Christopher’s Crimper
I’m so proud of my 9yr-old nephew Christopher. We bought him the “Lego Crazy Action Contraption” book from Klutz, but I admit to looking forward to the day when I could “borrow” it to make the gears crimp my quilling paper. I showed him how it could crimp and the next day he insisted they come over to give me my very own crimper!!!
Fabric Dogs
Fabric weiner dog for myself. I recall having a blue fabric weiner dog in our home when I was little. Since I still have so much fabric from my friend Shani, I thought I’d try to recreate it with printed fabric. I hand sewed this whole thing. The gentle curves were easy to flip inside out without too much pukering.
My latest that I whipped out in like 1.5 hrs (hand sewing, remember) is the polka dot one.
Crafting with Glass Bottles
I realize this is outside our usual topic of our usual hobbies, but I just couldn’t help admiring it. If I ever get the chance to visit Thailand again, I’d seriously considering visiting here. Click on the photo to read the full article.
Hello Kitty
This is my very first time following a Japanese chart and surprisingly I enjoyed it very much. It is very similar to reading a cross-stitch pattern.
My niece LOVED her HK very much, Hello Kitty will never be short on hugs and kisses.
Cow Puppet (In Progress 90%)
Taking a break from my monster, by starting a cow instead. Here’s the inside mouth, bottom lip, and start of muzzle. Since I’m trying to use up my pink sport weight yarn on inconsequential items, I decided to learn from my past mistake of saggy-mouth-syndrome by making a 2-ply thick inner mouth, which would be tacked onto the mouth top and bottom. It’s definitely a hefty mouth now.
The first two circles I made for the nose were too big and they kept shaping into boobs. So I went with it and made it into a heart. The next two circles were Rnd 1-5: 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, then joined together. Next rounds were no increasing or decreasing, then a slow increase of 2 stitches as I worked my way up toward the eyes. The head is made from 10 stiches of single crochet, then I just worked into that base chain, making an automatic oval.
The horns are Rounds 1-8: 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 14 stitch counts. Then next HDC in next 4 stitches, sc, ss, turn work, sc, HDC in next 4 stitches, sc, ss. So what this does is make one side taller, so it curves the horns when you sew to head.
Attaching the mouth to the head is always the hard part. I tried two methods – first I sewed the oval head to the mouth wherever the curve wanted to go. The result is too sharply cornered.
I chose to crochet the two pieces together, but it forces the oval head to pucker over the straight mouth. If I pull it straight, it ends up looking like those cow skeletons in the desert.
I gave him a mole like Cindy Crawford’s. Hope it’s still fashionable, although I think the buckteeth ruin it. All that’s left is a tongue and brains (filler to keep the head puffed up).
Quilled 1st Birthday Card
Our adorable little niece is turning 1 and we’re celebrating all her firsts – smiles, crawls, steps…
Monster – In Progress (65%)
I was quite excited to start my new idea of a monster puppet with a mouth that would never close.
I tried many times to use eyelash yarn to make a hairy monster, but gave up after fighting with it so much. Instead I gave it multicolors by changing the body color. Since then, my love for my budding monster has gone astray and I somehow don’t love it quite so much anymore, even though it’s neat to have it stick out its tongue.
Puppet Master
When my friend told me she was into puppets, I didn’t know how much she meant that! Her grandmother handcrafted these amazing dolls from scraps of cloth, and helped made her grandchildrens’ imagination come to life. It’s already been previously written about!
More fishies
I can’t stop making these variations of fishies from roman sock’s inspiration. They are so adorable. All my friends are getting one as a gift 
Petunia
Petunia, 20″ tall and hates high heels, is very excited to meet her new owner and new monkey friend named Koko, a movie critic.
Earphone Whales
Roman Sock is brilliant. She combines cute with functionality! All praise roman sock!!!
I had to make her latest invention: the earphone whale. It brilliantly hides your precious earphones inside the whale in a nicely fitting mouth. The design of the mouth is especially smart. The opening where your earphones tuck into is on the inside back of the whale’s mouth. And my hubby especially likes how the eyes keep the mouth closed. When he saw mine, he immediately asked, “can you make me one too?!!” Too funny…
Here is Roman Sock’s blog: littlegreen.typepad.com/romansock/
Here is where you can buy her pattern: http://littlegreen.typepad.com/romansock/shop.html
Quilted Tea Cozy
This should have been easier to make. I had no pattern, I just winged it. I sewed the ties on wrong, ripped that out, then I had the batting on the wrong side (it would have been showing on the inside of this teacozy. So I had to rip that all apart and put it in the right place). Whew! Now it’s done. And I do love it. It’s bright and cheery, and allows me to pour my tea without having to take the cozy off. I just tested it and it kept my tea warm for over 2.5 hrs!!
Pink Quilt
Finished this girlie quilt today. It is only 33 inches square. The following pictures show some process shots. Neat to see what the quilt looks like before the quilting process.
Blue Quilt — My First
My first quilt (strip-style quilt) made from fabrics given to me from a friend, Shani. This quilt is only 36-inches square. I sewed squiggly stitch lines for the quilted part. Back side is white. Looks great with our sofa!! Thank you Shani (tot-to-go.com)
Pattern Help
Japanese Translations: http://mylittlemochi.typepad.com/my_little_mochi/2006/03/japanese_patter.html
Stitch Legend: http://www.hassdesign.com/StitchLegend/
Basic Stitches: http://www.tata-tatao.to/knit/stitches/e-index.html
Clover How To (crochet is bottom 4 PDF files): http://www.clover.co.jp/howto/index.shtml
Rudy Rooster Puppet
Now I know why patterns are so hard to do. By the 10th time I’ve ripped out the body to get the belly just so, all I care about is getting it finished!
Yarn Bombing
Beware the friend who suddenly takes up crochet. She (or he) may be a yarn bomber (the surreptitious or unauthorized placement of knitted objects on statues, posts, and other public structures).
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090130.wlyarn30/BNStory/lifeMain/home
http://www.yarnbombing.com/
http://knittups.se/
http://knittaplease.com/KNITTA_PLEASE.html
