Saturday, September 21, 2013

It's been ahwile...

If you are reading this, hello out there!

So I know I have not been the best at maintaining this blog, but I'm making it a goal to do a better job. 

What does this mean? You can look forward to seeing tiny work-in-progress (WIP) posts that aren't as long and rambley as my typical posts, but that will detail a project as I work on it. 

Let's talk about what I've for on the needles right now! 

Owl sweater, pattern by Kate Davies

This is a pattern that I have coveted since I first joined ravelry, but I was held back by the price. I have finally caved and spent the money. I ordered some yarn from knitpicks, the stroll tweed yarn which is DK weight: 
This yarn is so nice, and I love that the color way is called "kitten." The reason I went for yarn this color is because when I think of owls, I think of Hedwig. While I didn't want the yarn to be too white for fear of spilling something on my finished sweater, I wanted something light that was speckled with bits of black to resemble her feathers. 

The yarn was a lighter weight than the pattern called for, so I am knitting with two strands at once to get the proper gage... Which means that I will have to order more yarn but oh well, you live and learn with such things. 

So far I'm only up to the body of the sweater, so no sleeves or pretty owls, but it's something! Here's today's progress picture:


More to come and my sweater grows. Thanks for reading and come back soon :)

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Your hair, it's getting really shaggy

Scott is acutely aware that his last salon haircut took place exactly 431 days ago, approximately three hours before his big breakup. He blames this largely on the haircut and has been cutting his own hair ever since.

In the universe of scott pilgrim and gang, relationships do not start quite the way that they do here (at east i hope your relationships don't start like that). For Scott, when he met Ramona he knew that she was the girl of his dreams.... largely because there happened to be a subspace highway conveniently located in his mind (oh, right, i forgot they don't teach you about those in Canada....). Lets just say that it made her job delivering packages much easier.

Since, as i mentioned, Ramona is literally the girl of his dreams Scott knows that he has to go after her. They begin dating, and he begins battling her evil exes, one by one. If you haven't read the comics or seen the movie, i would strongly recommend the consumption of both.

This post here is about a hat and some dolls that i made! (not quite what you were expecting, right?)

So in the scott pilgrim movie (and the first comic book, if we are being technical) Scott wears a blue and brown "Snail" hat. The one i made is similar to the one in the movie, but not quite exact.

So here is the hat, which i knit in the round using caron super soft in brown and blue. While i don't have an actual pattern (if there is any interest i would be willing to make another hat and keep better track of my stitching) the general idea of the pattern was to alternate between knitting three rows and purling five rows and then decrease slowly after 7 inches to get the tip like that.
 
While we are on the subject of Scott Pilgrim, i would also like to mention the Scott and Ramona dolls that i made:


These two were crocheted with red heart super soft yarn. Their bodies and heads were made by making circular/oval shapes and their accessories were made after (my personal favorite part was Ramona's goggles). Their hair was latch hooked on, just like the tinkerbell in my pervious post, and then cut to shape.

Until next time!


Saturday, December 15, 2012

All you need is Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust!


"You know, I have the strangest feeling that I've seen that ship before. A long time ago, when i was very young."

So maybe, through looking at the other posts so far, some of you have realized I am a big fan of disney. It is just something that i grew up with, so it will always have a special place in my heart. 

I really enjoy designing my own amiguri, and this post will be the first of many about the dolls that i make! May i present to you, ladies and gentlemen, everyones favorite fairy, Tinkerbell!


Now I have never really tried to write a pattern for any of my dolls, as i tend to make up the shapes as i go along. But this time i took some notes, and some pictures, so I am going to try to explain to you how to make one of these adorable dolls... and hopefully it will help me get a little bit better at actually writing down patterns. Hey, i can't get any worse, right?

Ok, so here goes nothing

To start, sc is single crochet. Its really the only stitch that i use, along with a basic increase and a basic decrease. For an increase, i just do two single crochet into one stitch, and for a decrease i stitch two stitches together using a single crochet stitch. This pattern is worked in the round unless otherwise noted. 

BODY


      6 sc into magic loop, tighten loop (6 stitches)
      2 sc into each stitch (12 stitches)
      *1 sc into the first stitch, 2 sc into the next stitch* 6 times (18 stitches)
      *1 sc into the next two stitches, 2 sc into the next stitch* 6 times (24 stitches)
      *1 sc into the next three stitches, 2 sc into the next stitch* 6 times (30 stitches)
      *1 sc into the next four stitches, 2 sc into the next stitch* 6 times (36 stitches)
      work even for three rounds (36 stitches per round)
      *1 sc into the next four stitches, sc2tog* 6 times (30 stitches)
      *1 sc into the next three stitches, sc2tog* 6 times (24 stitches)
      *1 sc into the next two stitches, sc2tog* 6 times (18 stitches)
      *1 sc into the first stitch, sc2tog* 6 times (12 stitches)
      Work even for 1 row (12 stitches)
      *1 sc into the first stitch, 2 sc into the next stitch* 6 times (18 stitches)
      *1 sc into the next two stitches, 2 sc into the next stitch* 6 times (24 stitches)
      *1 sc into the next three stitches, 2 sc into the next stitch* 6 times (30 stitches)

Switch colors from peach to green

      Work even for three rounds (30 stitches per round)
      *1 sc into the next four stitches, sc2tog* 6 times (30 stitches)
      *1 sc into the next three stitches, sc2tog* 6 times (24 stitches)
      *1 sc into the next two stitches, sc2tog* 6 times (18 stitches)

Stuff doll before continuing

      *1 sc into the first stitch, sc2tog* 6 times (12 stitches)
      sc2tog 6 times (6 stitches)
Break yarn and draw through the six stitches and sew the doll body shut.

DRESS


Ok, so the dress was done in pieces. First was the center rectangular section, and then the triangles at the top and bottom on the dress.

Done in green

Center rectangle:
Chain 32 stitches
Work 5 rows even (32 stitches per row)

Top Triangles: (make 2)
At the center of the rectangle, pick up and crochet six stitches(6 stitches)
Sc2tog, sc 2, sc2tog (4 stitches)

Weave ends into the body of the dress.

Do this twice, once on the left side of the center of the rectangle and once on the right

Bottom triangles: (make 6)
Leave a long tail when starting the piece, as you will need to sew the triangles to the rectangular part of the dress

Chain 5 stitches
            Work two rows even (5 stitches)
            Sc2tog, sc 1, sc2tog (3 stitches)

         Sew ends in, and sew the larger end of the triangles to the rectangle

Once the triangles are attached to the rectangular part of the dress, and sew the dress to the body of the doll.



ARMS - make 2

(sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the arms before attaching them)

done in peach

chain three into a magic circle (3 stitches)
2 sc into each stitch (6 stitches)
Work even for 8 rows, draw yarn through the final stitch. Leave a long tail to sew the arms to the body.

Wait to attach the arms to the body until after the dress is on tink, so it is easier to position them.



LEGS - make 2

(sorry, no picture prior to attachment for these either)

The legs are made in a similar matter to the arms, but they are a bit bigger.

chain five into a magic circle (5 stitches)
2 sc into each stitch (10 stitches)
Work even for 10 rows, draw yarn through the final stitch. Leave a long tail to sew the legs to the body.


SHOES - make 2

Shoe without white pom pom
Shoe with pom pom and tail so it can be
sewn to the leg




Ok, so this is probably going to be the least coherent part of the pattern, as I figured out these little shoes as I made them.

So to start….

Use green yarn for the shoes

Chain 8 stitches (8 stitches)
Work two rows even (8 stitches per round)

Now at the end of the second row, instead of turning the piece and going to the next row, continue to the side of the piece and pick up three stitches along the side of the piece. Continue around the back of the piece, picking up the eight stitches that were the original chain, then picking up the three stitches along the other side.

The piece should now have a circular look to it, so work the next round in a circle

Sc 22, in the circle.

Next you have to do the toe of the shoe…

Sc2tog twice.
Turn the piece and taking one of the stitches from the circular section, sc2tog, sc 1, and taking the second stitch from the circular section, sc2tog.

Cut the yarn, leaving a leaving a long tail so that the shoe can be sewn to tink’s leg.

To make the white pom pom, I chained 5 stitches in white yarn and tied the two tails together and sewed the little ball to the top of the green shoe.



WINGS



Tinks wings are done in four separate pieces, the two upper triangular parts and the two lower circular parts, and then all of the pieces are sewn onto her back.

Using white yarn

Circular part (make 2)
      6 sc into magic loop, tighten loop (6 stitches)
      2 sc into each stitch (12 stitches)
Break yarn, leaving a long tail for sewing.

Triangular part (make 2)
      6 sc into magic loop, tighten loop (6 stitches)
      2 sc into each stitch (12 stitches)

Instead of continuing in the round, turn the piece and sc 5 stitches. Continue to work the rest of this part of the wing by turning the piece and not going in the round.
   Sc 3 stitches, sc2tog (4 stitches)
   Sc 2 stitches, sc2tog (3 stitches)
   Sc 1 stitch, sc2tog (2 stitches)
   Sc2tog, break yarn and pull yarn through stitch, weave in ends.

Position the four pieces of the wings on tinkerbells back and stitch the wings into place on her back. I stitched the bottom, circular wings on first. 


HAIR


So to do the hair I used the crochet hook like a latch hook, pulling yarn through the stitches on her head and tying it down, then tying it back into a ponytail. Once she had a ponytail I cut all of the yarn to the same length and wrapped the ponytail into a bun, like you would wrap a ball of yarn. See the pictures below for a further description.

1.                                                                                              2.



















3.                                                                                              4.                                                                              


5.                                                                                             6.




















7.                                                                                            8.




















And that’s that! Make sure to weave in all the loose ends and add some button eyes, and you have yourself a little fairy. I know that some of the explanations were not perfect, but I am happy to help if you have any questions, so leave them as comments!