Sunshine whales :)

Today's the last day of PlanetJune's Spring crochet-along, and I've finally finished a little herd of tiny whales :) I don't know why, but the yellow whale turned out a little smaller than the other two, even though I used the same yarn & hook...

I originally planned to make seven or eight tiny whales, one in every color of the rainbow, but time escaped me, and I only had time to make these three. So instead of Rainbow whales they became Sunshine whales :D 

Maybe I'll make the last four (or three, since I only have one shade of purple) later, but for now Bollan is happy playing with three of them :)

Award!

I got my first award, from SUADDA! Thank you very much, I'm thrilled you like the stuff I do :) Check out her blog, she makes awsome amigurumi!

The award comes with a few tasks. I should link to the person who gave me the award, I have to write seven interesting things about me, and I should pick seven blogs to pass the award on to. 

Don't know about the interesting, but here are seven facts about me:

* I have a tattoo of the Egyptian god Set on my right shoulder and a small snake on my back

* I have loved dinosaurs since I was little, and I would have become a Paleontologist if I'd been brave enough to study abroad as soon as I finished High School

* I hate to take the bus alone, especially short distances

* I am absolutely addicted to chocolate

* I studied Arabic language for more than two years, spent a semester in Cairo, but I don't speak a word of Arabic (only read & write a little)

* I met my boyfriend in an Egyptology course about two weeks before the final exam. We studied together, and after spending the summer holiday in different parts of the country we moved in together. We have now been living happily together for six years
* I love all reptiles, but crocodiles are a big favorite

It's taken me a while to pass on this award, because it was a little hard to find seven things to say about myself, but it was even harder to decide which blogs would get the award. There are so many good ones! So if you don't see your name on the list, it's simply because I could only pick seven (I would love to pick all of them!)... Anyway, here's my list:

Pysselstugan

En kreativ liten blogg

Fröken Elsas virkblogg

Livet som pysselkiise

Fiffel & tråd

Ulliga gulliga saker

Pysselstund

The name of my new pattern is...

Cute Little Dudes! Meet the Forest Dwellers:

There wasn't exactly a overwhelming response to the naming contest in my previous post,  only two comments in two days.. The first suggestion kind of stuck with me, because calling them something with "dudes" had already crossed my mind a few times, but I just couldn't get it right. (Now, "Huggies" is not at all a bad suggestion, I like that name a lot, and I might make something of it some day. Something cute and cuddly.) So congratulations to jucatca for coming up with the name, a copy of the pattern will be e-mailed :D

I suppose I can't really blame people for not noticing the contest, it was badly advertized since it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, and I guess most people can't be bothered to read all the way to the end of my sometimes very long blog posts (and very long sentences!)... Next time I'll do better, I promise :)

Anyway, the pattern will be added both to my Etsy shop and Ravelry store some time tonight. Hope you like the Cute Little Dudes :)

I just remembered...

I forgot to post about my new pattern on Tuesday! The Great Big Ladybug :D

I've been busy watching the Oystercatchers and studying for my final exam, plus a few other things (like my mother is coming to visit later today, and we need really to get the house in order first!), but the pattern was listed on Etsy and Ravelry as planned. I just forgot to tell you about it :p

Like the other bugs she is made all in single crochet, except for the eyelids and thin legs, using mainly a 4.5mm crochet hook. She measures 22cm from head to tail. She is also very vain, and loves to look at herself in the mirror!

It is said that it's good luck if a ladybug sits on you, so I guess I should bring her with me to my exam tomorrow! I think I need it :/

I should also have finished the latest Dudes pattern today, but I've run out of stuffing and I haven't taken the time to go out to buy a new bag, so the pattern will have to wait a few more days. It will probably be ready on Saturday :)

I really should be studying...

But I've been so caught up in watching the Oystercatchers that progress has been slow... Here are some pictures (from Monday) of the first new-born:

Just look at those cute little feet! The mother/father is being a good parent and removing the eggshell so it won't attract predators.

The family together :)

Oops, he fell out of the nest and mother/father comes to help!

A few snapshots from yesterday. He's a little more steady on his feet, but is still bouncing around a lot :)

Mother/father brings a yummy earthworm for lunch.

Boo!

It's nice to be an Oystercatcher napping in the sun :)

I have no pictures from today, because he spends less and less time at the nest. The parents are leaving the last egg for longer and longer periods, so I guess they'll give it up soon. Which is a little sad and strange, since they usually have three chicks. Well, I should get back to studying...

Give-away & contest!

Cheryl of Bingle Bears is celebrating her one year anniversary of blogging with a give-away, and the prize is this really sweet bear:

He's so adorable, I want him! :) His name is Sammy and he's 11 inches tall and fully jointed.

Fiffel & Tråd is celebrating 1000 visitors with a contest! The first prize is this lovely pile of yarn:

Second prize is some other goodies like pompons and hearts to decorate amigurumi:

Congratulations to the both of you :D

The first chick has hatched!

The first of the Oystercatcher chicks hatched today! :D You can see a little of it of the gray fuzz-ball behind the egg shell:

Look at this adorable little creature:

The second chick will probably hatch tomorrow, since the egg was laid about a day later, so keep watching, people! :)

Yay for the mail man :)

Look what the mail man brought me yesterday!

Super-Super Cute Crochet by Brigitte Read of Roman Sock (creator of the Owlets I've made about a dozen of). The book has 35 patterns for cute amigurumi animals, many of which are brushed. I've recently got a thing for brushed amigurumi, so this is perfect :) Just look at these adorable guinea pigs:

I had a guinea pig when I was little, before I got really allergic (that started when I was six or seven and gradually got worse). His name was Marius, and he was brown with red eyes.   I still wonder what that color combination is called, I know it has a name.. Unfortunately I don't have any photos left of him, they disappeared during a move :/ Anyway, I picked a guinea pig at random (instead of a hamster or rabbit etc.), but I've had a soft spot for guinea pigs ever since :) Lately I've researched a little about the hairless ones, because they are sort of ugly-cute, and possibly suitable for allergic people.

And a bonus! Today I got my package of safety eyes (ordered from this site), so now I can continue making Dudes :D

Allright, since I'm already on the subject I can just as well give you a sneak peek at the next Cute Little Dudes collection. The first two creatures of Happy Pets vol.1:

A hamster and a budgie. Now that I have more eyes I can make the third little dude, but you'll have to wait until next week to find out what it is :)

Just a little note: I've managed to screw up a little when I added my first two Dudes patterns to Ravelry. Apparently they should be added as eBooks, but I've listed them as single patterns... I don't know if this means anything for the buyers, because I'm getting help with fixing this without losing any information (comments, purchases, favorites etc.), but it can take a few days before it's all sorted out. If I'm told to deactivate the two listings, you'll not be able to buy them, but this is temporary. Just thought I'd let you know that I'm pretty useless when it comes to these things :p

About my patterns

Yesterday I got a question about one of my patterns, if it was simple enough for a beginner. While considering what to say I realized that I didn't really know how to set the difficulty level of my patterns. When I learned to crochet around two years ago I started by making amigurumi and learned the stitches as I went, but that doesn't necessarily mean that amigurumi is easy or suited for beginners to crochet. I had my mother, who has been crocheting doilies for more than 30 years, test one of my amigurumi patterns, and she failed miserably (sorry about that, but it's true). It's difficult for me to judge what will be easy or difficult for others, as I'm not even sure where my own skill level is.

For example, I find it very hard (or at least very troublesome) to have color changes in the middle of a row when working in the round. I have no idea where to put the yarn that's not in use. If I carry it along it shows through and if i don't carry it I'll have to cut it for each round, which leaves about a million ends to tie up :/ So, I try to avoid having those kinds of color changes in my patterns. Simple stripes, however (like on the bumblebee), is no problem.

I posted my question on Ravelry, and this is part of the reply I got from Stacey Trock (author of Cuddly Crochet, read her blog):

Below, I’ve pasted what the Yarn Council says [link HERE], and then in Italics, what I’ve added as guidelines for my own patterns.

• Beginner: Projects for first-time crocheters using basic stitches. Minimal shaping. My easiest patterns. Includes working in the round (because most amigurumi are), but the basic shapes are just circles. No fancy stitching required.
  
• Easy: Projects using yarn with basic stitches, repetitive stitch patterns, simple color changes, and simple shaping and finishing. Simple color change for me means just needing to change color once or twice, but not enough to make a pattern with the color changes. I put patterns here if they have more decorations/details than a beginner pattern.
  
• Intermediate: Projects using a variety of techniques, such as basic lace patterns or color patterns, mid-level shaping and finishing. ‘Mid-level shaping’ means a non-circle shape. And color patterns, such as an animal having a white tummy, makes an animal go in this difficulty level.
  
• Experienced: Projects with intricate stitch patterns, techniques and dimension, such as non-repeating patterns, multi-color techniques, fine threads, small hooks, detailed shaping and refined finishing. I have very few patterns here, usually only if you need to follow a chart for color changes.
  

When I began making the Cute Little Dudes, I wanted to keep them as simple as possible, but still get them to look somewhat advanced. I decided to try and make all the parts with single crochet in the round (no working flat pieces in rows, which I find can be hard to count sometimes), and as few color changes as possible. I think I have accomplished that, except for the hedgehog, which of course was the pattern in question... The spikes are made by chaining a few stitches and then slip stitching back to the beginning, repeat about a thousand times. The rest of the hedgie is pretty straight forward if you know how to work in front, back and both loops.

I also realized that people may be interested in more details about the patterns, like what stitches they would need to know to be able to make the critters, so here it is:

Great Big Bugs:

* All parts except the eyelids and the legs are made with single crochet in the round

* No shaping (increases and decreases are evenly spaced in the rounds)

* A few simple color changes (a few more on the bumblebee)

* A little embroidery (mouth)

Stitches you need to know:

Chain, sl st, sc, inc, dec, dc, hdc

Cute Little Dudes:

* All parts are made with single crochet in the round

* Almost no shaping (a few muzzles and belly patches are not completely circular, but they can be if you want them to)

* A few simple color changes (some dudes have none)

* A little embroidery (nose & mouth on all dudes, some have spots as well)

Stitches you need to know:

Chain (only for dudes with "hair"), sc, inc, dec, sl st, BLO, FLO

Kitty Princess:

* All parts are made with single crochet in the round

* Some shaping 

* No color changes

* A little embroidery (nose & mouth)

Stitches you need to know:

Sc, inc, dec, sl st, BLO, chain, hdc, dc

You can read the Ravelry discussion HERE. I guess my answer to the question about the hedgehog is that unless you're a complete stranger to crochet and the basics of amigurumi, you will be able to make it :) It looks complicated, but it's really just about placing the spikes and being patient (there are a lot of them!). I hope this has been helpful :)

More Cute Little Dudes

Allright, it's past midnight on a Wednesday night, so I guess that makes it Thursday. And Thursday means it's time for another Cute Little Dudes pattern :) At least it seems like that has become my schedule. (Except that next week can be a problem since I have a final exam in an Egyptology course I should be studying for...)

So you've already seen the first two critters in the pattern, the frog and the wolf. Here is the third Cute Little Dude:

A hedgehog! Like I said in a post this morning: you can never have enough hedgehogs :) Here's a back view of the Dudes:

Forest Dwellers vol.2 will be added to Etsy and Ravelry within the hour :)

Now, as it happens I only have two pairs of 10mm black safety eyes, left so I'll only be able to post a preview of my next set of Cute Little Dudes (which are not going to be forest animals) for my next post. More eyes are ordered, but I don't know when they will arrive. Until then I can't make any more new dudes... That means I'll just have to concentrate on my next Great Big Bug, which is a Great Big Ladybug. I'll try to have the pattern ready for Tuesday :)

Magazines, stickers & yarn

Last week these magazines came in the mail:

The two latest issues of Simply Knitting, my first ever purchase on ebay! I'm very proud :) I paid enough for them, though, the lady who sold them to me (used, but with all free gifts still intact) probably made good money, but I still paid less than I would if I'd bought them in a Norwegian store... I guess I should subscribe to the magazine, it's a lot cheaper than buying single issues, but then I only buy the ones with the Alan Dart patterns that I want, so I don't really know.

Then I got a letter from my mother-in-law, containing these really cute hedgehog stickers:

Aren't they lovely? She accidentally found them in a store and just had to buy them for me :)

Yesterday I went out to get a few balls of white yarn I need to finish a project, but as usual the store was all out of white... But there was a 30% sale on all DROPS yarn, so I bought a pile of Eskimo to make more hats:

After that I came across a new and exciting craft magazine, Cross Stitcher:

I stood in the shop for a while and wondered which magazine to buy, because there are LOTS of them, but when I discovered what the free gift was I simply had to buy it!

Have you ever seen such a cute hedgehog? (Well, yes you have, if you've seen The Great Boll!) The world can never have enough hedgies :D

Great Big Dragonfly pattern

Since I didn't celebrate our national day yesterday I had time to put the finishing touches on the dragonfly and its pattern, and it's now added to my Etsy and Ravelry stores.

It's not quite as chubby as the bumblebee, but it's a little longer (about 28cm) and has a wingspan of 34cm. It's pretty big :)

Oh, and here's a preview of my next set of Cute Little Dudes, volume 2 of the Forest Dwellers:
 

A wolf and a frog. The third little dude is finished, but what it is will be a surprise for when I put the pattern up for purchase in a day or two :)

New crochet-along :)

A while ago The Itsy Bitsy Spider announced on her blog that she wanted to host a crochet-along with one of her patterns. People voted, and the pattern we're making is the Owl :)

So, a couple of days ago the CAL was officially announced, and the first 10 people to sign up would get the owl pattern for free (it would otherwise cost 2$). I was number five, so I got a free pattern, yay :D But there's more! She has now decided that anyone who signs up by May 30th will get a free copy of the pattern :)

There will be tips and tutorials for crochet and amigurumi beginners, and at the end (in September if I remember correctly) there will be an optional swap with all the finished owls. There is also a new Flickr group to share pictures of works in progress and completed owls. Sign up today and start crocheting :D

Hooray for Norway!

Today's the national day of Norway, our Constitution is 196 years old :) It's celebrated by parades and people wearing nice clothes and eating lots of good food (= hamburgers, sandwitches & hot dogs) and ice cream. All the kids run around and blow in whistles and toy trumpets that make horrible sounds, and then some inmportant people and the king give speeches. To finish the day there is usually fireworks in the bigger towns. This is what that looked like tonight from the Oystercatcher's view (the picture is black&white because it's dark outside):

I haven't really celebrated it for years, it's too noisy and crowded and the weather is always bad. We did celebrate a little, because Bollan and her family wanted to. Click HERE for the whole story :)

I just take it as a good day to relax, watch TV and do nothing useful, except crocheting a lot :D

Great Big Bumblebee pattern & more

I managed to finish the patterns sooner than I thought (I e-mailed the documents to my aunt who converted them to PDF and sent them back to me), so I actually listed the Bumblebee pattern yesterday. And I've made a sale already, can you believe that? I almost don't :D You find my Etsy shop HERE.

Oh, I forgot to mention in the post yesterday that the body of the bumblebee is brushed to make it furry and fuzzy and cute like a real bumblebee :) The pattern is actually based on the Buff-tailed Bumblebee, which is the most common species in Europe.

I edited my old Kitty Princess pattern and relisted it.

Also, both patterns are now found in my new Ravelry store :) I decided to try it because selling patterns on Ravelry is a little cheaper than Etsy, since there's no listing fee...

One final thing... I really could use some help with this, both me and my boyfriend are stuck trying to come up with a name for this pattern set:

The pattern is as good as ready, I just need a name for the little creatures. Now, I feel like I can't call them critters, because that would make them too similar to CraftyAlien's very cute knitted & felted ones. Calling them Something-something Friends also seems a little used... They are fairly small, with a flat bottom that allows them to sit up straight, and fit perfectly in you hand:

I plan to make a lot more of these sets, and not only forest animals, so I need a general name for all of them, and then the individual sets will have more specific names added to that. *sigh* Hate it when I'm stuck like this...

Ooh, I just had an idea... If I get any suggestions (as comments to this post), the winning suggestion will win a free copy of this pattern! I have a few thoughts myself, but I'm still undecided, so you have a fair chance of your name suggestion being picked :D (If I come up with a name myself you can still get the pattern from one of my stores..)

A very big Bumblebee

I have finally managed to make another pattern for my Etsy shop! Yay :)

I've been working on this bumblebee for a good while now, and yesterday it was finally finished. It's huge, almost as big as Bollan!

The pattern is almost done, I just need to finish it up and convert the document to PDF (which I have to do at the university library because the online converters only screw things up). I've only had one other pattern in my shop since I opened in September last year, and the listing expires one of these days anyway, so I think I'll re-write it a little to make it more similar to my new one (I've changed my pattern writing style since I began posting free patterns on my blog, plus I found a typo that really bugs me). Fortunately nobody has bought it yet.. :p

This bumblebee is the first in a series of Great Big Bugs. I have an almost finished dragonfly and a ladybug well under way. The bumblebee pattern will be listed on Etsy tomorrow :)