Warm weather wear

Around my neck of the woods we're experiencing some record breaking heat, about 90 degrees F. Combine that with the fact that Renaissance Faire season is approaching and you have my first crack at a snood!

I actually just modified the market bag pattern and used size 10 cotton thread. It's all double stitches worked in the round with a space in between.

I like how it turned out for the most part. I feel the cotton thread is a little stiff, it kind of stays in the same shape when I take it off. I would like a more fluid thread for my next one. My guess is a nylon thread would have more weight and would give the desired effect.

I would also like something in more of a diamond pattern like here http://www.everaftercostumes.com/snood_carolyn2.jpg (the pearls are a nice touch too), but I haven't figured out how to do it yet. Is that pattern started from the back and increased up or from the front and decreased down?

This snood is fine for now, but I would like an improved one by the time I hit up the next Renn Faire (which will most likely be July or August) so I've got a little time (but not much!)

A Lesson Learned

I was very proud of myself for having finished the market bag in one sitting!

However, I woke up this morning with a painful twinge in my left ring finger knuckle and radiating down to my elbow in one line (it must be a specific tendon I aggravated). My hand was cramping up a bit while I was making my bag, but I decided to push through since I was really close to finishing. Next time I will definitely listen to my body, I'd hate to do permanant damage and not be able to crochet anymore.

In any case, the bag came out great, can't wait till the next opportunity I get to use it (what with all the farmer's markets coming this summer!)

And I'm proud of myself for actually buying exactly the amount I needed haha!

Adventures in Yarn!

Just got back from A.C. Moore with brand new yarns to play with!

Although I find acrylic yarn like the super saver variety to be optimal for making amigurumi, I've always wanted to experiment with different types of yarns. In this case I picked up two different cotton blends and a stitch nation wool. I'm not sure the picture really shows the hue of purple the wool is in, but I can tell you it's absolutely irresistible, almost incandescent. The color is listed as "passion fruit"

I also discovered why wool is optimal for felting, as the stray strands I had pulled out to inspect it pretty much started clinging to each other just by being tossled around in the bag I was carrying on the way home. I've always wanted to learn felting, so now that I finally have some wool to felt I'll definitely be taking the opportunity.

I also picked up a few rolls of cotton yarn (including the eco blend). The brown yarn I've reserved for a market bag pattern I saw on the lion brand website. You can find it at http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/80803AD.html?noImages=. I've been wanting to crochet a market bag since watching Vicky Christina Barcelona (one of my favorite movies!)

I couldn't find a good screen shot of it but you can kind of see it here, from http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/05/12/first-look-woody-allens-vicky-cristina-barcelona/

( I guess you know you crochet too much when you obsess over props in a movie haha).

I decided to pick up the green eco cotton as well to play with. I would love to come up with a leaf pattern to use, either for flowers or flower like creatures I come up with.

The anticipation is killing me so I'm off to play with my new stuff!

Let the Adventure Begin!

Good day fellow crocheters, knitters, doll makers and crafters of all mediums! Welcome to my first crack at a blog in an attempt to document and share my favorite hobby.

To give a little background about myself, I was first taught the ways of the hooker by my dear grandma when i was but a wee one. However, being young and stupid, I didn't really make it a point to retain what she imparted. It wasn't until I was older and slightly less stupid that I came across one of the many adorable amigurumi critters scattered around the world wide web. I quickly set upon relearning what i had unlearned, and in short time i was making critters on my own for myself and friends.

Although its common knowledge that everything is on the internet (especially when safe search is turned off ;~; ), I was still surprised to discover a humongous community of amazingly talented crafters out there. Their amazing creations have been an inspiration to me.

I've since been on a personal quest to better myself at my craft, and so am throwing myself into this great global community to learn, share, and push forward the craft of amigurumi. In doing so, I hope to not only become a better crafter for my own part, but to also be a resource for those of you out there who are looking for information, inspiration, and discussion.

While this blog will focus mainly on amigurumi, I will also hopefully get a chance to discuss other crafts and aspects of crafting such as general crocheting, knitting, quilting, etc. I'm a huge fan of all things hand made and will definitly be posting my adventures in other mediums as well. I'm an equal opportunity crafter!

So without further ado, I present to you an amigurumi I cooked up to brighten up my kitchen. Summer's almost here and I can't wait for all the great fresh fruit that'll be available. So I made a little amigurumi lime and lemon:

Amigurumi Lemon and Lime

I used Red Heart Super Saver colors Bright Yellow and Spring Green, a size E crochet needle, 6mm safety eyes, and black embroidery thread. You'll need to know how to magic circle to start, single crochet, and decrease.

Key:

sc = single crochet

dec = decrease

(n) = number of stitches in round

Magic circle 6

round 1: 2 sc in each sc (12)

round 2: 1 sc in each sc (12)

round 3: 1 sc, 2 sc, repeat untill end (18)

round 4: 1 sc, 1 sc, 2 sc untill end (24)

round 51 sc 1sc 1sc 2sc around till end (30)

rounds 6-13: 1 sc in each sc (30)

round 14: 1 sc, 1 sc, 1 sc, dec in sc, repeat until end (24)

round 15: 1 sc, 1 sc, dec in sc, repeat until end (18)

round 16: 1 sc, dec in sc, repeat until end (12)

round 17: 1sc in each sc (12)

round 18: 1 sc in each sc (12)

bind off

If you have the happy fortune of stumbling upon this blog and use this pattern, I would love to hear your feedback!

And just to get the unpleasant legal stuff out of the way, please note that all patterns that I post are copyrighted by me and can be reproduced under the creative commons licence with proper attribution to me and my site. Please contact me if you have any questions about the licence for this pattern!

This work by Nicola Correia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License