bag of horses

I made this as a birthday gift for a six year old girl. She loves horses. I wasn't really planning to actually make any gifts but I stumbled across this fabric and thought it was just too cute. I used the basic construction pattern of the Haekelbeutel but instead of granny squares, I did mitered squares. Also, instead of creating each strip from four squares, I used three. I wanted it to be much more petite than the full-on Haekelbeutel was.

Lining this thing was... interesting. I've been hesitating to line my own Haekelbeutel because I'm more than a little intimidated by its odd shape. I started with half a yard of fabric and, after attempting to create the proper shape by pinning the fabric together inside the bag (both were a bust and created a lot of waste) finally came up with something workable on the third. Strangely enough, when I technically made it too big, I was able to make it work. Don't ask. I just don't even know.

The other interesting facet of lining this little monster was I wanted one of the horse scenes to show at the bottom of the bag. A lot of trial pinning and hand-sewing later, Emma's horsey bag lives. It turned out cuter than I expected considering that I was winging 50% of it. I had hoped I could make something else with leftover fabric but-- my scraps were small as I wasted so much in my first two lining attempts.

I ended up cutting out individual horse scenes and sewing them together and stuffing them... why this child would want tiny stuffed horses, I don't know. Anyway, it took a total of maybe ten dollars and six hours to complete this project. I'm proud of it. Emma may look at it sideways but that's okay.

haekelbeutel

...and I already want to make another one but with mitered squares this time. This was one of the funnest, most interesting patterns I've done in a long time. It will be hard to line though because it has a funny shape-- It's made by assembling squares into strips, the strips assembled into a "+" then attaching all of the edges so it's not exactly square. (But I do plan to attempt a lining.)

This was a free pattern available on Ravelry and found it to be pretty easy. This was the first time for me to make granny squares-- not something I usually like AT ALL but I loved the unusual construction and shape of the bag and the way it creates diamonds and squares within the diamonds.

By the way, Haekelbeutel is German for "crocheted bag." Yup.

Mitered squares (starting in one corner and working out instead of starting in the center and working around) worked into this pattern would be great with variegated yarn Hmmm... Or you could do a mix of different types of squares. As long as they all come out the same size and same number of stitches along the outside edges.

I have maybe three projects to finally finish off then it's time to take on knitting. Who knows, I could totally love it.

handle-bag: updated

...and here is the latest incarnation of my circle-handle bag. I added the lining-- much needed considering how many loose strands of yarn were on the inside from all the color changes. I'm much happier now. (the voices are finally settling down...)

summer sling

Okay, I found this pattern on Ravelry and made it on a whim. If you sat down and did it all in one sitting, it could be finished in maybe 6 hours so, that's not bad at all. It's already lined and I added a slip stitched edge to clean it up a little where my turns weren't perfect. I'm still trying to decide if I want to add some kind of closure. I briefly considered a zipper but I feel like that should have been done directly before the lining. I'm not thinking about an inside snap or a tab that would wrap over and button.

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.

chocolate raspberry scarf

I'm dying to make a scarf like this. It's a free pattern which you can find here. I'm not sure that I would use the suggested yarn or colors even although I do really like this combination. I'm really liking cotton these days and I don't think there's a brown in the cotton brand I like.

Can you tell I Y scarves??

robins egg scarf

The Robins Eggs scarf isn't a pattern (that I know of but, you know.) It was kind of a spontaneous effort brought on by my finding the yarn at Joann's. It's Debbie Mumm Traditions in Robin's Egg Blue (I'm so original!) There are actually several really good colors in this brand but I was really drawn to the blue and cream in this little varigated wonder.

I can't remember the name of the stitch but I think it's a type of shell stitch. It's so simple, I think I could teach any beginner to do this in less than 10 minutes. Basically, you are doing three stitches in a loop: one single followed by two doubles. Then you skip the next two loops, repeat in the next loop. It makes an adorable pattern that reminds me of a popcorn stitch.

I bought three skeins hoping that would be plenty but I think two will end up being more than enough, as long as I don't go hog wild with the trim.

On a side note: I need to either give away or sell some of this stuff. It's not like I need it but I just love doing it so much...