Crafty Pants!

Remember Owly? Well, he now has a buddy that is adept at hiding cottony stuff too!

Along with my cotton puffs, I use cotton swabs quite often for makeup application. So of course, I had to make myself something to hold those, too. Who wants an icky cardboard/plastic box on your counter?

I made stumpy using Lionbrand Lionsuede, which has a great texture and gives a very sturdy result. The pattern is quite easy, so here it is, incase you’d like a stump to hide your cottony treasures in:

Stumpy the Swab Stasher

Yarn: Bulky (Lionbrand Lionsuede)
Hook size: G

Special stitch: Bpdc, Fpdc

Main Stump:

1: With light color: ch 4. In 1st chain (4th from hook) dc 15. Join with sl st. (this makes a circle).

2: With main color: Bpdc around each post of each dc [15]. Join with sl st.

3: Fpdc around each post of each dc [15]. Join with sl st.

4: repeat row 3 until the stump is the height you like. Mine was 7-8 rows. Finish.

Little Branch:

1: With light color: ch 2. In 2nd ch from hook, sc 5.

2: With main color: sc in each st around until branch is the length you desire. Sew branch to stump

And that’s it! I’ll try and get the owl pattern up soon, but I want to experiment some more, possibly with felting, or using lion suede…

What secret is he hiding, sitting there on the edge of the cabinet?

Why, he’s hiding my cotton pads! I was looking for those!

I diligently use a toner every night, and I have been keeping my cotton puffs/pads in their original bag, in the bathroom cabinet. The only problem with this is that the bag is oddly shaped, and it is a bit annoying having to repeatedly open and re-seal it every night and morning. So, I experimented and made myself a cotton pad holder. The yarn was way too soft and thin, so I had to starch him with white glue. I also crocheted some wire circles to the edges to keep him nice and round. I’m thinking I want to make another go at him, but with thicker yarn so that he wouldn’t need starching or wire. I also plan on making a matching stump Q-tip holder…

Mr. Ele, the Elephant, decided he was quite unsatisfied with the gentlefolk of San Francisco. So he tipped his hat to the Golden Gate Bridge, and flew up to Seattle. No, not with his ears, silly! On a plane, of course. There, he met a a beautiful girl, whom he fell madly in love with.

But alas, he towered over her, and looked quite terrifying from her viewpoint.

Egads! He had encountered the Seattle Freeze!

Made using this pattern.

Over at Craftster  I finally decided to participate in a swap. I chose the newbies only swap because it would be the perfect introduction to swaps.  My partner liked Nintendo and had a sense of humor so here are the things I made:

Crocheted Boo:

Gnome, Mario Mushroom and Boo. These guys are made from polymer clay and the gnome is about an inch tall:

Hand carved stamp:

Stationary. I made magazine envelopes to go with too:

Everything together:

I also made a wooden ring for her, which is not pictured. It is the beech wood with beeswax finish, like the ones available in my shop.

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This bear has quite a story to tell! His head, body and arms were made during the ridiculously long drive from Washington to New Mexico during December. I then became car sick and had to put him away. I made one leg in Albuquerque during the only 10 minutes of downtime I had. The other leg was made during January near Seattle, WA. Finally, I assembled him in April, on the east side of Washington state! He had a beret, but it’s lost somewhere in my yarn pile…

I made him using this pattern.

I've lost my camera!! It seems I can't keep a camera for more than 1.5 years… I either lose it, or lend it to someone and they break it (this has happened twice, an no, they never reimbursed me). I just bought a new laptop, so buying a new camera is out of the picture:(

 Hopefully it shows up in the next couple of days. I have a remarkable talent where I 'lose' things in odd places. In the meantime, I'll have to use my ancient camera phone. 

These pictures are of a 'kitty' I started a few months ago. After I made the face and body, I was so disappointed with him (no one thought he was a cat!) that I set him aside. While looking though my yarn, I saw him lying there, no arms or legs. He looked so sad! So I finished him up and named him Gremlin, because he looks more like one than a cat! His fugliness is his charm;)

 I put wire in his tail so you can pose it.

Don't feed him after midnight or give him a bath! 

I didn’t get a good picture of this before I gave it away, but it is basically an egg shaped bunny using the last of my angel hair yarn. I forgot to stuff it with beans, so I decided to make something for it to sit in. Since Easter is coming up, I thought a basket would be cute, and I freehanded one. It turned out rather well for me just making it up on the fly.

I thought I was being oh-so-clever when I made the basket, but later I realized I had seen something similar by roxycraft. So I went from feeling like I had made something fantastic, to feeling like I made a cheap knock-off. It seems like no matter what I make, someone else has made something just like it before me! It makes me feel very un-creative and unoriginal.

I think I need to stop browsing other people’s work, because it is ‘inspiring’ me far too much!

I decided to crochet instead of do homework this week. While it increased my academic related stress, it filled that gaping hole in my soul that I get when I don’t make anything. I used the rest of my purple Joann’s Angel Hair that I made the ruffle scarf with. I love using up scraps!

I made an amigurumi style baby bunny, and another birdie (since I donated all my others to charity). I’m not sure I like the bunny’s face but it was the best I could do.

Here is momma birdie. *Chirp Chirp*

And baby bunny.

Momma birdie tried to feed baby bunny, but I’m not sure if bunny really wants what she is offering…

Edit: The bird pattern is from here (alternative wing pattern), and the bunny is from this booklet, although it is so simple I didn’t actually use it. I don’t recommend the booklet though, it is not worth the price; poor quality and the patterns aren’t special.

I taught my brother how to use the Knifty Knitter to make hats, and he went crazy making hats! After using up all his cheapo yarn, he bought two skeins of the Lion Suede yarn. Man is that stuff pricey! He made two darling hats for the baby of his closest friend, and I crocheted ears to make them into bear cub hats. As thanks for me making the ears, he gave me the leftovers of the yarn. W00!

I thought it would be cute to make a matching toy for the baby, and I worked hard on making it baby safe (no plastic eyes, extra secure stitching). When I finished, I tossed it to my boyfriend for him to look at. When I asked for it back, he gave me the saddest puppy dog look and said, “You mean, you didn’t make it for me?” He thought I made it for him, and it was his “lucky poker bear.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him otherwise, so I guess I’ll be making two!

He’s a wee one!

Aww!

This little guy needs a bit of an explanation…. A few weeks ago, some good friends of mine gave me a brand new bottle of Grey Goose vodka, for no reason at all. So to show them my appreciation, I decided to crochet them some things. The girl was obvious; I made her some cupcakes (because she is so sweet) and plan to make an ice-cream cone when I can find the right yarn. The guy was a little bit harder… What would a guy like?

He is quite an unusual person, the kind that tells bizarre stories and you cannot quite tell if he is telling the truth or pulling your leg. I am usually hoping he is pulling my leg but I have a feeling most of the stories are actually true… So I had to think: what is the weirdest, craziest thing I could ever crochet?

And then it hit me. Inspired by this chick, I decided to make… Balut!

For those not familiar with balut, it is:

A delicacy of Southeast Asia and especially the Philippines, a balut is a fertilized duck egg with a nearly developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. Their high protein content is complimentary to the consumption of beer.

From Wikipedia.

I used a blue-ish fuzzy yarn from Target and a pale yellow yarn. Everyone I show him to gives me the weirdest looks…

He can come out of his shell to play.

He likes to wear it on his head and pretend he is a soldier.

He also likes to play superhero and pretend to fly!