Hello lovely readers, 2016 is going to be a great year for me and I’m sorry it has been so long since I’ve written.
I’ve been working a lot on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves lately and have been getting better at updating my Facebook page rather than the Blog. Please follow the link to my page and enter my Spring Giveaway!
https://www.facebook.com/pullmystringamigurumi/
Hello everyone and Happy Tuesday to you!
Say hello to the peas in the pod! It’s sometimes very hard to find things that make people happy but I find myself calling these the happy peas. I put beans in them so that they become beanbags. That way i can throw them at people.
Also, I just wanted to share this with everyone since it seems to be an interesting topic for people. I created kind of a bucket list, instead I changed it to become a 30 things to do before I’m 30 because bucket list to me seemed a little long. Highlighted things are already done. I’m hiding them behind a more tab so you don’t HAVE to read them if you don’t want to.
Hey everyone! I know it’s been a while but just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! It’s been awhile since my last post and it’s mostly because I’ve been swamped at work. We have a major event going on this Saturday and I’m nervous/excited to see how it turns out.
So here’s the really past overdue post on my favorite eight legged creatures!
Meet Wally and Olly the Octopi! They were made from a wonderful pattern from pepika and I actually have a little crown that goes on one of their heads which makes the purple one look really cute!
When I was little, I used to be really freaked out by octopus because of the way they moved! A little like how some people get worried about the way spiders crawl, I saw a huge octopus at the aquarium move in this weird, slinky sort of way that always seemed a little sneaky to me. Over time though, I’ve found the cartoon versions to be really cute so as amigurumi they don’t frighten me in the least.
Speaking of uniqueness, the title of this post You’re the One and Only One actually comes from a very old Winnie the Pooh video that I watched from my childhood (hence the words video, code VHS). I don’t know why but for some reason I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep so I started thinking about browsing Facebook and being unique.
I think I, like many other people have trouble sometimes appreciating what I’ve accomplished so far (worrying about all the things that I SHOULD be doing) and feeling very down about all the wonderful things I haven’t done yet compared to other people. I’m hoping that 2015 will the year that I can play catch up or at the very least stop comparing and accept that I’ve done many wonderful things in life – even if it’s just creating some of the cutest amigurumi in the world for other people.
I’m sorry about the delay between posts but I’m back now with some really exciting news to share. I have left my job of three years to work for a startup. And then before I knew it, 3 months had passed.
Right before this happened, I went on a trip to Boston and Washington D.C. Since I’m back, after such a long time. I have some special photos for you from my trip as well as some musings that I want to share.
I love travel, I love the adventure of it! I get scared sometimes especially if I’m traveling by myself but once I’ve got a friend who can travel with me, off I go! The shots below are courtesy of my friend Daryl. We ended up riding bikes in the middle of the night, completely on a whim, to see all of the monuments in Washington D.C. They are more amazing at night and very different than in the morning. Mind you, this was an impromptu trip at 11 pm. after we had already seen the monuments in the morning. This was probably the best part of my trip, renting bikes at the last minute on a weekday night and going riding amongst giant monuments.
Daryl caught this image of two people kissing in front of the memorial. I kind of wish I could share with you all but it was so peaceful at the Memorial, and in that moment, enjoying the peacefulness of the water running and just being away from home. Daryl ran after them to ask them if he could e-mail them the photo. I think things like this, where giving something to people you might not even know and making their day, kind of makes life worth living.
Two lovers catching a kiss in front the Veteran’s Memorial.
While I was in Washington D.C., I caught a visitor there, taking photos of a stuffed animal… in front of a painting of Martin Luther King. He was quite embarrassed to be caught but he explained that his daughter had offered up the stuffed hippo for him to take with him on “adventures”. I thought the idea was genius and all I wished for for the rest of the amazing trip was to have a ball of yawn or an amigurumi I could bring with me to take pictures with.
I think from now on, whenever I travel, I’m bringing one of these creatures with me so that they can travel the world. There’s something fun about bringing something cute that you created yourself and traveling with it. Tell me about any adventures you’ve been on or give me ideas on where I should go next. I can’t wait to travel again. And finally photos from a trip Aunt C and Uncle B took on their vacation with the aptly named “Squishy”. He looks like he’s having fun!
My first flower cart was built when I was in 6th grade and it was my 6th grade teacher’s project. She had us read a book called the Pushcart Wars and we were called upon to create a working pushcart that moved and sold something. My mom helped me build the most beautiful flower cart, the teacher gave me an A without having me present it. However, due to unforseen circumstances, the pushcart was lost so I vowed to make my mom another one.
It took me another year to make her one but I constructed it from a flat piece of wood. I handpainted all the flower pots on the frame, hot glued flowers into the pots and ordered countless wheels on-line. There’s a clock on the other side to tell time. The top flowers were created with wire and beads that were strung on. The wheels were ordered online, I just kept searching for custom wood wheels in hopes that I would find something. These were actually the 3rd set of wheels that I go in the mail. The bottom is actually hollow with a empty space inside so that she could store things in the pushcart. There’s a hinged door that opens so that she can put things into the cart underneath the handle.
Thanks for reading,
Kitty
Hello everyone, just wanted to send everyone some happy and more cheerful thoughts! I wanted to give some quick tips on how to make your amigurumis a little more special especially since Easter is coming around. A lot of the time, what I do is I add little skirts to the animals that I’m giving away. How I do this is simple, while you are crocheting in the area of the stomach, for one round do a back loop stitch leaving out a line of loops around the waist so that you can create a skirt. See the following link if you need help http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=macf66Jw3Dc
This was the first item that I created as a gift to give away. The beautiful little accent flowers in her scarf and ears are bought through Michaels or sometimes I will find them at the Dollar Store! They make wonderful accents and make any crochet animal seem that much special! http://www.michaels.com/Aqua-Athena-Mixed-Florals/sb4457,default,pd.html?cgid=products-scrapbooking-recollections-flowershop
Thinking of playing some more with my camera that I have from a friend this weekend and creating some new patterns to share with you.
Thanks for reading,
Kitty
Happy Tuesday Everyone!
Free pattern for the apron: let me know if you have a bigger animal, i can probably figure out the bigger apron pattern with some practice.
Chain 13 stiches to make apron string
At the end of the chain, sc your way back up the chain about 6 sc.
Continue sc, back and forth until you get the apron as wide as you want it.
At the end of the apron, chain 7 to finish off the apron.
Finishing: it will look like a GIANT apron, but no worries, fold up the bottom and stich the sides together to create a 3 stitch deep pocket.
Make black or any other color stitches in the middle to divide up he pockets.
Add finishing touches, I love the $1 store where I can get cute flower buttons or little lace trimmings to add to my creations.
Sorry, it’s taken me so long to post, I’ve been looking around for a new DSLR camera so that the photos I post aren’t so blurry. I’ve never had a DSLR in my life and I actually took a digital photography class and aced it using a handheld Canon point and shoot, but it is about time to get a real camera. Currently thinking of a Canon Rebel T3 or maybe a Nikon D3300. Of course I’m lusting after the Nikon D7000 but that’s going to be way out of my price range. And then of course, there is the mirrorless camera which I’m considering just because I’m a tiny girl who does not want to lug my GiGanTo camera everywhere. Please see the link below if you’re having trouble deciding like me. http://www.digitalrev.com/article/dslr-or-mirrorless-camera-which/NTE4NzMxNDM_A. So I’ve done some of the research and I’m still not sure, which means I’ll have to continue looking.
I hope you liked the free pattern. I have borrowed a friend’s DSLR and I think I might take it and play with it a little bit tonight so more photos and patterns to come!
Pattern for the beautiful lion comes from the book Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet by Ana Paula Rimoli.
Thanks for reading,
Kitty
Happy Monday everyone! I often find that Mondays are one of the hardest days of the week for me. My friend is actually starting a new job today and I hope he had a great day.
Does anyone feel like the weekends are crazier than their regular workweek? I feel like starting Friday, I have to hit the ground running, finish up all the household chores, have a social life, hang out with Panda and be ready to get back to work by Monday. It’s exhausting!
Today, I want to share with all of you lovely folk my third creation. This is when I figured out the crochet stitch that I was doing was incorrect. The correct stitch was finally employed in the creation of this lion. The orange lion is one of my favorite creations from Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet by Ana Paula Rimoli.
As you can tell from the above photo, it wasn’t until right around this time that I started making correct crochet stitches. Whereas they were inside out/I was only pulling the hook through one loop and not two, causing the poor octopus and lop-sided bunny to look funny. It was right around this time that I decided I might have to seek professional help so I looked for a yarn store, hoping that people there would be nice enough to help me.
I went to a small yarn store with my mom and the lady there was so rude! A real witch. My mother speaks English with an accent because English is not her first language and the lady just kind of made a racist comment like, “You have to practice speaking before you get better.” It wasn’t like she couldn’t speak English and understand, she was simply having me explain what I needed because I knew more about yarn. Needless to say, we left soon after that but the witch of lady really made me mad.
Back to the happy stuff. After creating this creature, my hairdresser fell in love withe lion I had made. He said that out of the three, it was his favorite. I set out to make one that was specially designed for him. The best thing that drew me to making amigurumi was the happiness that it brings to other people and they make wonderful handmade presents. I created a personalized lion for him. He was very touched and loved the miniature lion hairdresser. I find that the little details that we add onto the amigurumi are what make them special. The charms I found on-line after I searched on-line for hairdressing charms.
I will post the crochet pattern for the little apron later when i get a chance to. It’s very simple, but I wanted him to have something to put all of his tools into.
Thanks for reading everyone,
Kitty
Hearts of Joy
Beautiful free heart pattern to cheer up your day!
Today is one of those dreary days where the rain keeps pouring and you don’t want to get out of bed. To cheer myself up, I wanted to share with you all one of my favorite crochet pattern creators in the world. Her name is Pepika, you can take a look at her patterns here
One of the reasons I love her patterns are because you can take them and change them to suit your needs. You’ll see many examples of her patterns debuted on my site in the future and quite possibly some of my own (if I can ever sit down and bring myself to write down my patterns).
One of the second items I made from the same book in my last post was a blue octopus. He had the cutest little arms and I think we were on a trip to Los Angeles, so I took my ball of yawn with me and crocheted while Panda drove. There’s something very therapeutic about crochet because it’s the same rhythm over and over. Not a lot of thought or stress needs to go into it once you get the basic stitches down and after you’ve got the basics, you can make anything! The hardest part happened to be actually counting the stitches. I’ll show you my secret later!
Octopus was a success, with one exception. I didn’t realize it but at this point I was still doing my crochet stitches wrong so it took me twice as long to make everything. If you look very closely at the stitches you’ll notice, there’s an uneven bumpiness to it. But don’t worry, I figured it out and mastered it eventually!
I’m a little down today because I’m a little bored of what I do everyday. A job is only that, a job. But I feel like I haven’t really found what I want to do for the rest of my life yet. I want a passion, something I can sit and do for hours on end and not get tired and bored. For example, scrapbooking! I could sit for hours and design things and not get tired. If I get anyone interested, I’ll post some photos of my work later. On the brighter side, today is Friday and one of my friends is moving back to California from the east coast.
Thanks for reading,
Forlorn Kitty
I never thought I would crochet. It just really wasn’t something I planned on doing (using a little hook thing to move yarn in and out, yuck!). The only people that I ever saw crocheting were old grannies who had nothing better to do. They made ugly sweaters that were itchy and you would never wear.
I changed my mind by accident. It started because the bookstore in my neighborhood was closing down and I saw a book, Amigurumi World by Ana Paula Rimoli and I was hooked! The little animals were adorable, small and almost too cute. So on the spot I declared to my mother “I am going to make those.” She probably thought I was certifiably insane, the stress of graduating from college was probably getting to me, but she amiably nodded her head like all parents do when their kids make crazy declarations.
A week later, I went to Michaels, bought a crochet hook and a ball of yawn and my mom asked “What do you need that for?”.
“I’m going to make littled animals!”
It took three days for me to figure out how to create the lopsided rabbit. My boyfriend, we shall nickname him Panda for now, decided I was crazy too when he came home to me in tears. I cried and threw the half-finished rabbit across the room, “It’s retarded looking! It will always be retarded! Why is everything I make retarded?” Panda wisely decided to say nothing and made me some hot chocolate.
Many tantrums later, I created my lopsided bunny.
The first step to doing anything well is always the hardest and I have the lopsided bunny to remind me of that. Today, my stitches are even and straight. People admire my creations and tell me the things I crochet are beautiful. However, it was not always so (see the lopsided, idiotic bunny above. As you can see, any skill takes time and patience to develop but the beginning is always the hardest.
Thanks for reading!
Kitty
Pull My String Amigurumi 