do with it? XD I think I'll send it to a friend :3

Also, sorry about the dim pictures, I was planning on having a cute little vignette type photograph, having a tea set with the cup and saucer as well as the sugar bowl and creamer. By the time I was ready to photograph the sun was on its way down and I couldn't find any of my cups and saucers (lost in the abyss that is the garage), so I just went ahead and took the photographs, ah well. I did get to use one of my moms saucers :D the rest of the set is somewhere in the garage though lol.

New and new... and not that new!

XD I changed the name to my craft blog lol why? I don't know \o/ and the new name is craftychango.blogspot.com :3 because I'm a crafty monkey? o_o

I bought new yarn too, 1 skein of three colors

Country... 75% microfiber and 25% merino wool = teh softness

Spy... 75% microfiber and 25% bamboo = teh interesting

The background fabric (a.k.a. the comfy reading chair) is super distracting but I'm a lazy bitch :3 I'm thinking of making fingerless gloves/gauntlets but I'm not sure which one I want to use the wool or the bamboo. It doesn't get too hot here so I was thinking the bamboo, but I love the orange-red yarn XD hmm decisions, decisions.

Both yarns are naturallycaron.com

I also couldn't resist buying some cute fabric that I have no idea what to do with \o/

hrmm, what can I make? The one one the right reminds me of old curtains :D I have weird taste \o/

And while were on the subject of fabrics...

BEHOLD!!! THE PAJAMA FABRIC!!!

D: I thought it was cute because it has little squirrels (foxes? forrels? squoxes?) on it :3 and yes I have the mental age of a 4 year old....

Work in Progress

So I started another hat a while back :3 I got the pattern from creativeyarn so cute~ And a lot of her other stuff is nice, the cowl neck capelet is on my to-do-NOW list.
I of course have to modify things a bit, considering my head size, and the shear amount of hair I have (I swear its about the size of my entire head right now x_x). I'm making it bigger my using a larger weight yarn and a larger hook, that seems to work for me, in fact while I'm working on it it kind of looks a little larger then it should be >_> if that's the case I'll just make it an oversized beret ^^;;

Pretty color yarn~ It's Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Rose Heather. Easy yarn to considering this is my second hat and I have to modify hat patterns, its 80% Acrylic and 20% wool. I had the hat partway done when I saw Lei last month, only I had to unravel everything since I had started with one hook and then at some point I switched hooks. Why you ask? The hell if I know @_@ I just noticed it was looking a little too huge and I knew my head wasn't THAT big. So I had to unravel and start all over XD

On a side note, nice fabric? I guess you can call it vintage :D it has that 70's look to it keke. It's actually the underside of my baby blanket my godmother made me when I was born. My mom hid it away so I wouldn't become overly attached to it and make it threadbare lol, so now I use it as a throw.

The Background

Since I already have a WordPress
blog I decided to use this one as a crafty blog, and the WordPress one as a personal blog.
Lately I've been really into making crochet items, and since I just started sewing I've been looking at things to sew XD A several weeks ago I decided to make a hat from a pattern I found on craftypants' blog site. Since this would be my first hat I decided to use some extra acrylic I had lying around, if the hat came out really bad, its just acrylic. I did make a couple modifications though, since I have REALLY thick unruly hair and a big head (o_o) I had to enlarge the pattern a bit, I also added three rows of basket weave stitch (front post back post).

This is what I ended up with :3

Yesterday I just received my invitation to Ravelry, which I was really excited about. I didn't realize they had like an organization area for your account with a database of patterns, which is great for me since I had pdf and notepad files scattered throughout a couple CD's and over my hard drive, now all my patterns are in one place <3 They also have a current projects area where you can post what project you're doing and how far along you are, which would come in handy when you get stuck at a certain point and aren't sure what to do. And the patterns are awesome, I found a couple that are already on my to do list and some new ones that made the list longer then it already is.

One of my favorite categories is the naughty one XD mainly because the typical picture you get of a crafter is like granny types. Then people realize there are patterns for anatomically correct genitalia, unconventional cozies (for... yeah), and amigurumi sex toys with faces and all. Which reminded me of the uterus plushies on etsy.com, I actually thought the idea for the healing uterus might be something lighthearted to give to someone (with a twisted sense of humor) who had/has a gynecologic cancer like ovarian or cervical cancer, it even comes with its own band-aid :D the idea for the happy uterus is kind of weird though o_o I'm not really sure I'd have wanted one of those when I was younger.

Technorati Tags: Ravelry,corhet,hat,plushies,unconventional,patterns,WordPress

The things I Like

This post is actually from a post on my WordPress blog that I decided to repost here ^_^

I'm on a total plushie binge right now :3 sewingstars' makes the CUTEST things! I LOVE her crying eggboy and some of her newer stuff are the pumpkins to celebrate Halloween I guess.
One of my other fave softie makers is ElizabethD from Gourmet Amigurumi. She has a book out if anyone is interested. She insane with attention to detail. You can pretty much figure out her aesthetic since everything she does is really distinctive. I'd have to say the eyes are signature though, lots of detail around the eyes that just makes it pop. The fawn at the bottom is patterned in her book, only its just all brown, cute no?

And as long as were talking about plushies, combining food and craft just seems genius to me :D although that might just be because I'm super hungry right now and lack fiber in my diet... Here's some food related softies, starting from the left, some spoiled boneless chicken by Robyn D: poor thing is totally aware of his demise, next is some dim sum by .lani, and because I love anything having to do with Mexican folk art I added the Small Cat Club's softies of calaveras de dulces D: haven't had one of those since I was like 8 x_x

Of course the classic plushie is from an animal, though an octopus isn't really the normal creation :D

This one's another creation of the Small Cat Club's and its been painted. I love her expression and the two front teeth just makes it super cute D:

DeviantArt is also a nice place to see plushies~ (I'm starting to sound really obbossesd ._.) anyway, I like this one of matches

Summary of Life by ~FrealaF on deviantART makes you kinda look at matches in a new light XD

And last but not least there's a fiber artist named Patricia Waller. XD I like, but then again I have a bit of a sick sense of humor.

A crochet collection of S+M gear lol

Technorati Tags: amigurumi,softie,plushie,sewingstars,Gourmet Amigurumi,ElizabethD,Patricia Waller