[crochet] Baby Yoda

I was able to snag a Baby Yoda amigurumi pattern before it was taken offline. I worked on the pieces over the weekend and assembled them last night. The finished plushie:

All the pieces:

I basically started the pieces early in the morning on Saturday and worked on them until bedtime. Sunday I finished the body parts and most of the coat. Monday I finished the coat and sewed everything together (they sewing/finishing took a few hours). I think it was about 25 hours of work.

Some things took a few tries to attach (eyelids, ears). I have a project page on Ravelry with more details and tips.

There's just a few details left to do- hem his coat a bit, do a little sculpting around the crown of his head. But he's looking pretty good...

And he'll be ready to enjoy the series finale on Friday.

[crochet] Play food

My niece's birthday was yesterday and I was able to give her all the play food that I've been making...

A sandwich:

The bread is from the Tasty Crochet book but the cheese, lettuce and tomatoes are from this free playtime sandwich pattern. (Thank you, Ellen!)

In total: four slices of bread, two slices of Swiss cheese, three tomato slices, one lettuce leaf. Combined with the eggs and bacon from a couple weeks ago, you can make one vegetable sandwich and one bacon, eggs and cheese breakfast sandwich.

Also, a variety of cookies:



The cream-filled cookies are this free pattern (I did vanilla and chocolate); the chocolate chip cookies are from Tasty Crochet.

And knit strawberries, all packaged up in a proper berry pint container:



I didn't get to a lot of patterns that I wanted to, so I think I'll just continue making things and save them all for Christmas.

Speaking of making things...

[crochet] Cacti

I've been making little cacti with leftover green yarns:

The pattern is called

[crochet] Owl

Another Christmas gift for my niece:

Pattern: Owl Henriette (available on Rav, not free but well worth it- clear instructions, lots of variants shown)

Yarn: Leftover bits and bobs of this and that in the stash

I always say I'm going to make more amigurumi but when I look at all the pieces:

I think, "Yeaaahhh... I don't want to sew all that stuff together." But it really only takes an hour of dedicated whipstitching to pull it all together. And it's pretty forgiving; things can be a little crooked and it will look more cute and homemade.

The only other things I needed besides yarn for this project were white felt (for the eye background) and black safety eyes.

He (she?) can even stand up, which is nice:

Very cute and very soft (they grey yarn has a decent amount of angora in it). I have a little pile of Ewok pieces that need to come together... eventually.

[crochet] Elsa doll

I crocheted an Elsa doll from the movie Frozen for a niece:

The pattern is free on Ravelry.

Pretty much stuck to the pattern. For the sleeves/cape, I ended up using a mohair/silk blend because the acrylic worsted I was using was just too heavy. Now the sleeves and cape are soooo soft and airy. I added glass safety eyes- it was hard to get the eyelids right. Without them, she looked totally alarmed. Get the angle wrong and she looks either super sad or super angry. Now, she just looks bored to me. Which is the best I can hope for, I guess. And I added lips because Dollar thought she looked weird without a mouth.

[crochet] Turtle Pieces

Dollar and I are Secret Santa to one of his nephews this year. I asked what the boy is in to and his mom said "Ninja Turtles". Unsure whether or not this means the old school Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the cartoons I grew up with or the freaky live-action ones from the recent movie, I decided to go with classic TMNT.

If I never see green yarn again, ugh. Why I decided to make all four, I don't know.

The first head and body I made are riddled with mistakes- the torso is inside out, unnecessary slipped stitches, lumpy filling, etc. The prototype is Donatello, though, and I reasoned, "He's the scientist of the group, so he wouldn't mind being the guinea pig. He would prefer it to be that way. I'm sure." 

I'm nearly done with the arms (which look like a cross between a pickle and green piece of poop), then on to the shells. And bellies. And all the accouterments like arm bands and knee bands and belts and... That might be it. I hope that's it.

[crochet] Jellyfish

Pattern is from Amigurumi Toy Box. I used leftover pink worsted yarn in my stash. It turned out a bit too flesh-colored for my liking.

The only change I would make to the pattern is to make the top flatter- more hamburger bun shaped. There were a couple rounds early on where you didn't increase and this kind of created a torpedo shape to the top. Before the frilly skirt and tentacles were added, it just looked like I crocheted a single boob.

For the long tentacles in the center, I just used single strands of yarn- which I think looks more delicate.

Now... what to do with it. Right now it just looks like a sad, beached jellyfish. I feel like it should be hanging up somewhere. 

[crochet] Pumpkin Pie

Pattern: Pumpkin Pie from Tasty Crochet

Hook: 3.5 mm (E)

Yarn: Harrisville Flax & Wool Blend (crust), Classic Elite Miracle (filling)

Cute! Was quick to work up. Made this for Nerd Wars on Ravelry. I made this pie for the character Dean Winchester on the tv show Supernatural- who has a penchant for pie.

Pattern in the book has a typo- says you should increase the crust piece to 16 stitches and then work across 20. The 20 should be 16.

Had to block these pieces before sewing them together- they were really curly after making them. Didn't really enjoy working with either of these yarns- just trying to use up my stash.

[crochet] Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

How to make a PB & J Sandwich. Get two slices of bread:

Apply jelly to one slice, peanut butter to the other:

Close sandwich and enjoy:

But don't eat it!!

This turned out to be a very cute sandwich. The Lopi yarn I used for the bread makes the sandwich a little... hairy. But it serves. I plan on making other fillings to use with this bread (tomato and lettuce, cheese and sliced meats, etc.).

[crochet] Chocolate Chip Cookies

I crocheted more food:

Pattern is from Tasty Crochet.

The worst part was drinking the milk that I poured for this picture and looking down at these inedible cookies :(

[crochet] Eggs and Bacon

Some eggs and bacon that I made this weekend:

Pattern: Eggs and Bacon from Tasty Crochet

Yarn: Scraps

Hook: D

I just finished a big shawl and I wanted some fast, easy, small, stash-busting projects to work on. Tasty Crochet has LOTS of cute patterns. I'm going to make as much crocheted food as I can, then give it out to nieces/nephews for Christmas.

Poor Dollar was just waking up Sunday morning and asked me, "What have you been doing this morning?" I said, "Making bacon." His eyes got wide and he looked really excited/hopeful. When I showed him the wooly crocheted bacon, he got really sad. Aw :(

[crochet] Penny... the Panda!

I finally finished a cute little amigurumi panda:

I whipping up the body back in May but never got around to making/attaching appendages. I don't know why, it took less than an hour to make, stuff and sew on two ears and four legs.

Pattern: Penny the Panda from Lion Brand. 

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease (black), Plymouth Encore Worsted (white)

Hook: E (3.5 mm)

The safety eyes and nose came from the 6060 shop on Etsy. 

Santana doesn't seem too interested:

But when I handed Penny (the kitten) Penny (the panda), she immediately started to chew and tried to rip it apart viscously. I quickly scooped up Penny (the panda) and said, "Stop! You're hurting her!" to Penny (the kitten).

I don't know, this might get a little confusing. 

As confusing as a panda riding a horse?

That musk ox definitely looks confused.

[crochet] Elephant

I quickly made up this amigurumi elephant:



I used my own handspun. It's a merino/silk blend and it's one of my first handspun yarns. It was way over-plied (quite twisty to work with) and dense. I tried started a scarf with this yarn but it was coming out way too heavy. I opted to make this elephant instead.



The pattern is good (Padma on Ravelry), seamless and easy.



I added some glass safety eyes. I needed to add some eyelids because I didn't want this elephant to look SURPRISED or SCARED all the time. I tried for pensive, but I think it just looks sad about something.



I slipped a bamboo cable need into the curl of the trunk. It's very cute:





Cute little elephant.

[crochet] Safety Cones

Careful! When we have an accident in the house or need to avoid an area, we now use tiny safety cones:



That's a panda I'm making- he still needs arms and legs and ears. I had him safely inside the safety cones.

We've also been putting the cones on the floor- around his food area. And I marked out a clear path to me:



But Murderface wouldn't come.

[crochet] Penguin

Hidden in the Icy Pillow Caves of Upstairsistan...



A Penguin!



Pattern: Amigurumi Penguin. Free pattern from Lion Brand online, but you need to sign up for a free Lion Brand account to access it.

Yarn: White Encore, Black Wool-Ease, mystery gold yarn from my stash.

Hook: US E

I am loving these adorable little amigurumi. The only downside is that there's a lot of sewing.

I used 9mm black safety eyes for this guy, whereas I used 6mm ones for the lion. I ordered various safety eyes and noses from the shop 6060 on Etsy, so I have lots to make plenty of amigurumi.

[crochet] Leo the Lion

If you're very, very quiet, you might catch a glimpse of the newest amigurumi I made:



He's very shy and likes to hide in his throw pillow cave. But I was able to lure him out:



He looked left:



He looked right:



Then he ran back to his cave:



Pattern: Little Amigurumi Lion from Lion Brand's Easy Crochet Critters

Hook: US E

Yarn: Leftovers of Green Mountain Spinnery's Mountain Mohair (body) and Rowan Lima (mane). Used black safety eyes. Little bit of Frog Tree Alpaca Sport in brown to embroider nose, mouth, whiskers.

Note: Poor Leo is hearing-impaired. And by that, I mean "stone-deaf"; I didn't make him any ears. Maybe someday he'll go under the needle for a pair but I'm too busy crocheting up other adorable little things.

[crochet] Sushi

I recently learned at a family dinner that Dollar's niece, who wasn't even three-years-old yet, likes sushi. I wanted to craft her some and I've been interested in amigurumi style crochet for a while. I ordered a slew of books from Amazon, one of which was Yummi 'Gurumi. I made these adorable little crocheted pieces of sushi:



The egg nigiri with the seaweed around it is actually from Tasty Crochet. I liked the look of this egg nigiri better.

The nigiri was easy to make- I crocheted the white rice base and stuffed it. I did 4 rice bases, then crocheted the different tops.



Left to right: Egg, Shrimp, Salmon, Tuna.

These were so much fun to make and I was able to use yarn from all the scraps I've accumulated over the years.



That tuna roll, though- the round one on the end? Total pain in the ass to make. Start with bit of deep purple, switch to white, switch to green and do half of the height of the roll. Make another, same as the first. Sew in ends and sew them together, insert stuffing, finish sewing. It was little, fiddly, too many ends (12!!!) to sew in.

Instead, I crocheted a long, 7-stitch strip, starting with minty green, then lots of white, then seaweed green. Then I rolled it up and sewed it shut. Perfect Cucumber Roll. And only 6 ends to sew in. I made 4 of these rolls.

Anyway, I don't have a picture of the final sushi platter- Dollar's sis stopped by and since I missed his niece's birthday, I quickly handed over the plastic to-go container. From what I hear (and a picture I've seen), the niece loves it. And I can't wait to make more food to give as gifts.