pattern in progress...

I was getting a weeny bit bored of single chain and its myriad variations, so thought it was time to learn something new...something....bobbly!

You could do a lot worse than watch a few of this chaps videos http://www.youtube.com/user/mikeyssmail.  I wanted a rib for the cuff and some bobbles for the main body of my glove and learnt both from his videos.  Huzzah.

Anyway...the first result was....semi-successful

Pros:
I love the bobbles and it works up fairly quickly
The bobble trim (same pattern but with slip stitch between bobbles instead of hdc) looks great

Cons:
What a miserable coloured yarn - nice to work but dismal (and to think I bought it to make a tank top with!)
Don't like the cuff...it's just too...chunky
Don't like the linear nature of the bobbles (not that they are very linear in this sample since I kept getting muddled)
Think perhaps bobbles on the palm would be really annoying.

I think I have something to work with though :)

christmas colds and flu (and a little ecoli)

A little something inspired by my daughters school since they're studying microbes at the moment and a particularly vile green yarn that I found in my stash :)

6sc in adjustable circle
inc in each (12st)
(inc, sc) 6 times (18st)
18sc for 10 rows
(dec, sc) 6 times (12st)
Stuff and add some eyes
dec 6 times (6st)
pull up tight to finish

The strands are simply chains, roughly double the length I want them to finish and hooked through random parts of the body.  The result is an Ecoli germ - (can't post picture of the crochet one...explanation below)

Easy peasy

Unfortunately, I am unable to post pictures of this project at this time because it was kidnapped by her teacher and has spent the christmas holidays languishing in a school drawer or some such rather than being the subject of my photoshoot.  The follow up (a rather splendid flu germ) was also kidnapped at the same time.  These posts will be updated once negotiations to free the victims have reached a satisfactory conclusion.  Over and out.

on the 7th,8th and 9th day of christmas....

I crocheted something I made up as I went along so a pattern is a little bit tricky....

For starters...check out the work of Camilla Engman.  She has a pattern printed in The debbie Stoller Happy Hooker book...which I have to say thoroughly confused me till I noticed the (admittedly it was in bold type) line that says....stitches worked in back loop only.  Duh.  Lesson learnt - Read the instructions.

So, to start with sl.st is used and work in back loop only!!!!  there..I added exclamation marks to make it stand out more for idiots like myself.   Also,  I found doing 2 sl.st in one hole for increases a bit messy..could just be me but I found increases more attractive if I did a sl.st then a ch.  So in this case 'inc' means 'sl.st, ch1' righty ho.  To decrease (dec) I put the hook through one sl.st, then the next, yarn round and pull through all three loops on the hook.  Word of warning....this method of working is really, really, really slow...

Head
ch3 and join with sl.st to first to make a ring
inc (sl.st, ch1) in each ch (6st)
6sl.st (6st)
inc 6 times (12st)
12sl.st
12sl.st
(sl.st, inc) 6 times (18st)
18sl.st
(2sl.st, inc) 6 times (24st)
24sl.st
(3sl.st, inc) 6 times (30st)
(4sl.st, inc) 6 times (36st)
change colour....36sl.st
36sl.st for 4 rows
(4sl.st, dec) 6 times (30 st)
(3sl.st, dec) 6 times (24st)
(2sl.st, dec) 6 times (18st) fix eyes in and stuff
(sl.st, dec) 6 times (12st)
(dec) 6 times (6st)
pull up to close.

Body

ch3 and join with sl.st to first to make a ring
inc (sl.st, ch1) in each ch (6st)
inc 6 times (12st)
(sl.st, inc) 6 times (18st)
(2sl.st, inc) 6 times (24st)
(3sl.st, inc) 6 times (30st)
30sl.st for 10 rows
(3sl.st. dec) 6 times (24st)
24sl.st
(2sl.st, dec) 6 times (18st) might want to poke the (eye) leg joint through at this point as it is ridiculously fiddly later.
18sl.st
(sl.st., dec) 6 times (12st)
12sl.st
leave long enough end to sew to body.  Don't sew on just yet as need it open to fix legs in.

Legs

ch3 and join with sl.st to first to make a ring
inc (sl.st, ch1) in each ch (6st)
inc 6 times (12st)
(sl.st, inc) 6 times (18st)
18sl.st for 5 rows
change colour then 18sl.st.
(sl.st., dec) 6 times (12st)
12sl.st for 8 rows
Now the fiddly bit.  With the eye part of the safety eye poking out of the body where the leg is to pivot from, push it through the top part of the leg and fix the safety eye back inside the leg. Stuff.
Do a kind of running stitch through the top half of the sl.st and pull up to close

Arms

ch3 and join with sl.st to first to make a ring
inc (sl.st, ch1) in each ch (6st)
inc 6 times (12st)
12sl.st for 7 rows
(2sl.st., dec) 3 times (9st)
9sl.st for 4 rows
I'd lost the will to joint things by this point but you could if you wanted...or just pull up to close as the leg and stitch onto body.

and....I've made a really fugly little er...woodland creature

Well...it's a potentially interesting base for something else.  I may make him some ears and a little jacket or something.

The 'fluffing' incidentally is done with what my mum calls a teasel brush, think its something to do with felting. You attack the piece with this evil wiry brush thing (bit like one that's used to detangle dog fur!) and it pulls the fibres up and out.  It only works with proper wool, acrylic fibres just break off.

I honestly cannot recommend working in slip stitch...maybe just for sculpted faces or something but it's sooooo slow to produce anything.  Next time, it's back to good old single chain.

day 2....(cos december came about quicker than I expected ?!)

Day 1 of the advent calendar then had to be a squinkie.  Not terribly exciting but marginally better than a chocolate (though that's a matter of opinion).

I think I may be being a little over ambitious for a 'quickie' project but I want to make a mini jointed creation.

A bit of research and looks like using the plastic push fit eyes is the way to go for tiddy little joints.

Also, using a steel hook and embroidery floss seems to be the way to get tiny crochet but a) I have no idea what a steel hook is and the smallest hook I have is a 2.50mm and b) I really don't have that sort of patience (or eyesight) so....

Tiddy toy made with 2.5mm hook and some 3ply yarn

here's my sketch:

Yep, a kind of demented bunny type thing.

leg - make 2
6sc in loop
sc, inc 3 times, 2sc
3sc, inc 3 times, 3sc
5sc, inc 2 times, 5sc
14sc for 2 rows
5sc, dec 2 times, 5sc
3sc, dec 3 times, 3sc
9sc for 3 rows and stuff
leave long end

Body
foundation chain of 5
5sc, ch1, 5sc (bottom half of fsc) ch1
inc, 3sc, inc, sc, inc, 3sc, inc, sc
16sc for 5 rows
dec, 6sc, dec, 6sc
14sc for 3 rows
dec, 5sc, dec, 5sc
12sc - don't cut end yet...still got ears to do

Assembly
poke eye through top of inside leg joint from inside to outside and sew top of leg closed
hold eye washer inside body where leg to fix and push through - (bit fiddly this bit!)

Ears
2sc, then sc through next and sc opposite across the middle, 2sc...ignore remaining 6sc for now

not sure if this diagram could possibly help or not...

working on just the 5sc:...inc, 2sc, inc, sc
7sc for 4 rows
cut yarn and use a needle to pull up to finish.
Start again for other ear....join at outer edge,2sc to middle and go through the opposite sc, 2sc.
inc, 2sc, inc, sc
7sc for 4 rows
cut yarn and use a needle to pull up to finish.

ta-da!

Final thoughts...
I used 5mm pull through eyes - the ones with little wire loops rather than washers.  They aren't so bulky but are very different to fix and....I got mine in wonky.  Also - not small child friendly but then neither is a 3inch toy.

Do check that your legs are the right way round before fixing them...there isn't a lot of shape to the feet but it does sort of notice when one is on back to front...*sigh*

All in all, I'm quite excited at the possibilities of eye leg joints.  No point on toys with big floppy legs but for little things like this it works a treat.

And it fit in the advent box - yay!

Quick heads up!

Think I may have inadvertently started something with last years crochet advent calendar project...the darling daughter has requested the same thing this year.  Now, I think I managed about 10 little critters...maybe not that many, can't really remember.  They were restricted in size because they had to fit in the little drawers of the wooden advent calendar thingy...I'll post a pic when I dig it out of the loft.

My plan then is this
a)  to make a critter for every third day I think is perhaps realistic, I'll have to find some little cheapo toys for the in between days.

b)  to write up my 'patterns', so that anyone else who sees them can have a go too!  Let's all make loverly calendar surprises :)

a word of caution though...I won't have chance to thoroughly check and recheck the patterns...they will be very rough...which, in my view is part of the charm.  It would be glorious to see if anyone follows them and what you come up with.

Zombie invasion!!!!

I finally got zombie monkey written up!! Yay! (Took a little longer than anticipated as I've been getting a teensy bit engrossed in Guild Wars 2...)

Zombie monkey is sporting the latest in detachable brain accessory, along with the obligatory zombie acoutrement....the falling eyeball.

There's nothing particularly tricky in the pattern and I've discovered the joys of making charts in Adobe illustrator so most of the parts have a nice chart to follow and written instructions.  Huzzah!

Link to the pattern on Ravelry

"Derek, you take that brain back right now!"

Halloween creepiness

I really am rubbish at keeping blogs up to date but I have a new pattern I am desperately trying to get finished for a halloween creation.  We don't do the halloween thing so much in this country which I've always found a bit disappointing.  It's usually just some teenagers 'trick or treat'ing with their hoodies pulled up expecting you to give them a bit of cash just to go away.  It's got better in recent years though to be fair (well the available merchandise has certainly taken off), kids seem to be putting in a bit more effort.  Mine wants to be a zombie from plants vs zombies game so on the lookout for a duck rubber ring....or traffic cone....

Talking of zombies...there's a bit of a clue about the upcoming pattern...:)  My mother actually suggested that some 'crochet types' might find it a little offensive!  Hahahaha. (It really isn't!)

Also, I've worked out how to do those Japanese style crochet diagrams with Adobe Illustrator so will be updating all my patterns to include diagrams which will hopefully make things easier for those more visually oriented amongst us.

Just noticed the number of my blog posts that start with 'ok'...bad habit that. OK.