These are the things I have been working on lately. It was a colour-swap and my recipient asked for blue. First it was hard as I had practically no blue yarn at home. I gess I’m just the blue kind of girl.
Anywho. Another thing I was worried about was what else should I make becouse I didn’t want her to get just a box full of amigurumies. That would have been so expected and boring. I’m not saying that the final combo is anything particulary interesting but hey – I gave it a shot. At least its kind of variated.
First I made the pieces for the kitchen as she described it’s colour-sceme as a hint. The potholders are from Drops Ice and Red Heart Eco-Cotton Blend as the embellishments (shilouette of a sock on one and lettering “Sokike” on another as for her forum name which means “socky”).
Next I used Debbie Bliss Ecobaby Fair Trade yarn with Rowan Classic Luxury Cotton to make the coasters. I made them in two-coloured spirals. First I added a mustard trim but them removed it as it didn’t fit in my opinion. Looks cleaner and more blue without it.
The third item is the (store bought) towel decorated with swedish weaving. My second work but this time on a different fabric. This one has much larger squares on it so I had to use a bit bulkier yarn as well. I used Bio-Baumwolle organic cotton which is one of my favourites. For the trim I choose a much finer Cotton yarn (I never knew the actual company that procuces it – just says “Cotton” on the label – weird). The trim is from a book 200 Crochet Flowers, Embellishments and Trims and the swedish weaving pattern is from Undukas’ workshop handout.
Next I took on the amigurumies. The cat is made of Drops Paris and Schachenmayr SMC Cotton Linen with 2.75mm hook. It’s important to use at least one size smaller hook than recommended because you don’t want the stuffing to show in the holes. For the dog I used the same Debbie Bliss Ecobaby Fair Trade yarn and added Schachenmayr SMC Catania. This time I used a 1.75mm hook. For both of them I used safety eyes and fibrefill. The cat got the free sample eyes that were the only ones I had. I think they fit perfectly. The dog has a safety nose but the cat has an embroidered one with some whiskers.
To write of the pattern, both of the creatures have the same body/head that my rabbits do. I lengthened the limbs and tail for the cat and shortened the ears. The tail is a totally different piece. For the dog the limbs are actually same as the rabbits, but I lenthened the tail and shortened again the ears (but not as much as the cats). If this even makes sence. Can you tell the similarities?
I bought a super silky-soft cotton-silk-viscose yarn that’s name I can’t put a finger on . I have to check it out once I get to my stash called Gedfira Top Soft. I decided to make some christmas ornaments of it. I made four and decorated them with felt, filled with fibrefill. They are became so soft and squishy and have a subtle shine on them. Plus they are totally safe and kidproof. I packed them into an origami box.
The last but not least is the pillow. It developed between everything else. In the meantime when I was figuring out what else to make or just to rest from everything else. I used up a whole skein (apart from the amount used on the potholders) of Red Heart Eco-Cotton Blend yarn. The patterns for the flowers are again from the 200 Crochet Flowers, Embellishments and Trims book. I love it, by the way (mine is in Estonian though).
It was my first attempt of freeform crochet. It had always looked intriguing but I didn’t have the guts to put my hands on one of my own. It wasn’t so bad. I also bought some velvet fabric and a 40x40cm pillow insert and made it into a proper pillow then added the crochet piece on it. I think it was my first real pillow as well apart from the chair-cushion that I made in elementary school.
I also added a little letter for Sokike describing what I made, from what, why and how.
Be sure to take a look at her blog (in Estonian) as well. She has so many adorable pictures of the stuff that was in the package and of the package itself as well. The pictures seen here also belong to her. I will take a look on mine later and decide wether to post them here as well or not.
I still haven’t taken photos of my green stuff. I tried yesterday but nothing good comes out photographing in the dark. I like natural light and I decided to wait for some daylight. I just haven’t been home during that kind of time lately. Last weekend I wasn’t at home either and the next one is also booked. Maybe I’ll manage to squeeze some in saturday morning – thumbs up for that!
Another secret project is also waitiong for proper pictures and another swap project needs to be finished by the end of the month.
Have you ever participated in any swaps? Did you find it hard to make a present for a total stranger? Let me know what you think of the bloo stuff.
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