A Wild Venonat Appeared!

After nearly a week of diligent work, I have finally completed my newest project! It took a while, and it was torture on the hands, but I worked diligently on it. I even made sure to take lots of pictures to show my progress. :)

It starts with this adorably fuzzy circle - one strand worsted weight, two strands of the purple fuzzy yarn. :) Luckily, because of the thickness of it all, I was able to work in a larger hook size - not that it felt much different on the hands at that point.

This is what it looked like as I was beginning my decreases - not so easy when the loops are a bit difficult to see. But, I managed! And it turned in to this fabulous ball.

Here is a very good lighting photo. My phone has been on the fritz with taking pictures. I might eventually invest in an actual camera. Anyway, as you can see, it's pretty big - bigger than the Ghastly I made ages ago, yet only the same amount of stitches I use in a Pokeball. :) I really need to find my measuring tape to see just how big this guy it - I'm not sure if I hid it on the cats or if they hid it on me. >.>

This was the next step, figuring out the face. It took a while, but I eventually got it. The teeth are sewn on with an actual needle and thread - I got annoyed at trying to do it with yarn on such a small piece!

And here we have the creation of the cute little arms - I know, they look nothing like they're supposed to, but I was trying my best! Besides, these look adorable. And claws just don't seem easy to make. :)

This was the fun part - making the antenna! I decided it would be a good idea to make them poseable, that and I don't think they would have stayed up without doing so.

Isn't it coming along nicely? Then we ran in to a problem, I really didn't like the eyes.

Even without eyes, he's still pretty darn cute!

There, now isn't that better? And guess what? I'm almost finished at this point! Just needed to make the feet and sew things on.

Surprisingly, I made the feet on my first attempted and they turned out pretty good! I had to write down the pattern so I wouldn't forget when I went to work on the other foot.

Last pose before he's finished!

Voila! Venonat lives in dark forests, in the underbrush, where very little light reaches. This is the best I could find, and it worked out perfectly!

As always, my works are for sale. However, I just haven't figured out a price for this guy yet. So, feel free to ask. :)

Also, be sure to check follow me on DeviantArt - sometimes I post teasers before I blog about them here. :) Also, somebody suggested to me that I start using Instagram..? What do you all think? I have no idea how to do it, though, so I'd have to look in to it.

And now my hands are in need of a serious break - I didn't realise a crochet hook could actually pierce skin, until I did it. >.> I also punctured my finger a couple of times with a yarn needle, even got under the nail once. So, that was an experience. Well worth it. :)

I also have some exciting news before I wrap this up. We get to find out the gender of the baby today! In five hours! I'm so excited!! We even have a friend coming from out of town to be there with us - she's really close to us. :) However, due to her coming down, she will be staying for a couple days. Which means I probably won't be doing much crafts. But, we shall see. She's the one I'm making the scarf for - you know, the scarf that totally got pushed to the farthest depths of my closet, yeah, that one.

Anyway, that is all for today!

Ruffle Scarf Collection

Hey all! After a few days of working of my scarves, I've finally finished them all! I've waited until I finished them all before blogging about it, even though I've been posting them one by one to my Deviantart. If anyone follows me on my Deviantart, you've probably already seen these, but I'm going to post them in my blog anyway!

In order they are: Cheetah, Red Lava, Sea Storm, Vineyard and White Sand. I have also taken some picture of them together on hangers.

I just absolutely love how they look, and they're so soft. I had so much fun making these!

Anyway, this is the picture that I'll be posting on my Deviantart as a "for sale" post!

Slow and Steady

Hey all! I know, I've been inactive this last week. But, that's because we finally moved! I love our new place, but we're still getting settled. In the mean time, I have been working on my plastic canvas project. And I've been taking lots of pictures of the process. But first, a picture of the near complete one!

I really love how it's turning out so far! Though, it has been a long process!!

I had to make a total of 34 of these little guys. I really like the pattern I decided to use, it goes well with the rest of it.

This was a tricky little bigger to work with, especially sewing it on, but I managed successfully! And I only had to make two, which was good.

In hindsight, making all the stairs as one and then connecting them to the side panel was a baaad idea. And I learned from my mistake.

It was not fun trying to see the other side panel on to this, as it liked to move as though it were an accordion! You can imagine the frustration of this. Like I said, it was a bad idea.

And here we are with the back panel on, but it a still not complete! I didn't have any more canvas left at this point, so I started on the second set of stairs, which I tackled in a completely different way!!

I decided it would be a smarter idea to attach the two side panels to the stairs at the same time, doing the top stairs and bottom indent - which was the hardest part on the first stairs - first. and let me tell you, it has been much easier to work with.

I am hoping to finish these by the end of the week - hopefully sooner! But, I have a lot of appointments coming up in the next couple of weeks, all for the baby's sake. :)

However, I finally bought more canvas do that I can work on this whenever I have the time! Sadly, the craft store didn't have the sturdier canvas I prefer to use, but the stuff I bought will do the same thing - I just don't like the feel of working with it, it's so...flimsy.

But, good news! When this project is complete, I have a couple more lined up.

Yesterday, I went out for lunch with a close friend of mine, and then we went to the mall. And during our mall trip, my friend bought me these!!

Aren't they awesome?! I have a bunch of yarn like this that my grandmother gave me - I call her Nanny, Nan for short, and is how I shall henceforth refer to her as, I just wanted to let you all know that Nan is my grandmother.  Papa is my grandfather. Anyway, my Nan gave me a bunch of yarn like this, but only pinks, whites and a ...maroon colour, I think it is. I think once I'm settled in my new place, I'm going to take picture of my yarn stash, as tiny and insufficient as it is!

Also, more good news! While I was at the craft store today, I found more of this stuff!

This is the yarn that I used to make the Ruffle Scarf! I just couldn't resist buying more of it. I had so much fun making the last one, that I just had to make them in all the colours the store had in stock - I'm tempted to go back and get one more of each colour. 

And yes, I will be selling these once I've made them - I think $15 is a fair price. :) If anyone is interested, please feel free to let me know. :)

And I think that is all I have to blog about for today. 

Wow I just realised, this is probably my longest post yet! I chalk it up to being inactive for a week. Hopefully you'll hear from me again in a few days!! 

Nautical Pot Holder and a New Project!

After much work yesterday and this morning, I finally managed to finish the Nautical Potholder I have been working on. I forced myself to sit there and do as many rows as I could before needing a break. Eventually my hands adjusted and I managed to finish it this morning, some time before noon.

I even made it six rows longer than the pattern called for - mostly because I felt it was too small, even for my hands, which are quite tiny. I really like how it all blends together.

Anyway, after packing and going through boxes that never got unpacked from the last move, I found a completely unused sheet of plastic canvas! Needless to say, I started on a project that has been running through my head since I was working on the Coin Block Piggy Bank. 

Awesome, right? I wasn't sure if the sheet of canvas would be enough for what I wanted, but it turned out I was able to make four of these pieces, with canvas to spare!

I know I said I really didn't want to start any more projects until after the move, but I just couldn't help myself! However, I think I'm going to have to wait to finish this idea, as I will need more canvas to continue on, however, I shall do what I can until then! 

I am very excited to do this. I even used to my plastic canvas stitches book! It took me a bit to figure out which square pattern I liked the best and would work well with this image, I finally settled on this. 

However, I ran into a slight dilemma. This particular square pattern calls for a 5x5 square. As you can see on the cut out sections of the stairs, they become 4x4. So, I need to find a new pattern to use for making this a 3D figure - I didn't quite think this through before I started it, I never really do, though. So, I'm going to have to study my new book and see if I can find a 4x4 square pattern that is similar to the 5x5 one, for consistency.

I also realized that in trying to make this accurate, I may have complicated things for myself. As you can see, the lip of the pipe is one square bigger than the shaft, meaning that I'm going to have to cut out and work with a simple square width piece. That ought to be fun. =\

Anyway, now I have to figure out how wide I want these figures to be, which will probably have to wait, as I don't have many scrap canvas pieces that I can work with. Unless I get lucky and find another unused sheet, or even just a partially used piece. 

But, in other news, I've been finding a bunch of old projects from when I first got back into crafting. It's kind of neat to see just how far I've come since January. However, I had a bunch of Pokeball coasters and a Pokebox made, and I can't seem to find them anywhere! D= The coasters were kept inside the box. 

I know I took those with me to Anime North, along with a bunch of Pokeball amigurumi I made. I still have to amigurumi, but all my plastic canvas work is nowhere to be find, so I'm hoping it's just misplaced - as I'm still not finished packing - and that I didn't actually leave it at the convention. That would suck, and I don't think I'd want to redo them again. :(

But, I think that is all I have to post for tonight. I do plan on working more on the boa scarf, hopefully I'll do that tomorrow. I am trying really hard not to start any new projects until after the move, even though I have a million ideas going through my head of plastic canvas creations, and some crochet ideas. Luckily, I am too broke from moving to even afford anything for a bit - I can't tell if that is good or bad. Oh well.

Oh, one more thing, if anyone actually reads these, it would be wonderful to get some sort of feedback. :) And perhaps a follow on my DeviantArt, maybe? =D

Good night, all! :)

Nautical Potholders and Warp Pipes!

After such a busy day yesterday, here I am finally posting. And with something completely new and finished, to boot! But, first I shall start off with the potholder.

This is as far as I managed to get yesterday - twenty-one rows in, so about half way. It's actually a lot harder on the hands than I initially thought it would be, so I was working on it off and on yesterday.

However, this is what I spent a majority of my time doing, in between crocheting and packing.

Pretty cool, eh? You'll have to excuse the lack of proper colour, my camera decided today that it didn't want to work properly. The green is actually this colour.

Also, the proportions are slightly off, but I didn't have any pattern to follow, this is done completely from the top of my head. But, oh well, trial and error, if I ever do this again, I'll know what to do instead, hopefully.

And now, for anybody interested, here are the pictures I took of the progress. You'll have to excuse the quality of the pictures.

I decided to try and make the seem as invisible as I could, I think it turned out alright.

  

Just a simple bottom, nothing fancy.

The bottom one I made first, only to discover that it was too small. The second one was a bit too big, but it worked out just fine. They also remind me of Xena's weapon, the Chakram. I love Xena. <3 She was my idol growing up.

I just really like how it looks like a tap hat here. I was calling it the Mad Hatter's hat. Which I might do one day, now that I think about it.

I decided to add this as a bit of support in the inside - and realised that I should have just made one piece like that, instead of two separate ones. Oh well, next time.

 

This was my last long piece of canvas, I didn't think it would fit, but I so lucked out! 

Because this was the last stretch of the project, it felt like it took forever to complete! But, I did.

The finished product!!

I think that is all I really have to blog about right now. I'm probably just going to update my DeviantArt and spend the rest of the day crocheting and packing. 

Hopefully I'll finish my potholder for tomorrow!

Piggy Bank Progress

Today I spent the day working diligently on my piggy bank. And it paid off, mostly.

First, I would just like to show off how neatly this panel turned out.

I think it's made all the better by the fact that I wasn't paying too much attention to what I was doing - I was kind of focusing on a horribly great documentary on Bigfoot. I really love watching/listening to documentaries of mostly any kind.

Anyway, I managed to get the bottom of the piggy bank together, having spent most of the day getting to this point.

When I finally finished the box, I realised that I needed to devise a way to keep it closed - I really didn't think this project through before starting it, but it's worth it. I decided Velcro would be a good idea. I managed to find something around the house that I wasn't using that had Velcro on it I could salvage, I didn't need much.

You can see here where I attached the Velcro to the little white squares. On top of sewing them on, I ensured they stayed securely in place by adding a bit of crafting glue I had kicking around underneath. 

I crocheted these little guys to attach to the top, they were quick work. Again, I sewed and glued on the Velcro pieces for added security before I attached it to the top piece.

Now, all I have left to do is line the top panel, I've been procrastinating on that because I'm a bit nervous about trying to cut out the coin slot in the material and, sadly, I don't have anything in the place that would rub off on the fabric as a guide. :(

From there, all I have to do is touch up the plastic canvas edges and attach it to the rest of the box, then I'll be finished! I'm so excited, I think it's going to be awesome when it's finished. 

Anyway, it's very late and I'm about ready to go to bed. I decided to write out this blog tonight because I know myself well enough that I'll end up lying awake thinking about posting until I actual do it, might as well skip a step and make everything easier for me.

Hopefully I will finish the top tomorrow and won't procrastinate. Then, I can get back to working on my friends scarf, I've finally stopped being upset over my major mess up.

Anyway, good night, everyone. :)