Cyndaquil

Back to school means more Pokemon requests! I recently finished Cyndaquil.

The pattern I used is not my own, and can be found at http://wolfdreamer-oth.blogspot.com/2010/05/cyndaquil-plushie.html. I made Cyndaquil using Red Heart Super Saver yarn so he's stiff enough to stand up on his own.

Cyndaquil and Pokemon are copyright Nintendo.

Swing Frame Cozy

I love yarnbombing, and after being shown pictures, so does my Mom. She requested a "yarnbomb" for her swing, so I made a swing frame cozy.

Eventually the legs will be covered as well, and I'm going to try to wrap the poles that hold the swing to the frame in yarn, but we'll see if I have time. I'd like to get all of this done before heading back to the dorms on the 18th!

I'm just using my unbelievably huge stash of Red Heart for this and an I hook.

"Flying Fans" Shawl

I spent the majority of the last two months participating in a German study abroad program, and while I was there, I couldn't resist picking up this yarn:

I then turned that yarn into this shawl:

It was a quick, easy project and I enjoyed watching the colors shift while I worked. The pattern I used can be found here: http://yarnythings.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/flyingfanspattern.pdf.

I used an entire skein of Lana Grossa Meilenweit Doppio (approx. 400.5 m) and a 5.5 mm (I) hook. It made a pretty big shawl measuring in at 24" (61 cm) long down the spine and 47" (119.4 cm) across pre-blocking.

As for the yarn itself, I'm not sure I would recommend it. I've never used plied yarn before, so I'm not sure if this is common or not, but the thickness varied dramatically throughout the spine. I like my yarn to vary in color, but with a consistent thickness. It's fairly soft though, and very warm.

Harvest Moon Cow

I love Harvest Moon. It's adorable, easy enough for me to play without getting frustrated, and it has tons of crochet-friendly aspects to re-create. Like the cows.

Just look at all that cute! There was no way to resist, so I made this:

And she must have just been brushed, because she's super happy.

To make her, I used Caron Simply Soft in Coconut and Soft Pink, and embroidered the face with black embroidery thread. I designed her myself as I went, but didn't write the pattern down.

Harvest Moon is copyright Nintendo.

Bears

My German host family has three little kids, and I wanted to make them something special, so I whipped up these bears with some Red Heart I had lying around.

Lugia

Lugia from Pokemon!

I made Lugia with Caron Simply Soft yarn, which I DO NOT recommend trying yourself. It's wonderfully soft, but it's just not stiff enough for amigurumi work.

I used this pattern: http://wolfdreamer-oth.blogspot.com/2010/09/lugia-plushie.html.

Summer Splendor Doily

I made this for Mother's Day. It went over pretty well.

And, as usual, here's the pattern I used: http://web.archive.org/web/20040224152939/http://denisecrochets.com/summer-splendor.html

I highly recommend copy-pasting the pattern to a Word document, because it's near impossible to read on the site, and if you have cats like I do, they move they screw up highlighting on the screen.

Chikorita

I love this one. It's just too cute.

I thought it would be interesting to show you guys what it looks like before I sew these pieces together. All the parts are crocheted separately, then sewn onto the body to create the cohesive whole.

A bit intimidating, isn't it? And this one isn't even that complicated compared to some of the others. But through some sort of magic, it all comes together.

Pretty awesome. Chikorita was my first experience with felt eyes. I don't really want to talk about that process, but they turned out wonderfully.

A great pattern (http://wolfdreamer-oth.blogspot.com/2010/07/chikorita-plushie.html) which worked really well with my usual Red Heart Super Saver yarn and G hook.

Pokemon and Chikorita are copyright Nintendo.

Oshawatt

Oshawatt is another one of those older pieces I made and, for some reason, didn't immediately take pictures of. He turned out pretty well, but I'm just not the biggest fan of this particular Pokemon.

I mean, he's cute, but there's just no over-the-top spark of awesome to him. I guess I've just gotten used to more complex things.

But, it was no fault of the pattern (http://wolfdreamer-oth.blogspot.com/2010/06/mijumaru-pokemon-plush.html) which was clear and looks just like it's supposed to.

I used Red Heart Super Saver Solids, as usual, and a size G hook.

Pokemon and Oshawatt are copyright Nintendo.

Squirtle

I made Squirtle before I made Charmander, but forgot to take pictures before I gave him to his new owner and just got to borrow him for a quick photo shoot. He's freaking adorable.

Giving him away was rather hard, because (even though I don't really play Pokemon) I think Squirtle is too cute to handle and he's one of my favorites.

The pattern (http://wolfdreamer-oth.blogspot.com/2009/05/squirtle.html) was great, but I would recommend using a G hook instead of an F for a slightly bigger toy. He's pretty small.

I used Red Heart Super Saver yarn for the body of the work, and Red Heart crochet thread for the embroidery.

Pokemon and Squirtle are copyright Nintendo. And the pattern is not mine, follow the link above.

Charmander

It seems as if I'm always crocheting one Pokemon or another, so here's the most recent. His name is Charmander, and was full of little surprises along the way.

His mouth looks all derpy because I tried out the open mouth version of the pattern (http://wolfdreamer-oth.blogspot.com/2010/08/charmander-plushie.html), and it ended up looking stupid because I didn't have the felt to make it correctly. So the bottom jaw is just sewn to his nose, creating a strange pucker. 

Because I didn't have felt, I also couldn't make the tail flames like I was supposed to. I ended up just crocheting some cylinders and sewing them on, and I must say, they turned out better than I expected.

So, all-in-all, he turned out ok, but if you take this project upon yourself, HAVE FELT! I upped the hook from the recommended F to a G so he would be a bit bigger, and none of the stuffing shows through. I used a couple different colors of Red Heart Super Saver.

Charmander is copyright Nintendo.

Asbury Beret

I decided I wanted a floppy hat, and I also wanted to work with a lace pattern, so I found this pattern for the "Asbury Beret." http://www.chicrochet.com/patterns-2/asbury-beret/

This is the center.

And a side-view that had to be modeled by a chair.

Working with lace was fun, and I really enjoyed doing it. Unfortunately, I do not look good in floppy hats, so somebody else is going to get this one.

This was worked in Baby Bee Sweet Delight Prints yarn in the "Kitty" colorway. You can't really tell in the picture, but it's mostly white with lots of pink pinpricks and some blue and purple pinpricks scattered throughout.

Pointy Slippers

Because my house-shoes are falling apart and because I haven't made myself anything in quite some time, I whipped up these pointy slippers to wear around the dorm.

They're super comfy and were simple to make from this pattern: http://mrsmicawber.blogspot.com/2011/12/birchbark-slippers-pattern-tutorial.html.

 I'm sure they would have looked even better if I hadn't botched my foot measurements and made them too wide. I used a self-striping yarn (which I would share the name of with you if I hadn't thrown away the tag) in a bulky weight. 

Pikachu

Here's a Pikachu I whipped up during the Easter weekend at home.

And his back, because it looks pretty good.

As per usual, I did not create the pattern. I got it from this blog: http://wolfdreamer-oth.blogspot.com/2009/03/pikachu-plushie-pattern.html.

Also, Pikachu is the property of Nintendo.

Piplup

I have a friend here at school that has been ordering all the water starter Pokemon, which has kept me pretty busy. They were all made before I started keeping the blog, so expect an influx of new posts showing off my work. Piplup here is not one of the first, but he is my favorite:

Isn't he precious?

Unfortunately, I'm not so good at creating my own patterns yet, and got this one from http://tifftastic21.blogspot.com/2011/05/piplup-pattern.html. Also, Piplup is the property of Nintendo, not me.

It's Alive!

Finally finished Sona Sackboy!

She isn't as detailed as I would have liked, but I've never tried to do anything free-handed before, so I'm pretty happy with her. Plus, I can always add more later!

Sona is the property of Riot Games.

Torchic

One of my friends recently had her birthday, so I made her a Torchic! 

He turned out pretty well, and he only took a couple of days! I got the pattern from this lovely blog: http://wolfdreamer-oth.blogspot.com/2009/06/torchic-plushie.html. It's full of great patterns that are clearly written, and I recommend it to anyone.

Torchic is the property of Nintendo. I don't own any of the rights or anything.

Sona

I decided to turn Sona from the game League of Legends--



--into a sackboy. The going has not been easy, and I was hoping to put up pictures of the finished product today, but she isn't done. She's mostly done -- I have the body, hair, and dark blue under-dress finished -- but those flaps over the dress that turn into sleeves are driving me nuts. Not to mention the instrument. I decided that she won't even have an instrument.

Hopefully a post with pictures of my work will follow soon.

Anarchy, My Dear

My favorite band, Say Anything, just released a new cd, and I'm writing this while listening to the first song for the first time. I love the feeling of new music, especially from my favorite bands. It's exciting, but also a little scary, because you want it to be just as good as the old stuff, but you also want it to be different and somehow better.

So far, so good. We'll see how it turns out on the whole.

I felt kind of bad about buying this new cd though, because I just found out that I've been accepted into the study abroad program I've been pining after, which means I should probably be saving up every little scrap of money I can. Fourteen dollars for a new cd felt downright extravagant.

I'll just crochet like a fiend I guess. But what to make? I'd like to sell something on Etsy, but I can't make my own patterns yet, and usually the free patterns don't allow you to sell the product. And because I'm a nice person, I'll listen. I mean, if I straight up told people I didn't want them selling things they made off my pattern, then I would be pretty upset if I found out they did it anyway.

I'm just not sure what to make. Or what to charge. I'm pretty notorious for not placing enough value on my time and effort. I'll think of something.

Ezio Sackboy

This is Ezio Sackboy.

Ezio Sackboy took me a pretty long time to make, because most of his pieces are sewn on to the body separately, rather than being worked together. For those of you who don't crochet, that means I spend a whole lot of time sewing things, which is pretty darn frustrating.

So, I guess it makes sense that I am extremely proud of this piece. I'm proud of all the things I've made so far, but this one especially yearns to be showed off. If you would like to make your own crochet, the pattern is available here: http://pigcorner.com/EzioSackboyPattern.html. This girl is awesome and is nice enough to make her patterns free to use.

Also, I'm pretty sure I'm legally obligated to let you know I don't own the character Ezio or the character Sackboy. They belong to Assassin's Creed and LittleBigPlanet, respectively.

Yet Another Beginning

I'm notorious for starting blogs, blogging passionately for a little bit, leaving the blog so long I forget my log-in information, then giving up completely. And every single time I start one, I start it the same way I'm starting here. "I'm actually going to keep up with this one."

We'll see.

If I do manage to keep up with this one, expect lots of things about crochet, maybe a few creative writing things, and general observations about life. But mostly the crochet.

Enjoy.