Crafty Pants!

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!

I love these little cupcakes! I got the pattern on craftster. They are so easy and quick to make. I carry around a small ball of brown and a small ball of another color (usually pink) and I have managed to make over a dozen.

These ones are not my cutest. The cutest (with sprinkles!) were given away as presents.

I love the 80’s! Inspired yet again by a post on craftster, I made some cute retro fuse bead coasters for my brother. He buys and restores arcade cabinet, so I thought he’d enjoy them. Two of them are diskettes, one is the Galaga ship, and the other is a space invader. I would have made more but I ran out of grey and black.

While making all these presents for other people, I realized that I haven’t kept a single crochet project for myself. I decided that I really need a hat, seeing as I only have one. It’s about 15 degrees every morning as I walk to class, so my one hat has seen far too much use.

I wanted a beanie with a brim, but couldn’t find any patterns, so I just winged it. It turned out ok, but I didn’t add any increases in the brim, so when I put it on it is pulled flat, into more of a flap. At first I was annoyed (hence the angry picture taken at 2am) but now I kind of like it. It’s….. subtle.

The red arrow points to where the brim actually begins, but is pulled against my head.

It has more of a brim when I take it off:

I saw this ruffle scarf pattern online and fell in love with it. A few days later I saw it at some snooty, expensive clothing store, and knew exactly who I’d give it to. I used Joann’s Angel hair, and it was a dream to work with. The scarf turned out so incredibly soft! It is a thick yarn, so I used a larger hook and didn’t crochet the last row. The recipient is a very bold woman, and I think she really wears this scarf well.

Here is what the scarf look like on:

It’s pretty thick so I made it short. It’s more decorative than functional I think, which is fine because the recipient works in Seattle.

Now that Christmas is over, I can finally post the presents I made. This holiday season was really quite fruitful! I just wish I could have so much free time all year! I won’t be able to make anything in one sitting until next winter break rolls around:(

I crocheted this hat using Patons Divine (which was a PAIN!). I didn’t use a pattern again! When it started to get a little big, I added some decreases. I thought it looked funny at first, but the recipient has very large, curly hair, and it keeps her hair in control quite nicely. My mother made the scarf on the smallest knifty knitter (I love those things!) and I crocheted the matching flowers.

And here is what the hat look on:

I hate taking pictures of myself, it’s very awkward. I needed a mannequin head, but I think it’d creep me out…

I managed to sneak some pictures of my Incredible Emoticon Hat before I gave it away. It’s crocheted using wool-ease thick & Quick, and I used some cheap worsted weight to make the eyes and mouth. The features have Velcro on the back so you can move them around. It was my first hat, so I just winged it (no pattern!), and it turned out really great! Here are some of the faces you can make:

Here is a Horrid picture of what it looks on me:

Mind you, I have a really small head, and the recipient has a really big head.

I haven’t seen the recipient (my brother) wear it around campus yet, and this is how it makes me feel:

I made two more birdies. I love the white and green one, but the brown one didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped. I made it in the car, so I guess that’s my excuse. I love these little guys so much, but I couldn’t keep them:( I sold them at the local craft fair to help fund raise for a group I’m in. I set the price at $10. They took a lot of work, so I didn’t want my efforts wasted. They all sold, which was good for the club but sad for me!

I don’t get much time to crochet, so I use any time available; I’ll crochet a few rows in the car, before class, after dinner, etc. I have a small drawstring bag that I’ve been carrying around with my yarn, hooks and pattern. However, I just kept my hooks in a plastic bag, and they kept poking holes in it and falling out.

So over this thanksgiving weekend I made myself a hook case. I actually made two but the first one didn’t fold over so my hooks had a chance of falling out (which defeats the purpose). I made it out of a place-mat, elastic and blue binding (all things I already owned). While it isn’t perfect (machine problems) I really like it, and it is very practical. I love making things I actually use!

Here’s what it looks like opened up:

I got all those hooks at goodwill!! I got a few more for Christmas, so there are only a few slots left.

I finished my fat little birdie using this pattern. This was my first crochet project ever! I improvised on the wings because I didn’t like the original ones. She (my boyfriend insisted it was a girl) was actually pretty quick to crochet, and I only messed up a few times. I’m loving crochet; I never really got into knitting. Knitting hurt my elbows for some reason, and it felt sloooow.

This is the wing pattern that I used:
ch 10
treble in 3rd ch from hook, treble, dc, dc, hdc, hdc, sc, in last stitch before turning(sc, sl st, sc)
sc, hdc, hdc, dc, dc, treble, 5 treble in end st. Join with sl st in top of 1st treble.
finish off.