crochet time!!

a progression of projects!

i've begun to figure out what i'm NOT good at - projects w/ bulky drape, projects that require a lot of joining and/or sewing parts, projects w/ blocking, etc.

basically i've found that i have no patience for things like waiting for blocked granny squares to dry and i prefer small projects w/ super simple shapes. now that i'm more familiar w/ reading patterns, i can skim one and quickly determine whether the pattern i will be following is intuitive. if it's not and i'm counting some 19 rows of a weird number like 73 stitches, i'm gonna bail. soon i'll start a long-term project like an afghan or even the relatively smaller giant blue totoro, but i have yet to find a pattern for something that i really love AND can alter to make it my own.

my first "big" project: a bearghan i made for rach's birthday. looking back, i would have made it into a pig or something cuter than this stupid bear face as well as used the same brand of yarn for each color. making each square was super quick even w/ all the color changes, but because several of the yarn colors were of different brands, some squares turned out bulkier or smaller/bigger than others. i also didn't know about blocking yet, so the bearghan was super lumpy not only because of varying thicknesses of yarn but also because all the fibers were not relaxed. with what i know now, if i'm ever going to do another afghan, i'll have to have the time and patience do it the RIGHT way.

bibo bunny, which i made from some of the leftover caron one pound yarn (super sturdy worsted weight) in soft sage. a good project for practicing crocheting in the round, sewing on parts and embroidering. no plastic notions on this one.

bender! aka, bender bending rodriguez. i followed this pattern exactly except that i didn't include his little fingers as i myself have clumsy hot dog fingers and get insanely frustrated working tiny crochet details with a relatively giant F or G hook. i used red heart super saver in grey heather and the thicker red heart sport in black to make the details stand out more. i finished him in a little over 2 weeks.

here you can see how big he is. his torso is super fat and a lot bigger than i expected after stuffing. reading the pattern was a challenge as i was still a super beginner so it was really satisfying to see the shapes actually turn out right. and for having so many body parts to sew on, bender was surprisingly fun to put together.

white totoro taught me that i hate sewing through multiple layers. hate hate hate. the cute shape of this little guy is ruined by my crappy sewing and trying to embroider that black outline around the eyes. ugh. the ears were fun to make though and i learned how to join 2 pieces together and continue crocheting in the round for the remainder of its body.

i bought this racecar pattern when i discovered etsy. i don't understand why i thought this was even cute in the first place and i can't believe i PAID for it!! this project confirmed that i also hate both crocheting small details and trying to embroider with bulky worsted weight. it did teach me the importance of a pattern that is intuitive and simple though. if i ever get over my resentment i'd like to re-write this one to make the body and wheels smoother and simpler.

there's no helping the driver man. he looks angry and lumpy and i am not interested in doing anything with him. a cute idea but lazy or just BAD execution in the pattern writing.

i never got to share this happy poo, because joey chewed it up immediately after i took this photo. cute but definitely not the funnest project, particularly jamming 6mm eyes into what was by then a virtual chinese finger trap. made in red heart sport in wood brown.

i love these coasters. super simple and perfect. i used sugar 'n cream in (i think) hot green. cotton is really different to crochet with. i found that i need to be aware of keeping my stitches a consistent tightness or looseness when working with it as there is zero stretch to it. make your stitches too tight or too loose and you have all these gaping holes. this is especially no good in the case of a stuffed project.

toaster cell phone holder! this is my own pattern but i originally got the idea from laura who requested i make her one as well as sky magenta on etsy who just HAPPENED to have this pattern! the original pattern is for a toaster that's much bigger so i re-wrote it to make it quite a bit smaller and shaped it for squarer edges. months later, i saw that there was specifically a toaster cell phone holder pattern on sky magenta too! all done in red heart super saver in heather grey and aran.

hot dog from an awesome vegan blog called bittersweet. the mustard was good practice in embroidering with crochet, which was surprisingly easy! i followed this pattern exactly and used red heart sport in wood brown for the hot dog, red heart super saver in aran and warm brown for the bun. it's really nice in a pattern when the number of stitches match up just right for sewing together.

my favorite project thus far. originally based on beary jackson, the details were changed to create ninja turtles. i then re-wrote some parts (the shells, masks, legs, etc.) so that the repetition in making all the parts was a little easier. i also used 9mm eyes instead of the giant ones w/ colored irises, which i find just creepy.

butts / shells. the masks are simply singles chain rows to the desired thickness and for a length long enough so that i could tie a double knot around their huge heads.

i chose softer colors for their bodies. the heads and limbs are in red heart super saver frosty green, bodies are in warm brown, the shells are in wood brown and the masks are in the brightest red, orange, purple and blue i could find in my scraps.

raphael sitting. i like that none of the limbs needed to be stuffed before sewing onto the body. it makes them look like rag dolls.

raphael's back. i thought about adding more detail to these, like their belts and weapons, but in the end i like how simple and clean-looking they turned out. those details would have to be made out of something other than worsted weight in order to keep them looking neat.

apple sans worm from ana paula rimoli's book amigurumi world. her ideas are TOO CUTE. i love the little leaf. i wanted this to look super pigmented and heavier so i used red heart sport in jockey red and filled the bottom half w/ rice.

ana paula rimoli again. her cupcake is the very first amigurumi i ever successfully completed. i chose red heart super saver in aran for the cream cheese frosting and red heart sport in jockey red for the red velvet cake.

red heart super saver in petal pink for the birthday frosting and aran for the vanilla cake. i sewed on some random seed beads as sprinkles before stuffing.

here's the set! with a mocha and a lemon :)

i re-used the box after scarfing down some trader joe's mini carrot cakes, which are delicioussss.

my version of pandy bear. i used red heart super saver in dark orchid instead of the pale green, made the ears bigger, the legs longer, and left the arms and leg unstuffed. for once, my embroidery (on its face) is not too horrendous.

these little duckies are also inspired by ana paula rimoli's tiny amigurumi ducks. i gave them to jon and annie before they went back to taiwan. i left off the wings and feet, and instead of having them sit, i made a round "feet" base for them to stand up on. finished them off w/ 6mm eyes and colored bows. minor changes and they're still cute but totally transformed.

yet another project inspired by ana paula rimoli. i started w/ ana paula's cat & mouse pattern. the cat is mainly red heart super saver in dark orchid instead of light brown. the embroidery for the mouth is black instead of pink, i left out the lighter colored eye circles and made my own collar w/ single chains and a tied-on adjustable ring. i also left all of the limbs unstuffed as the finished cat is fat enough as it is. the batman is the EXACT same pattern except that i made color changes from black to heather grey for the body, arms, and legs. i cut out shapes for the eyes, mouth and batman logo from colored felt and hand sewed them onto the crocheted parts. his belt is just a chain, secured to his body w/ a few random sewed stitches. he has a cape on as well, which i did freehand and of course i forgot to write down my pattern as i went.

ana paula again. this tiny cat started out as the tiny amigurumi kitty from amigurumi world. again, i left out the paws as this guy sits up fine all by himself. i did a chain and an adjustable ring for its collar and another chain for its tail. the rest is her pattern exactly. finally my embroidery is getting less ugly. it's still not great at all but better.

now that i'm somewhat better at reading patterns and crocheting in the round, i wanted to get into using tiny hooks and thread instead of yarn. i tried these blue swirl earrings. they took me a while to figure out, and when i eventually completed my test run, they didn't turn out great and the cotton yarn was pretty much breaking apart. i had some coats and clark classic royale size 10 crochet thread that i've been wanting to use, so i tried my own pattern and made these in orchid pink. quick block of running them under water and drying them in between paper towels with mugs on top and they were done! i plan to make a bunch of these in a ton of different colors.

Math + Crocheting

http://www.livescience.com/technology/080606-math-knit.html

The End of the Affair

On a summer evening in Paris, Hugh and I went to see The End of the Affair, a Neil Jordan adaptation of the Graham Greene novel. I had trouble keeping my eyes open because I was tired and not completely engaged. Hugh had trouble keeping his eyes open because they were essentially swollen shut: he sobbed from beginning to end, and by the time we left the theater, he was completely dehydrated. I asked if he always cried during comedies, and he accused me of being grossly insensitive, a charge I'm trying to plea-bargain down to simply obnoxious.

Looking back, I should have known better than to accompany Hugh to a love story. Such movies are always a danger, as unlike battling aliens or going undercover to track a serial killer, falling in love is something most adults have actually experienced at some point in their lives. The theme is universal and encourages the viewer to make a number of unhealthy comparisons, ultimately raising the question, "Why can't our lives be like that?" It's a box best left unopened, and its avoidance explains the continued popularity of vampire epics and martial-arts extravaganzas.

The End of the Affair made me look like an absolute toad. The movie's voracious couple was played by Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore, who did everything but eat each other. Their love was doomed and clandestine, and even when the bombs were falling, they looked radiant. The picture was fairly highbrow, so I was surprised when the director employed a device most often seen in TV movies of the week: everything's going along just fine and then one of the characters either coughs or sneezes, meaning tha within twenty minutes he or she will be dead. It might have been different had Julianne Moore suddenly started bleeding from the eyes, but coughing, in and of itself, is fairly pedestrian. When she did it, Hugh cried. When I did it, he punched me in the shoulder and told me to move. "I can't wait until she dies," I whispered. I don't know if it was their good looks or their passion, but something about Julianne Moore and Ralph Fiennes put me on the defensive.

I'm not as unfeeling as Hugh accuses me of being, but things change once you've been together for more than ten years. They rarely make movies about long-term couples, and for good reason: our lives are boring. The courtship had its moments, but now we've become the predictable Part II no one in his right mind would ever pay to see. ("Look, they're opening their electric bill!") Hugh and I have been together for so long that in order to arouse extraordinary passion, we need to engage in physical combat. Once, he hit me on the back of the head with a broken wineglass, and I fell to the floor pretending to be unconscious. That was romantic, or would have been had he rushed to my side rather than stepping over my body to fetch the dustpan.

Call me unimaginative, but I still can't think of anyone else I'd rather be with. On our worst days, I figure things will work themselves out. Otherwise, I really don't give our problems much thought. Neither of us would ever publicly display affection; we're just not that type. We can't profess love without talking through hand puppets, and we'd never consciously sit down to discuss our relationship. These, to me, are good things. They were fine with Hugh as well, until he saw that damned movie and was reminded that he has other options.

The picture ended at about ten, and afterward we went for coffee at a little place across the street from the Luxembourg Gardens. I was ready to wipe the movie out of my mind, but Hugh was still under its spell. He looked as though his life had not only passed him by but paused along the way to spit in his face. Our coffee arrived, and as he blew his nose into a napkin, I encouraged him to look on the bright side. "Listen," I said, "we maybe don't live in wartime London, but in terms of the occasional bomb scare, Paris is a pretty close second. We both love bacon and country music, what more could you possibly want?"

What more could he want? It was an incredibly stupid question and when he failed to answer, I was reminded of just how lucky I truly am. Movie characters might chase each other through the fog or race down the stairs of burning buildings, but that's for beginners. Real love amounts to withholding the truth, even when you're offered the perfect opportunity to hurt someone's feelings. I wanted to say something to this effect, but my hand puppets were back home in their drawer. Instead, I pulled my chair a few inches closer, and we sat silently at our little table on the square, looking for all the world like two people in love.

do you have time for awesome?

jose cooking eggs
an egg is the perfect food and jose is my future bff.

where is he now?
i love this boy.