Legwarmers.

This is for another challenge that came up. Actually I was just starting to making one of these as I noticed the legwarmers’ challenge  in Isetegija.net. I registered myself right away and a few hours later I had finished my pair of woolly warmth. Here is finally the post and an image.

I used my 4.5mm crochet hook and Lana Gatto Nuovo Irlanda merino wool yarn. I also added little star shaped buttons on each of them.

I didn’t want them to be too fancy as for warm and thick. I’m quite pleased of the result but I might unravel a few rows as they seem to have a bit more give than I originally had thought and tend to be more loose.

I chained 40 and then single crocheted through back loops only changing the colours in  every two rounds until I had 20 total stripes (40 rows). On the last row I crocheted it through the beginning chains as well joining it to round. Last I changed the colour one more time and single crocheted around all the edges. As simple as that! (: Then I added a button on both of them.

Some of you might notice (or probably not) that I removed one little banner from my sidebar. It was the challenge I made my lace collar in. Well it turned out they didn’t accept it as the part of it because I called myself joining the challenge and posting the work in one post. It was supposed to be some kind of rule that stated that. Or I’m not quite sure.

They said that generally it goes some other way around. I thought well – f that and left that to be. I still don’t get why they do that or for who the challenges are or why. Plus the albums that are created to collect lots of inspiration. Apparently if you don’t write your stuff down the ‘right’ way or time it is a no-go.

–(Two days later than starting the post) I discovered that another work-along accepts stuff submitted the way I did. Now I’m even more puzzled of how it works over there. I have tried to ask but that’s about as far as it goes.–

I just sighed for that and are seriously thinking it all over whether to accept any of the challenges from there at all or not. They are just total mood killers some time and I don’t want that for myself. I will still try to do my best and finish the on-going ones correctly but I guess we’ll see what happens. A bit sad but what can you do!?

One more thing – as from today I will also post in Estonian as I’ve had some little feedback that not anyone understands this rather common language of English.

Niisiis. Tänasest kirjutan ka eesti keeles. Esimese asjana mainin ära, et päris 100% üks-ühele need tõlked kindlasti olema ei saa. Kirjutan kõigepealt ühe ja siis teise, mitte ei hakka tõlkima. Nii on lihtsam, loogilisem ja kergem kõigile, ma arvan. 

Need on siis minu isetegija.net foorumi töö sääriste koostegemisse. Avastasin selle teema mõned(kümned) minutid pärast seda kui olin ühega neist algust teinud. Õhtuks oli paar valmis ja nüüd siis ka siin Teie ees.

Tegemisel kasutasin 4.5mm konksu ja Lana Gatto Nuovo Irlanda meriinovillast lõnga. Lisaks veel väike tähekujuline nööp mõlemile.

Ei tahtnud väga edevaid teha, pigem olid mõttes soojad ja paksud. Lõppkokkuvõttes ei pea pettuma. Ainukese asjana, võib-olla siiski kunagi harutan paar viimast rida üles, kuna nad venivad päris kenasti. Ei ole liiga ümber vm.

Tegin aluseks 40 ahelsilmust ning nendele hakkasin heegeldama kinnissilmuseid ainult läbi tagumiste aasade. Seda kõike nii kaua, kuni oli kokku 20 triipu ehk siis 40 rida. Viimase rea heegeldasin esimesega kokku ringiks. Kõige lõpus vahetasin veel korra lõnga ning heegeldasin ülemise ääre (oleneb, kust poolt vaadata), siis mööda liiteserva alla ja alumise ääre. Tekkis selline kohakuti olevate servade efekt kergelt. Serva nurgale sai pandud väike värskeltsoetatud nööbike. Mõlemale. 

Tähelepanelikumad ehk märkavad, kuigi tõenäoliselt mitte, et ma eemaldasin paremalt ühe bänneri või nupukese. Seda sellepärast, et minu töö  ei sobinud sinna või õigemini esitasin ta valesti. Linkisin pildile ja liitusin nimelt ühes ja samas postituses. Tuleb välja, et nii ei tohi. Koostegemise eestvedaja küll küsis, kas soovin ikka liituda, aga ma keeldusin viisakalt. Ma ikkagi ei saa aru, kellele või, miks neid koostegemisi seal tehakse, kui pidevalt midagi kelleltki tagasi lükatakse. Minul juba teine selline. OK, esimese ajal olin ka nö noor ja roheline foorumi kasutaja, aga asi ei tohiks üldse nii keeruline ollagi, et keegi uus asjast aru ei saa. 

Kõigele lisaks avastasin paar päeva tagasi, et teise teema all täpselt samamoodi esitatud töö aktsepteeriti. Võta siis kinni!? Ma igatahes otsustasin, et väldin neid edaspidi. Need, milledele olen oma “jah” sõna öelnud, üritan ikka ka parima anda ja õigesti kõik täpselt ära esitada. Iseasi muidugi, mis sealt välja tuleb. Ma lootsin, et nende projektide kaudu saab inspiratsiooni vm, aga minu jaoks on nad rohkem kui korra täpselt vastupidi mõjunud ja sellest piisab. 

Tõenäoliselt loen ikka foorumit edasi ja vaatan ringi, aga ikkagi on kuidagi liiga ülereglementeeritud ja piiratud see loomeinimeste kokkusaamise koht mu jaoks. Mulle meeldivad lihtsad asjad, aga seal seda väga pole. 

16/31 – On the Local Scene and a Bit Further.

This is how it looks like outside my office. An autumn morning. Yellow leaves .. on top of a good 10-15cm snow! They warned us about it but I definitely didn’t axpect this! It doesen’t look like it’s going to melt very fast although it is not that cold outside. Would be neat if the same happened again that was a couple of years back – the heavy snow came and stayed until spring. That’s what I like – nice, fluffy, white snow! Although it’s not absolutely fluffy today it’s the perfect kind for making snowmen!

Only part that I don’t like is that until yesterday I cycled to work, now I have to use public transport. Not my favourite.

Yesterday I packed a commission. I think package should be at least as attractive as the piece in it. I even decorated the box inside but of course didn’t take any pictures. Here’s the outside:

Found another one of a packaging as well:

Both of the boxes are also handmade origami.

Sorry about the phone pictures.

I also gave yestarday a little time on a challenge/swap project. That was until I messed it up and had to unravel it. I didn’t feel like trying again in that point.

I should go and pick up an item but I’m not sure if I want to walk around at the moment. It looks like it’s getting wetter. We’ll have to see what it would look like at the end of the day.

Just saw this on FB – makes me want to go to New-Zeland. They say they’re making the whole country to look like Middle-Earth.

 /sigh

15/31 – The Back-Up Project.

This is the one I was talking about earlier. It is the project that I made as a back-up for my own-led workalong. I did finish it in time but  somehow missed the date to post it. Discovered it just about twenty minutes too late. It is a trivet I made from one of my t-shirts. It actually took the whole thing minus the sleeves, collar and some tiny weird bits. I like it and it finds a great use.

I have been thinking about making more of them or perhaps a bigger one for my lasagna etc pan. It would be like a really massive doily or smth. I did discover you have to use a rather small pattern as it works up really-really fast. As the matter of fact the first two or three tries of this one were too big for holding just a pot as I imagined it. It fits perfectly for (I think) a 20cm diameter pan.

Yesterday I just had no feeling to blog. I guess it just happens sometimes. I took a couple of pictures of my projects but some still need prohtographing or rephotographing. I really have to push myself to work after a day-job. Although there is so many things I’d like to or should do then.

Maybe I should start making schedules?

12/31 – drums!

Although some of the drums look kind of ‘chubby’ it’s one of the projects I’m most proud of. Probably because everithing that is not crochet here took me a long time to try, test, engineer and build up. It was a birthday present for an old friend who’s a drummer.

The green yarn is 100% acrylic, the white and grey are 100% cotton and the brown/beige and black are 100% organic cotton. The stands etc are made of toothpicks, superglue and hot glue – spray painted. In the stool and drums I also used some cardboard rounds to keep the surfaces flat. The drumsticks I also carved from toothpicks and spraypainted them red. The bottom piece is covered in felt. I took quite some time to put it all together. Although I’d like to have one of these my own I’m not yet ready to make another.

Maybe I should try making other kinds of musical instruments too?

Do you have any projects that you have made for someone else and then wanted it for your self as well? What did you do?

11/31 – mad.

I’m not feeling great at the moment. I’m kind of pissed of at my collegue to be honest. This was not the first time and I have to deal with it or else others would suffer.

I felt like this would be the perfect day for posting this sad little Coraline doll. I’m not happy how she turned out for a couple of reasons and I’m not yet ready to change them. Perhaps this time will come too.

The yarns I used are Steinbach Wolle Capri (100% merised cotton) and Diktas Miya (also 100% merised cotton). Who has seen the cartoon will probably understand the button eyes (I would have chosen another kind but these were the only black ones I had – one thing that I’m not chuffed about). As to say I put too much hair on her head and the legs look kind of small and weird as well.

I think it’s OK to show my not-so-great work as well. Sometimes things just don’t add up. Thtat’s the reason I have a few WIP unfinished for a while as well. I don’t want to mess up with them instead for them to be near perfect.

Maybe I should continue making up my own patterns as following others may not result as would have pictured? I used to make amigurumies only from patterns when I first started but today I really feel I am capable of making my own (there has been success at least with some).

Do you show your ‘bad’ work to public sometimes? Do you prefer using patterns or making up your own?

10/31 – Something Old.

I found out I hadn’t posted these little critters here yet. Maybe it’s because they are kind of tiny and weird. I made them all in same sort of acrylic yarn for quite some time ago now. The yarn feels some different kind of soft maybe a bit like microfiber. I also used different kinds of wiggly eyes. This was the time when I didn’t even have any safety eyes as I have seen none in the local shops.

The blue one is some sort of elephant, the green one is a frog with a creepy smile and the peach one is perhaps a mischevous pig-girl. As you can see I attached the chains on all of them so you could hang them on keys etc. There really is nothing much I can say about them. That might also have been the reason for not posting sooner. These creatures just are and there really is nothing more about that.

Do you like them? Should I make more of them tiny weirdos?

PS! Don’t forget to check out my Facebook page.

8/31 – Jellyfish.

I had seen many jellyfish around various crochet blogs and always thought they seemed kind of fragile and gentle. Just like they are in RL. When Isetegija forum had a workalong for blue-white-red sea themed characters, this was one of my two creations. As usual I made it up as I worked on. The white trim is from a book of Claire Crompton “200 Crochet Flowers, Embellishments and Trims”.

I had hard time finding a way to photograph it but finally ended up as shown above. I hung it on the lamp and the greenish wall of our rental flat created a nice Baltic-Seaish backdrop. The result was much better than I had thought. Do you like it? I never took it down so it’s still hanging on our living room lamp shade.

To be honest at the beginning the sea theme and the colour scheme attached to it didn’t seem like me at all but at the end I finished to projects. I was surprised and pleased with both of the results. The other project you will see in next post.

Stay tuned!

7/31 – Home For My Hooks.

This one was another thing that just sat there for awhile – unfinished. I tend to do that. Usually it goes like this – buy some awesome new yarns, get excited, work on a piece the whole evening, go to sleep, forget about the item for days/weeks. Is it just me?

As I’m not with my yarn stash at the moment I’m trying to remember which brands did I use. The green should be Rowan Fine Milk Cotton (70% cotton, 30% milk protein). It feels really soft and snuggly. The grey shade is I think Rowan Purelife Organic Cotton (100% organic cotton) – again the organic cotton just feels different and special. Unfortunately they don’t make either of them any more. The red/brown tone is Rowan Purelife Revive (recycled cotton: 36%, recycled silk: 36%, recycled viscose: 28%) which I also used on one of my bunnies. This one is a bit more stark but looks and works great as well. I’ll take a look and see if I was wrong on any of the yarns.

I used the croched seed stitch for the main part and finished it up with a flowy lace trim. I had questions wether to crochet the inside or use a fabric I stuck with the last. I was afraid that maybe the finer hooks would poke through the crochet surface. Was I right?

Sorry for the small and crappy cuality picture as I said I’m not with my yarn stash I’m also not with my pictures. I took it from the web where I once put it (they don’t allow high cuality pictures there sadly). I finished during a work-along themed “finishing unfinished projects”. I also made it thinking it would help me not losing my hooks. As far as I have noticed – it doesen’t. I still tend to keep my hooks in WIPs and there really is too many of them. I am trying to finish them all up as well but two new projects take the place of one finished one. Maybe it’s not so bad or maybe not always but sometimes. It’s more common with large and boring things. Amigurumies might not take less time than some of the other stuff that are larger but they are tricky. I kind of like it as the motoric crocheting-all-the-same-pattern is tiring. Seems obwious now that I make tiny little things huh?

How many unfinished projects do you have at the moment?

6/31 – Elk Head Trophy.

This is one thing I made last February. Again it was for my lil’ bro. He’s kind of a hunter so it seemed appropriate. It was also designed to be a key chain but as I used the shield-shaped back he decided to hang it on a wall.

I’m not into hunting animals or killing in other purposes as food (which would be essential for living and only normal thing to create a food chain). As much as I don’d like growing animals for killing but that’s yet another topic. Anywho I decided to make him this – a kind of trophy that actually looks more kawaii and less creepy. Which do you prefer – real animal trophies or amigurumi?

It’s once again made of Bio-Baumwolle organic cotton yarn. I really love it – so soft and easy to work with. I also have another kind of eco-cotton that is a bit finer and I like that one just as much. They just feel completely different than any other kind of yarns.

As the recipient got home with it my dad (also a hunter) wanted me to make more so he could give them away to his fellow huntsmen. So I did. None of them looks exactly the same but there is a theme. I shall post the others in another time.

The trophy could also be used as said a key chain, charm or maybe even a Christmas ornament – you can even add a little santa’s hat or the red nose as for Rudolph.

This one was made in 4 pieces – head, muzzle and two ears however I later worked the muzzle and head in one piece. Worked out pretty much the same.

I was actually quite surprised how well i had worked out.

Graduation Owlie.

This one is another project that I forgot to take pictures of before packing it in or giving it away. I made it for my brother when he graduated university in June. I like the simple shape of it although I altered it as the original pattern was kind ow weird for me. It asked for crocheting the top half (in green) then finishing off and making the bottom half (in brown) and then I should have sewn it all together. I didn’t see the point so I made it all in one piece. I like it!

I added the green tassel as I think this was their schools colour – on the logos, occur etc.

I asked my lil’ bro to take a pictures and so he sent me a couple. I quite like this as a birdie on a twig or smth. I can’t make anything like this in my place as I have no plants – had some herbs and tomatoes in the summer but those are out for now.

I also made it as a part of our local Isetegija craft forum challenge (see the banner that says “TK ÖÖKULL”). I have not quite understood why the owl theme is so popular lately but this one seemed kawaii enough to make. I used Bio-Baumwolle eco-cotton yarn and safety eyes. It feels so soft in hand and the fibrefill makes it so squishable.

What do you think of owls as so popular design element everyone seems to like lately?