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!

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.

Eat That Frog! How to get organised

Hey guys, I'm posting about being organised today - another big part of my life! Recently I bought a book called 'Eat That Frog', and the idea behind the title is this: all your tasks that you have to do are 'frogs', and a phrase that's mentioned in this book is: "if you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first". Basically, this means, if you have more than one important task that you must get done, do the hardest, most difficult one first. Then, when it comes to the next task, the worst is over and you can feel good about your accomplishment. Great, right?

I won't give too much away about this book, because I'm sure I'll get into trouble about giving away ideas from a book you have to pay for. What I will say, is that certain things inspired me to create a way of getting organised: making specific lists!

I printed out some of these free printables from Organised Home and used them to make my lists. What I have done is make four lists: my Master list, my Monthly list, my Weekly list, and my Daily list. I used the lined blank pages for these lists. You can just use scrap paper if you like, but I already had these printed out, so I thought I'd use them.

I start off by writing everything done on the Master and Monthly lists. This is things like "sort out what career I want to do after uni", "sort out my dissertation topic" (I'm a uni student). On my Monthly list I have things like my exam dates, and the essay deadlines, as well as any things that I can think of that need to be done in that month. (I don't include things such as bills to pay, as that is ongoing and repeated every month, so I have a separate calendar printable for that). I then turn to the Weekly list, and add some things from the Master and Monthly - so, you get a bit of an overlap on the lists of certain tasks - which are tasks such as any appointments I have that week, or that I need to pick up my new glasses. Finally I created a Daily list, the day before it is needed by - so, on Tuesday I write my list for Wednesday, and so on. The Daily list has all the trivial things on it, such as "do the laundry", "post X's birthday card" and so on. 

Here's a photo of my papers. I purposefully took the photo from far away so you can't be nosey and read what I've written on my lists!

These lists really help, and as you can see, my daily one is pretty crossed-out! One other thing: don't ever feel bad if there are things on your list at the end of the day. You can always write it on your next Daily list. And don't forget, you can always add things on during the day, you don't have to panic and think that you have to remember everything you need to do tomorrow when writing your Daily list.

So now, if you incorporate these lists with what I learnt from one of the chapters in the book - eat that frog! Look at your Daily list, and see which task is the biggest, meanest, most horrible task, and do it! Obviously, if you have time contraints, like you have to call your bank before it shuts, do so, but in general, do the hardest task first. For me, that's usually my uni work. I will take doing housework over uni reading any day! So, applying this rule, I sat down and wrote an essay plan and got it finished. I felt really good about it, and then carried on my evening by doing all my other tasks. Usually, I do every other task possible before I get to my least favourite, with the thought that "but I've been doing a lot of things today, I can do that one later" - but then later gets too late, and I have to transfer that task over to the next day, where the same thing repeats. That way, I end up leaving an important task until really late, and then rushing it, stressing, and not have it done properly. If I do things this way, my essays will be done on time relatively stress-free.

This method can be applied to any person: whether you're a businessperson and you have a lot of important paperwork and deadlines, whether you're a housewife and have lots of housework, appointments, and children to deal with, or whether you're a student like me, and you have essays and reading to do. This method works really well for me, and I hope it works well for others. I have my papers sat on my desk (purposefully in the way) so I remember to consult them throughout the day to remind myself of what tasks I have to do.

Also, two other pointers:

I use this application called Stay Focused. It's an add-on for Google Chrome, and you can change all the settings so that it blocks you from certain websites for certain times. You can set it so that you can't go on Blogger or Facebook during work hours, or set it so that you can only go on it for 20minutes a day. It's up to you. It works great - during the day, when I'm supposed to be 'eating my frog', I tend to procrastinate and go on Facebook, or check my email about a dozen times. With this, I can stop myself from doing that all day, so I have more of a chance of staying focused.

And finally, my last tip. When I have to settle down and do my work, I find other things to do such as tidy my room until it is immaculate, or find something, such as my magazines, that need to be alphabetised right then, and the task seems so important I forget about my essays. What I've started to do, is to open up YouTube, and pick a song that I really like at the minute, and tell myself that I only have that much time to tidy up. That way I run around my room for around 4mins30, tidying up only the most important things, so that a) I have the 'tidying up' urge out of my system, b) my room is relatively tidy so I have space at my desk to sit down and do my work, and c) I don't spend an hour looking through my CDs.

This way, I manage to keep my procrastination down to a minimum (because I usually put the 'pro' into 'procrastination'), and manage to get around to doing most of my work without feeling stressed!

So there you have it. My organising tips. Quite a lot in one post. I felt that this was more of a pressing post than my knitting, because the only knitting that I have been doing recently is a scarf for Mother's Day, so it would have been a very short post, just like my scarf!

Until next time.

It's been a very long time!

I am ever so sorry, I will make more of an effort to post, seeing as I haven't posted since the 28th August! By that point I had moved back to my Mum's to get ready to move to uni, and moved into my uni house with my boyfriend and one of my best friends on the 3rd Sept (with two more friends waiting to arrive shortly). So I spent a while unpacking, but surprisingly have been doing LOADS of knitting recently! My friend has become interested in knitting and has been learning the past two weeks, so we sit knitting together in the living room every day. I've been updating my ravelry, and because of that, I have been neglecting my blog. So sorry. :(

But here's my big list of all the things I've made in the past three weeks:

This is the front and back of my catnip bunny from ravelry (seriously, I love that site so much).  It's so adorable, it's about 1x2inches big, it's so cute. ♥ The way that it's made confused and amazed me; an even number of stitches that follow the *knit 1 slip 1* pattern across, and it makes a little pouch that can be opened at the very end. I think it's adorable.

I also made a cowl, which I have yet to take a picture of, but my friend thought it'd be funny to take a pic of me struggling to get it on:

...I made the bind-off row too tightly knit, so I had to struggle with it to get it on, haha. But, it's really soft and warm, and when it does fit on properly, it feels good. I'll try to remember to take a pic of me actually wearing it. :) But, it was a nightmare to make, as for one it was on circular needles (which I find difficult to hold), and the pattern was repetitive and boring (one row of k5, p5, another row of k1,p1 etc). But, I finished it, and I'm really pleased. The original pattern said to knit it so that it was about 18inches long, but I didn't want a long one so I made a slightly-wider one, with less height and used up a ball of wool for it. Will come in very handy over the winter months.

Next up that I made (which I finished in the early hours of this morning) was this Celtic braid afghan square, which I only did two repeats of the pattern for, because I got bored and wanted to get on and do other projects. Here it is:

The first picture shows the cables better, but the second shows the actual colour of the wool. Silly 2am-lighting. I was so pleased with this, I made one small mistake in the left hand corner, but other than that I did quite well. I want to do a pattern similar to this for handwarmers/fingerless gloves, have a cable pattern running up the back of the hand. Just need to get the right sized needles then away I go. :)

And finally, the best 'til last, is 'Kevin', the Sheldon turtle pattern:

I freakin' love him. I made him for my friend that I live with, and I also have projects lined up for my boyfriend and other two friends that I'll be living with, but I did this one first as I had all the materials. It took me 6 days to fully complete him, just because I kept getting frustrated and having to put him down and start on something else. But tadaa, here he is, detachable shell and all. ♥

So now, after a mad few days finishing recent projects, I only have one project left, and that's my purple socks that I'm doing (toe-up design), but I don't have the heart to do them right now. For now, I'm gonna get ready for bed, get an early night, and get on knitting tomorrow. I'm going to try and keep up with my blog, but I just keep forgetting as I'm so involved with my ravelry account.

Adios~! ♥

At last! I have finished my socks!

Yay! I'm so happy. It took like an hour of my time today to finish what could have been finished over a week ago. These have taken me about a month and a half to make as I put them off so many times. I know that if I were to make them again, though, I'd be able to make them very quickly. Here's some pics I took:

They're soooo cool! So worth the wait.

 ..and they're so comfy! If you look at the way they've been knitted, the stripes don't match because I didn't start each ball of wool at exactly the same colour point, so it gave them this unique effect.

 See here, they're off by a fair bit, but the patterns do actually match up. I just love it. If I made another pair, I'd make sure I started at the same point, but I absolutely love these. If I knew these would have been worth it, I would've knit them a lot quicker.

So, a whole post dedicated to this pair of socks. And now my hands feel cold in comparison to my feet, so I'm finding some wrist warmers to make. Yay! ♥

Finished elefante!

Yay! I finally finished the little elephant! His ears are floppy, and his head lolls about, but nevertheless he's still very cute and my sister is going to love him:

He's so cute!  He's my proudest achievement in knitting, I'm so pleased. I feel sad giving him to my sister but I know she'll look after him. He was quite easy to make (and the pattern can be found on ravelry), and the hardest part was sewing his head onto the body - I'm terrible at sewing, and the reason why his head is floppy is because of this, but yeah, he still looks cute.

Also, I've been getting broody to knit baby clothes, but don't have enough wool or the right size needles to make cardigans, so I made a teeny tiny sock from a pattern on ravelry that I found:

 This is the ickle sock on it's own...

...and this is it next to the sock that I made for myself to wear (with my diddy size 3 feet, so even that sock isn't that big). It's so cute, and I'm in love with this wool. I'll have to remember what brand this wool is, and get some more in different colours. Speaking of my pair of socks, I've almost finished the second one of the pair - I need to knit a few more rows then begin the decrease for the toe, so soon I'll have lovely warm socks to wear.

Right now I'm not sure what my next project is going to be - I might finish off this little orange chubby chirp that I'm making, as well as finishing off my sock. I'm also trying to come up with a design for the teddies that I make - y'know, the ones that I showed in my first post:

 I want to change the pattern so that it can be knitted on dpns, and will show the purl side on the outside, rather than be made with garter stitch. All I've got to do is work out the frequency of increases and decreases, and do a test knit for the sizes of the arms, legs, etc. Should be a fun project. One day I'd like to create my own patterns, such as sock patterns, and see about selling the patterns or the actual socks. I know it'd take a while before I get to the stage where the patterns are good enough to sell (I'd have to start off with free patterns) but hey, you have to start somewhere.

Right, I'm off. It's my sister's birthday tomorrow so I've gotta sort my stuff out today to travel down tomorrow morning. Adios, knitters!

I am a bad person!

I haven't posted in goodness knows how long, shame on me! Unfortunately I've become somewhat addicted to World of Warcraft, so a lot of my spare time has gone to playing that. On the bright side, I have a new job (making milkshakes and smoothies), so I can start earning some pennies and hopefully buy some more much-needed wool, and in even better news, I've literally just finished my first sock!

It's sooo pretty, and sooo comfy! And the greatest thing is that I have size 3 feet, so it was quick to knit the sole part of the foot, haha. I'm looking forward to knitting the second one - my initial idea was to make any old pair of socks, just to say I've done it, but this one fits so snugly, I actually think I'll wear them!

Also, I've been making an elephant for my sister's birthday, which is the 24th August. I found the pattern on ravelry (called 'elephante') and so far I've done the body and the head. I'm struggling with the ears as they need to be crocheted and I haven't the foggiest how to do it, so I'm going to nick some ears from a different pattern. Here's my progress so far:

(Mm, and look at the difference in picture quality. I may start taking more pics with my actual camera rather than my blackberry). It was so fun to make, and the stripy pattern is so cute. I'm so pleased with this. These two projects, the elephant and the socks, are my more complicated but rewarding things to have made.
So I'm off now to finish watching The Back-Up Plan (which is hilarious) while the other half is doing a raid on WoW, and to continue by finding something else to start knitting. ♥

Socks!

Yes, I have finally started on my pair of socks. Yesterday, I went along to the knitting group at Nest (which is between 2pm and 6pm) and took my casted on sock, and managed to finish the ribbing and start on the main ..leg part. I made a couple of mistakes, but I'm not going back to correct it because I'll never get it done if I do. I'll just power through and hope that they're not noticeable! Here's my work so far:

(Cue bad picture quality, as always). Yep, I've done 2-3" of the first sock, and you can kinda see the lacey pattern that's forming. I love love love the colours of the wool. I am looking forward to finishing this, because I want to see what they turn out like.

Anyway, just a quick one today. I've gotta go do housework, and get ready to leave at 2pm because I have an interview at 3pm to work with a charity that supports St John's Ambulance. Very excited, and nervous. So, I've gotta go get sorted. Will keep updated about my socks.

Cabled headband

Yay! I've learnt how to do a simple cable! I picked a pattern off ravelry, which can be found here and here. And here is my headband:

The pattern asked to use 4mm needles, and create 19 cables. I, stupidly, used 3mm needles, and ended up needing to make 25 cables. Longgg. It was tedious, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. I'm keeping this one as a prototype, and will create one in a different colour that I'd actually wear - I'm thinking a reddy-purple.

Next up, is going to be a pair of socks (just need to find a nice pattern), and then some more chubby chirps out of my scrap yarns from the sock wool.

Also, yesterday, I had a go at crochet, and managed a chain stitch and a double crochet - I was trying to make a mini scarf for my boyfriend's teddy; I made a really long chain stitch, but by the time I'd finished the double crochet, it was a lot smaller as it twists etc., so I've gotta go back and make an even longer one! Ah well. It's quite cool that I can kinda crochet. I'd like to try and make something, now.

But today, I am having a duvet-day so will not be knitting very much.

Completed Chubby Chirp!

I finished my little chubby chirp! (You can find the pattern here) It didn't take long to make up, and it looks sooo cute!

How adorable is he?!

I also got some more wool today:

(The colours look better than in the pic). The reddy ones are for a pair of socks that I want to try, as I've never made socks before, and the blue is to make the little elephant I said about two days ago - only the pattern says 1 ball of 100g wool, and I bought a 50g ball and didn't notice until I got home. Damn. Oh well, I can start on the socks next.

So excited about all the knitting I'm doing at the minute. And, when I went to Nest today, I found out that there's a knitting group that meets on Mondays and Fridays 2pm-6pm and I think I'm going to go along on Monday, providing I have a project on the go.

Anyhoo, off to apply for agencies and jobs. I applied for a charity door-to-door job, and I have an interview for next Tuesday, to work in local areas in London. I'm so excited, I really, really, really hope I get it.

Chubby chirps and refuge squares!

I need to get into the habit of posting what I've made on the day that I actually made it, rather than the next day. So, yesterday, I almost finished off my Chubby Chirp (I just need stuffing, and need to put it all together). I love using dpns, and I'm so chuffed that I've managed to make it all right, without messing it up.

You can kinda see the pieces, through the awful-quality pictures from my phone.The little wings at the sides look like tiny mittens, they're so cute. So, I'm going to Nest today to get some wool to make that elephant that I mentioned yesterday, and get started on that, and fingers crossed, get some stuffing as well so I can finish off my Chubby Chirp.

Also, I made a blanket square for my Refuge blanket. I'm going to aim to get one done every few days, so I should have it done by the end of the summer, hopefully. This is the one I made:

 It needs stretching around a bit, to make it square shaped. It's knitted diagonally; instead of casting on about 48 stitches, you start with one and increase steadily then decrease. It was quite fun to make.

Here's a close-up of one of the hearts on the square. I think they're really cute. (And, the squares are actually bright red, just my phone's silly with pictures - need to get some batteries for my camera).

So that was yesterday's work, now I've gotta waste 15mins until Nest opens to go get more stuff for today. Everybody Loves Raymond it is, then.

Chubby Chirps

Yesterday I started to make a 'chubby chirp'. I've just found the link where I found the pattern from, and you can find it here. It was my first time using dpns, and I was so chuffed with what work I'd done.

I used some old wool that I had sitting around. I need to stuff it and then sew up the top, but alas, I have no stuffing! I need to go buy some. I'd go right now, but I'm house sitting waiting for a parcel, so I can't go anywhere yet.

I want to create a page of all my projects that I have to do, to see what I need to finish, etc. I have a habit of starting a project and not finishing it, because I get sidetracked by other projects - typical, I suppose.

But yeah. I'm so pleased with my work with dpns and want to make something else, now. That little thing up there that I made took me about 3-4 hrs! Very long process (and to be honest I was watching tv at the same time as knitting) but very rewarding. I look forward to finishing it. For now, I'm off to start on another square of my Refuge blanket.

Knitting supplies

I haven't posted in a few days because I've been so busy. It was my birthday on Monday, and yesterday I moved to London and went out for the whole day, so today's the first time that I've been able to sit down and blog. In the past few days, I've discovered an amazing knitting magazine called Simply Knitting - I've got two issues of it already (as I got them at the end and start of the issue's month, yay!) and there's so many things to do.

One of the things in both of the magazines was this charity called Refuge; it's a charity for women and children subjected to domestic violence. The magazine is asking for knitters to created blankets to give to the women and children; you can knit 6x6" squares, and join them together to create a 6x5 blanket - that's 30 aquares in total! I already have about four squares from when I was making little testers when beginning knitting. I've decided that I'm going to do it - you have until December to make and send in your blankets; hopefully I can get it done a lot earlier than that.

Also, with the first magazine, was this free mini knitting kit to create a corsage. I made it on Monday and think it's so cute!

Above is the pattern, and below is my corsage, on my knitting bag. So chuffed.

Apart from that, I haven't done any knitting this week. Yesterday I went shopping in Covent Garden with my boyfriend, and bought this really cute little notebook:

It's adorable. It cost £10, and I have absolutely no idea what I want to use it for - it's almost too cute to use. But I'll find some use.

Also, I found the most amazing knitting shop ever, in Crouch End in London, called Nest. It's so cute - I bough £20's worth of knitting needles, dpns, etc. but didn't buy any wool - I'm waiting until I know what I want to knit before buying any more. 

I've never used dpns before (I bought 3mm and 4mm ones) so it'll be really interesting to learn to use them. 

I've got my eye on making these things called Chubby Chirps, I found them on another blog, and I'll repost the link once I find it again.

But I've also got a list of things I want to make out of these magazines, such as crochet squares, a square for my Refuge blanket, and this little adorable elephant:

How cute is that?! I can't wait to get started, but I need some wool for it, so I think I'll be making another trip to Nest within the next two days. I think I'm going to be spending a lot of my time and money in that place.

So, for now, I think I'm going to practice with my dpns - maybe make a chubby chirp, and then get some wool to make that elephant. So excited to have loads of ideas for projects!

Knitting!

I've been knitting on and off for years, but I've decided to make a blog, in the hope that it'll inspire me to knit more, and share my creations. At the minute, I've been making these teddies of my own design:

This is my first one that I made; I've made several since this. I make these by making two identical sides of the teddy, by doing a simple garter stitch pattern, and casting on and binding off stitches to make the arms.

This is one I created for my Mum for Mother's Day one year:

I made the back half of the body with longer arms and legs, so that when I sewed it all together, the arms and legs bent around, so it would look like it was sitting. It kinda worked; it usually just flops over - something I need to work on.

I went on a photo-taking spree, and took pictures of all my knitting stuff, to show the start of my collection, which I'll hopefully build up as I carry on knitting. These are my boxes of knitting stuff:

The one on the left is FULL of wool, and the one on the right is all my knitting/cross-stitch books (I lovee cross-stitch, just have hardly any materials for it) and also all my mini things that I've made; I've made little swatches of patterns, and kept them all - really they were just testers to practice my knitting, a few years ago. But anyway. My favourite thing that I've made is the little grey cardigan that you can see in the bottom of the box. It's a properly proportioned cardigan, and it's uber cute. Only problem is, it doesn't fit any of my teddies:

^ Here you can see Eddy (the teddy) sporting the cardigan with the too-long sleeves. It'd be perfect for a little doll, or perfect proportions to template making a larger cardigan for actual people, but alas, it is useless for my teddies. Oh well, it's cute.

For the past few days, I've been knitting a teddy for my boyfriend, as he's seen my pink one and wanted one himself. I used the same pattern that I used for my one, only this time I used a stockinette stitch, and it looks a lot better when it's stitched and stuffed. I uh, got impatient when wanting to finish this - I didn't have any stuffing, so I ripped open an old cushion out of my room (nobody was using it, anyway - put it to better use!) to be able to stuff this little thing. It took me two days to finish, as I was babysitting in between making it, and this is the final product:

He looks all funny. I love his cute lil' face. I think his body is a bit too long (looked fine when I used the same pattern before, with my pink teddy, so it must be the gauge) but my boyfriend says it looks fine, and he loves it. He's named it KaL. I'm gonna make it a little jumper like my one, too.

So yeah. I've got a few ideas of things I want to make, and I want to find sources of inspiration in new projects. It's my birthday on Monday, and on Tuesday my boyfriend's taking me to London (so I can go to build-a-bear!) and I'm gonna get some more knitting stuff; needles, buttons, etc. I need ideas of things to make, so I can keep busy through the summer. I'm also quite interested in learning how to crochet, and how to do quilting as I'd love to make a big blanket.

But that's enough for now - and this post has taken FOREVER to write as the pictures have taken aaages to load as I'm using a dongle - and I'm off to find ideas of things to make next.