Hat Fail = Tea-Cozy Win.

This week I tried to crochet a hat. I saw a pattern on Ravelry for a lovely diamond patterned hat. Perfect for using up some hand spun yarn I had kicking around in my yarn stash.

Sadly I ran out of yarn half way through.  I've had the yarn so long I couldn't remember what the ply was, so the hat is also too small.  Hat fail.

I was showing the failure of a hat to my sister, when she pointed out that the demi-hat was about the same size as a small teapot.  Just like the one I've been putting a big tea-cozy on to keep warm, whenever she visits.  

After a quick unravel and a few pattern adjustments, (and a little bit of swearing,) I had a new tea-cozy. 

I even had enough yarn left over to make a pom pom.  Tea-cozy win.

One Cephalopod is Never Enough

After making Mo-Mo the octopus a few weeks ago, I felt the need to make yet another cephalopod. Here she is:

Octavia the Octopus.

Made using 8ply yarn and a 3mm crochet hook. The eyes were attached using a felting needle.

Octavia is also worked all in one piece.  The legs are crocheted together while making the body.  Much neater than sewing the parts together at the end.

That's no space station...it's a robot.

Here is the project I was trying to make when I accidentally made a Death Star.  A robot.

It turns out that if you add arms legs and an oversized head to an Ultimate Weapon, you get a rather friendly robot.

This guy is made out of 8ply cozy wool with a wire armature to hold the pose.  There are also eight washers in the feet to balance out the giant head.

Unexpectedly Evil

I accidentally made a Death Star.

I was working on another project when one of the parts started looking familiar.  With the quick addition of a button I had my very own crochet Death Star.

I hope to finish the new project soon.  I just have to deal with some pesky rebels first.

Mo-Mo the Octopus

I have a Christening coming up, so I've taken a break from human amigurumi to make this cute cephalopod:

I present to you Mo-Mo designed by Tamara Bower-Snow for Roxycraft. 

Mo-Mo is made with 4ply yarn and a 2.5mm crochet hook. For the eyes, I used black felt attached with a felting needle (no tedious stitching!). The highlights were a bit tricky, small bits of felt break apart under a felting needle. Instead I embroidered two French Knots and then used the felting needle to flatten them to the eyes.  

Star Trek: Voyager

Star Trek: Voyager is my favourite version of the Star Trek franchise.  Probably because it was the first one I encountered on late night television.  I've since watched some of the earlier series, and Voyager is still the one I like the most.

So what better to boldly crochet than the female crew from Voyager.  Starting with the tough but fair Captain Janeway.

Then the tough as nails engineer Lieutenant Torrus.

And the logical former Borg, Seven of Nine

I haven't forgotten Kes,  I just haven't worked out how to crochet her dress yet.  I promise to update this post as soon as I get her finished.

Trinity

Trinity was one of the best things about the Matrix.  She was a kick-ass computer programmer who could hold her own in the hostile matrix world.

This is Trinity from the first movie, before she got relegated to girlfriend in the sequels.  I've taken a bit of a liberty with the colours,  in the movie her outfit is all black and shiny.  I've skipped the shiny (because it's impossible to do with yarn) and added some greys for interest.

Who You Gonna Call?

Last week I saw the new Ghostbusters movie.  It was awesome.  Before it had even finished I had decided to make the new team.  Here they are:

 Erin                                               Abby

Holtzmann                                                  Patty

These amigurumi are made using 8ply yarn and a 3mm crochet hook.  The eyes are felt and the glasses are wire covered in yarn.  Holtzman also has some acetate glued into hers for some extra colour.

Finally here is another shot of the whole team.

New Amigurumi

I was looking back over my amigurumi collection and I realised two things.

1: It is time I made my own pattern and

2: I really don't make many female amigurumi.

Here is the solution. My first ever designed from scratch amigurumi:

The most kick ass character I could think of: Imperator Furiosa.  For those of you who haven't seen Mad Max, stop reading and go see it now.  (No seriously, go now.  It's got explosions AND a story. You don't get that with your average action movie.)

For now I'm off to crochet another character.  Who to choose next?

Slimy

One of my favourite characters on Sesame Street was Slimy the worm.  As I have plenty of time on my hands, today I decided to make him.

Slimy is made from yellow and orange 8ply yarn, crocheted with a 3mm hook.  He is filled with polyester stuffing and has a wire armature so that I can pose his body and mouth.  The inside of the mouth is maroon and pink felt.  They eyes are two 4mm black glass beads.

Today I Made a Rabbit

It's been a while since I crocheted anything. After a super busy contract, that had me (and the rest of the team) working through Christmas, I put down my hook and didn't pick it up again. Until today. 

This little gal is made using Nerdy and Crafty's bunny pattern. I added a fluffy tail, because I like pom-pom tails on rabbits. 

It is a nice easy to follow pattern that only took a few hours to complete. Make sure you add a few washers in the base, with such a big head, it's a little top heavy.

2015 Melbourne Show

This was not my best year at the Show.  Despite entering three categories the best I could manage was a Third place.  I've been told that you learn more from failure than success, so here are the things I have learned this year:

• I need to improve my blocking.

The blue one with white is mine.  As you can see it's hanging unevenly. 

With proper blocking it should look like this orange one.  Nice and even.

• I also need to remember to attach the yarn tags.

This was a sponsored category, which means I had to use a specific yarn and pattern.  I forgot to attach the tags to prove I used the right yarn.  Marks were deducted.

(I also had marks deducted for having ends visible.  I'm choosing to ignore this because I had to sew in about 400 more ends than any other competitor.  Those white segments aren't easy.) 

• Quantity beats quality for amigurumi

I know judges decisions are final, but I'm not sure about the judging for the Amigurumi category.  It seems like the more work has gone into a project, the less they care about consistency. 

Too be fair, the winner was pretty cool. Such neat stitching.

Second place was also very detailed. Embroidering a pretty face is a real skill and I really like the hair.

But Third place made me wonder.  

I'm not sure about all the different thread weights.  The cockatoo is made of much finer yarn than the other critters.  For my money, if you're going to make a set, make them all from the same sized yarn.  

At least this one didn't win. 

That is either a giant clownfish or a tiny seal. Extra points though for crocheting the ground.

• Amigurumi are bigger than I thought

My understanding of amigurumi was that they were small and cute (under 10 cm).  Whilst the winners were cute they weren't small, about 20 - 25 cm in height. For reference here is my Sherlock and Watson sitting with the other amigurumi sized amigurumi.  

Much cuter. Check out that tiny violin.

• Colour choice matters

In hindsight making my doily in sunshine yellow probably wasn't a good move.  I think it was a bit too much for the judges.  Instead the judges went with much more traditional colours.

First place

Second place

On the plus side, at least I managed a Third.

For an experiment maybe I should enter the same design next year in a more subtle colour.

Anyway enough with the whinging.  Here is the Best in Show a crochet blanket showcasing every stitch imaginable.  

Keeping it all one colour really shows off the variety of the stitches.  Pretty cool.