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 :)

Two CALs and a "feature" :)

As you may have noticed by the links in my right sidebar I'm participating in two CALs this summer :) I've already shown you the beginning of my owl for Itsy Bitsy Spiders Great Owl Crochet-along. I finished the owl a while ago, and I made even more changes to the little bird: added embroidered eyelashes and feathers on the belly :)

Now the crocheting part of the Owl CAL is over (it ended on Sunday, I think), but there is going to be a swap with some of the finished owls. Signing up for the swap was optional, so I'm keeping my owl, but I really enjoy seeing lots of different owls together :) Click HERE to see Karla's post about the birds. Makes me want to make lots more owls and have them roosting on a shelf in my apartment :) I'm sure Bollan wouldn't mind! Speaking of The Great Boll: she was actually mentioned in a blog post along with my owl for the CAL :) She's so proud! Even Bollan's own blog was mentioned :) We are both very grateful to be featured on Itsy Bitsy Spider's blog!

You see, The Itsy Bitsy Spider has this Flickr group where people are encouraged to post their latest finished crochet projects, and she will then pick some of them once a week to be featured on her blog. You can read more about this HERE. Ooh, and guess what, I've been featured again! With my Great Big Dung Beetle :) 

Thank you very much for your kind words about my Bug, I really appreciate it! Bollan and I are both very happy :D

The second CAL I'm in is PlanetJune's Summer CAL, where you can crochet either alpacas or a pot of African Violets. I am of course making the alpaca! I've started the CAL a little late, because I was so sure my mother had some alpaca yarn in her stash, but I couldn't find it (not in the right colors, anyway - unless I want to make a blue one!), so today I finally went out and bought a ball of lovely light brown alpaca yarn :) Expensive, though... So far I've made the ears, muzzle and head, and was ready to assemble the face, but then I discovered that I don't have suitable safety eyes :( I have the right size, but the posts are both too thick and too long (and too hard to cut off), so I'll have to come up with a different solution... No pictures of the alpaca yet, but I'll post some as soon as I've made some real progress - I have until August 31st to finish it :)

So far, so good :)

I've started my owl for Itsy Bitsy Spider's CAL! Finished the head yesterday :)

I made a few changes to the eyes: worked two rounds of black (instead of black and another color) and an extra round of green to make the eyes a little bigger, plus I added white dots to give it some life. I think it worked :)

Give-away!

At Itsy Bitsy Spider! You can win an adorable little plush owl like this!

It's one of a set of collectible Owlets by Harley & Boss. You buy the box, but you don't know which plushie is inside until you open it! Both plushie cutness and excitement all in one box :)

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

Valentine's and stuff :)

It's Valentine's Day, and for that occasion I sat down and crocheted a couple of hearts. I know I've said that I'm not that into pink and hearts, but I think these are pretty cute :)

The big one is made from the free Pop Heart pattern by Diana Prince (MyGurumi). I wanted to crochet it in black, but I need all my black yarn for another project... The little red heart is my own creation, the pattern is as usual added to my pattern blog :)

I have also had time to finish the Praying Mantis I wanted to make for my boyfriend, and he was very happy when he got it today :)

Today is also Mother's Day here in Norway, so I've made something for my mother, too. She fell in love with the owlet keychains I made earlier, so I made her a pink and white one to go with the wristwarmers I've made for her birthday. Right now she's at a hospital/recovery center after a little brain surgery, but she's doing just fine and will be going home in less then a week. Then there will be a few presents waiting for her at the post office :)

One down...

Just two exams to go :) I've been dreading the computer linguistics exam all year, but now it's finally finished! It didn't go straight to hell, as I though it would when I first got the exam sheet, but I might be hovering somewhere around the outer gates... I sat there and looked at the questions and doodled for five minutes before I began to understand the questions.. Still, I think I answered four of the eight questions pretty well, two of them okay, and the last two were utter crap. I don't know what XML is, and I hope I will never have to use it. Hmpf... But, now it's all over, and I don't think I have to take the exam again next year, so now I can relax and do more fun things for a few days. My next exam is on Wednesday, so I guess tomorrow it's back to studying. Tonight it's crocheting, red wine and blogging :)

A few days ago a new owlet was hatched, meet Igor the Eagle owl:

Isn't he cute? I will keep him all for myself, and he'll be roosting with Suzy and Tony in the window :)

Owlet keychains and a scarf in the making

I have finally gotten around to buying some new key rings after the last ones disappeared, and four owlet keychains/bag charms are now finished. Tada!

I have about four more waiting to get done, but they will have to wait a little longer. Last night I started this crocheted scarf, because I wanted to make something so easy I didn't have to think or count :p Right now it's about 25cm wide, but I plan on felting it, and hopefully it will stay human-sized and not shrink too much :) It's crocheted with one strand of  pure wool yarn (different shades of brown to make stripes) and one strand of white mohair.

I planned on giving the scarf away for Christmas, but now it looks like our new friend has claimed it as his own. I can't blame him, though, he barely survived the last ice age, so he wants to be prepared for the next one! You just have to love him :)

HOOT HOOT

The last two or three days I have been making these little cuties, I have ten of them now. Not all are finished yet, because I'm still trying to figure out how to attach the ring or chain to make them into keychains or bag charms. I know I bought some keychains a few weeks ago, but now I can't find them. Typical. I have also used all ten pairs of orange 18mm safety eyes, and have to wait for a new batch to arrive in the mail. Ordered some today, so maybe by the end of next week? Hoping, hoping... 

The colorful ones will be sold next summer (I've got permission!) on a local fair at home, where a lot of people sell their work (all kinds of crafting, my mother sells mostly knitted doll's clothes and my grandmother makes dishcloths and doilies), and I hope people will buy some :) Not that I am planning to make great profit from the sale, but it's fun, and just a little money also helps a poor student's economy in the summer :D I think I'll keep the duller and more "realistic" owls for myself for now, they will probably be roosting in our livingroom window :) Meet Tony the Tawny owl and Suzy the Snowy owl:

By the way, the pattern is the Owlets pattern by Roman Sock. It also exists as a knitting pattern, found here :) Oh, I have also finished two of the new cupcakes and will try to post the pattern tomorrow :)