Flogging Molly Dress

Most husbands seem to amass clothing. I feel this is a universal. Even if they haven't worn something in oh say 15 years it's still in the bottom of the closet or shoved in a drawer. This is the case with mine anyway.

He's got several well worn shirts, but has been saying since day one of Sophie being around that I needed to make his well loved and worn Flogging Molly shirt into a onesie. I do love the idea, but at the rate she was growing and the rate at which I know how to sew and pattern, well I ended up going with a swing dress. I had just purchased a few cute ones from a friend selling Lularoe, yes I'm one of those housewives, and it looked perfect to pattern from.

Step one was finding a few pieces of tissue paper, which I always keep after getting gifts. I tried to find the fewest seams and made four pattern pieces, one for half the front, one for half the back and one for each left and right sleeve. Since my tissue paper wasn't that big the front and back patterns had to be only half and I would just flip it over to get the full shape on the fabric.

Step two was a bit harder. I needed to plan out how to lay out these pieces onto his old shirt with the minimum of cutting. I wanted the front and back to be one full piece each so that I could keep the Flogging Molly logo intact, but I also didn't want to feature the many, many holes that were in the shirt. I very carefully cut out the front and back shape, the front being the most important and I managed to get the logo to be kind of tilted towards the bottom which I kind of liked. The only real other way it might have fit was to have the logo upside down, which seemed odd. The two sleeve pieces I cut from the original sleeves themselves. That way I would not have to hem the sleeves.

Thank goodness my mother in law has a very nice sewing machine and I spent two evenings over at her house working on this little dress. I think I managed to do a nice job of it. Except that one sleeve is actually inside out, but as it is sort of a punk dress and I really didn't want to rip out that many seams on an already fragile fabric I just left it.

After hemming the bottom of the dress up, I tackled those holes that did end up being in the fabric used. From the scraps of the t shirt I cut out 10 different sized heart shapes which I used as "patches" over the holes. Several of the larger hearts covered two or more smaller holes. For these I used a large zig zag stitch to give it sort of an intentional messy look. Most of the holes and hearts float around the bottom of the back of the dress and there is one up on the back shoulder. The front of the shirt had nearly no holes, so I simply added one more heart over her heart just for decoration and to tie it into the back.

For now it is a bit big on her, but she still loved running around in it anyway. And of course my husband loves to see her in it. He thinks it was such a success that I will have to make more so it is a good thing I kept the pattern. In any case it was certainly a great way to get an old t-shirt out of the drawers and back into use for a little bit anyway.

Difficulty: Easy for advanced sewer, for me, intermediately hard
Time to Complete: 7 hours

Patch Jacket

I've collected patches for a while now, but they have just been affixed to random items or sitting in a drawer. I have been looking for a jean jacket, but every one I try on seems too heavy or not to fit right.

Recently I was out shopping with my family at an outlet mall when we happened to go into the Columbia outlet store. If you don't have one around, they sell outdoor clothes, coats and shoes. They had these really comfy canvas jackets and after trying it on three or four times in that same trip, I figured I'd better get it, or regret it. I can't tell you where to get one if you want one, as the outlet store sells stuff that isn't on their regular online store.

the jacket. teal lining was a big selling point.

For being an outlet store, I was still thinking that $35 for the jacket was a bit much, especially as I wanted to modify it. I love the length on it, but there is this odd string in the center, I guess to make it gather at the waist, but it's annoying, so I pulled it out. Second, it has two really good pockets for your hands that have two different pockets in one. However it also had two pockets up over my boobs, which were odd, so I removed them carefully. Now that I had a more blank canvas (ha!) to work with, I could start planning out where I wanted to put the patches.

Thankfully I had gotten a bunch of Amazon and Etsy money, so I was able to make a huge list of things I like, figure out what I was missing, and find patches for them without going broke. I also got a custom patch to put where a name would normally be embroidered, but of my twitter/tumblr/instagram handle. In total, I probably spent a good $80 on patches alone, amassing forty some odd patches.

Figure I will give a shoutout to those Etsy shops that I bought from:
Steven Universe Gem Weapons: Coey and Shy
@Khyarete patch: The Applique Patch
Pacific Rim and OtGW Rock Fact: CuddleTurtle
Better Be Dogs: MonsterOutside
White Lotus/ATLA and The Prince from Katamari Damacy: Cherriesama
Animal Crossing Leaf: Kawaiian Pizza Apparel
Happy Milk: PatchNation
Coraline: Craftsylvania
Ash from Fantastic Mr. Fox and the Bigfoot: For the Love of Patch
I have to say, For the Love of Patch is a truly excellent store. He has and is working on some really nice designs and I really love the ones I got. I've got three or four patch ideas from shows I love, that I can't seem to find anywhere. As he also can make custom patches, at some point I am going to send him my designs.

Others I have collected include:
two Terlingua, TX/ Day of the Dead
three Big Bend National Park
Camp LaJita (Girl Scout camp near San Antonio)
Soviet Space and Recycling (from husbands old cub scout vest)
Kwik-E-Mart (Simpsons from Universal Studios, Orlando)
ThinkGeek Starbase: Texas from the Hurst Mall Location
Jukebox the Ghost (band)
Sailor Mercury symbol and Chibi figure
Ravenclaw house emblem (Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Orlando)
Rebels Against the God crest (Angel Beats anime)
BPRD patch (Hellboy)
Ouran Acadamy crest (Ouran Highschool Host Club anime)
Eternal Scout patch (Welcome to Nightvale podcast)
Stargate SGU
Jurrasic Park
Planet Express (Futurama)
Meat Popsicle and Council of Federated Territories (Fifth Element)
Totoro with a mushroom

thread box borrowed from mom in law

As for actually applying them all to the jacket... well I hand sewed each on. Some only after removing as much iron on glue as possible, or where not possible, doing both ironing on to soften the glue and then hand sewing. As I suck at sewing this was slow going, especially on the arms. I'm sure I did it all wrong, but I used a small, thin and very sharp needle for getting through the layers of canvas, glue and embroidery and by the time I finished it was a C shape from the struggle. My fingertips will never be the same.

the finished front, for now. mostly used for odd size and my favorite ones.

I decided it would be more fun to just have them all mixed up together as best they fit, so that I wouldn't need to worry about having all the scout ones together and camping ones together, especially if I have room to add more. Instead I started looking at size and shape similarities, laying them out so they looked somewhat symmetrical and organized. 

finished back for now. symmetry emphasized

At the time of writing this, I am still collecting more patches, and have at least two more out on order. Not to mention ideas for my own custom ones I want, so I guess keep an eye out for updates as I add more.

the two sleeves, figured crests of organizations would be coolest here.

I am super in love with this jacket now. I wore it out in Austin, with only about 15 of the patches on and got compliments and smiles wherever I went. It is a great piece to start conversations and attract like minded individuals, if the blue hair wasn't enough. Can't wait for fall.

Time to complete: 80-90 hours

Update: Got several new patches. Cryptozoology as part of the set of alternative scouting badges from Luke Drozd. The tornado to my love of the movie Twister and weather science in general, from Patchtown on Amazon. Pawnee Goddesses from Parks and Rec from Ferdinand Works. 'Za Lord's Guard from the Dresden Files novels from Pop Culture Patches.

Halloween Costumes 2015

I always like to do a post for Halloween. It's the best holiday.

On Friday my husband's school also let seniors and teachers dress up. He actually suggested Greg Universe, Steven's dad from Steven Universe the cartoon. Greg is a pretty low effort costume. So I quickly worked up a black t-shirt into a Mr. Universe shirt seen in the episode Lion 3, by making a stencil out of paper and an xacto knife and then using some acrylic paint on it. (You can make acrylic stay on clothing by heat setting it with an iron.) Along with some ripped jeans, his hair down, and some sandals, he looked the part. He took my Lion with him to school.

paper stencil

finished shirt painting

But I also wanted to share what his mom made for me: A Lion Hoodie!
Lion is also from Steven Universe and I had the idea to turn a hoodie into a costume, which turned out to be harder than I thought. I bought a 2X pale pink Hanes hoodie from their website. I still feel like it might be a little small but it fits ok. We used it for the base and then got 2 yards of this really soft swirl fur stuff in pink from Joann's. I really like how it isn't long hair-fur that will get matted, but short roses of really soft fur. Seriously, people kept petting me.

I'm really awful at sewing and of course I had no pattern to go from. So I started just pinning it around the hood to see how much I had to work with and if I could kind of just shape it as I wanted on the hood itself. This might have been easier on a mannequin I think. About an hour into pinning I realized I would need more help. Thank goodness my mother in law lives nearby and has access to a really good sewing machine, since mine was not going to get through this much fabric.

trying to lay out the fur onto the hoodie directly

bear served as mannequin

pink felt shapes were stuffed, the idea was to add it under the fur

We decided to use the extra yard of pink felt I bought for ears and a tail to also make petal shape pillows to stuff with fluff and add between the hoodie and fur to give it a full shaped look. Then we could tack the petal shapes to the hood and then cover with the fur to make it look right.

Unfortunately, once we sewed the shapes, stuffed them and put them under the fur it was all so heavy and fluffy that the hood no longer even worked as a hood and it just pulled itself off my head.
It took a few evenings of work, trial, and error to figure it out.

In the end we decided to go back to the original idea, of just sewing the fur down to the body of hoodie in ways to get the overall shape of Lion's mane, which is a big sort of star shape, rather than try to make 3D shapes coming off the head. We did add a little stuffing in places between the hoodie and the fur. And once the ears and tail was added it was pretty cute. The only place I helped sew is the pink bulb on the end, which I hand sewed down onto the tail.

I got a pair of Hanes light pink sweatpants at Walmart to complete the outfit.

I even made a little Lion Licker to keep in my pocket. If you don't know a "Lion Licker" is an ice cream treat Lion really likes in the show. It is hand sewn by me, as you can tell, and made out of felt. I added a little slit to the back side so I can keep stuff in it if I want to... like headphones... or candy corn. Not long after having this thought, I added a cotton lining to the inside for that very purpose. Took me about 3 hours of sewing to get this done.

So there you go. Another year of super fun costumes.
What did you go as?

Otachi Kaiju

I have had Lemmy Loop in my RSS feed for a long time... and more recently on tumblr. So when I saw her make a crochet Otachi I metaphorically died of "cute-overload". She was kind enough to release her pattern to a few who asked nicely, and so my new-found dream of making one could come true!
Notes: Please do not spam her for the pattern unless you really intend to make one. She has asked that we do not share the pattern, sell the pattern or sell items made from the pattern... so, No, I cannot make you one.

I wanted to use just the "right" yarn, so when I got to go to that great yarn store in Austin and I took the opportunity to find my perfect yarn for my girl. As blue is my favorite color, I wanted to give mine the blue-gray coloring like in the film and in this particular image. It's probably just because all the fight scenes are so dark that she looks blue though.

Stargazing...

With hues of dark blue, black, purple, gray and a tiny bit of green, I knew Madeline Tosh, Tosh DK in "Stargazing" was perfect. It is 100% superwash merino wool. A dk weight is similar to a worsted weight. It can be machine washed, but has to air dry. At $22 a skein, and I needed two, Otachi is the second most expensive thing I have ever made. (Blathers is #1.)

I also wanted to use the Berroco yarn in "Coast", that I got at the same time as the Stargazing, for Otachi's spots and mouth embroidery, but since I bought it for a shrug pattern which I have not started, I decided not to risk using any. So I found a Bernat Handicrafter cotton on clearance in a nautical "sky blue". The color is close and it seemed a safer route, lest I not have enough for my shrug.

I printed out this 12 page pattern for two reasons, 1. I didn't want my phone to die, checking Evernote every two seconds, and 2. with so many intricate pieces I needed to be able to physically mark off where I was in the patterns for each piece.

Parts Head, Nose horns, head fins, forearms, body, back scales.

I was working through the parts just fine until I hit the part to make her back scales out of the crocodile stitch. I have never made anything ever using that stitch. And in this case Youtube videos only show how to make a horizontal row of scales. I watched quite a few videos, but this one was most helpful to me, since it showed how to use the pair of dc's turned horizontally to make a single scale. Took me about an hour to sort just this part out, and my chain of scales tends to curl to the left... but once it was sewed down to the body it was fine.

Each arm is made up of 5 pieces: upper and lower arm, two wing membranes and a wingtip. It was kind of hard to stuff the wingtip pieces... I was unable to get any stuffing in, until I used the eraser end of my pencil to help. For the wing membranes I used a dc instead of the tc as written. When made with a tc it came out too large for the wingtips and forearms... not sure if my tc is too loose, not done right or what.

After looking at all her pictures I saw she also put spikes and scales down the tail. I modified and rewrote her tail pattern to use popcorn stitches (like the toes) to add the side spikes in the rows so I would not have to sew all those on later. I had to tweak the order of the stitches in the rows after I connected all the three tail spikes together so that the bumps would be on the bottom and centered to the large spike of the tail which I had on top. It kind of looked like a weird lobster tail while making it... see picture and pattern below.

Tail and Back Legs.

My Tail Pattern
I realize this is unhelpful if you don't have the rest of the pattern, but you could make a weird lobster from it I guess...
Round 1. Connect the three tail claws and sc around. I used decreases to string them together and ended up with 10 sc around, which I then increased to 12 in the next row.
Round 2. SC in each stitch (12)
Round 3. SC6, popcorn stitch 4dc, sc3, popcorn stitch 4dc, sc (12)
Round 4. SC in each stitch (12)
Round 5. (Inc, SC x 3) Repeat around (15)
Round 6. SC in each stitch (15)
Round 7. SC8, popcorn stitch 4dc, sc4, popcorn stitch 4dc, sc (15)
Round 8. SC in each stitch (15)
Round 9. (Inc, SC x 4) Repeat around (18)
Round 10. SC in each stitch (18)
Round 11. SC in each stitch (18)
Round 12. SC10, popcorn stitch 4dc, sc5, popcorn stitch 4dc, sc (18)
Round 13. SC in each stitch (18)
Round 14. (Inc, SC x 5) Repeat around (21)
Round 15. SC in each stitch (21)
Round 16. SC in each stitch (21)
Round 17. SC in each stitch (21)
Round 18. SC 12, popcorn stitch 5dc, sc6, popcorn stitch 5dc, sc (21)
Round 19. SC in each stitch (21)
Round 20. (Inc, SC x 6) Repeat around (24)
Round 21. SC in each stitch (24)
Round 22. SC in each stitch (24)
Round 23. SC in each stitch (24)
Round 24. SC in each stitch (24)
Round 25. SC14, popcorn stitch 5dc, sc7, popcorn stitch 5dc, sc (24)
Round 26. SC in each stitch (24)
Round 27. (Inc, SC x 7) Repeat around (27)
Finish off and leave long tail for sewing. Stuff tail.

** Popcorn stitch is where you do 4 or 5 double crochet stitches in one sc space. Upon completing the last dc you draw up a loop, remove your hook, go back into the first dc you made, insert your hook and draw through that loop from the last dc. Then I secure it with a chain which I use for the next round.  

I wanted smaller scales for the tail so I made a second chained set of 5. They are like the 11 on the back, but instead of dc I used hdc to make the scales smaller. I also made one larger single scale for at the back of the head before the back scales and one tiny scale for the bottom of the tail.

Full set of all the scales for the back.

The glow spots are magic circles, that are closed with a slip stitch. I made mine a bit larger than in the pictures, mainly because the thickness of the yarn made larger circles, and I wanted to sew less on. On each side of the body there are two MC6's, two MC5's, and one MC4. On each side of the tail there are three MC4's and one MC3. That makes 9 on each side for a total of 18 in total. Making and sewing them on was 2 hours all by itself.

I ordered 9mm and 12mm amber slit eyes off Amazon. I had some blue and purple on hand from something else, but since the yarn is so dark, they did not really show up or stand out, hence going with amber. I also added a disk of white behind them which really helped them stand out.

Finished Otachi! Annoyed I can't seem to photograph her colors right.

Time Breakdown:
Head 30 min
Big Horns (2) 20 min
Little Horns (4) 20 min
Body 1.5 hr
Back Scales 1 hr
Forearms (2) 1 hr
Upper arms (2) 40 min
Wingtips (2) 1 hr
Wing Membranes (4) 1hr
Legs (2) 1 hr
Short tail claws (2) and Long tail claw 20 min
Tail 2 hours
Body details: above back leg spikes (2), wing tip spikes (2), knee spikes (2), chin spikes (2), tail scales (5) 1 hr
Light Blue stuff: glow spots (18), face embroidery: 3 hours
Assembly of all parts: another 8 hours (over three nights of 2-3 hours working on it)
Total time: about 25 hours

I like the way she looks with my blue shutters.

Finished size for Otachi is 17 inches from nose to tip of the tail. About 10 inch wingspan.
Difficulty: Intermediate. Parts are not too hard to make, with the exception of the crocodile stitch, but this does take a lot of time.

I am Groot.

So yeah, Guardians of the Galaxy was even cooler than the trailers suggested. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it, if you have seen it, than you will recognize today's creation. Groot.

In full disclosure, I have not read any of the comics, however, I am a firm believer that a fan, is a fan, is a fan, regardless of "vetting". So, I loved Groot and felt it would be only right to make one of my own to hold me out until Marvel starts selling solar-powered dancing Groot toys.

I started him at about 11 in the morning and go through almost 3/4ths of this project by 4pm. So I am going to give him a clock time of about 8 hours total to make one. I used most of one skein of Sincerely by Purl Essence in Multi Naturals, which is a variegated yarn from a tan to a dark brown. All pieces are made in that yarn. I used 12mm black safety eyes.

I also gave Groot something new, a voice box! I ordered one off amazon and recorded myself saying I am Groot in my best Vin Diesel voice and added it to the insides. Since it is re-recordable I left a way to retrieve the voice box, should I be able to get a ringtone of the actual sentence from the film.

Once again I have to ask that since this is a licensed character, please do not sell this pattern or your creations... but if your friend wants one in exchange for a mix tape, go ahead. :)


Groot
Head: Round 1– 6SC in the magic ring (6)
Round 2– Inc in each stitch around (12)
Round 3– (Inc, SC) Repeat around (18)
Round 4– (Inc, SC x 2) Repeat around (24)
Round 5– sc around back loops only
Round 6-7–  sc around
Round 8– (Dec, SC x 2) Repeat around (18)
Round 9-11– sc around
Round 12– (Dec, SC ) Repeat around (12)
Round 13– sc around 12
Stop here and add safety eyes- then stuff
Round 14– decrease around 6
Round 15– decrease around to close
Once closed, embroider eye brows and mouth on in darker brown.

Big Head Horn (1)
Round 1– MC 5
Round 2– sc in each around
Round 3– inc in each stitch around (10)
Round 4-6– sc in each around (10)
Bind off, sew shut, leave tail to sew to head in front over left eye.

Medium Head Horn (1) Round 1– 4SC in the magic ring (4)
Round 2– Inc, sc x 3 (5)
Round 3– inc, sc x 4 (6)
Round 4–  inc, sc x 5 (7)
Round 5– inc, sc x 6 (8)
Round 6– SC in each stitch around (8)
Bind off, sew shut, leave tail and sew over right eye.

Head with only two horns, but embroidery done.

Small Head Horns (make 2) Round 1– 4SC in the magic ring (4)
Round 2– Inc, scx3 (5)
Round 3– inc, sc x4 (6)
Round 4– inc, sc x 5 (7)
Round 5– sc around (7)
Bind off, sew shut, leave tail and sew to head, back sides

Body to Knees Round 1– chain 6, form loop with slip stitch in first (6)
Round 2– sc around 6 for neck.
Round 3– Inc in each stitch around (12)
Round 4– (Inc, SC) Repeat around (18)
Round 5– (Inc, SC x 2) Repeat around (24)
Round 6– (Inc, SC x 3) Repeat around (30)
Round 7– (Inc, SC x 4 stitches) Repeat around (36)
Round 8-9–  sc around
Round 10– sc around if you just want to stuff and be done.
If adding voice box then do sc x 14, ch8, sc x 14. This leaves a hole to add and remove the box. You can either sew it up after inserting the voice box or add a zipper or laces to be able to open and close it.
Round 11– sc around 36
Round 12– sc 6, dec x 3, sc 12, dec x 3, sc 6 (30)
Round 13– sc around (30)
Round 14– sc 5, dec x 2, sc 5, dec, sc 5 , dec x2, sc 5 (25)
Round 15– sc around (25)
Round 16– sc 4, dec, sc 4, dec, sc 4 , dec , sc 4, dec, sc3tog (20)
Round 17-20– sc around (20)
Round 21– start legs: sc 4 or to center of body opposite opening, chain 4, sc around. Your legs will have a width of 14 stitches.
Round 22-36– 15 rows of sc around
Bind off , go back and do second leg. Leave open to stuff and sew foot on.

Finished head, body and feet.

Feet and shins (make 2)Round 1– 6SC in the magic ring (6)
Round 2– Inc each stitch around (12)
Round 3– (Inc, SC) Repeat around (18)
***For a toe: make 5 DC in the stitch. Remove the hook from its current place and move it back to the first DC. Join this DC with the last DC you made with a slip stitch. (aka Popcorn stitch)
Round 4– 1SC, *1 SC, 1 toe* repeat until you have 4 toes, sc 3, do tiny toe of 3dc popcorn, SC in 5 remaining stitches (18)
NOTE: For the second foot, you need to do the tiny toe first, so do the order of the toes backwards.
Round 5-6– SC in each stitch around (18)
Round 7– (Dec, SC x 7) Repeat around (16)
Round 8– (Dec, SC x 6) Repeat around (14)
Round 9-12– SC in each stitch around (14)
Stuff and sew to leg at the knee.

Arms (make 2) Round 1– 6SC in the magic ring (6)
Round 2– Inc each stitch around (12)
***For a finger: slip stitch into next sc, chain 5, turn and sc in first chain from hook back down to base of chain (4), slip stitch to same stitch you started in, continue to next
Round 4– 2SC, 1 finger, sc x 2, 3 more fingers, sc in 4 remaining stitches (12)
Round 5-8– SC in each stitch around (12)
Round 9– decrease, sc around (8)
Round 10-24– sc around (8)

Finishing
Sew head to body at neck. Sew arms closed and attach at shoulder height on the appropriate sides. Sew feet to legs, making sure that they are on the right sides. Be sure to stuff it all before you close it. I also embroidered some chest plates, elbow and knee plates and shoulder blades in the darker brown yarn like his mouth. Might add some green to the shoulders. Could add a flower to the palm... or a tiny Rocket Raccoon to the back......

Done.

Finished height is about 10 inches tall.
Time to compete: 8 hours
Difficulty: Easy. Pretty basic, can get elaborate as you like with the embroidery or leave it off.

Mini Mushroom Pouch

Quick yarn project here! I'm talking 30 minutes or less.

For a friends birthday she asked for me to make a case like she saw on Ravelry for her earbuds. A few minutes later we decided it might be cute if I made one that looked like a mushroom. Seemed easy enough of a shape. So I got home, found some yarn and started to think out a pattern. Here it is.

Items needed:
Yarn colors for mushroom cap, and underside/stem
5.0mm hook
yarn needle
tiny bit of polyfill - optional
buttons, needle and thread - optional

I used a maroon red for the cap, and white for the underside and stem.
The cap, underside and stem are three different pieces. I did this so that I could stuff the stem part.

Mushroom Pouch

Cap, in red or cap color
MC 4
R1. sc4
R2. sc1, increase, sc1, increase (6)
R3. sc, sc, increase, sc, sc, increase (8)
R4. sc3, inc, sc 3, inc (10)
R5. sc 4, inc, sc 4, inc (12)(Inc, sc 1)* (18)
R6. sc 18(Inc, sc 2 )* (24)
R7. sc 24
R8. sc 24
R9. (Inc, sc 3)* (30)
R10. sc30

Bind off, leave tail for sewing to base.

Base, in white or stem color
MC 6

R1. Sc 2 in each sc around (12)

R2. (Inc, sc 1)* (18)

R3. (Inc, sc 2 )* (24)

R4. (Inc, sc 3)* (30)
R5. chain 8, sc to first sc to form a loop to go over button on cap, sc around in front loops only (30)
R6. sc 30 around
R7. dec, sc 2 (24)
R8. slip stitch 8, double crochet 8, slip stitch last 8
bind off

Stem, in white or base color
MC 6
R2-4. sc 6 around
stuff and leave tail to sew to base

Finishing
Sew stem to center of base.
Use the tall section of base's last row to sew to inside of cap. Put the base so it is snug inside the cap and sew along the top and bottom of the "tab" of the base. This forms an inside kind of hinge. The bottom edge of the cap should line up horizontal to the front loop only round of the base.

Sew a button, or knot, to the cap above the loop on the base so that the loop can close around the button and keep the pouch closed. Optional: Add other buttons for spots. I also added a keychain ring to the top to allow for it to hang off things.

The buttons really make it cute.

Make a bunch of these and use up those leftover bits of yarn! Play with shape and color. Maybe fully stuff them and use them as pincushions. Or make a few and add them to a fall wreath. :) 

Difficulty: Beginner

Time to complete: 30 min or so.

Kitties in Wuv

New commission for a pair of star-crossed kitties. This is the kind of thing YOU could have made, if you drop me a line with an idea.

For this set I am going back to the same pattern I used for the Jumping Monkeys and the Mr. Skees Bears. The pattern is originally from Pica Pau, whom I follow on Facebook. I love her work and the simple style of everything she makes. The basic body shape of the Jaques the monkey pattern, bought back in November of 2011, is easily customizable. A lot of her other animals look similar and I am thinking about making my ACNL Mayor from this pattern... She has an Etsy shop but has nothing in it... I look forward to the day I can buy more patterns.

Anyway. We worked on the outfits, design and yarn color scheme of the pair together in my work shed. I had a lot of left over yarn skeins and this was a great left over project. I didn't have to purchase any new yarn!

Plans

I made the Girl Kitty a little shorter in the legs and arms than boy kitty, so he would be a little taller. I used a light pink to embroider the mouth and nose on both, and a large set of (18mm) black safety eyes.

Faces. Boy smile is a bit smaller.

For the girl, her skirt was attached at the color change between dress top and her bloomers. The skirt is sc in a gradual increase from the waist, to make the lace edges I did a sc, skipped a sc, chained 2, and sc in next stitch, around to make loops, next row is 5 double crochet in the chain space, chain 1, 1dc in next chain space, chain 1, 5 double crochet in next, repeating around. It made a kind of open-work lace to help show the cute bloomers underneath.

Left is body with color change for bloomers, Right has skirt attached.

For the ears, I made two small triangles, one in the pink for the inside of the ear, one gray/white and used a sc around the edges to join them together. When I sewed them on, I turned them so that the tip (row 6) of both ears faced the center of the head which made them look a bit taller.

Ear: (make 4, two in inside ear color, 2 in outside ear color)
1. chain 10, sc in 2nd from hook and across (9)
2. decrease, sc 5, decrease (7)
3. decrease, sc 3, decrease (5)
4. decrease, sc, decrease (3)
5. decrease, sc (2)
6. decrease 2 and leave tail to sc to other ear piece.

Ears from side and front.

The girls arms we wanted to have a cap sleeve with a little ruffle. The arm ruffles were made by doing a back loop only color change between the purple and the gray, to leave the front loops open to add the lace scallops on at the edge when done.

Short-Arm Short-Sleeve pattern:
1. in clothes color, chain 5 and slip stitch to first to form a loop
2. 2 sc in each stitch (10)
3-5. sc around (10)
6. switch to skin color, sc 10 around in back loops only.
7-12. sc around (do an additional 4 rounds here if making normal length arms and legs)
13. *sc in one, 2 sc in next*, * repeat around (15)
14. sc in each (15)
15. sc, popcorn stitch^, 13 sc
16. sc in each (15)
17. *sc in one, decrease*, *repeat (10)
18. decrease around (5), bind off
^ popcorn stitch: 4 double crochet in the same stitch, remove hook, insert into top of first dc, pick up dropped loop and pull through, extra chain to secure and for next rows sc)
Note: Stuffing the arm through the 5 chain opening is hard, when I did this again for the boy I just chained 10 and started there.

Finished arm for girl.

She also asked for a pansy flower like from Animal Crossing... I didn't have a pattern so I made one up, which came out really well. In the center light purple I did MC6 sc. Then switched to the dark purple for the inside petals, each petal made across 2 of the 6 stitches. One petal is made by chain 2, 2dc in first stitch, 2dc in second stitch, chain 2 and slip stitch to base. Repeat around 3 times for 3 petals. At the end of that row I switched to white, I chained 2 and did a sc in the top of each dc, and then did another chain 2 down the other side and secured it with a slip stitch in the same place as the purple. Did that for all the petals and left a few long tails to sew it in place.

Pansy flower.

The boy kitty had a lot less little details. Shirt and pants. Vest. At some point we will find a way to add some glasses, but for now they were left off. He was made full size to the pattern where as on the girl I left off about 4 rows on each part.

Boy Kitty.

For the boy's arms I did 16 rows of 10sc around, and then back looped and color changed into the hand shape. I also re-worked the vest pattern from the Skees-bears for boy kitty. Last time the back didn't fit quite right and bulged out the in the back center, hence skipping one stitch in the middle of the row of treble crochet. Still was a little large at the shoulders, since he doesn't have any, but fit better. Last time the button functioned since it was small but this time it was too large. So here it is decoration and on the back side there is a clear snap to keep the vest closed.

Vest:
Row 1. Chain 36, turn and sc in second chain from hook and back across 35 sc
2-4. Chain 1 for turning, sc 35 across
5. Chain 1, dec, dec, sc 27, dec, dec
6. Chain 1, dec, dec, sc 23, dec, dec
7. Chain 1, dec, dec, sc 1, chain 4, skip two stitches, treble crochet next 6, skip one sc, treble crochet next 6, chain 4, skip two stitches, sc, dec, dec
8. Chain 1, slip stitch in top of two decreases and up the chain space, sc across the top of the 12 treble crochet, slip stitch down the other chain space and across two decreases.
Bind off, Hide ends.
Sew button to one side.

Herb & Petunia. 

Both kitties took about 30 hours total. It goes by fast with a simple pattern and color changes. I had a really good time making these and once again can't stop smiling at the result.
Just FYI, Herb is 15 inches tall from his feet to ears, Petunia is 13 inches.

PS... perhaps their owners will rename them, but I had to call them something...

Chibi Iron Man

Once again my brother has seen, and sent me a picture of, something new that he wants made. The picture seemed to have roots in Comicpalooza, a convention in Texas. I heard that these were for sale there. So with that in mind, I will not share my pattern, but if you know how to crochet, I bet you can figure out something similar, like I did, with no issues.

Of the two shown, he wanted specifically the Iron Man. These looked simple enough.
I had on hand all the items needed to make a little Iron Man: red, yellow and silver yarn, yellow and black felt, and a sewing kit. And a little time to kill.

No Face Iron Man.

The head is a basic sphere. The body, is the same width as the head, but taller. I left it open at the neck and sewed it to the head in the right spot. The little arc reactor in silver is a simple magic circle with a few stitches in it. The shoulder details is a long chain that I wrapped around the back of the neck and down the other front.

The face was the hardest part for me since I am abysmal at sewing. I cut out the base yellow shape and two small black shapes for the eyes. I went with a more modern face for him for two reasons... a) slanty eyes are a little more menacing and b) I cant embroider the whole eye. So I tacked the black eyes down to the yellow back with white thread to give the eyes a pupil... or highlight... or whatever. The mouth is a strip of black felt carefully tacked at both ends and in the middle.

Then I sewed the entire face onto the head, going around twice since I didn't want it to fall off and the first time around I left large gaps around the edge that needed to be tacked down further.

Done. Time for crochet: 1.5 hrs. Time for sewing: 1 hr.
Finished size is about 3 inches wide by 6 inches tall. Came out pretty close I think.
Skill Level: Nerdy Child's first crochet project easy...

Gunter the Penguin Crochet

It has come to my attention that some of my traffic here is from students. Welcome!
Apparently there is also the notion that I have a store... I do not. Sorry :(
However, I am always open to the idea of commissions as I generally have a plethora of yarn and time. As always, these patterns are written for fun not profit so be kind and give credit if you use or link to me. And please do not sell your creations from these patterns, gifts are cool though.

I was approached at a football game and asked if I knew of Adventure Time (HECK YES I LOVE TO WATCH A.T.) and if I would make a Gunter. Seemed easy enough, I recalled seeing a pattern somewhere so I said sure.

The most evil of Penguins.

After looking around I realized the penguin pattern I remembered seeing was for the Madagascar penguins and was totally different. So I made this one up. Here goes.

Gunter the Penguin from Adventure Time
Supplies needed: Black, White and Yellow yarn, Stuffing, Embroidery Needle, hook size H8 5.0

Main Body, in black1. MC, sc 6
2. (sc 2 in one) 6 times (12)
3. (sc 1, sc 2 in one) 6 times (18)
4. (sc 2, sc 2 in one) 6 times (24)
5. (sc 3, sc 2 in one) 6 times (30)
6. (sc 4, sc 2 in one) 6 times (36)
7. (sc 5, sc 2 in one) 6 times (42)
8-27. (20 rows), sc all around
Bind off

White face/ belly1. chain 15, plus 1 to turn
2-21. (20 rows) sc 15 across, chain 1 and turn

21. Sc, hdc, dc, dc, 2dc, tc, 2tc, tc, 2tc, tc, 2dc, dc, dc, hdc, sc (makes an arched top)
At the end of row 21 chain one and do a sc down around the outside and back up to arched row to give it a finished look to the edges. Bind off. 

(Note, I didnt think this was rounded enough so when I eventually sewed it to the body I tucked the corners under and sewed it down. Cheating, but I was too tired to rip it all out again and make a perfect pattern.)

Eyes 

You could use black and white felt, and sew it down to front of white face body piece, but I have trouble with real needles and thread. So I did the following:

Make 2 large eyes in black.  MC 6, then 2sc in each (12), Bind off, leaving tails to sew down with.

Then make 2 smaller eyes in white. MC 5sc, bind off and sew onto the black eyes where desired.Then sew the eyes to the white belly near the top arch leaving room for the beak between.

Beak, in yellow1. Chain 6, slip stitch into first to form a ring, make sure you have a tail for sewing on later.
2-3. sc 6 around
4. sc 2 together to decrease, sc in 4 (5)
5. sc 2 together, sc in 3 (4)
6. sc 2 together, sc in 2 (3)
7. sc 3 together, bind off and hide end from tip of beak inside.
Sew to white face/belly between eyes.

Wings, in black, make 2

Chain 11

1. turn and sc in second from hook and next 9, chain 1 and turn, 

2. skip first sc, sc, sc, hdc, hdc, 2 dc in one, hdc, hdc, sc, slip stitch in last, chain 1 and turn 

3. sc back down original chain 10, bind off leaving tail to sew to body. 

Feet, in yellow, make 2

1. MC, sc 6

2. sc 3, (sc, dc, dc, sc in one) (slip stich into next stitch, chain 1, dc, dc, sc) (slip stitch into next, chain 1, dc, dc, sc) sc in next to to get to back of foot.

Bind off, leaving tail for sewing to body.

Note: Make all parts first! Once all parts made sew eyes and beak the the white belly, then sew the belly to the main body shell. Then sew wings to body at edges of white just below and to the sides of the eyes. For sitting Gunter, sew feet to front bottom of white body, for standing wait till after stuffing and sew them to the bottom. Stuff Gunter's body with poly fill. You can add a small sachet of bead weighting to the bottom if you want, before closing it off.

To Close Main Body

1. fpsc around on last row of single crochet. should have 42 stitches
2. (sc5, sc2tog) 6 times (36)
3. (sc4, sc2tog) 6 times (30)
4. (sc3, sc2tog) 6 times (24), be sure to add more stuffing at this point to make sure its nice and full.

5. (sc2tog) 6 times (12)
6. (sc2tog) 6 times (6)

Bind off

Sew feet on bottom with toes sticking out if wanted Gunter standing.

Wenk.

Done. 

I kind of feel like he should have been taller but I was working inside the parameters of wanting to do this project with leftover yarn scraps of these colors. And I had just enough black to get it this size. He is about 7 inches tall. Took about 10 hours.