Kim's Crochet Blog

I finally finished the 15 stitch gift ghan for my sister’s wedding present on the day before the wedding; September 2nd!  I even worked on it right in the presence of the happy couple, but since it’s not unusual to see me knitting or crocheting I knew they would think nothing of it.  My sister and I had a good laugh when she figured out that I had been working on it right in front of her eyes.  They really loved the gift and I hope that they’ve had some cool days to try it out.

My goal had been to make it the size of a twin bed at the very least.  I didn’t actually take any measurements after completing it which was a bit silly of me.  It didn’t reach that size, it’s about big enough for one person to use length wise from head to toe.  In the last couple knitting weeks I got quite tired of working on it and so progress slowed.  I still averaged 1 skein a week though so I didn’t let myself slow down too much.  I used 10 full skeins and a very small portion of an 11th skein of Red Heart Collage Tundra.  After so many skeins I still thought the yarn was decent and still liked the color.  I would use Collage again for sure, which is good since I think I have 2 or 3 skeins still floating around.  I’ve used the left over skein to crochet a baby hat and a baby wrap cardigan.  The yarn crochets nicely as well, I love the slow color changes.

The blog has been quiet for a couple reasons, one is that I was just knitting that blanket and nothing else.  Another is I was teaching art at a summer camp which consumes a lot of my time; I was up at 5am, out of the house by 6am and home around 6pm, bedtime at 9pm.  This summer I was even more exhausted than the 2 previous summers.  On July 14th I figured out why I was so much more exhausted; I’m pregnant!  This upcoming Tuesday, the 27th, I will be at 16 weeks.  Baby will be here around mid-March next year.  We are very excited!  Of course, this means time to queue up lots of baby patterns on Ravelry.  I’ve told my Monday night knitting group and they are very excited to get to knit baby items again.  One of the other group members just had her baby in July so baby projects are still fresh in everyone’s memories.  I’ve queued up lots of stuff on Rav for the knitting group to peruse and pick from.  I’ve saved a couple for myself as well.  We don’t know 100% yet what we’re having so I’m waiting to make stuff after our 20 week scan in October when we should be able to find out the sex.

Now that the afghan project is done I’ve just been hovering between projects, filling my time with crocheting Snuggles for the Snuggles Project.  I haven’t found any projects that are begging for me to start them, and those that are require knitting needle sizes I don’t have yet.  I’ve purchased the KnitPicks Harmony interchangeables but am still awaiting their arrival.  Waiting is hard when you know there are projects to work on!

I’ve started a scarf that has been in my Rav queue since November ’10 called the Waving Chevron Scarf.  I had some good coupons for Joann’s and picked a project from my queue to shop for.  Luckily, not all the yarn was on sale so I was able to use my coupon on the skeins I bought.  But as I’ve just said, I don’t have the correct size needles for the yarn I’ve picked.  The yarn calls for 6mm and my closest size is 5mm.  I’m trying it out to see if it’ll work but I can see that it is noticeably too small a size because the 5 or so inches of scarf I’ve knit so far bulge a bit and won’t sit flat.  I’m going to keep work on it t see if maybe it’s just because it’s still too short.  This is my first time working with Lion Brand Tweed Stripes and Michael’s new line called Impeccable.  All three are acrylic yarns.  The LB Tweed is considered a bulky yarn and the Impeccable is a worsted.  So far I like working with them; they slide nicely along my bamboo needles.  The pattern calls for 1, 3 or more yarns to create the desired effect.  I didn’t realize that at the time I purchased the yarns, hence the 2 Tweeds and 1 Impeccable.  I prefer to use 3 of the same brands of yarn just to prevent the headache of having to find yarns of a comparable weight.  Luckily, I had the Impeccable from a previous shopping trip and the color goes with the other two.  The weight is similar enough I think.  I’m just itching to do a more serious project than Snuggles that I couldn’t wait to start so I wasn’t going to slow things down by putting off the project until I had another Tweed that would function as a 3rd color.  I suppose I could have just worked with 1 color skein but that wasn’t going to satisfy me either.  So, as my husband says, it is what it is.  If I change my mind after knitting a couple more inches so be it.

Last week there was a bit of star theme in my crocheting.  I learned two new things via the wonders of YouTube.  I hesitate calling 2 things a theme but keep thinking back to middle school math where I learned I can draw a line with two points.  So here is my line with a star theme.

I have watched several crochet tutorials by Mikey (aka The Crochet Crowd) and there was one that always stuck around in the back of my mind; a crochet blanket in the shape of a star that can be any size you choose depending entirely on when you stop.  I thought this would make a fantastic Snuggle for The Snuggles Project.  The video titled “How to Crochet a Super Star Baby Afghan” was easy to follow.  I opted to start my beginning ring with a magic ring so I could cinch it really tight and not leave a gap in the middle.  I think it leaves a more finished look for this project.  The star is made up of double crochets so it grows quickly!  I used up a bunch of scrap balls of yarn and contrasted the colors with some black to make them pop.  I finished my star the same day.  It has a great shape and lies flat.  So many crochet stars end up with unpointy points and then look more like flowers than stars.  The pattern has 3 chains in the points allowing for more of a star point shape.  The pattern is also easy to memorize as was proven by the starting of 4 more star Snuggles while subbing the last week!

I haven’t Snuggled in a while and was starting to feel a bit bad about that.  I know it’s a charity and I haven’t promised anything to anyone but I still feel like it is something worth my while.  I love the opportunity it gives me.  I can learn new things, use up scraps of yarn, give my time to cats that do not have their families yet.  It’s a bit odd to think about my Snuggles and wonder where they are now.  Are people enjoying them?  Have they been used well and withstood the use?  Do the cats like them?  Have the cats who have a Snuggle in their shelter cage been adopted?  Did my Snuggle make them seem more adoptable somehow?  The last question is the one I’d really like to have an answer to, but if I never get one I’ll be fine.  As long as I can find a shelter that appreciates and uses the Snuggles I’ll continue making them.  I’ll probably schedule another delivery soon.  I’m pretty sure I have over 12 Snuggles in a bag waiting for me.  Add these 5 stars and it’ll be a nice bounty once again.

The second point in my line is the star stitch.  Back in the fall I downloaded a pattern for fingerless gloves that were made using the star stitch.  I tried following the written directions for the star stitch and got all befuddled.  Needless to say those fingerless gloves were never made.  The star stitch still haunted me.  It’s so delicate and different than other crochet stitches.  So while watching the Super Star Baby Afghan video something in the suggested videos got me thinking about looking up a tutorial on YouTube for that too.  So from the star blanket I moved onto the star stitch.  I used a very scratchy white Red Heart yarn which was terrible to work with in color and texture but the stitch still turned out beautifully.  I chained 24 just as in the tutorial and used a large hook, a J maybe.  This sample turned out the right size for a Warm Up America block.  By pure coincidence I was working on both of my charities!  The YouTube tutorial “Crochet Star Stitch” was made by Teresa from the channel The Art of Crochet and the blog The Art of Crochet by Teresa.  A couple days before I had started a Snuggle that was just going to be a mix of different stitches and I decided to practice a row of star stitch.  It worked out nicely and gave the Snuggle some interesting texture.  The Snuggle was made using Caron Simply soft, a big contrast to the Red Heart I had used the first time.  The Caron has a bit of a sheen to it which highlights the star stitch nicely.  The softness of the yarn also made the stitch itself go much faster and smoother!   All in all I was very happy with it.  I think that alternating the star stitch with a row of single or double in between might be really nice.  The star stitch is made using two rows and the wrong side is a bit different than the right side.  Some proper calculations will be necessary and of course good old counting (who does that? Not me)!

My purple sweater took a break.  I finished all the parts to it but discovered that I had cast off the armpits too early due to a miscalculation.  I’ve knitted 2 small strips that I’m sewing in.  After all the bits are seamed I’ll have to see what I can understand about making a finished collar around the neck.  I’ve had the project laying on the couch and Onyx has attempted to  knead it much to my dismay.  I kept a pillow over it if I wasn’t there, but if I’m on the couch I usually use both throw pillows which means the sweater is left exposed.  I moved it to the coffee table thinking that would work with minimal effort but she still managed to discover it.  Finally my husband was the smart one and put the whole thing into one of the storage ottomans which was what I should have done at the beginning.  Hopefully the sweater has only sustained an unnoticeable bit of pulling of fibers.  I picked it up again yesterday thinking I really should just get it finished.  Maybe tonight.

I’m knitting a sweater, the DROPS 109-1 Jumper with hood, and I require stitch markers. I had one already made from the Mobius cowl project that fit great on the size 11 circular needles but needed more. Monday night at the knitting group a member gave me a set of stitch markers she had made herself using jewelry wire and beads.  The next day I looked closely and saw how to make my own. I overestimated the size of the needles a bit, but loose is better than too tight. I made them using a bright green bead, evidence of my ache for sunny spring weather to start. I’ll definitely try my hand at making stitch markers again, they are a quick project and useful too!

Yesterday I spent the afternoon shopping with a friend.  Among other shops, we visited Christmas Tree shops where I bought 2 square ottomans that are collapsible.  I’ve wanted 2 of these for nearly 3 years and just haven’t gotten around to making the purchase.  After 3 years of scoping out styles and prices I was ready to buy when I saw these at the store.  They cost $14.99 which is a pretty average cost but I hadn’t seen them as collapsible before so that was neat.  I wanted these for storing yarn and maybe a blanket as well as for seating when we have a get together and end up playing games around the coffee table with people sitting on the floor.  They look great and my husband approved although he had been hard to convince before this.  I didn’t even fill one of the ottomans completely so there is some growing room.  My wire basket (garbage can) where I had been storing my yarn in the living room can now be retired to another place in the house and used for its proper purpose.

While transferring my yarn from the wire basket to the ottoman I found several skeins of yarn that needed to be wound into cakes or balls.  I did some spring cleaning and wound 10 cakes.  I should probably crochet some Snuggles again to take care of all the scrap yarn balls/cakes I have and make room for new yarn!  Something else that also takes care of yarn scraps is freeform crochet.  I tried this out the other day with a purple/white/brown variegated yarn, a purple chenille yarn and a fuzzy cream yarn.  I’ve run into some freeform crochet projects while browsing Ravelry and they always appealed to my  style of making art; art is the journey to the end, not the end product itself.  I played around with different stitches and enjoyed how there were no rules or pattern to follow.  Before I knew it I was making plans of what to do in the piece and what rules I would apply.  I look forward to trying it again or maybe adding to what I’ve made.  At the moment the purple thing is about the size of a face.  My husband thinks of it as a mask and if you look at it length-wise the white line I’ve crocheted could be viewed as a nose.  I want it to be bigger but I also feel like it might be done.  Freeform crochet is a change of pace from the usual crochet/knitting pattern following.  I’m sure I’ll dabble in this more.

It has been too long since my last post.  I just browsed through my photos to get an idea of what to write and where to start.  I suppose most logically speaking I’ll start at Christmas since the gift giving involved my crochet work.

My nephew loved the Liugi/Goomba pillow.  He sleeps with it every night.  Apparently he tried to use it as a regular pillow but since it’s so big he ends up just sitting up when he tries to lay down.  I’m not sure how it’s all been figured out now, I’m just happy to know that he is enjoying it as much as I’d like.  He also liked the 1Up Mushroom very much.  I have a great video of his stunned face as he squeezed it the first time.  I’ll have to see about posting it after asking my SIL (sister-in-law) if that’s ok.  I have video of myself talking about the mushroom so at the very least that should make its way on here.  I visited sometime before Christmas and got some pictures of the Mario blanket, last year’s present, to show how it is faring.  It is well loved as they say.  My nephew sleeps with it every night as well.  If I were to make the Mario blanket again I would do it differently for sure.  For my niece I whipped up a crochet scarf using yarn she dyed before it made its way to me.  I crocheted alternating rows of single and double holding two strands at a time.  I initially wanted to just do double crochet all the way so it would go faster but I wanted to put a wee bit more effort and thought into it.  The yarn was a mess when I received it, ends everywhere!  I spent 2 days untangling it into many small balls of yarn.  I used a bunch of the balls of yarn for the scarf and love how the variegated colors moved about.  Photos!

Other creative endeavors recently include a set of 8 wine glass charms for my MIL (mother-in-law).  For the last 5 years we’ve always had to clarify which margarita glass was whose.  I finally sat down and figured out how to make some wine glass charms using small bracelet size memory wire.  They were fun and quick to make which made it nice to make a set of 8.  Originally I was considering a set of 4 or 6 maybe but that changed quickly.  It’s a fun way to highlight a pretty bead as a pendant for the ring and then embellish using seed beads.  I used a crimp bead to try and keep the beads from flying off the wire.  Some crimp beads stayed put while others still managed to slide around.  They shouldn’t go anywhere though, and if they do I’m more than glad to make or repair something.  We used them Christmas Day for dinner.  Another item made for my MIL is a necklace and earring set using Swarovski crystals and glass beads.  It was for my BIL’s wedding on January first.  This was nice to do as I hadn’t made any jewelry in a while.   Photos!  I’m including a photo of the ‘wrapping paper’ for my nephew’s pillow.  I took a black garbage bag and used a silver Sharpie to draw snowflakes all over it.  That was a blast in itself!

Back to yarn.  I’ve crocheted 2 Snuggles using a diagonal box stitch.  This stitch is my new favorite.  It looks great and works up quite quickly!  For January one of the Snuggle themes suggested in the Ravelry Snuggles Project group is scraps.  I had a great time using 19 different scrap balls of yarn for a diagonal box stitch Snuggle.  Another project was a crochet cloche (hat) to go with my new red winter coat.  I wanted to make a felted hat and found a great pattern on good old Ravelry called Beacon Street Cloche.  I used Patons Classic Wool from my stash.  After photographing me wearing the large hat I washed it twice in the washing machine with some jeans so it would felt up.  The hat turned out quite nicely and has gotten me quite a few compliments.  It is also fabulously warm, which is great right now in Connecticut.  Yarn photos!

As I just mentioned I am in Connecticut so now I’ll share some photos of our snow.  We had about 8 inches on January 7th (1st photo), then 18 more on January 12th (2nd photo, table was cleared before new snow came) and right now it’s rain on top of 2 more inches of snow.  Yesterday we knocked some 3 foot ice sickles off the front of our house and then I ended up playing with them in the front yard arranging them in the snow.  I took photos with my new Canon PowerShot, tripod and night time exposures using a flashlight.  Enjoy!

All the photos are thumbnails in this post so click them for the full effect!

A charity I’ve been involved with since 2003 or so is Warm Up America.  One can knit or crochet blocks 7 inches by 9 inches to either donate to a group locally who is going to join them or send them into the WUA headquarters.  I got involved with this while working at Michaels Arts & Crafts, first as an instructor and later as the event coordinator.  In ’03 a roommate was the event coordinator who tossed some blocks my way to help with joining an afghan while sitting on our living room floor.  I knew little about crochet and even less about knitting at the time, but I could figure out how to join them using single crochet.  A couple months later I was hired as an instructor and along with teaching kids crafts I was getting a sampling of yarn crafts through Michaels events.  I can remember deciding to by I Taught Myself to Crochet one day after work.  I didn’t really do much with it until a couple years later, but that’s a story for another day.  I supported my friend and coworker by attending all the Michaels events which included WUA Joining Parties.  They were never very popular and that remained true when I was event coordinator at a different Michaels in another state.  I’ve got a couple picture collages from the 2006 and 2007 WUA Joining Parties I hosted as event coordinator below.

If you complete an afghan you can donate it to a group in your community, while if you send your finished blocks into the headquarters they will join it and send it to where it is needed.  As coordinator I found a group in my community to donate it to and when I dropped the afghans off I was introduced to the families that would be taking them home.  This was such a great experience, I enjoyed knowing who was going to benefit from the hours of work by many strangers.

Today my involvement with WUA continues but without the spurring on of working at Michaels.  The knitting group I’m in ordered the Land’s End yarn and together we are working on making 51 blocks.  I’ve made 2 and half so far using the Land’s End yarn.  Since this project came about at the same time I was just learning how to knit, I had to knit the first one.  The yarn is a bit splitty but I came to have a nice love-hate relationship with it.  I crocheted the second and am doing the same with my third.  When we started this I realized that one of the ways I learned new stitches in crochet was to do all the WUA crochet block patterns.  I decided I would do the same for knitting. I’ve made 5 using a Caron One Pound and it has been great practice.  I find that the WUA patterns are an easy way to get familiar with reading patterns, following the patterns and getting a hand on crocheting or knitting.  When I finish with my blocks I can donate them to Michaels, WUA headquarters or just keep plugging to make 49 and join them into an afghan.  Anyone else making WUA blocks?

Another organization related to WUA is Caps for Good.  I’ve only recently learned about this specific group while attending Stitches East.  Caps for Good collects knitted or crochet baby hats to bring to countries in need around the world.  The woman who was running the booth at Stitches East said she’s gone to the communities overseas and participated in the deliveries of the hats.  She said that the mothers really like and appreciate the hats.  While at Stitches East I crocheted 2 hats.  I enjoyed this very much and will probably revisit this charity every now and then; the hats are a very quick project!  There are so many great charity opportunities but I think I’ll keep it to WUA, Caps for Good and the Snuggles Project.

Oh my, I have neglected the blog again!  I took on a long-term substitute position which always leaves me exhausted; enough not to blog but not enough to skip crocheting.  We’ve had a gorgeous fall in Connecticut.  We made several leaf peeping trips on the weekends.  I’ve also been attending the weekly knitting group in town and working on many projects during my month away.  Knitting has quickly become something else I enjoy and a fun new challenge.  The list of things I’ve completed in October is as follows:

• Luigi! (C)
• Homespun Snuggle (K)
• 2 pairs of fingerless gloves (C)
• 2 Mobius cowls (knitted after an Escher exhibit) (K)
• Cat “washcloth” made into a Snuggle (K)
• 7 Warm Up America blocks (K)
• 2 Caps for Good baby hats (C)

Yowza, what a list!  The C indicates a crochet project and the K indicates a  knitted project.  My time seems to be equally split between the 2 craft skills.  After I finished Luigi I dedicated a lot of time to knitting as it had captured my interest.  I will have to do some catch up blog posts which should happen in reasonable time as I am approaching the end of my long-term sub position.  My first order of business will be our good friend from the world of Nintendo, Luigi.

Luigi enticed knitters, crocheters and non-yarnies to ooh and ah while working on it at Starbucks.  I was told by one college-age student that I’m the coolest aunt to make this for my nephew.  I certainly hope that my nephew will appreciate this, if not now maybe in the future.  Either way, I’ve had a blast!  Luigi is going to be a large pillow, something great to snuggle on with a book in hand.  I’ve decided on the pillow back; it is going to be a Goomba!

I started the Goomba about a week ago and managed to do a round each day for a total of 8 rounds so far.  As each round gets bigger they take longer so that will slow down very soon.  I’ve taken a few things I’ve learned from making Luigi.  Instead of cutting the yarn as I finished a segment of color I’ve just been carrying it along the back.  It’s a bit of a mess but I won’t have as many ends to weave in.  A knitting group member suggested that I add sound effects to the pillow, which is an idea I really love.  I think I may even do 4 different sounds and put one sound in each corner of the pillow.  I’ll rope my husband into helping me with this aspect of the project.  Any suggestions on sounds to include? 1Up, invincibility star, the theme song, jumping…  So many options.  The Goomba isn’t having as much of a pinwheel effect as Luigi did.  I’m still not sure what is causing that.  I’ll have to find a Tunisian crochet entrelac enthusiast to mull it over with.

The Caron Simply Soft yarn is working out great.  It’s so soft and slides nicely which is wonderful for crochet.  It wants to split a bit now and then which forces me to work loosely in good way.  Tunisian crochet entrelac wants to be a dense fabric when completed so unless I want to give a pillow made of 2 boards I have to work loosely.   The fingerless gloves are also made of Simply Soft and I find with everyday use the yarn gets a bit fuzzy.  I wonder what Luigi/Goomba will look like after a year of use.

I’m off to squish a Goomba that is on my couch.

The holidays are approaching; as can be noticed when you go shopping and the Halloween, and, gasp, the Christmas decorations are out!  For knitters and crocheters the holidays are nearing because any gifts to be made take time.  I have quite the queue of items at Ravelry waiting for me.  Some highlights are Miffy of Dick Bruna, Brainslugs of Futurama, and a cupcake hat.  I’m also considering making a Luigi pillow to go with my nephew’s Mario blanket that I made for him last Christmas; the reason this blog exists!  I need to do some yarn shopping before starting these projects and then I’ll be ready to start!  I have been working so intensely on Snuggles for The Snuggles Project but am now ready to move onto something else.  I’ll be sure to throw in a Snuggle here and there using the left over yarn after finishing some of the projects.  Changing gears is always nice, it takes things that were old and dull and makes them new and interesting again.

Speaking of The Snuggles Project, I’ve completed some more Snuggles again.  I’ve been making them all double stranded, one strand always some color of Lionbrand Homespun yarn.  The Snuggles are so soft using the larger N hook and the Homespun yarn.  The purple and pink on the right is Katmcab’s Hexagon Snuggle but without the scalloped edge.  Then I added a scalloped edge to the brown one from the previous post.  I ran out of the blue just when I finished the last bit of the edge- whew- very close call.  I didn’t have another blue like it in color or texture.  Although many of the Snuggles are made with scraps of yarn I really don’t want them too look very haphazard; the Snuggles are intended to go home with the cats when they are adopted from the shelter.  I would hate that the family who adopts it ends up with something ugly and they decide to throw it away.  I’m not all that impressed with the brown Snuggle now but I’ll keep the pretty scallop edge in mind to spice up other Snuggles.  Lastly, I have a Fishy Mat by carly*original designs that I started on the plane returning from my vacation.  I made the blue circle on the plane without the pattern so it turned out a wee bit larger than it should have.  I ran out of the blue Homespun when I got to the tail and decided to make the tail in another color.  I recently attended a knitting Meetup in Newington at Starbucks and one of the group members had brought a bag of yarn she wanted to pass on.  I dug through the pretty colors and picked some Homespun type yarn in bright colors.  I felt it was a nice addition to the Fishy Mat.  After adding the tail I wanted to break up the blueness of the body and decided to add an eye in the same bright colors.  The eye could have been bigger but I’ll do that for the next one.  Now I’m contemplating a mouth.  I also messed around with the tail to make it more pointy and swishy.  One day I’ll figure out how to write my own pattern so I’m not altering other people’s patterns.  It’s on my to-do-list.  Here’s the big fishy: 

I just returned from a vacation visiting my family.  I finally purchased an N size crochet hook and that led to me buying yarn while on vacation.  I crocheted 2 full Snuggles and 2 partial Snuggles.  Having the N size hook has been great.  I finished off the brown yarns in another double crochet format and continued using the two blues in a Fishy Cat Mat pattern.  I have some ends to weave in and finishing to do adding 4 more Snuggles to my August total of 5 or 6 (I have to double check things).

August has arrived and I haven’t blogged in way too long.  I have been finding time here and there to crochet, pretty much all for The Snuggles Project.  I really enjoy crocheting and doing it for kitties in need makes me happy.  As usual, I have a couple photos to share!  The Snuggles Project group I’m a member of at Ravelry.com has themes for each month.  June was Single/Double Crochet and July was color of your favorite pet month.  I have yet to check what August is.  To mix things up in July I decided to try my hand at cat toys since they aren’t any different than amigurumis.  I made a couple Snuggles and toys in June & July.  On to the photos!

After making a lot of Snuggles in May I spent some time making some appliques to add to completed Snuggles.
This one is a Single/Double Snuggle with 2 yarns and a heart added on for extra love!

I wanted to try an oval for a fun Snuggle shape.  This is based on The Perfect Place-mat by Monique MaiGnan.

This is the seed stitch done 2 rows in color A and 2 in color B.  I was going to write a pattern for this but I don’t have the base
chain stitch count right yet.  I’ll have to try again.  I added tassels after a Snuggles group member at Ravelry.com showed off her tasseled beauty.

I hadn’t tried just crocheting a square Snuggle although they are usually square.  This is based on the Cheerful Squares baby afghan at Lionbrand.com.

Lots of the same colors.  I bought some Vanna’s Choice yarn at Ocean State Job Lot for $2 a skein and some Red Heart Super Saver with a coupon at Michaels.  Now that we’re in a new month I’m working on new Snuggle plans.  Katmcab at Ravelry.com has a scallop edged Snuggle pattern I’m excited to try out.  I have a Snuggle tubby in my queue that I’d also like to try but it might have to wait until after summer camp is over.

I’ll probably keep working on the toys.  Any suggestions would be great!  The yellow flower toy depicted below is actually just a flower crocheted twice and sewn together.  I stuffed it with a grocery bag hoping it would crinkle but not much luck with that.  I’ll have to try out a thicker bag to see if it’ll crinkle better.  I’m also thinking about getting some bells or other goodies to stuff into the toys. The mouse and the long purple thing are stuffed with some catnip so I’ve had to keep those from my cats.  I crocheted a fish for them and added catnip; they like it.

Where did May go?!  Poor Pikachu has been waiting for eyes while I work on other projects so he’s going to have to sit and stay at 98% done.  I’m a bit nervous about how to do the eyes, I just can’t bear the thought of possibly ruining his cuteness with poor eye execution.  For now I’ll keep thinking about how to do them.  *thinks: black felt circles…*

I haven’t been sitting idle staring at Pika.  I’ve been hook and yarn in hand staring at his eyeless face crocheting fiercely though.  I discovered I needed an amigurumi break and felt that Pikachu was a good final battle; that is, when he actually gets a face.  After a lot of digging around in the crochet section of the interwebs, I ran into a charity called The Snuggles Project.  The project was created in 1996 when its founder was saddened at the thought of all the shelter animals sitting in their barren shelter cages so she set out to create ‘security blankets’ for them called ‘Snuggles.’  This was a perfect interruption to the amigurumi battle that had been waged in my living room since January ’10.  I managed to crank out 12 Snuggles; some experiments in patterns, some basics, some just plain old experimental everything.  This was a lot of fun!  I even tried out a pattern written by a Snuggles Project group member at Ravelry.com.  Which brings me to my new addiction:  Ravelry.com!  So many patterns, beautiful things, and great yarny camaraderie!  I’ve learned so much between the Snuggles Project and the great stuff at Ravelry.  In the Snuggles pictured on the right you can see some of the fun I’ve had this May.  I learned an ‘Abstract Cats‘ pattern by Teresa at The Art of Crochet, which I’ve had my eye on for a couple months now.  The Snuggles are perfect for experimentation.  I created my own little double crochet pattern that shows a cat face.  You can see the black cat on the yellow background, that was my second time with the pattern but first time with changing colors like that.  It turned out ok, not quite as I would have liked.  The red one is the first attempt at the cat where the outline is made of skipped stitches.  I’m more satisfied with that.  I’ll probably try the same thing again but substitute a puff stitch for the skipped stitch which will create a little 3D cat face, and if you’ve watched any movies lately you know everything is better in 3D!  I also added the seed stitch and the single, double pattern to my crochet repertoire.

After making the abstract cats pattern Snuggle I had to adapt it to make something for MY cats.  I made a cat ‘tub’ with the abstract cats as the sides.  Before I even finished Kes was trying to snuggle in it so I knew I had an instant success.  Now that I’m done she is still interested in it which is good.  We’ll see if the interest picks up a bit when the weather turns to fall and winter since it’s rather toasty now.  I think I should have used a smaller hook for the sides so that it would be a bit stiffer.  The base circle is 2 strands of Red Heart and an L hook.  I kept the L hook for most of the cats around the sides before I realized that a smaller hook would be better.  I changed and it tightened up just a bit.  The cat likes it regardless, she’s just happy that it’s soft and snuggly.

My next project was a small pillow to use for sleeping and upcoming travels.  I’ve had a little stuffed animal since I was 10 that I’ve been using as a support pillow.  What’s so odd is that it took a long time to learn how to sleep with it as a child and now as an adult I’m just not comfortable without the support.  I decided that since I’m starting 30 in the eye I should graduate to a pillow of some sorts.  I’ve had no luck finding a pillow with similar dimensions since the stuffed animal (a cat of course) has a long rectangular shape to it.  After completing the cat tub and seeing an item with purpose, unlike all those cutesy amis, I realized that crocheting a pillow in my preferred dimensions wouldn’t be very difficult.  I had a nice soft yarn from Red Heart called “Soft Yarn” in black that just begged to be used for this.  I looked up how to crochet a solid rectangle and once again found myself at Teresa’s site but this time via one of her Youtube instructions.  I started off with the video but found I needed the written directions as well.   For the back, or other side, of the pillow I decided on a single, double crochet for a nice texture without the boringness of single crochet rows.  I noticed that the solid rectangle still has some gaps since it is in double crochet and as with anything that has corners in crochet; corner gaps.  I bet there’s a way to avoid that, I hope I’ll run into it during my crochet travels.  For the pillow stuffing I decided to take an old t-shirt and make an inner pillow which worked beautifully!  I knew the jersey knit of the t-shirt would be perfect for something that needs to be soft and flexible.  I could hardly contain myself as I sewed up the crochet pillow seams and got ready to put in the t-shirt pillow.  It came out perfectly and  I can’t wait to try it out tonight.

So although Pikachu never got the gift of sight this May at least 12 cats will have nice, homey Snuggles in their shelter cages, my cats have a new bed, and I have a new pillow.