• Valley Yarns purple mobius cowl for my SIL- knit
• Wavy scarf for my MIL- knit
• Mushroom fingerless mitts for my nephew- knit
• Gold fingerless mitts for a friend- crochet
• Gold headband for the same friend- crochet
• White sparkley unicorn for my niece- crochet
• Tunisian diamonds scarf for a friend- tunisian crochet

There were several adventures along the way of most some of the projects.  Starting with the Valley Yarn mobius, that one I knitted twice!  It was a revisit of the mobius pattern I’ve previously made for myself.  I am completely in love with this cowl and during the fall and winter I’m nearly always wearing it.  I wear it out with my coat and inside to take some of the bite out of the air.   I find that it is so versatile for indoor/outdoor wear.  Since I can wear it double or single around my neck I also get two levels of warmth without looking silly wearing a scarf inside.  I had a couple skeins of Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky made of wool and alpaca left over from my purple sweater project.  From the couple times I’ve worn the finished sweater I’ve discovered the yarn is fantastically warm!  My SIL works from home and her studio can be pretty darn cold so I thought that a snuggly cowl would probably fit the bill nicely.  After knitting it the first time I cast off too tight and it wouldn’t go around my head to wear it doubled.  I recast it with about 10 to 15 more stitches than it called for and also made sure to cast off nice a loosely.  That worked out nicely.

The fingerless mitts for my nephew were the next installment in his collection of knitted/crocheted Super Mario themed gifts from me (starting with the Super Mario Blanket that started this blog!).  I had never knit gloves before so I knew it would have a bit of a learning curve.  I thought I could easily turn the fingerless mitt pattern found at Vickie Howell’s blog into mittens, but after finishing off the top of the mittens and having added the mushrooms to each mitt I realized I don’t know the slightest thing about knitting a thumb!  I decided to just crochet a thumb but it was a bit obvious I didn’t really know what I was doing.  Since it is winter there are several drives in the area for scarves, gloves and hats so I just donated them.  Second try I decided to just stick with the pattern with only one minor adjustment of shortening the wrist portion.  This project was my first time using a duplicate stitch method to create an image on a knitted fabric.  My nephew loved them!

The other Christmas projects went off without a hitch for the most part.  The Wavy scarf was a project that came about when I had one of those extreme itches to knit or crochet something, anything.   I had the project added to my queue at Rav for nearly a year and decided it was high time to cast on.  I went to Joann’s with this project in mind and purchased 2 yarns, Lion Brand Tweed Stripes, only to get home and realize I needed 3 yarns!  Luckily I had a random skein of purple acrylic, Loops & Threads Impeccable, I had purchased previously that was nearly the same weight.  I hadn’t gotten my Knit Picks interchangable needle set yet which was a problem when I discovered that I didn’t have the right size needles.  I was determined to start this project regardless.  The needles were one size smaller than they should have been and unless you’re a knitter you probably can’t tell.  It’s a fun pattern and you get the hang of it quickly.  Some nice variegated yarns are perfect for it or just 3 different colors to really emphasize the waving.

I’m currently on bed rest to avoid some issues in my pregnancy.  The baby is doing great at 4 pounds which is right on target for where I am in the pregnancy.  I’ve had several issues with episodes of strong Braxton Hicks contractions, which are like practice contractions.  I’ve had a couple trips to labor and delivery to have my contractions monitored.  After my first visit to the hospital for dehydration while having a cold I’ve seriously upped my water intake from maybe a cup or two all the way to eight to fourteen cups a day.  One of my bed rest issues is low amniotic fluid so I’m now going to try and drink even more water!  I used to hate drinking water and now I feel odd when I don’t have a glass in reach.  Another upset in what was an easy pregnancy was a diagnosis of gestational diabetes.  I’ve been monitoring my blood glucose level 4 times a day for 2 weeks now and it seems like the diagnosis isn’t one I need to be too concerned about.  I’m managing it very, very well with diet and can’t wait to talk with the nutritionist this upcoming Wednesday.  Thanks to my mom and several friends my GD diet has been easy to make and keeps me full.  I’ve also been tracking all my meals using a website called Babyfit.com so my nutritionist will get a very detailed report of the diet I’ve created for myself.  Hopefully only a couple tweaks are necessary.  One perk of bed rest is the opportunity to update my blog (oh so long overdue) and knitting and crocheting more stuff!  I’m currently done with 3 projects and am on the hunt for new ones.

Just enough hours later I got up around 8:15am and immediately continued working on the groom.  For the body of the groom I used black and then worked white in for his tux shirt.  After sewing the pieces together I added lapels to the groom and a red boutonniere as a final touch.  I opted for no eyes since I was on a tight time line.  A photoshoot followed completion of the pair.

The Creepy Cute patterns call for joining rounds which is something I’ve stopped doing in general for amigurumis since it creates a visible seam.  I forgot all about this when I was working at first so there are visible seams, blarg!  I didn’t join rounds in the groom so it’s a much smoother shape.  If you’re new to crocheting amis, don’t join rounds unless it’s somehow extremely important to the pattern (though I haven’t found a time when this is true).  Had I decided to make these two amis a bit more before hand I would have probably added some bead embellishments.  I’m quite satisfied with this quick project and I hope my future sis-in-law appreciates the pair.  All together it was probably about 2.5-3 hours each.  Making some amis was a nice break from the Goomba or Warm Up America block knitting.

First I finished my second pumpkin for the Itsy Bitsy Spider Crochet-Along.  It turned out much more to satisfaction than my first pumpkin from this pattern.  I changed my hook and yarn weight to make a plumper plumpkin.  The yarn I used was a hand-me-down from my sister-in-law; a hand-dyed wool in gorgeous fall colors.  I love using variegated because the colors are fun to watch as I crochet them; will this green section match up with the last round’s green section?  The only risk with variegated yarn is pooling.  Pooling in crochet or knitting is when a section of color seems to match up exactly in the same areas creating pools of color in an undesirable way.  After joining Ravelry.com I found a thread in the forum with users’ examples of good and bad pooling, featuring mostly bad of course!  I had a great time browsing the pages of photos.  It’s especially interesting when people knit socks; one ends up striped while the other has pools of the colors all awry.  While looking for examples of bad pooling to share here I stumbled upon a Flickr pool (LOL) just for this subject: Pooling Yarn Pool.  Since we’re on the subject of Flickr pools, check out the one for the pumpkin CAL (crochet-along): Pumpkin Patch Pool.  It’s very neat to see what others have done with this same exact project.  I will probably work on making my first pumpkin more interesting by adding some jack-o-lantern features, after all it’s currently where I’m keeping my sunglasses!

Another project I finished was my first felting experiment.  I crocheted some slippers and felted them in the washer.  I might have felted them a tad bit too much.  I’m still waiting for them to dry out completely to test them out properly.   I have yet to take a picture but you know that’ll happen soon!

Luigi hasn’t slipped my mind.  Since the Luigi side of the pillow will be done shortly I have to start thinking about the other side.  I checked out Sprite Stitch‘s blog to see what other Super Mario themed images have been made into cross stitch patterns.  I’ll have to seriously take a look and make a decision.  I hope that the two sides end up being the same size since the green for Luigi’s hat had to be a different, slightly heavier yarn which I think contributed to the strange pinwheel spin in the piece.  I considered a 1Up mushroom for the back but I was going to crochet an amigurumi version of it so that would be repetitive…  think, think, think

I started working on the Futurama brain slug.  The large one is very large!  Approximately 6 to 7 inches tall.  It took a massive amount of fiberfill and scrap yarn to fill.  I finished it yesterday and all it needs now is an eye.  The project instructions show an eye cut from felt and sewn or glued on.  I was thinking to crochet some circles to keep it all truly crocheted.  Still mulling that one a bit though.  Might be a fun Halloween costume; add some straps and wear it on your head!  Next I”ll have to try the little brain slug companion.

I joined a Crochet-Along hosted by The Itsy Bitsy Spider.  I have two pumpkins in mind so far; one in an orange sport weight and another in a variegated yarn from my sister-in-law;  I think it’s wool.  I’m half way done crocheting the orange pumpkin and I’m eager to finish.  Last night was a crocheting marathon between finishing the brain slug and starting the pumpkin over the course of 3 hours.  I need some customization ideas for the punkies (a coworker of mine spoke English as a second language and couldn’t say pumpkins- I love punkies!).

I have so many projects in my mind right now!  Along with the current projects in knit and crochet, I have a pillow in mind to complement the Mario blanket I gave my nephew last year for Christmas.  I have my experience from last year and would like to improve on the method I used to make it (square by square/pixel by pixel).  I recently learned how to do Tunisian Entrelac in the round via My Life in Knots.  Entrelac in the round actually produces what is to be seen as diamonds, not squares like a pixel image would be.  I have to print out my image and plan out the colors and what order to crochet them in.  I’m ready to start this project after hunting around for a softer peach flesh tone.  I was finally lucky at AC Moore and found Caron Simply Soft Light Country Peach.  I cannot wait to start this!  I’m sure I’ll have it on the hook by this afternoon!

I’ll definitely make this pattern again with some different colors to mix it up a bit.  I’ll also pay close attention to where I put the eyes to avoid any more odd looking dragons.  I could have some fun with the little arms and maybe put something in between its paws, a treasure of some sort!  I’d also like to figure out how to make its feet more interesting as well as its muzzle.  After crocheting the dragon I realized that I’ve worked another pattern by this artist; the little Easter bunnies!  I liked the personality that the bunnies had with their little paws and eyes as well.  I suppose I’ll have to look at more of Marjorie’s patterns since her patterns have popped up twice in my collection.

A Mystery

Now to our mystery.  I’ve found a pattern at Ravelry.com on a subject that a friend of mine is a big collector.  I haven’t told this friend that I’m crocheting it.  I thought it might be fun to do a step by step photo mystery.  Guess are welcome and encouraged!  Below is the first photo:

While working this pattern I learned something important: read through the pattern at least once before starting.  I was working on the body which starts from the tush and works its way to the tip of the trunk.  Before starting to crochet the face and trunk, the pattern says to stuff the body.  For some reason I assumed that I would finish off and then crochet the face/trunk piece later.  Turns out that after stuffing I was to continue to crochet but I had already cut the yarn.  I just pulled my new yarn end in and continued to crochet as if nothing had happened and luckily there is no visible transition and the elephant was completed with out a hitch.  Another fabulous feature of the elephant is the tail!  It is a chain with a couple half double crochets to make a nice little triangle shape.

The cuteness of an amigurumi is based so much on the eye placement.  Placing the eyes incorrectly can cause an ami to look odd and not quite right.  Whenever I look at where to place my eyes I do a lot of testing.  Too far apart and it can look dopey, too close together can have the same result.  I’ve had a hard time attaching bead eyes at the same level on the face so a couple times I’ve just offset them intentionally to avoid the problem.  This can add to cuteness luckily!  I am thinking about getting some of those animal eyes so I stop using up my black bead stash.

My friend welcomed her orange elephant friend as did her cats.  She immediately knew what his name would be: Humphrey.  I crocheted him in orange because it is her favorite color (plus I’ve never worked in orange).  My friend turned out to be my perfect ami project victim.  Who’s next?

After that misadventure into patternless amigurumi making I tackled another cat.  The pattern I found at MarmaladeRose’s blog was a conversion from knit into crochet and very cute.  I started working on the pattern and after a few rows of the body realized that it was double crochet which wouldn’t stuff nicely.  I also had the problem of not having a small enough hook.  I was using a 3.75/F hook when it called for a 3mm hook.  The next smallest hook I have is a 2.25/B1 hook which is a lot smaller than a 3mm.  With the F hook it was going to be very large and have too much space between the double crochets in my opinion.  I pulled it out and switched to the 2.25mm hook and decided that I’d attempt to work the pattern in single crochet.  The pattern that MarmaladeRose made includes some great photos to help you along.  I’m such a visual learner that I was quite happy to just figure it out from the pictures.

I started by crocheting the head and then I went onto the body.  I sewed up the body and stuffed it up.  I was happy already with the turn out.  Then I sewed up and stuffed the head.  Oh my!  It was way too big which was really scary.  I sewed the head on anyways to see if maybe I could manipulate it in some way.  No dice.  I wish I had taken a picture of it but it just rubbed me to wrong way to even do that.  I decided to detach the head and pull it all out.  This was a lot of fun since I had already woven the ends in and hidden them nicely.  Patience my friend.

I started again on the head this time comparing it to the body size.  This whole ordeal was something like 2 hours of detatching and reworking but with successful results!  All I needed then was a tail which was like the cherry on top.  The next day I did a little photoshoot with my crochet kitty, my real cats and some afternoon sun.  Couldn’t be better.

My husband now wants me to crochet  one in black to be our little Onyx.  LOL!