My first finished Amigurumi Mermaid

So, the Mermaid (1 of 2) I posted about before is finished! All she needs is a name and maybe some jewelry.

It was a bit of a pain to put together, and the pattern was confusing in a couple parts, but that's probably because of my lack of experience more than anything else. She looks pretty cute. I thought I might not be keeping her, so I started to make another because I wanted one of my own. That one is almost finished except for her ears and one hand. I was a little frustrated with this yarn (Caron One Pound) at first, but it's not as bad as I expected. The Vanna's choice I used for the skin tone of Mermaid #2 is infuriatingly splitty, though. She looks worse just for the splitting! More on that eventually. For now, here are the photos of my first amigurumi project!

After seaming her together and stuffing her, I had to make a yarn and straw contraption to assist in holding her head up. Lots of glue was involved.

This is the little hole where the other end of the straw goes.

Then I had to sew on her neck to cover the ugly straw. Also, the seaming wasn't done in a proper "mattress stitch" which hides the seams better. Will try that next time...

At this point I was thinking that she wasn't too pretty, and too pasty for a mermaid, but she had a nice shapely fin going on.

Attaching her hair: I added a bit more than the directions required, and I made her hair about 8 inches longer than it said (because she was bigger overall). I then unraveled each strand of the vanilla-scented yarn to make her hair look more like hair, and less like a rag doll's yarn hair. It gave a crimped look, which reminds me of the character Madison from "Splash".

She turned out pretty cute after adding her shells, hair, and face. She looks more lively now (and less pasty).

I totally didn't follow the directions for making her face. I mean, I used them as guidelines, but her eyes were tiny in the pattern. Much better now. She's got a doll face but is cool enough for grown ups to want one (me).

After unraveling about 150 strands of yarn, I had to sew on her long, beautiful, 80's style hair. How do mermaids crimp their hair? Do they use tiny clams?

I crochet chains directly into her shells to make it look like bikini ties.

So, there she sits decorating our library. I'm going to make more sea creatures eventually, like an Octopus and Nessie!

Ribbed Shrug

Whenever I see a skein of yarn, it gives me the warm fuzzies and I get excited about the potential that it has. The more I knit, the more addicting it becomes. There is something so tremendously satisfying about turning yarn into something beautiful, giving it shape and purpose, watching it transform in your hands. December 2010, I started knitting again and there was no stopping me. Without considering what my skill level was, I started saving patterns and buying yarn to plan new projects. You saw my mom's scarf, now I was going to go one step further and make something fashionable for my sister.

I was confident that I'd figure it out. I finished college. I learned how to juggle. I can drive a car. I can use a computer. Therefore, I can learn to knit harder patterns. The old adage "if there's a will, there's a way" rings so true when you see how much power there is in human will. The human brain has amazing abilities to learn new tasks, so next time you think something is too hard, trust in your brain and give it a try! We're so good at learning things, sometimes we don't give ourselves credit. I'm not giving myself credit for anything more than being a moderately intelligent human being. So, like so many other tasks, I became determined to do it and saw it through. I'm no master knitter, but this was easier than it looks to the non-knitter. There were very few steps to follow in this pattern that I found on Ravelry. This was a milestone in my knitting abilities. I bought a set of circulars just to make this! It was a success, and made me want to try more difficult projects (and believe me, I already have as you will see soon).

I started one end with the cuffs in a 1x1 rib.

The bulk of it was the 2x3 rib for the sleeves and back (one long piece). I just had to measure for length when I was getting close, that's it. The transition between the cuffs and the sleeves were the only part here that really had any increase/decrease for shape. The last step was to sew the sleeves, but leave the hole in the middle, and pick up stitches with the circulars to knit in the round. If you crochet, it's just like going around and around in spirals but with needles. Same concept, different method. I would argue that this was the hardest part. When working with circulars, always use a smaller length than the circumference (unless you're doing Magic Loop, but that's another story). You need slack or you'll stretch the end product trying to make it.

There were parts were I had to really pay attention to what I was doing (and with other projects, where I had to re-read and research to make sure I was doing it right) and it all came together just fine. I'm teaching myself the harder stuff, I don't have a more experienced knitter to defer to for advice. Soon I will post about the first finished mermaid, and the second one I'm working on... soon...

Constitution Stitch

So, I've apparently been so busy making things that I haven't kept up with the blog. Sorry. I've not only been cooking up lots of fun stuff, but have been planning craft projects, too. I'm planning out future knitting projects so I can adhere to the old addage "A stitch in time saves nine". I like to stitch while I'm doing just about anything else that occupies my ears. I could be (listening to a podcast and) keeping my hands busy while I wait for something, while I ride as a passenger in the car, or when conversing with someone. Pretty soon nine stitches in time will save 81!

I've started brainstorming for original designs for cross stitch, too. I tend to get carried away with one thing at a time to the neglect of all the other projects I have going on. I used to spend at least 20 minutes a day with my plants, but not so much. I'll update on that later. So. This was a project I undertook two years ago. I wanted to make a present for my mom's birthday, and saw a shirt I saw from Mental_Floss that I thought she would like (she's very patriotic, and I thought she'd love the cleverness). But I couldn't imagine her wearing a t-shirt like that a lot, and what if I got the wrong size?  I frayed the edges and attached some cardboard to the back to make it keep its shape.  

Yeah, so not the most impressive thing I've made (you'll see that coming up later). I just like the idea of capturing words like that in such a crafty way... it was an inexpensive handmade gift, can't beat that, right?

Mom's scarf

I've been so productive lately! Last weekend we exhausted ourselves with yard work, and it seems to go back to chaos again in no time. Those weeds... My tomatoes are not doing well. I can't give up now, though. Must try again after the rainy season is up. The hurricane decided to veer east, so that's not a problem at the moment, but who knows what storms September will bring.
I also cooked a lot this past weekend. Coming up: a breakfast, an Americanized version of a Russian dish, an Americanized version of a Thai dish, and an ad-libbed (and Americanized) version of and Indian dish. They each turned out to be a huge success, and were pretty simple when all was said and done. More on that soon!

Back to the scarf: I made this for my mom back in January. It was a late Christmas gift, but in time for her trip in February. I will pretty much have to post gift items after the recipient gets it in case they might be tipped off by the blog :/
It was the second scarf I ever made, and it was the first time I made anything lacy (using YO, K2tog to create the holes).The pattern is very easy! I would recommend it for beginners who want to show off some skill. It took me all of 5 days to finish.  I could have planned it out better, as far as the colors were concerned. The yarn was so soft and beautiful but the beginning end of the scarf was all fuzzed by the time I finished the whole thing. I used Bernat Roving yarn (an acrylic/wool blend), and 8mm (size 11) needles. The finished size was 6' x 64". It is incredibly soft and comfy!

The pictures are pretty awful and don't do the color and texture justice.

That's my mom in her native MN in February wearing the scarf. I love the pattern and would probably try it again in a thinner yarn (it's hard to say because there are so many patterns calling my name, but only so many materials available). The pattern for this (as for most of the stuff I've made so far) is from Ravelry. Check it out!

Jorge's scarf

So, we may live in Miami, but apparently there are like 14 days of the year we need warm clothing! Not now, of course. I can't imagine wearing anything resembling a scarf now. However, I'm in knitting mode and want to go back to the first recent project that brought me to be the fanatic I've become. Last December (2010) I decided to pick up knitting again. Now that you've seen the mermaid I'm working on, this won't seem so special, but this was the project that rekindled my love for knitting. It was almost 2 years since I finished this blanket, and I wanted to do something planned this time. I asked him what he liked more or less, but I knew I was pretty much going to make it like this.

His grandmother lent him a scarf she made for his grandfather, and I wanted to imitate it. Here's a picture of me freezing in the March rain in NYC wearing that scarf:

Yes, that's right. She lent him the scarf and I ended up wearing it. That's love for you!

I cast on 39 stitches and used the basic moss/seed stitch on 5.5mm (size 9) needles. Here's a close-up of the stitch:

It feels very spongy and flexible. I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease, which is an acrylic/wool blend. Yeah, I know that there are people out there who swear against using any yarn you can buy at Joann Fabrics, etc. but let me just say this: I would indeed like to have my cake and eat it too. I cannot afford to spend $100 on yarn for each project, so I will fund my hobby with what I can afford. I don't want to give it up entirely rather than compromise on acrylic blends (or acrylic yarn). I know it won't last forever, but I'm gaining valuable experience!

If I were making the dimensions to wear myself, I’d cast on only 25-30 stitches and make it longer. I definitely don't mind a long scarf! I think it's better for two reasons: One, it's less heavy for when you don't want to be completely enveloped; and two, it's easier to wrap around.

Jorge loved it, though. He was so impressed that I made it for him that now he wants me to teach him to knit. Here he is enjoying the scarf I made for him:

By the way, my darling husband has created a Ravelry gadget where you can preview all of my projects!  Look to your right. Until next time folks, keep calm and knit on.

TV Watching Blanket

I call this my "TV watching blanket" because I made the entire thing while watching TV! I tend to do a lot of crafting while I'm doing other things. It's not uncommon to see me working on a cross-stitch or knitting while sitting and visiting with friends or family. It's a different kind of hobby- the multitasking craft, rather than the beautiful and challenging craft. You don't have to devote all your attention to keeping up with challenging steps or paying close attention to where you need to go next. It's more mechanical in nature, yet still handmade! This particular multitask project wasn't just fun to make, it's also practical- it's great for cuddling under, too. It's kind of ugly, though. I bought random colors of yarn years back because I liked them, but had no idea what in the world I was going to make of them. This is a habit of mine. I justify the purchase, thinking that I'll figure it out later. Well, I made three blankets way back when - yeah, like ten years ago (which is a long time ago if you're in your mid twenties) and gave them away to my closest friends.

Let me start by saying this blanket was not really planned out too well. I started out by using up some blue, then added the pretty green I picked out (my palate is very predictable) and decided that I was going to add some more texture than a simple garter stitch, which is knitting the same stitch every single row. Instead, I alternated stockinette and garter because that was the extent of my knowledge. It is very soft. I used Caron Simply Soft acrylic yarn (it would make true knitting fanatics cringe), but it was cheap yarn and super comfy. I used size 8 US circulars to accommodate the width.

I learned how to knit when I was so young (maybe 10 years old?) that it seemed like adding any new stitch patterns to my repertoire would be an insurmountable achievement. I'm sad to say that it took me until about six months ago to have enough confidence and curiosity to challenge myself to master the art of understanding patterns. And I found that it's not so hard (but still requires your brain!). So, hooray for learning, but also hooray for mindless crafts so we can socialize or watch movies and still be crafting with our hands. Gladly, I've added more stitches to my skill set, so I now have more mindless knitting that looks nicer, too. This is the blanket I finished about 2.5 years ago:

Featuring Agatha Christie's "A Body in the Library" and my phone. In the photo below (click to enlarge) you can see more of the texture pattern I made with alternating garter and stockinette stitches.

Only better things could come after this because I mastered many more stitch patterns! I even learned to do lace and knit in the round! If you're at all interested in finding me on Ravelry, my username is Craftstina, like the blog's name. Coming soon: more detailed mindless knitting projects!