Busy busy

So, here I am, posting again after almost three weeks. Things have been so busy for me, and I've just been so darn tired lately.

So, I'm sure you're wondering how went the Amigurumi-Challenge. Not so well. I lost to another Pumpkaboo. Now, normally I'm unaffected by a loss, but this one was a bit ridiculous. I have nothing nice to say at all, so I won't. Just know that I lost.

However, I did come in third in the Knit-and-Crochet contest. Above me was an amazing Leafeon and and a giant crochet Kyogre. You can find them both here: http://brookette.deviantart.com/journal/Pokemon-Contest-Winners-492767444

Moving on.

Shortly after finishing the Pumpkaboo, I finished working on another ! Block. The green one.  Metal Cap.

Just two more to go.

From here, I've had a slight decline in my crafting, I went almost a week or so without really doing anything. I think part of that is because of fatigue. And the fact that I've been so absorbed in reading the Pokemon Adventures manga. It's so damn good. I suggest reading it to anything and everyone.

Sadly, I'm waiting for my order to come in for the Rub and Sapphire arc of the manga, it should be in tomorrow!

In the meantime, I finally decided to purchase one of these niffy things.

 

I had no idea what I was getting in to when I bought this - on sale, no less! It seems I may have found a new hobby - at least, for over the holidays. I can be cheap and make a lot of people their gifts. Hehe. It's just a bit hard on the hands at times - though, probably because I went a better part of this month not crafting with them. I also think I might go and buy the straight knitting loom set to make scarves with.

Anyway. This is my first attempt at using the knitting loom.

I used the purple ring for this one, thinking that it would be big enough for a child, turns out that it might not even fit a toddler. Well, now I know! (Yes, that is a Darth Vader Pig. I won it in a vending machine ages ago. <3)

For this one I used that stash of Red Heart with Wool that I have - in abundance because Alex's parents bought it for me at the beginning of the year. I double stranded it so that it came out thicker and warmer - these Canadian winters can be quite brutal!

This one I experimented with a little. Remember that cake-like baby blanket I made a while back? Well, this is the left over white from it. I had enough to make a full hat, because I figured I'd try not only double stranding this, but almost folding it in half at the end to make a super thick, warm hat. Except, I ran out of white. I thought it would be big enough to be a hat, but it didn't cover my ears. It would be good for a small child, just too big around. So, I decided, because it's so soft and warm, that I'd make it a neck warmer!

And now, I'm off to make people presents, and use up all that yarn that I really have no use for, as I really prefer just making amigurumi.

I will say this now, there probably isn't a high chance that I'll be updating again this month. With my Pokemon manga coming in, the baby shower being this weekend and the week after that is just so packed with things to do, I'm not sure I'll even have much time for crafting once Saturday hits. X.x

So, until next time!

A completed project after much delay

Hey, everyone. It's been a while since I've posted - three weeks, wow! I will be perfectly honest by saying that it's been a bit of a rough month for me. I've been having off and on bouts of depression - I really think the season/weather change is just messing with me; this happens every year, though.

On the bright side, I've received a bunch of baby stuff over the last week or so. My boyfriends parents bought us a crib and change table, which we set up immediately! And my aunt drove all the way down here - it's about four-five hours away - just to bring me some stuff.

She brought my a bassinet with stand, a baby bath, a toddler stroller and a bunch of clothes and bedding. She also brought with her a small box of baby stuff from my grandmother and a giant box of clothes and various other baby things from my other aunt.

Receiving all these things was a giant weight off my shoulders. Now, all I just need is the baby's dresser and I can really start getting things organized, especially after the baby shower, which is in four weeks today. :)

So, anyway, after much delay, I finally finished the project with the pumpkin I had been working on last time I posted. There was about a week or so where I was pretty much a few pieces away from being finished; I just couldn't bring myself to sit down and do so. But, if you follow my Deviantart at all, you'll see I've made progress.

This part was interesting to do, I've never really done a piece quite like that before. 

Some progress here. Each little spike piece is done individually and sewn on. As for the top curl, well, that took me a day or so to really figure out and settle on a design I liked best. There were mnay failed attempts at this before I decided to just go with something rather simple. There is also several pieces of pipe cleaner to help hold its shape.

Here is the body completely finished.

And now, a few of angle pictures of the completed project!

Isn't he adorable?! He'll be entered in the Amigurumi-Challenge and the Knit-and-Crochet contest on Deviantart.

Oh, and in case anybody is wondering, that is Buddy in the background. He had been neutered the day before, and thus was stuck in the cone of shame. He's out of it now and doing pretty good, hyper as ever, even just after we brought him home. There is something seriously wrong with my cats. When they should be dopey and lethargic, they're wired and bouncing off the walls.

Anyway, I have written out the pattern for this guy, too. I think I'm going to be sprucing it up some and eventually putting it for sale on Etsy. :)

But, I think that's all I have to post for now. So, until next time!

Results and Pumpkins!

So, it's been just over a week since my last post - oops. But, here I am!

I'm sure some of you are wondering how I did in the Amigurumi-Challenge. Well, I didn't get first. I lost to an amazingly done fairy! I'm not complaining, it was so good, they deserved first! However, I did win the random feature draw, so that was pretty cool! My Sudowoodo and three of my other works - chosen at random - where featured in the journal announcing the winner.

http://brookette.deviantart.com/journal/Woodland-Creatures-Winners-Feature-485959119

Pretty cool, huh? I told you that fairy was amazing.

Anyway, after I finished Sudowoodo, I started working on that project I was talking about, the with fuzzy brown yarn. I got maybe one third of the way finished the body when Amigurumi-Challenge announced it's next theme - PUMPKINS!

So, as I'm sure more of you know by now, I dropped what I was doing, and started working on that. Hehe.

Now, I'm not going to reveal exactly what I'm making, but it's obviously pumpkin themed. ;D And today I realized that I don't have the right colour of brown I need to finish this project. I really don't want to travel all the way to the craft store that I usually go to, not for one ball of yarn. However, there are a couple of stores near me that sell yarn, just not much of it. I might take a gander at those and see what I can find. If nothing, I will have to take the horrible bus ride - it's the only bus in the city I dislike, well, everyone dislikes it, except for the people on it that make it dislikeable.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I also made a hat, but I really like it. I have a stash of Red Heart with Wool that Alex's parents bought be back in Febuary, I haven't really used it. I don't think I like working with it too much. It's soft and everything, but it's..not nice looking when you've finished a project with it. Like, I kind of like the style of the hat - I tried my hand at a cloche - and I like the colour I used, I just don't like the overall finished look. I really think I'm just so used to working with acrylic yarn and tight stitches that doing anything else just doesn't seem right.

But, after a bit of debating, I shall share the hat - just probably won't ever post it to my DeviantArt.

I dunno. Maybe I'm just being picky and critical of myself. But, I don't think I'll be trying to make a hat again any time soon. Now I just need to find something to use up all the wool-like yarn with. I'm sure something will come to me eventually.

Anyway, I should be back within the week with more to post about! Until then!

Kirby and Sudowoodo

I think I shall start off first my showing off my finished Kirby!

I'm very proud of how well he turned out - especially for a first attempt at needle felting. :) He's absolutely adorable. Sadly, I didn't have the appropriate colours to add some more detail to his face - mainly the blush.

However, there is this awesome guy that I finished.

Pretty good, right?

And now for the needle felt magic!

I didn't really bother taking any pictures of the process of needle felting him, there wasn't really much to it, really. And now to head over to my DeviantArt account and submit this to the Amigurumi-Challenge. <3

However, I think I might take the pattern that I wrote out for him and perhaps add it to my Etsy shop - which I have never used. I'm thinking it's a good idea. :)

And now, with my hands rested from crocheting, I can begin my next project, involving the brown fuzzy yarn!

Until next time!

Complications and Completions.

I shall start off with saying it hasn't been too good of a week for crafting. Mostly with crocheting. I became very discouraged and haven't picked up my crocheting in a few days - almost my hand has been swollen a bit for some reason.

So, remember that overzealous attempt? Well, I tried stuffing it. And that didn't work out. Eventually I just gave up, cut my losses and started over. On a much smaller scale. I still have the piece I worked so hard on, but nothing to do with it. Oh well. I suppose that's my own fault.

In between letting my - swollen - hand rest from the abuse of crochet and the daily activities of life, I have been working on some plastic canvas. :)

Remember those ! block panels? Well, now one is a block! And I even took a couple pictures of the progress.

I decided it would be easier on my sanity if I did all the boarders first - trust me, after a total of nine, it's maddening. Those five boarders took me about two days to really do - mostly because I was having difficulties focusing for long periods of time.

Here is a picture of all the panels complete, and Buddy decided to come model for us. Isn't he cute? So, in retrospect, I probably should have taken pictures of the exclamation marks before I filled in the background. Oh well. Maybe next time.

It's really starting to come together! I even managed to alternate colours while sewing the panels together, it wasn't nearly as tricky as I thought it would be, even when I was sealing off the top.

And there you have it. A completed ! block, of the Vanish Cap variety.

I think the next one I'm going to work on will be the Metal Cap - green. But, I mustn't be too distracted by making these, as I now only have 12 days left to finish my amigurumi. I really don't think it'll take too much longer; I just need to sit down and work on it. My hand is feeling better now. It's odd, though, that only my own hand is swollen and stiff. I think I just overworked it when I was trying to stuff the big failure. Pregnancy probably doesn't help.

That's all I really have to post about for now. So, I shall leave you with these adorable pictures of Dinah and Buddy. :)

Current Projects

After a long week of slaving away on the project for the Woodland Creatures amigurumi challenge, I'm close to done - the body, that is. So, I ended up getting overzealous at the start of this project. I didn't want to make it too small, and in the process, I ended up making it bigger than I intended.

Here, it doesn't look too big, right? Well, I didn't think so either. And as I kept crocheting and crocheting, I realized that I may have been a bit too ambitious. Sure, I wanted to make a bigger than usual amigurumi, but I think I over did it! After days of crocheting - off and on - this is where I'm at!

Just ignore the lumps and odd shape, it's not properly stuffed yet. As you can see, it's quite big. I'm hoping that I'll be finished making the length within the next day or so - I'm hoping I only have a few more rows left. I also decided to do something I little different with my stuffing. I used beige nylon - pantyhouse. I figured, it's a BIG project, and I don't want to risk any mistakes of stuffing showing through, even though I'm using quite a small hook.

I think it's going to be quite the adventure stuffing this in the end, however I have my trusty STUFFING STICK!

It's not really a stuffing stick, I'm just using it as one. In fact, I'm not even sure what it's intended for. It was in a collection of crochet hooks and knitting needles I received from a friend of mine a while back. Hopefully it'll work well in assisting me with stuffing this monster.

On another note, I've acquired wire. Yes, wire. This is going to be a fully poseable project!

The one on the left I purchased at my local craft store, the one on the right, Wal-Mart. The price difference, almost five dollars. But, oh well. Wal-Mart didn't carry as thick of wire. So, it's all good. I'm so excited to finish the body, just to work on the rest of him and make him as poseable as possible!

I've been working so hard on him, this happened.

It's not the first time this has happened to me, however, this was a relatively new hook - luckily I had a spare one! Hopefully it holds out until the end of the project - and many more! - but, if not, I bought another one. :)

And in the meantime, I've been needing to take breaks in between crocheting - a day off here and there. And in that time, I couldn't just sit around and do nothing. So, I figured I would start working on some of those plastic canvas ideas I had a while back - I hadn't forgotten about them! They are awesome.

It starts off looking like this.

Now, I bet you're all wondering, what the heck is that going to be? (It kind of reminds me of something from Harry Potter - Ravenclaw, even though it's blue and black) Before I show the next progress picture, I'm going to share what behind this looks like, because I think it's super cool!

Neato, right? And now, maybe this will answer your question of what the heck I'm making!

Looking familiar? I hope so! I've been keeping to a theme of plastic canvas projects - with the piggy bank, the book ends, and the pencil holder.

TADA!! Pretty sweet, amiright? It's the ! block (panel in this case) from the Mario 64 games! I did one for each colour. If anybody played these games as much as I did, then hopefully you'll remember which each colour did. Blue gave you the Vanishing Cap.

Green gave you the Metal Cap.

 Red gave you the Wing Cap.

And yellow gave you coins and other objects!

Now, let me tell you, these aren't small, at all. But, it's the only way I could work the pattern without it looking awkward.

See, pretty big. Now, I'm not sure if I'm going to just leave them as a single panel, or turn them all in to cubes. I'd love to make them into cubes, but, I'm sure we all know how tedious repeating the same project can be. At the very least, I want to make one into a cube - probably the blue one. I guess we'll see how I feel about doing the project over and over again from there - though, I do have enough of the sturdy plastic canvas to complete them all!!

Oh, I should probably share this.

This is the pattern I used to make the question mark, the rest I had to figure out on my own.

Now, on a new note, this Friday was Michele's last day with us at TADA. We had a small gathering for her, said words of praise and all that. Then, somehow, she throws me in to the spotlight on her special day. That lady is crafty, let me tell you.

And now that she's gone - though she will come back periodically for visits and whatnot - the group and associates want me to take over. I told them, as long as someone else is liaison between the clinic and the group, I can try my best to take over for the art courses. Until the baby is born. We'll be meeting this Friday as a group to discuss what we want to do. Michele is willing to stay in contact with the group until we're all back on our feet in terms of plans. I was thinking, as I've been gone for two years, that surely there are activities the group wouldn't mind repeating.

So, I'm going to look in to that, see if I can make a lesson plan that's a couple months of repeats until I get back in the swing of things myself. It's not a bad idea. But, we'll see on Friday.

And now, I leave you all with this.