Blythe bear hat

My partner has become completely obsessed with Blythe dolls, so I decided to crochet a little bear hat! It's a slightly modified version of this one. Being an amigurumi designer mostly, I'd never done double crochet before, and changed the pattern to use Magic Circles and work in spirals. I've decided that spirals don't work very well for hats, but the rest turned out well! I'm going to make a panda one next.

Sorry that we don't actually have a doll yet to model it!

As for amigurumi, I'm a bit stuck at the moment. I'm having trouble finishing the colour changes for the wren pattern, and although I've bought some yarn for a fox, I'm not sure what sort of look to go for yet. Might have to whip up some prototypes...

トトロはここです (Totoro is here!)

Hurrah! Totoro is now finished, and I have a free pattern for him. He'll be off soon to become someone's Christmas pressie, and it will be sad to see him go. Of course, you can make your own and keep him forever.

Is it just me, or is there a horrible moment in almost every project where you think "Augh, this looks awful!" And then somehow it turns out looking okay at the end? Just part of the process I suppose.

The beginnings of Yule-tide cheer

We went out this morning into the beautiful sunshine and bitter, bone-chilling wind to collect holly! We couldn't find anything else which was Christmassy enough to go on our wreath, but we were happy with how it went anyhow. It just makes me wish we had a nicer front door! Maybe one day...

Scandinavian Inspiration

I found some yarn today in our little local wool shop (which, by the way, is wonderful, although the website is a little basic). I was actually looking for yarn to make Totoro (from the film), but ended up with some balls which aren't really the 'correct' colours. But then I thought, why do they need to be the 'right' colours? What is a 'correct' colour anyway?

I think sometimes that design can be led by materials as well as other inspirations. Now my Totoro will be Scandinavian-style, which I'm quite excited about! I think I may have been influenced somewhat by Brella's wonderful Norwegian Totoro mittens, which are just adorable. I don't knit though, so I can't make them... Yet.

Anyway, here are the yarns I chose. They are Louisa Harding 'Thistle', which is a lovely Alpaca/Merino blend.

New Beginnings

Apologies for the complete lack of posts of late, but we have just moved to the countryside. Getting internet has been a complete pain, but my shop is now back online.

We are now in the countryside of Shropshire, which is absolutely beautiful. Here is the view from our bedroom window:

And, as a taste of what I've been up to, this is the Wren I've been working on. The pattern will be available eventually, but I've had some problems getting the right yarns (and the prototype you see here isn't finished because I ran out 3 rows from the end!). Mixing tapestry yarn and Rowan Summer Tweed has not worked well... There doesn't seem to be a suitable brown in the Rowan though. As you can see, I'll be making full use of our new environment for picture-taking!

The Sitter-Still

Eira the Arctic Hare (my new pattern) is now available on Etsy! I've been wanting to make her for such a long time, but I've only just figured out how to do it. The design is quite stylised, but the silhouette gives her the windswept look I was going for. She could also be a Snowshoe Hare, as they're quite similar.

I've become a little fascinated by hares, actually. They have a mad grace, and lots of different moods. There is a poem translated by Seamus Heaney giving all the traditional names of the hare, which is full of many apparent contraditions. For example they can be both 'frisky-legs' and the 'sitter-still'. Eira is certainly the latter, sitting huddled against the cold.

Ingenious Devices: Wire Brush

Fluffy yarns can be a real pain. You have to modify your pattern (working in the back stitch only), and even then, half the time you can't see what you're doing. If you do make a mistake and want to undo something (and you probably will), it gets all caught up and becomes a complete mess. There is an alternative though; just crochet your piece in regular yarn, and brush it afterwards with a wire brush. The result is a fluffy piece, with no fuss. The brush I use was designed for pets, but any wire bush with pointy-but-flexible teeth should do the trick.

You can brush the piece more or less to give different effects, and can trim the fluff back with scissors if it ends up being too much. I'm working on an arctic hare at the minute - here are the ears before (on the left)  and after brushing (on the right):

Some yarns fluff up in this way more than others, so I would recommend doing a small swatch first to try it out. The hare pattern should be available in a few days, by the way. Watch this space.

Angwyn the Snake

It seems that the wait for cabochons to arrive was worth it, because my snake pattern is now finished! He looks very cool, I'd like to think!

I'll admit, he's partly Harry Potter inspired. I got to looking at the Dark Mark and Slytherin logo, but there is also a tradition of crochet snakes in Turkey, where prisoners of war made beaded examples. A lot of them were actually bracelets or necklaces, so I designed my amigurumi one in the same way. You can put the tail into its mouth to turn it into a necklace, which also makes it an Ouroboros - a symbol of eternity and rebirth.

Touch it with a wish in your heart

While I'm waiting for some glass cabochons to arrive for my new amigurumi snake, here is another free pattern! This time it's a felt rupee! I use mine as a pin cushion, but I'm sure you can come up with some other ideas.

Ingenious Devices: Bamboo Tweezers

Before the blog becomes 90% about bugs, lets get back to crochet with a new series of equipment posts! Rather than talk about every tool you could use for amigurumi, I'm going to pick out unusual or interesting items that you could use, but may not have thought of. First up, bamboo tweezers.

I know that people have all sorts of things they use for stuffing their pieces, but I find that custom tools are a bit plastic-ey, and other things just don't work very well. Bamboo tweezers, though, are absolutely brilliant. They work (most importantly), and bamboo is an attractive and sustainable material. Plus they're cheap! My pair are 14 cm long, and taper nicely to a point, which lets you grab the fiberfill and slide it neatly into small spaces.

If you want a pair yourself, they're often listed on eBay as being for handling computer components, or sometimes for jewellery repair.

Crickets!

Ah, bugs. Bugs are awesome. I had far too much fun photographing crickets and grasshoppers on our walk today. Less butterflies, but crickets chirp and jump and are fun to catch!. Acorns and hazelnuts and blackberries are ripening in the hedgerows as well, which is maybe a sign that summer is coming to an end. Here is my cricket picture; he stayed obligingly very still!

It's a Roesel’s Bush-Cricket apparently, and I've learnt that crickets have longer antennae than grasshoppers, and are more likely to be seen at dusk, whereas grasshoppers are out more in the daytime. I'd love to crochet one, but I haven't worked out a good way of doing it yet. Maybe one day!

You say ladybug, I say ladybird...

My partner and I once saw some tiny ladybird pin badges at a craft fair at Hatfield House, and we always wished we'd bought one afterwards. They were really lovely wooden ones that were painted, and when they were pinned to you they looked so real people wanted to brush them off. Well, I finally got around to making my own. Not out of wood, unfortunately, but I think he looks sweet!

He's actually made out of green stuff, which is a kind of modelling material. The back is just a standard pin badge back, with half a drawing pin soldered on to another piece of brass. How I love to solder! There's something quite therapeutic about using a blow torch...

Ahoy!

So begins my blog of amigurumi, photography, and crafty bits and bobs.

This first issue comes with a free gift - an ammonite pattern! I've been wanting to have free patterns for a while, but Etsy doesn't really allow that sort of thing. I love ammonites, possibly because they're nautical and ancient at the same time. What could be bad about that? It's a simple project, and might be good for people who are new to amigurumi. You could even fill it with catnip, although seeing your cat chewing on a fossil might be a little strange...

This is what it should look like when you're finished!

By the way, the above ammonite is now available for sale on my Etsy shop. If you don't crochet yourself, you may want to take a look.