How to: crochet amigurumi

Hey everybody, this is just a quick one today. I wanted to share a document with you all of some hints and tips that are necessary for creating amigurumi. I've attached a link for a google drive document (it's a pdf) with pictures, information, and some links that may be useful. It also has some directions on how to use ravelry and searching for patterns and saving them for later.

Here's the link:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-MLDmz4KulwMGRicXdWRzk3MHc/edit

If anyone has any questions or problems, just leave a comment below.

Habit of the Week: the Pomodoro technique

Pomawhat? 

Pomodoro! I'd like to share one of my favourite tips with you all, that resonates with the "Little and Often" post from last week. This method is by far the best and easiest way to get your butt in gear and get your important tasks done, without feeling stressed, overwhelmed or exhausted.

Source: zirtual.com

The Method
It's such an easy method that I can guarantee you won't forget it:

Set a timer for 25 minutes. Work on your task for the whole 25 minutes with no distractions. Once the timer goes off, reward yourself with a 5 minute break. This is a 'pomodoro'. Repeat this cycle of 25/5 three or four times then have a longer break of 20 minutes before returning to the 25/5 cycle.

The beauty of this is that you can alter the increments to suit your needs, such as ADHD, depression, physical impairments, and so on. I've used a couple of variations over time: 20/10, 15/15, 30/30, 45/15. It's up to you to pick what timings will suit your needs. 

But don't slack off! Don't be silly and do 5 minutes of work with 55 minutes of rest. That's just cheating the system and to be honest won't really show you any progress. Try and aim for as much work as possible without overtiring yourself. 

And remember, no distractions! Put your phone away, turn off the TV, get off YouTube and Facebook, and just focus on your task. It's okay to leave your emails unattended for 25 minutes, you can check them in your break!

How it works

All it does is force you to break up your task into smaller pieces that are more manageable. It forces you to question the task and ask yourself "right, what bit can I get done in the next 25 minutes?". It aims at making you focus and get large tasks done bit by bit. 

Take, for example, a 2,000 word essay, a 10 page report, or a household to clean. In one pomodoro you could, read a chapter relevant to your subject; focus on getting 500 words of your report done; tackle the dishes and put them away. Don't think about everything else that needs doing once you're done, just focus on getting this one section of 25 minutes completed. Take your break, and then consider what your next move is.

Over time, you will learn from experience for how long it takes you to get certain tasks done. It may take you 5 pomodoros to get the house clean. With this knowledge, you can plan your days better, knowing when you have enough time to get everything done, and how much work you can realistically get done in a day. You will develop self-discipline along the way and eventually find that tasks are easier and more manageable to complete.

Source: preparedpantry.com

Go try it out!

Here's an android app that's free to use, called Pomodroido.
A free app for the iPhone, the Simple Pomodoro Timer
And a free web app / desktop application: http://www.focusboosterapp.com/

Let me know in the comments if you have found any handy tools that you use in conjunction with the pomodoro technique.

~ It's never too late in the day to start your day over ~

Crochet Chirpy Bird Tutorial

Look at this adorable little fella! Isn't he just so cute? I named him Chirpy Bird because he's so pudgy and cute, and looking at him makes me feel happy due to his lovely, bright colours.

Chirpy Bird!

Make your own little amigurumi cute bird with this free pattern below. The pattern makes up a bird about 4" tall and 5" wide. Post your bird in the comments!

(Update: I've just amended the typo error for the legs in the pattern.) 

Check out this Ravelry link to find a pdf of this pattern.

Details

·         3.5mm hook

·         Small amounts of Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo

o   4 colours for body

o   Orange for feet

o   Yellow for beak

·         9mm safety eyes

·         Toy stuffing

·         Tapestry needle

# ‘inc’ = 2 sc in one stitch

# ‘dec’ – decrease across next two stitches

Tips
For the joining of colours, you may want to check out this video by June Gilbank of Perfect Stripes for Amigurumi (YouTube). It creates a nice and easy seamless join.
For the decreases I like to use the method displayed by Nerdigurumi that creates an Invisible Decrease (YouTube). It really does create an invisible decrease that is hard to spot.

Body

Each row is an increase of 6. For each line, 1 sc is added between the inc’s in order to add 6 per round. Usually a pattern would read *1 sc, inc*; *2 sc, inc*; *3 sc, inc*; and so on, but I have split up the even rounds to avoid that hexagonal shape that forms when the inc’s are stacked round by round.

Overview: Increase by 6 stitches for the first 12 rounds. Sc around for the next 12 rounds. Decrease by 6 stitches for the last 12 rounds.

Note: when changing colours, make sure to tie the loose ends as you go. I simply double knotted my loose ends together across the back.

In Pink:

1. 6 sc in a magic ring [6]

2. Inc around [12]

3. *1 sc, inc* around[18]

Change to Blue:

4. 1 sc, *inc, 2 sc* around, 1 sc [24]

5. *3 sc, inc* around [30]

6. 2 sc, *inc, 4 sc* around, 2 sc [36]

Change to White:

7. *5 sc, inc* around [42]

8. 3 sc, *inc, 6 sc* around, 3 sc [48]

9. *7 sc, inc* around [54]

Change to Green:

10. 4 sc, *inc, 8 sc* around, 4 sc [60]

11. *9 sc, inc* around [66]

12. 5 sc, *inc, 10 sc* around, 5 sc[72]

Change to Pink:

13 – 15. Sc

Change to Blue:

16 – 18. Sc

Pause here to insert the safety eyes on the row between the Pink and the Blue.

Change to White:

19 – 21. Sc

Change to Green:

22 – 24. Sc

Change to Pink:

25. 5 sc, *dec, 10 sc* around, 5 sc [66]

26. *9 sc, dec* around [60]

27. 4 sc, *dec, 8 sc* around, 4 sc [54]

Change to Blue:

28. *7 sc, dec* around [48]

29. 3 sc, *dec, 6 sc* around, 3 sc [42]

30. *5 sc, dec* around [36]

Change to White:

31. 2 sc, *dec, 4 sc* around, 2 sc [30]

32. *3 sc, dec* around [24]

Pause here to stuff the body with toy stuffing.

33. 1 sc, *dec, 2 sc* around, 1 sc [18]

Change to Green:

34. *1 sc, dec* around [12]

35. dec around [6]

36. Cut yarn, thread needle, and sew up end. Tie up.

Beak

Here we create a circle that we will fold into a semi-circle and use, when stuffed, as the beak.

In Yellow:

1. 6 sc in a magic ring [6]

2. Inc around [12]

3. *1 sc, inc* around[18]

4. 1 sc, *inc, 2 sc* around, 1 sc [24]

5. *3 sc, inc* around [30]

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail. Fold the circle in half and begin to sew the two edges together. This should start to create a semi-circle. Stuff the beak lightly when ¾ of the seam has been sewn. Once complete, use the long tail to sew the beak to the body. Sew the flat side of the semi-circle to the row between the Blue and White colour-change on the body. This is the halfway point of the body.

Wings

Note: when changing colours, make sure to tie the loose ends as you go. I simply double knotted my loose ends together across the back.

In Pink:

1. 6 sc in a magic ring [6]

2. Inc around [12]

3. *1 sc, inc* around[18]

Change to Blue:

4. 1 sc, *inc, 2 sc* around, 1 sc [24]

5. *3 sc, inc* around [30]

6. 2 sc, *inc, 4 sc* around, 2 sc [36]

Change to White:

7 – 9. Sc around

Change to Green:

10 – 12. Sc around

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail. Flatten the piece, do not stuff. Sew the wings onto each side of the body on the same row that the eyes are attached. When sewing across, make sure to include both sides of the green wing to avoid any holes.

Legs

In the body, we staggered the inc’s and dec’s in order to avoid the stacking that creates the hexagon shape. For the feet, we want that hexagonal shape so we will purposefully stack the inc’s and dec’s.

In Orange:

1. 6 sc in a magic ring [6]

2. Inc around [12]

3. *1 sc, inc* around[18]

4. *2 sc, inc* around [24]

5. *2 sc, dec* around [24]

6. *1 sc, dec* around [12]

7. dec around [6]

8-11. sc around

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail. To shape the feet, push the base of the foot towards the leg – this should create a flat, hexagonal foot shape. Do not stuff. Attach the legs to the row between the pink and blue stripes. Line up the legs so that they are the midpoint between the eyes and wings on each side. 

And there you go! You've made your very own Chirpy Bird!

Enjoy!

Habit of the Week: Nice Shiny Patches; Little and Often

Think about all the things that you need to get done right now. Think of all of it. Your work, your school, your housework, your projects, your bills. Scary, right?

Is this what's in your head right now?
Source: pocketchanged.com

Now, stop thinking about it all. Sounds like a stupid thing to say, when I've just told you to think about it, but first things first: Make lists. Go away, write down all those scary things onto lists (multiple lists separated by type would be a plus!), then come back with a clear mind. Done it? No? You should! I did. 

Lists are one of the greatest tools you can use when feeling overwhelmed by having lots to do. They allow you to put things down, pen on paper, fingers on keys, and not worry about forgetting anything important as it's all written down. You can allow those nagging thoughts to leave your mind, and come back to them when you're ready. Back to my point.

Don't do all of it: just get started

This applies to any large and taunting task, really. The perfectionist inside you is probably making the task out to be a Big Scary Thing because you worry you won't do it perfectly. And everybody knows, if you don't do any of it, you can't fail being perfect as you never tried! Hurray...?

Ignore that voice, and just do a little bit. I'll give you some examples.

I was in the bathroom the other day, brushing my teeth. I was idly looking around, as I do when I'm standing there with a mouth full of toothpaste, and noticed that the sink was a bit grubby. I don't know about you, but in my home this soapy watery gloop puddles up on the sink near the soap dispenser. Yuck. Most days I put my blinkers on and don't notice it. Not that day. As soon as I was finished brushing my teeth, I decided I'd wipe it. Just that little bit. I wanted to get rid of the gloopy stuff, and nothing else. So I did. I wiped it all up (with toilet paper or something, I forget) and felt better that I'd made a tiny patch better. Nice Shiny Patch. I then grabbed the bristly brush from under the sink and decides to scrub the rest of the sink area, just because I wanted the Nice Shiny Patch to be a bit bigger, and encompass the whole sink. A few minutes later, the whole sink was a Nice Shiny Patch, and I felt accomplished.

...I then made the fatal mistake of looking around at the rest of the bathroom, and noticing more mess. I felt disheartened that my Nice Shiny Patch was so tiny and insignificant compared to the rest of the bathroom. The thought of doing the same to the whole bathroom was pretty daunting. So that's when I learnt my next point:

Do a Little at a time...

When feeling in a good mood, I like to spontaneously buy cleaning supplies. I don't necessarily know how to use them, or where to use them, but I feel that if I own cleaning supplies, I can feel better about my messy home. On a recent trip, one of those cleaning supplies happened to be a grout cleaning brush. It cost £1 from a local Staples store. It has a long handle about 8" long, and hard bristled on the end. But the bristles on this brush are in a thin, long line. A bit different to regular scrubbing brushes you find. That was why this one is designed to clean grout.

A grout brush, quite similar to the one I own
Source: nationwidejanitorialsupply.com

Cleaning grouting between tiles was something I never really considered doing. As a young person who recently left the family home, this is all new to me. But I put my new brush in the bathroom, hoping it would do the cleaning itself. It didn't.

Once again, I found myself brushing my teeth, looking around. This time I spotted the tiles. I had the sudden urge to clean the tiles. Not all of them, but one particular patch under the shower unit that was getting a bit grimy from the moisture. So I attacked it and cleaned around about 9 tiles. I made a Nice Shiny Patch!

This time, while admiring my Nice Shiny Patch, I ignored the fact that my whole bathroom is tiled floor to ceiling. I didn't care, I had made a good start. I vowed to myself I would do a Little At A Time.

Left: after; Right: before.

I thought I'd add a picture to show what I'm on about. It's sort of hard to tell in these pictures, but there's definitely a orangey tinge to the grout in the right picture, that I eliminated in the left. These pictures don't do it justice just how gross it originally was. But I made a Nice Shiny Patch!

...but do it Often.

Of course, it's all well and good making a Nice Shiny Patch, but it's not very handy when it gets all dirty again, or when the patch stays little. The aim is to make your Nice Shiny Patch bigger by cleaning around it, and then joining up Shiny Patches together to make a Nice Shiny Room!

So now, every time I brush my teeth, I wipe the sink, and make the Shiny Patch a bit bigger. Every time I have a shower, I take a minute to make a Shiny Patch on the tiles with my new grout brush. Soon the whole shower area will be a Nice Shiny Shower! I've even got a grout brush to use in the kitchen on the tiled counter-tops to clean the grout there, as I want a Nice Shiny Counter-top too!

I just love to walk into a room and see my little bits of effort, and my little bits of progress against daunting tasks. The key to Little and Often is that it consists of two parts: do a Little at a time, but make sure that you do it Often enough that it counts. By incorporating this habit into your life, you can make it a little bit easier for yourself to tackle daunting tasks and make a manageable household.

To Summarise

Little and Often, and focus on making Nice Shiny Patches. Have your supplies ready to tackle the little spots regularly. There's no shame in only doing a little bit. You're aiming to improve your home and if the best method is to do it bit by bit, and not all in one go, then by all means, go forth with your Nice Shiny Patches and make them gradually multiply so you have Nice Shiny Rooms and Nice Shiny Homes!

I'm back!

Hello my lovelies! I've been gone for an absolute age, but have returned to blogging land to continue my blog. I've been away at uni and have been working my socks off. I finished a few weeks ago and am now currently unemployed and looking for work. When I'm not looking for work, I'm busy crafting, so I thought I should share it with the blogging world once more!

I've got a couple of tutorials lined up of crochet patterns that I've made, and I need to photograph and document those, so expect those within the next few months. I'll also be posting general posts about the things that I've recently made, or any hints and tips for general things around the home.

So this is just a quick post to say that I'm going to be back regularly, and that I've got a few things up my sleeves:

• I need to sort out my camera and my photo editing and uploading system so I can add all my lovely photos of things around my home
• I need to update my ravelry with these pictures of all the things I've made over the past year
• I need to work on my pattern tutorials and put these out onto the blog over the next few months

...and one last thing: I'm going to be taking part in the Thirty Days Project. This will consist of 30 days of creating and crafting. You stick to one thing for 30 days, e.g. origami, painting, and post your results through the month. It begins on June 1st, and I encourage all to take part. I'm going to be focusing on drawing, as it is a hobby that I used to love but dropped out of doing. As drawing is not the main focus of this blog, I'll be grouping together my daily entries into weekly or biweekly posts, so you still get to see them but aren't bombarded by drawings every day!

So that's it for now, but keep your eyes peeled as I will be posting again very soon with my crochet tutorials and my 30 days of drawing!

Crochet drawstring pouch pattern

So sorry about the delay in posting - I have nothing to offer except excuses about uni work and travelling home. As an apology, here is a pattern that I have adapted from a previous pattern, found here:

http://ahappyone.wordpress.com/2010/08/27/crochet-drawstring-bag-pattern/ - the user 'ahappyone' created this, and put it on her blog. I have simply changed it to crochet a much smaller bag on smaller needles. I needed a much smaller one for my game tokens for one of my board games, hence why I adapted it. All credit goes to 'ahappyone' for this pattern, I have simply adjusted it to create a smaller bag.

Drawstring pouch

I used a 4mm hook, and some scrap yarn that I had with no label (so, it was probably a 50g ball of merino, which I used a lot less than half of). It is a very simple pattern, and should be a nice, easy starter pattern for someone starting out with crochet, like myself.

Like the original poster said with her pattern, use a stitch marker. It's so much easier than trying to keep track of the stitches. Also, I use UK terms.

Abbreviations: 

sc - single crochet

mc - magic circle

sc inc - single crochet increase

dbl - double crochet

sc dec - single crochet decrease

tbl - treble crochet

hdc - half double crochet

sl st - slip stitch

Pattern

The beginning of the bottom of the bag

Bag:

rnd 1: sc6 in a mc

rnd 2: sc inc around

rnd 3: *sc, sc inc* around

rnd 4: *2sc, sc inc* around

rnd 5: *3sc, sc inc* around

rnd 6: *4sc, sc inc* around

rnd 7: *5sc, sc inc* around

rnds 8-12: dbl around

rnd 13: *5sc, sc dec* around

rnd 14: dbl around

rnd 15: tbl around

rnd 16: 1dbl, 1hdc, 1sc, 1sl st. FO.

Perfect size for my LOTR card game tokens.

String:
Make a foundation chain around 18" long. FO, trim ends, and weave through the tbl row.

Foundation chain

Finished pouch (when flattened)

So there you have it. A little drawstring pouch. I'm making more for my other board games that have loose pieces.

Mild Chicken Curry recipe

Today I'm going to be posting about a really cheap, quick, easy, and yummy recipe for a mildly spicy chicken curry:

This was really cheap, served two very hungry people, and took about an hour and a half to cook. I got this recipe from my Mum, who made it for me last week for the first time. I loved it so much, I had to make my own!

I got all of my ingredients cheaply from Asda. Here's what you'll need:

• A 2litre pyrex container with a lid (or any container, with a lid, that you can use in the oven)
• Mild curry sauce (I used Asda smart price sauce)
• Sliced chicken (I used Asda-brand frozen chicken slices)
• Frozen peas
• An onion
• Basmati rice (I used a microwave packet which was enough for two)
• Naan bread (again, I used Asda's own)
• and, dough balls with garlic and herb spread

All of this cost around £6.65. Usually, buying better quality food is worth it, but this was really nice with all these cheap things. The sauce itself was only 39p!

To make:

Defrost the chicken slices for an hour or two. They don't have to be completely defrosted, but it just makes it easier if they are.

Preheat the oven to around 200°C (or 180°C if you have a fan oven).

Throw in the chicken, half a bag of peas, and half a finely chopped onion.

Now, add the sauce to the dish. Depending on the sauce you buy, might mean you have to do something different - for example, with the brand I used, it says to pour in the sauce, then half-fill the jar with water, and pour that in too. Some brands may be different.

Mix it all up, making sure all the chicken, peas and onion are covered, add the lid, and put it in the oven.

This curry should be left in the oven for over an hour. Stir every 20-30mins. Make sure the chicken is hot, and the onion is soft.

Just before getting ready to serve, the naan bread should be heated in the oven for ten minutes - don't forget to sprinkle both sides of each piece of bread before you put them in. Also, cook the dough balls (or garlic bread) for however long the packet says.

The rice that I used took two minutes in the microwave. I put that on as soon as I took everything out the oven, ready to dish up.

And there you have it! If you're cooking for more than two, simply use more rice, naan bread and dough balls.

It was such a yummy dinner. Upon finishing, my partner said it was the best curry he'd ever had, even compared to restaurants. I think someone is maybe exaggerating here, but I'll take it as a compliment. Also, thanks to my Mum for this lovely easy recipe. ♥

Until next time!