The Ferret Hammock

Project II.ii - Il Polpo Giardino

2006-10-25T21:39:46Z

(not to be confused with il Giardino del Polpo!)
Project II: Giardino Inception/(quasi-)Completion: Monday, 16 - Saturday, 22 October 2006

La Faccia

I nearly finished Giardino this past weekend, and I feel a little silly. I modeled his face after a face I saw on Flickr of a stuffed animal made by whineyvan. It turns out, however, that it looks a lot like the octopus Ana Paula made! I just found her patterns today... and I think I may end up alleviating my guilt by buying her Koala pattern. (I'm not terribly familiar with the crafting community; would this be considered "craftlifting?" - I ask as I am familiar with "scraplifting." It always seems more in poor taste than anything.)

In the end, I decided that long, curly legs were appropriate; the seemed very reminiscent of an octopus while maintaining a semblance of cuteness. The only reason he's incomplete is that I haven't been able to find any plastic safety eyes that I like; they had some at Michaels and some at Joann, but those were brown (I'd much prefer black) and far too big to use for amigurumi. I was hoping to find some place online; anyone have any suggestions?

Tutto il Corpo

Dē Factūrā:

Body, legs: Lion Brand Homespun in Baroque (790-322); H hook
Mouth: black embroidery thread
Cheeks: hot pink felt, pink embroidery thread
Stuffing: Poly-fil & Poly Pellets

La Schiena

Pattern:

Body: crocheted in 12 rounds of sc; 6 - 12 - 18 - 24 - 30 - 36 - 36 - 30 - 24 - 18 - 12 - 6
Legs: chain 16, 3 sc in each chain

It's come time for me to put the crochet hooks and knitting needles away; I have a scrapbook in the works that's to be given as a gift. The receiver's birthday is on the 30th, and I've yet to get the photos printed out. I can imagine that it will be the only crafting I do for the next week!

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Nostalgie al Gusto di Curaçao

2006-10-20T04:32:50Z

Vox Hunt: This Is DIY

Show us something that's DIY.
Submitted by Jenstar.

The title of the post is lifted from the Paolo Conte song "Hemingway," and means "nostalgia to the flavor of Curaçao." More official lyrics report his saying nostalgia, the Italian word, as opposed to the French nostalgie. Having listened to the song about eight million times, I'm inclined to disagree. In many of his songs, Conte says nostalgie, which I love. It just seems more... nostalgic. I like to think of myself as having craftstalgie.

Rain came to Berkeley this week (Granted, it wasn't the first rain of the semester. It was, however, rather unexpected.) and so I decided the time had come to open my winter clothing box. Packed on top were three scarves that I'd made, two during my senior year of high school and the other on and off for six months of spring semester. (I would literally crochet two rows and then not work on it for a week.) My recollection of the exact details of the scarves is a bit hazy, but photographs, I hope, will fill in some of the gaps.

Swizzle Scarf

Twist and Shout

This was the first thing I ever crocheted; it's made from Patons Divine Icicle White 06006. I decided I wanted something other than a standard straight scarf, so instead of crocheting horizontally, I went vertically. Each subsequent row was a little looser than the last, so it swizzles. There are 6 rows in the following pattern: (sc - htr - tr - tr - htr - sc); when I first began to crochet, half-treble was my favorite stitch. It is close to eight feet in length; I believe I used a skein and a half, but cannot recall. Nor can I remember the hook size, but it was probably around P.

"When the Circus Comes to Town" Scarf

Send in the Clowns

I realize that I have an unnatural proclivity for naming things which ought not be named; nonetheless, this scarf is named for a Los Lobos song. I used scraps of the Icicle Divine in conjunction with some super soft Patons Carmen in Magenta, which has since been discontinued. I really wanted a bright, warm scarf. It's a little too bright, however (that magenta is overpowering), hence the name! It is crocheted in eight vertical rows; the scarf pattern is in essence (sc - htr - sc - htr - htr - sc - htr - sc), and the result is nearly six feet long. I do wear it often because of its warmth!

Raspberry Broomstick Scarf

Broomstick Lace

Of all of my scarves (I have several others in addition to the ones in this post; one or two are knitted, I believe.) that I've made, this one is by far my favorite. I learned to make Broomstick Lace about two months after I learned to crochet; I picked the absolute worst yarn and proceeded to make a scarf that was eight broomsticks (chain of 40) across. It was heavy, itchy, and basically unwearable. When I purchased the Moda Dea Dream yarn in Raspberry, I knew it would be the perfect yarn for a long, skinny broomstick scarf. This scarf is composed of 50 rows of broomstick alternating with 49 rows of single crochet; each row is composed of five broomsticks (chain of 25). I love it and wear it whenever possible.

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Project II.i - Giardino

2006-10-19T06:58:31Z

Project II: Giardino Inception: Monday, 16 October 2006
My cousin just had an adorable baby girl (who happens to be the first great-great-grandchild of my immigrant ancestors - if that makes sense. At any rate, she is the first American great-great-great-grandchild of my furthest-back-root on my family tree, my bisbisnonno Luigi.) to whom I would like to give a homemade Christmas present.

The plan is to make an amigurumi octopus out of Baroque Homespun, which I purchased on sale at Michaels. (Yes, despite countless visits to and oglings at Article Pract, I am still too cheap to buy nice yarn.) I like the overall look and feel of Homespun well enough, but it can be a pain to crochet; the stitches often look split in two.

As I've mentioned, I'm not nearly proficient at crocheting in rounds, so I've been practicing whenever possible. I started crocheting this on the way to class Monday and am proud to announce that I am capable of running down Telegraph while crocheting.

Il Tradimento

I started out on Monday with 8 sc, increasing by 8 each time until I reached 40 stitches and it became apparent that 40 stitches were at least ten too many. I had at this point been able to form a nice blob that looked like either a pot made on the first day of high school ceramics or a gumdrop. Ripping it out was thus far the highlight of my week. The carnage, however, was extensive, as splayed out atop my backpack.

Il Corpo

Once I stopped playing around, I actually got something accomplished today: the body, crocheted in single crochet rounds of multiples of six stitches (6 - 12 - 18 - 24 - 30 - 36 - 36 - 30 - 24 - 18 - 12). Furthermore, he was named Giardino, in honor of The Beatles. I have now to decide how to proceed with the legs, buy some stuffing, and determine the appearance of his face.

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Project I - Nivôse

2006-10-17T07:21:34Z

Project I: Nivôse Inception/Completion: Saturday, 14 October 2006

In anticipation of the amigurumi critters that I'd like to make, I decided to practice crocheting in rounds (It's been maybe a year since I've last done that and never on this small a scale. There are certainly adjustments to be made!) by creating a little snowman. His name is Nivôse (he is French after all!), and I hope to give him - along with some other "buddies," like a cranberry/popcorn pair - to my grandmother as a Christmas present. She always uses a miniature plastic tree on which he would make a great ornament.

Le Corps

Dē Factūrā:

Head, body: cream, worsted synthetic yarn; G hook
Scarf: Moda Dea Dream yarn in Raspberry (3773); E hook
Mouth: black embroidery thread
Cheeks: light pink embroidery thread
Nose: Tangerine felt, orange embroidery thread
Eyes: black felt
Stuffing: yarn scraps

Pattern: adapted from Crochet Me's Amigurumi Dude pattern

Body: crocheted in 10 rounds; 6 - 12 - 18 - 24 - 30 - 30 - 30 - 24 - 18 - 12
Head: crocheted in 7 rounds; 6 - 12 - 18 - 21 - 21 - 18 - 12

Le Visage

I had the body fully assembled when I realized that I'd forgotten to make a face; embroidering was made difficult by the fact that any knots tied to secure the thread had to be small enough so as not to be seen, but big enough to stay put. Furthermore, I don't have any good beads around to be used for eyes, so I improvised with black felt. All in all, crocheting his little scarf may have been the most difficult part of the whole ornmanet! While I really like the Dream yarn, it can be difficult to see where stitches end and begin.

La Tête

Critique:
The head in a real amigurumi should be bigger than the body; Nivôse needs arms (perhaps I'll collect some twigs?); his eyes are a little bit creepy and their placement is awkward; something is missing on his head, maybe a top hat, maybe a crocheted conical hat, maybe just the ornament hook.

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