Crafting

[KarenD]

Those look great, Kaye! I wouldn't have known they were crappy beads if you hadn't said anything.

[Kayeita]

Karen they have a good weight to them, so they aren't plastic at least, but they're made poorly when you handle them. The "pearl" beads all had like paint chunks at the drilled holes. I still think they turned out pretty though, it's definitely a style I'll make again with better quality wire & beads for sure.

[Teena]

Philip and I are trying to learn how to crochet. So far, I've had way more success than I did with knitting (Philip can knit and I'm SO jealous).

[Heather]

I love crocheting! I just learned a few months ago from a friend who is a crochet whiz. It's so much fun and relaxing and it's pretty easy once you figure it out. There are a lot of great resources online, too. I made a ginormous scarf.

[Teena]

I'm enjoying it so far, which is more than I can say for knitting. (I don't know what it is about knitting that drove me up the wall, but it did.) Although last night I tried making a ring and managed to do it wrong but not notice until I stopped to straighten it out and it wouldn't straighten... because I'd made a Mobius strip instead. I laughed and laughed, and Philip and I decided it was a wonderful first creation, and hung it on the tree. Hey, it was a nice Mobius strip, no gaping holes, no dropped stitches!

[Teena]

I spent about an hour last night looking through the Internet trying to find a site that had not only coherent directions for crocheting a "magic ring", but had decent pictures/drawings, too. I think I made easily a dozen rings that were clearly wrong before finding a site with good directions and pictures... and made a perfect little ring that closed exactly like it was supposed to. I was *this* close to giving up in frustration, but I'm glad I didn't.

[Heather]

the magic ring is tricky. I only did it once when my friend was there helping me. I can't honestly remember how to do it because it was awhile ago. I find most of the time that books are better than internet sites in general, unless you can find a really good site. I have a good crochet for beginners book that my friend gave me.

[Teena]

Oh we have a book (not the Creepy Cute book, although that one isn't much better), which explained (or "explained") the magic ring in only three steps, with three extremely confusing pictures. Step 1: make a loop. Step 2: After 1 stitch, crochet under the working yarn and the tail yarn until you have enough stitches. Step 3: Slip stitch to close. It doesn't say a word about pulling on the tail, it doesn't show that you have to have the working yarn behind the tail to start, etc. Man, I was so frustrated. The rest of this book has been great so far, with clear illustrations and baby steps so I'm not sure why the magic ring instructions turned out so badly.

[Teena]

Here is my very first crochet creation (which you may have already seen if you follow me on Twitter): The Blue Ninja!

He's blue because I'm just learning, and we happen to have blue yarn. He needs a better face made out of felt (the one he has now is just paper) and a sash with a throwing star to be truly complete, but for a first effort I think he turned out well.

[Jamie]

Oh, he's cute! How big is he?

[Teena]

He's about five inches high. I got on this kick because Philip and I were wandering through the craft section at Borders, hoping to find a Christmas present for his grandmother, and we happened to see this book: Creepy Cute. The little Cthulhu on the cover is what caught Philip's eye. We picked it up and flipped through it, and quickly decided that it was time to learn how to crochet.

Edited to add a picture of him complete with a felt face and throwing stars: The Blue Ninja again!

[KarenD]

Very cute, Teena!

[Heather]

My friend has that book, too! She made the Nosferatu once when I was over there and she showed me how to make this adorable cupcake.

[tapestrygirl]

Oh my god. That is adorable Teena! I wish I could make something so cute!

[Kayeita]

I was messing around and made a wire ring today. It turned out cute so I thought I'd share. :)

[KarenD]

Nice! Where did you hide the ends of the wire?

[Kayeita]

I cut the wire at the end of the coils and scrunched it down with the pliers. If I use good wire I'll file it as well as flatten it, but for now on this experiment I did the cut/scrunch thing and felt it with my fingertip and did not get a snag from it, good enough for a test project!

[Teena]

Kayeita, that ring is gorgeous. Nice work!

Here's my second crochet creation, which was a LOT harder and turned out not so great but I love him anyway: Fez Monkey!

[Teena]

I think my fuzzy, multicolored Cthulhu is my best crochet creature yet.

[Kayeita]

omg that is SO CUTE!

[Teena]

I am having so much fun with this crocheting thing. Here is my latest, the Grim Reaper, although I don't have a scythe made for him yet.

I've gotten serious enough to buy a bag to hold all my crochet stuff, and I spent nearly an hour looking at pattern books but didn't buy any... I want to start making bigger things someday, but for now I'm just enjoying making these little creatures too much to move on yet.

[Teena]

I have already gotten better at this... my first attempt at Fez Monkey wasn't too bad, but my second attempt was MUCH better now that I've gotten the hang of keeping tension on the yarn, etc. Here is a comparison picture of the two (the little guy is the second attempt, and how it's supposed to look): Fez Monkey Two!

ETA that I finished the "nurse doll" that my mother requested. It's crooked as hell from the back, but from the front it looks okay: Nurse Doll.

[Jamie]

Teena, this one's for you.

[tapestrygirl]

Now THAT is awesome & crazy.

[Teena]

That's... kind of crazy awesome, isn't it?

[Jamie]

I actually think it's kind of brilliant. If you can make that basic shape, it seems like you could customize it to all kinds of bizarre/trendy characters, for fun and profit.

[Teena]

This Moogle took me forever to make but it's finally done. Well... almost, because he really should have wings, but I've tried several times to make them and I swear I'm following the directions but they just don't turn out right. So he's wingless for now.

(A Moogle is a creature from the Final Fantasy video games, btw.)

[Teena]

For the "recycled art contest" at school, I got a bag of odds and ends yarn from Philip's grandmother. She knits constantly, and ends up with all these little bits of yarn that are too small to do anything with but too long for her to feel comfortable just throwing it out. She asked if I could use them in my classroom, and I probably could, but I said I'd rather use them to make little critters for the contest. I finally started last night, and made my first little critter: an itty bitty turtle. Actually, it was supposed to be a snail but I messed up the shell, so I just flattened it and gave the little guy legs instead.

I got lucky on the yarn, because there was barely enough of the sparkly stuff for the shell. I plan to make as many different little creatures as possible before the contest, and then dump them all in my prize basket after it's over.

[Jamie]

I think these crocheted things (especially the bracelets) are cool, and thought you might, too.

[Teena]

Very cool!

(The faceless animals are a bit creepy, but give 'em some eyes and no problem.)

[Teena]

I crocheted so much yesterday that I actually have some nerve damage in one finger, where the edge of the crochet hook presses. The entire finger was numb for a while and felt really weird when I pushed on that one spot. It's starting to wake up now, and I'm learning how to hold the hook differently so that doesn't happen again. I have found that crocheting is the best thing for me when I'm trying not to worry or stress-snack, so I've been crocheting a LOT.

[Kayeita]

I needed to figure out something to do with my yarn, and Annabella has swapped rooms, so I converted her old closet into a "Wall o' Yarn!"

Here it is empty

Here it is half full!

I need to finish filling it up, should be done soon. I'm excited by it!

[KarenD]

That's great! I have my yarn stuffed into various bags and boxes in a few different rooms and have to look on Ravelry to see what I've got.