Month: March 2012

uhmeeguhroomee

/ jennanana / 2 Comments

I promise I know how to spell. This post is about amigurumi! For the last year I’ve been seeing these cute crochet and knit animals and things with little faces like carrots, cupcakes, acorns, you name it.  I wanted to make them so baaad! I finally gave it a go with an adorable pattern I found for peas in a pod which I posted about back around Christmas. I made them for my pseudo-sister Jessica as a gift (it took everything in me to part with them..)  Since then I’ve made two more attempts at little amigurumi guys and I have to say, I was pretty successful. Toot toot (me tooting my own horn).

I made a pig for my gramma for Valentine’s Day; she’s obsessed with oinkers.  I couldn’t find the perfect pattern so I based one off of this pig from Lion Brand and tweaked it to my liking. Since posting the picture on my Facebook I had a few more requests for the pig! Someone also asked if I could make a bunny so I used this pattern from Lion Brand which resulted in a wittle wabbit. Next project: an owl.  I can’t wait to get started on a little hooter for my friend’s baby =) So here are a few pictures of the little guys… That amazing backdrop is a huge piece of fabric I found at an antique store for only $2.50 btw!

It’s very tedious to make each individual part then sew it on, and they take a little more time to make than I had expected, but they’re so cute that it’s totally worth it.  Stay tuned for future cuteness!

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P.S.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day! I made cupcakes! ..I wish I could actually send you one through the computer, but you can take my word for it that it tastes delicious. Happy Patty’s day to my fellow Irish folk!

“Should we talk about the weather?”

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I’m more than happy to say that it’s been a very mild winter here in Chicago, and the Midwest for that matter.  When usually we’ll have nipping winds and mounds of snow we had balmy and miserably rainy days as well as temperate sunny ones.  But hey, I didn’t care.  Other than being able to wear cute scarves and sweaters, I hate hate hate winter and live for Spring and Summer! I was happier than a pig in shit when I was able to rock some colorful tights, cut off jean shorts and a cute sweater or cardigan in the middle of Winter.  We really only had two significant snow falls and I completely missed the second one when I was in Nashville.  We flew home into a rainy Chicago to find that every inch of it had melted away! Huzzah!

Even though it’s been a warm one, this winter was very lucrative for me. I’ve had tons of crochet orders — hats, beards, headbands, leg warmers.. — so the temperate weather didn’t affect my little business at all which I’m very happy about. Everyone has been super supportive and more than awesome when making purchases from me and I can’t be more thankful! But now that it’s really starting to warm up I’m trying to find some inspiration for banging out a bunch of little projects like amigurumi items and little things I can sell when the weather turns chilly once again. But for now I’ve got 2 baby blankets and some little projects on my agenda. But today I’ll take a break from it =)

The last couple of days have been in the 70’s (very strange for March!) and we’re expecting the rest of the week to be the same.  Now that Daylight Savings Time happened on Saturday night, the days are getting longer, the sun is changing angles in the sky and I’m waking up to the chirping of birds.  Right now it’s 5:15pm and still sunny! Today I sat in the sunshine with a book and couldn’t have been happier in life. I even added to my sunburn I got on Sunday! My sad, winter-pasty legs have acquired a little bit of a pinkish hue =) Ganja even came scratching at the door from the inside wanting to soak up some rays. Me-yow. Good things are happening.

A nice, quick read – biography of Janis Joplin

Ganja baby with her irresistible kitteh smile

Honestly this weather couldn’t have come at a better time because I’m starting to burn out from repetitive crochet projects.  I’ve made too many hats in the last 3 months! Hopefully the warmth keeps up and we don’t get any unexpected, late Winter snows like a few years ago (5 inches in late April of 2009!) I need to start getting my tan on and soaking in some Vitamin D. So, let’s talk about the weather. How’s everything in your neck of the woods?

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Wet blanket

/ jennanana / 16 Comments

So last winter, I think in January 2011, I was feeling pretty confident in my mad crochet abilitiez, so I decided to start an afghan. Who was I kidding? I was inspired by older movies from the 80’s or early 90’s. You know the films, where there’s an old, ugly blanket neatly folded over the back of the sofa. Take Roseanne, for instance. Green couch with a granny square blanket laying over the back.  I LOVE THAT BLANKET. So I started dreaming of making myself the ugliest crochet blanket I could.  And so it began. I chose three colors for this gem: sky blue, black, and some confetti color I found in the Red Heart brand. Hey, if you’re going to make a big blanket you’re going to opt for the cheap stuff, right? Then I shopped around for the perfect pattern and decided on the larksfoot stitch. I used this same stitch for a baby blanket I made prior to starting this.  I like how the “claw” part of it digs down into the previous color and sort of.. pops. I just think it looks really cool so I went with it.

I started my blanket and may have gotten a little overambitious. After a few rows I realized it was a little bigger than I anticipated.. and I was working the width. The width is a little over 7 ft. Meaning the height will be about 9ft. But hey, go big or go home, right?!

Unfortunately, I only finished 24 rows, meaning it’s about 1/8 of the way finished. I chalk it up to the fact that at that point I was really getting into taking orders from people wanting hats and things so I focused more of my time on making a few extra dollars and, in the end, the blanket was folded up and thrown into my closet. Doesn’t this happen to every crochet hooker?

But fear not, for the blanket is revived! The other day I was clearing out some of my hoard of hoodies (no shame in admitting that I had 54 hoodies folded on a shelf in my closet.. don’t ask) and I noticed a sad heap of technicolor staring at me saying “You’ve forgotten me, haven’t you…?” After some denial, I finally picked up my blanket and declared that I would finish it. Despite my large list of orders I need to fill, I will get this thing done. It will no longer be a wet blanket, but one of the coolest, ugliest afghans around. Maybe not, but I will cherish it forever =). Actually I love the colors I picked for it and the more I look at it the more excited I get about finishing it. I like to think that one day it will be a family heirloom.. HA!

Here are some pictures of my blanket:

That’s my ‘squatch blimpus in the background

The unfinished edges. At this point I wasn’t familiar with the whole sew it in while you work concept.

Eww my little piggies!

So that’s my ongoing project I’ll hopefully finish sometime in the near future! How do you feel about my colors? Do you have a big project you can’t seem to finish?

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