Halloween Dudes vol.2 :)

I have a new pattern for you! Didn’t think I’d make it before the holiday, but I did Crocheted until my wrists hurt these last couple of days (seriously, there is great pain in my left wrist), and I finished a whole new set of Cute Little Halloween Dudes:

A ghost with ball & chain, a crow and a little witch with her broom. These are the first Dudes I’ve ever made accessories for, it was fun Also, I should say that the ghost in this set is by far the most complicated Dude pattern I’ve written, and I hope I have explained it clearly enough. As always, please let me know if there’s a problem, I’d love to get some feedback on my patterns

The pattern is up on Ravelry now, and I’ll add it to my Etsy shop tomorrow morning (it’s getting late and I have school tomorrow). Promise I know it’s a little late to post a Halloween pattern just days before the holiday, but I hope that some of you will have time to make something from it anyway. If not, there’s always next year

By the way, there will be another set next year, too. Probably the last of the Halloween sets, but who knows. My original idea for this set was to make a cat familiar for the witch, but after trying out the various cat eyes that I have, I realized that none of them were right. Instead I made a crow, because last year a friend suggested that I make a crow companion for the scarecrow from vol.1, so I did. The cat will come next time, along with two other creatures

Dudes of the Dead

Fourth Ravellenic project!

Made as a mix of two Cute Little Dude patterns. He has the snowman’s hat and she has the angel’s skirt. Her hat is basically a smaller version of his.

I made them in the style of Day of the Dead skeletons (hence the Halloween tag), but really they are based on two Voodoo spirits, called Baron Samedi and Maman Brigitte. Both are connected to death, so I made them as skeletons.

I started them in early December last year and worked on them on and off for a few weeks. I bought the black tulle for her veil in January, but they’ve both been hibernating since then. Very happy they’re finally done

Craftiness of 2011 :)

First of all, let me wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I know I'm a little late, but we've had our family visiting for Christmas, and after they all left, I kind of collapsed and haven't done anything productive for days. But I'm back now, rested and ready for the new year ahead. Will have lots of studying to do this spring (taking an extra class to make up for skipping one this fall), but hopefully I'll be able to blog a little as well :)

To make up for neglecting my blog the past months, here is a summary of the craftiness I did last year :) I didn't think I'd accomplished much, but looking back, I realize that I've done quite a lot! Starting with my own designs in chronological order:

Nesting Love Birds, a free pattern for Valentine's Day.

Three Cute Little Bear Dudes, all made after the original bear pattern (Forest Dwellers vol.1)

Cute Little Dudes - Forest Dwellers vol.4. All birds :)

Cute Little Dudes - Alien Invaders.

In April I got a smart phone, so I knitted a protective purse for it as soon as I could. Important not to scratch the touch screen! :)

Great Big Wasp.

Great Big Aphid.

Finally got round to finishing the Great Big (male) Firefly (to the left). Sorry about the pale picture, I'll never take photos in bright sunlight again! No pattern yet...

Great Big Crane Fly. Longest bug legs ever! Pattern will be done soon, I promise :)

My aunt asked me to make two little bugs for her, so I made these. Mini versions of the Great Big ones. I'm working on the patterns, but I have to remake them to get proper pictures. Hopefully the patterns will be done before Easter :)

Cute Little Dudes - Trick or Treat! vol.1. I had another set planned, but ran out of time (too much school work!). Will save the second set for next Halloween :)

A friend of mine wanted me to make a great big dragon that he could give to a kid for his birthday, so I made this. It's huge! Arms and legs are jointed. I was told the kid's birthday was in October, so I rushed to finish it, but then it turned out the day was not until November. Oh well. At least the kid was happy. From what I heard, the dragon was being fed dinner as soon as it arrived. That's a good sign, right?

Crocheted and felted witch's cauldron, a free pattern for Halloween. I had originally planned to make up lots of creepy stuff to put in it (eyeballs, severed fingers, bat wings, etc.), but once again I ran out of time. Will save the ideas for next time :)

As a Christmas present, I made this heart (from my free heart pattern) that I filled with nice smelling things and put in a pretty bowl with some pretty white stones.

And the very last thing I finished last year was a remake of the Kitty Princess, the first pattern I ever made and published. Gave it to a cousin for Christmas. I am in the process of rewriting the pattern and adding new photos, and hopeully it'll be done before school starts in about two weeks :)

So. That was all of my designs. I did some other things too, but a lot of the projects I started last year are still in progress, so I have no pictures to show you... I will post the few that I have, though :) Again, in chronological order:

In the beginning of January I took out Rose Langlitz's book Tasty Crochet and started crocheting some food. I was obsessed for a while, but I only managed to complete two things, a pear and a salami/lettuce sandwich:

I have more half-finished food items lying around, but no pictures... 

After that I knitted a new bag for my rpg dice, the Dice Bag of Doom! Pattern free for download on Ravelry.

My next obsession was bugs, as Lesley Stanfield's new book came out, 75 birds, butterflies & beautiful beasties. I made a black slug, plus some butterflies and caterpillars that I pinned to a cork board:

Then I moved on to Hansi Singh's bugs. I started with a praying mantis that never got finished, but I made earthworms, a sea slug, Kraken (giant squid) and a Blackdevil anglerfish:

 

 

Again, I have lots of WiPs that hopefully some day will be done. They are just too pretty to be stashed away in a bag...

During the summer I got started on June Gilbank's dinosaurs. I think I've started about five of them, but none are done yet. It's just silly, really. On one (the Parasaurolophus), all that remains is sewing on one last leg! Sigh. I think I have an aversion against finishing things :/

I found this really cool knitting pattern on Ravelry, of a dancing goddess figure:

The pattern itself is very simple (knit in the round, and it consists of only two parts, so very little sewing is required), but I wasn't quite happy with my knitting (uneven stitches and a few holes - I'm no good at knitting in the round on double-pointed needles!), so I decided to felt it. Unfortunately I felted it after stuffing, so it almost didn't felt at all. It just became sort of lumpy and disproportionate. I wanted to make more of these, but I'll have to do it differently next time.

The last project I finished last year (not counting the Christmas presents) was this little dice bag:

The pattern is Deep Sea Flower Dice Bag, found HERE. Well, to be honest, it isn't actually 100% finished, since I haven't made the cord yet. I just got so tired of knitting with that stupid yarn that has absolutely NO stretch what so ever, I just tied it with a piece of yarn to be done with it. Love the pattern and the bag, though. Plan to make more some time, when I can get my hands on some lovely multi-colored Noro, which the pattern is designed for.

And that was all. Whew! Longest post ever... (It's taken over four hours to write!) Well. My plan now is to finish the patterns for the things I made last year, preferably as soon as possible. I'll have a lot less time once school starts, and I think that if I don't finish them now, I probably never will. So one of my new year's resolutions is to finish all my Bugs, Dudes and any other patterns before I start any new ones. Have lots of projects going right now, but no new Bugs or Dudes before the others are done. Period. Will try to post again soon :)

Halloween Dudes

Anyone else getting ready for Halloween? I plan Halloween patterns every year, but this is the first time I have actually managed to get a pattern ready in good time before the holiday. Not much use making a pattern if no one has time to make it...

So here they are, an all new set of Cute Little Dudes: Trick or Treat vol.1. The pattern is available both from Etsy and Ravelry :)


There is a scarecrow, a vampire bat and a cute little imp. The bat wings require some shaping (i.e. counting), but other than that, these Dudes are on the same difficulty level as all the others. Hope you like them :)

Ps.: I have another set planned, but time will tell if I can get them ready within reasonable time for anyone else to make them. Have lots of homework to to as well...

More Dudes!

Silly me - I forgot to mention a whole set of Dudes! Forest Dwellers vol. 4 :) These were also made this spring, and if I remember correctly they were actually finished before the Alien Dudes. Yeah, I've had a lot on my mind lately, important things slip away...

The mallard and the bald eagle had been in progress since last summer, but the owl was made this spring to complete the set, which this time consists only of birds. The bald eagle was a request/challenge from a friend :)

Alien Dudes

In May I released a new set of Cute Little Dudes: Alien Invaders!

It all started when I heard the song "Purple People Eater", and I immediately needed to crochet one :) I then thought I'd make two other alien dudes, and my next choice was fairly easy: Cthulhu! I also considered an alien from the Alien movies, but that's a trademarked character, and I don't want to get onto trouble, so I had to do something else. Then, suddenly it occurred to me that I should make an alien with three eyes, so that I wouldn't end up with singles from the People Eater. Clever, huh? :p

The pattern is available both on Ravelry and Etsy :)

Summary of 2010...

Let's see... What happened, and what did I do last year? I'll start with the crafting and patterns I've made. There are quite a lot... I've made six sets of Cute Little Dudes!

Forest Dwellers vol. 1

Forest Dwellers vol. 2

Forest Dwellers vol. 3

Happy Pets vol. 1

Christmas Dudes vol. 1

Christmas Dudes vol. 2

Then there are the Great Big Bugs, which - as someone correctly pointed out in a comment last night - aren't really bugs at all! True bugs belong to another order of insects than the ones I've made; Bumblebee, Ladybug, Dragonfly, Dung Beetle and Fly:

And then there are two arachnids; Spider and Scorpion:

I've also made a few free crochet patterns, plus I've participated in a number of fun amigurumi CALs during the year :) I've learned a new craft: tatting. I've become totally hooked and have even made a new blog for it! I've even got a new tattoo to celebrate two very important things in my life - crafting and Bollan:

During the spring term I decided to quit the university for a while, partly because I  didn't feel like keep trying to get an expensive education that had no real job opportunities for me, and partly because I realized that I'd lost my motivation and wasn't really good at it anymore. So I only took two exams of the four I'd originally signed up for, and I didn't bother to sign up for any more for the fall semester. 

This summer I had a taste of work life, and I found out (again) that I'm not made for working in social occupations. The cleaning job I had for four weeks suit me just fine :) I then decided to start studying again, but something completely different - biology! I honestly think that it's something I'll be happy & comfortable working with later. I just have to get through a few mandatory math courses first (eek!)...

As for my personal life, well, I guess it has been as usual. Since I dropped the university I haven't had the study support that I normally get, and my boyfriend hasn't had a steady income either, so the lack of money has been quite straining. Hopefully that changes when I start studying again! Don't know if everyone supports my choice though, I feel like my boyfriend still wants me to finish my bachelor in linguistics, and he doesn't really believe that I'll get through the biology either. He says I quit on everything that doesn't go my way right away. Blah :/ I'm not the most optimistic person, but his attitude sure doesn't help. 

Anything else? Can't remember, so probably nothing important :p