Project #8: Blue Octopus

The octopus was a request from Emma, who had been wanting an amigurumi doll and finally chose an octopus from the Lion Brand site in turquoise, her favorite color. I used this free pattern and this yarn in "Swimming Pool" to make the doll... "Swimming Pool" was the closest thing I could find to turquoise in a 100% cotton yarn***, but it is variegated. I wasn't too excited about that initially but I think it turned out cute. I didn't realize then that they do make a solid turquoise yarn... they just didn't carry it at the store I was visiting that day. Pooh!

Oh well, to add a mouth &/or hair bow or NOT to add said accoutrements? I'm still undecided... and what of eye lashes? I'll have to think about this.

Anyways, the body was the easy part. Tentacles just give me handcramps. There are a few things I wish I'd done differently but I'm still okay with it overall. I usually use poly-pellets to stuff the body and fiber-fill for any extremities but because of how the doll is closed in this particular pattern, I shied away from the pellets. I could only envision thousands of tiny beads spilling everywhere and me flinging Emma's poor octopus into a wall... So I stuck with fiber-fill and was a little too generous with it. So... octopus is nice and bouncy. but still cute.

***I prefer 100% cotton for amigurumi but the pattern didn't call for it. This was just a little slice of my psychosis in action.

purse-onalization

I may be heading into a purse/bag phase. <--- My latest attempt was based on a pattern in a book which I altered quite a bit. The original pattern was for two colors with the only stripes being in the square that makes the bottom. I added a third color and side stripes along with some additional trim. I like it but think it needs lining. That should be a quick afternoon project though and should be pretty functional afterwards.

I estimate that if I put 90 more minutes into this bag, it will come to a grand total of about 8 hours and $20. Not too bad.

The other bag project I did was this one (it's free!) ---> from the Lion Brand site. I thought it would make an adorable child's purse and was done somewhere between 60-90 minutes. So let's say, 90 minutes and $3. (And that's generous...) I made this for Julie's little girl, Emma.

Project #7: Valkyrie

**This is the Valkyrie expansion pack for Creepy Cute as available on NeedleNoodles' site.**

I'm calling the Valkyrie done even though she's really not. I started her maybe a month ago, crocheting her face and body then I put her aside. Yesterday I forced myself to finish. It's a 4-5 hour project... not finishing is a little silly.

This was my second time making fringe hair and it went so much smoother. I can't even tell you how much easier it was. Not that fringe is especially hard... well, it kind of is. But as I was setting up to do it, I had to remind myself that I would likely get frustrated and scream &/or throw something. Never came to that, thankfully.

The other funny thing about her is the pleats along the bottom of her skirt. Who the heck figures this stuff out? She should be holding a spear on the other side but I didn't have the right colors in polymer clay to do that yet so, technically, she is incomplete. Hopefully I'll not put that off just because the hard stuff is behind me.