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Please excuse my long absenses. I've taken on a full time job, long-term subbing and it is literally taking all my energy and brain power to survive at this point. Please pray that I can make an impact on these kids' lives!!

Amigurumi Friday!- designing your own amigurumi

Disclaimer: I am absolutely not an expert at designing my own amigurumi. I speak out only out of a couple weeks of experience. I have however, been making amigurumi for a couple years, and have been crocheting for at least 6 years. So I do (kind of) know what I'm talking about.

1. Familiarize:
First things first: Get to know the shapes and techniques of increasing, decreasing and magic circle before you ever try to make your own amigurumi. Try some free patterns first- there's tons on LionBrand, FreeCrochetPatternCentral, and Ravelry. Check it out!

2. Visualize/conceptualize:
Once you feel you have a hand on some familiar construction techniques, shaping and such, decide what it is you want to make. I suggest drawing it out. That will give you a more solid idea of the sort of shapes you'll want to make, get you thinking on the construction of your ami, and get you excited to get started!

3. Go for it! 
Some people attempt things in a very loose manner, just going for it, and hoping by the time they have their ami stuffed and closed up that it resembles what was in their mind. As a Type A personality, that just does not work for me! I write out exactly what I'm doing, continually referring back to my drawing to make sure my proportions are correct. And if I ever decide to start selling patterns, I've got it all written out. I just need to edit, type, and have someone test the pattern. If I get half way through a feature or body part and realize it's all wrong, I rip it out and try something different. Frustrating? yes! But that way I know my finished product will end up being something I'm proud of. Even something I'd be willing to sell.

4: Don't be afraid to step away
So after all those really specific tips and instructions let me just say one last thing: I crochet because I love the craft, and I love the people I crochet for. 99.9% of what I make is gifted immediately following finishing it. If this whole process gets really frustrating and stressful- stop! Put it down and walk away. It's not worth losing that love of the craft over. You can try it again some other day!

Well, I hope those tips are helpful and inspire to try your hand at designing!
I'll leave you with a few images of the creatures I've designed in the last couple weeks:

Alone.

I hate being alone. I've never liked it. I grew up the 3rd child of 4, right in the middle of an older and younger sister. I've always shared a room, whether it be with my older sister, younger sister, roomates in college or now- my husband.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm an introvert for sure. It's not that I have to be around lots of action and people like an extrovert. In fact, I hate being around big groups of people. It drains all the energy out of me to have be social and friendly to strangers. But, put me in an intimate setting- coffee date with a girlfriend, dinner date with my hubby, craft time with my sister, and I could talk and be happy for hours!

That's just it. I like close relationships- I don't like small talk and introductions. I want to be intimate, and not in a romantic way (well, only with my husband). I want to feel the warmth and safety of a good friend who knows me well enough to deal with me being real. I feel I have to put up boundaries, barriers and masks of friendly faces with others- they can't handle the "real" me. I guess that's what I'm thinking.

I don't know. It's just hard for me to sit by myself, hop into bed by myself, eat dinner by myself. And tonight that's just what I'm in for. Alone. Hubby's off out of town on business and for some reason this night it is particularly hard for me to not throw a giant pity party for one.

Does any one else know this feeling? Or am I alone in that too?

Teddy bear update

I've had to take a break on my teddy bear over the last week and half because I ran out of my taupe yarn (which I suspected would happen), so I started other projects in the mean time. 

However, before I ran out, I was able to complete one bottom leg and shape his big bear hiney.

I added felt to the bottom of his foot, handstitched with embroidery floss using a blanket stitch.

I attached his leg using a safety eye as a moveable joint. It's a new technique I wanted to try out. I'm not sure if I really like how much his leg sticks out where the joint is instead of looking like it belongs to the body. We'll see. This whole project has been a great learning experience for me. 

I think the biggest lesson I've learned is not to get ahead of myself. There's been a couple times where I've jumped onto the next step, forgetting something crucial -such as, forgetting to put in the leg joint before closing the leg up, having to reopen it, add the joint, and close it back up only to discover, that completing the joint by attaching it to the body before closing the leg up made it harder to crochet. Argh! Oh well. Next time, I'll be an expert...right?? 

Sneak Peek!

I'm getting really excited for a project I've been wanting to tackle for sometime, so I thought I'd give y'all a sneak peek of a pattern I'm developing!

Any guesses?? :) Tee-hee! I'm so excited! 

My spring break crafts

Sleepy sheep # 5 finito! I added a pink felt flower with a button center. She was finished and given to a very sweet little 3 year old for her birthday! Happy Birthday Bella!

Ladybug, I was bored and improvised her. She's got felt spots, felt bottom and legs, and yarn features (eyes and smile).

I also pumped out this flower. No idea what I'll use it for yet.

 

This one was probably my most fun project. My sister and I recycled a stained sweater (her husband's) and left overs from a pillow case to make these bunnies. We found the pattern here, at Betz White's blog on how to make a cashmere bunny. We didn't have an extra cashmere sweater lying around (who does??) so Nathan's sweater worked just fine! We hand stitched the bunnies adding buttons for eyes (left over from a recycled shirt...also Nathan's....hmm), pink felt lining the ears and stitched a heart shape with a blanket stitch. I made the pom poms for the tail with extra yarn I had lying around, and wa-la! 

What I really love is Rachel and I made them and then realized that they face each other. I don't know how we did that, but they look like they're kissing, so I love it! 

So cute! and absolutely free to whip up! 

I also made another owl. I added wings this time, and now am not so sure I really like them. And his bottom also turned out a lot more rounded than I wanted him to. Now I have to prop him up because he's too round to stand on his own :(

Last but certainly not least is this adorable piggy that came from a suggestion by my sister. I was planning on making a sheep with this fuzzy pink yarn, but my sister suggested the pink fuzzy yarn would be cute for a pig. So I used a familiar body construction and made up the snout, ears, and curly piggy tail. I really like the way he turned out!

Welp, I think that's it for my Spring Break crafting. It seems having time with my family and time to rest made me a rather productive woman! 

The Easter Bunny Came!

Here are some photos from my time in my home town with my family for Easter:

Hubby and I on Easter Sunday

My adorable parents 

Game time! (sister Rach grinning) 

I won this game! (I'm the yellow) 

My mom never fails to feed us way too much good food. 

Brothers: My hubby, and Rachel's hubby Nathan :)

Molly's first Easter

I think she likes her pretty Easter dress! 

so cute! 

alright, this is the the last one. At least of my family, I'll do another post for my crafting while I was there! I just had to show you how Molly crosses her ankles like a lady, cause it's so cute!

Hope you all had a very blessed Easter celebrating that our Lord is risen, risen indeed! And that through that truth we know that by grace, through faith, in Christ, we will be risen and know eternal life too!

Thank you Jesus!