Crochet Snakes - SSssssss

Snakes
Ravelry - Snake

I needed a creative break from the teachers kids gifts and decided to make this snake pattern I found on Ravelry. It worked up really quick. I had originally decide to sew the top and bottom together with a whip stitch but I didn't like the look and It bled stuffing. I ended up sc joining the top and bottom and though its really flat it looks fine. The camo and yellow variegated yarns look better together than I thought they would. My son adores the finished product and has tried to 'wear' it to school.

I later made my own attempt with the camo yarn in a continuous spiral sc. The head was shaped with different stitches and inc and dec. He turned out really well. I wish I'd written it down. I might try to reproduce it. I started at the nose with a magic ring. at about row 4 I took a piece of yarn through a stitch to mark the bottom or belly. After that increases where only done on the top of the head. One row had a sc and a hdc and another row was a sc3tog, sc2tog, sc3tog centered on the top. From then the body was decreased on the sides. Toward the tail there was a decrease on each side and then a single dec on the top. The final stitches were woven with the tail and cinched shut. I stuffed and shaped the head and then continued to stuff every couple of rows loosely to give the body plenty of bend.

I have this huge bag of fiberfill so I'm thinking that there will be more animals in my near future. I also want to make my oldest son a new hat. He wears the winter hat I made him last year near constantly. I think I might need new yarn for that though. I'm also considering another scrap blanket. I like the design of the multi squares in rows you then sew together.

Dragon egg - Easter egg pouch

Ravelry - Dragon Eggs
Site - Dragon Eggs

Had to nix these as gifts for  my sons teachers kids. I was worried about giving the young ones anything with beads. But these are really neat. The bottom of mine is done to 24 stitches. A back loop round then continued as written but smaller. Its a 4 stitch pattern and as long as your circumference stitch count is divisible by 4 you can adjust the size up or down.

Easter gift for teachers kids

Butterfly Purse, for 5 yr old girl

I saw a you tube video in which a snail bag was made. I loved it. I thought a butterfly would be a cute design for a little girl. The front and back are 2 triangle motifs with rounds counts of 3 and 4 for the top and bottom wings. A strip was joined to both sides with sc giving the purse width. I thought it looked plain so I added the colored circles and tear drops. The center 'body' is crochet in a continuous spiral and stuff with fiberfill. the strap is a magic circle with chain loops for petals (10ch) 2 petals at ch5 slst around previous flower petal and ch4 to join in a chain. The multi colored chain and cinch around the butterfly's neck pulls and hold the purse closed. I'm of mixed opinion about the finished product. Perhaps its too much pink.

Bunny Lovey, for 3 yr old girl

The original ideal was for a combination small blanket - stuffed animal. I ended up making the animal with a blanket 'swatch' for a body. The bunny head has big ears and sleepy eyes. There are paws with little pink 'pads' and even a fluffy pom bunny butt. It's cute in a Beatrice Potter sort of way. Again mixed feelings about the finished work.

Shark pouch, for 7 yr old boy
Ravelry - Shark Pouch
Moogly Site - Shark Time Pouch

A design by Moogly. Though its a bit stubby. I left out a few rounds because it was a small skein of yarn. At just over 10" its certainly capable of holding pencils or markers. It's an interesting almost metallic denim color and the plastic eyes are hot glued on. The zipper worked well and was salvaged from an old purse. This I like.

This teachers children were a bit younger then I originally thought. That means the 'dice pouch' I shrunk to a smaller egg shaped bag with beaded ties wasn't such a good ideal. No beads on the purse as well. And all the other pieces needed to be crochet and securely attached so they weren't exactly what I first envisioned. I guess its fine for the little thank you I wanted to extend. Maybe I just doubt my own projects a bit too much. Ehh, they're kids, if the items hold their interest for more then 30 minutes combined after the Easter weekend I'd be amazed.

Crochet MineCraft Blanket

Minecraft Blanket

I was brought out of my crochet withdraw by a small table topper my grandmother sent for me to finish for her. She has dealt with worsening eyesight and the last round certainly showed that while she could still complete stitches the placement was a whole other matter. I completed the pattern and added a finishing round when I ran out of the cotton yarn she'd used. It was only 12" across and she had done most of the work but it got me back to crocheting and I was soon looking for a project of my own to complete. Easter is just around the corner so I looked to that for inspiration. My youngest son is picky but one of the most appreciative recipients of my sometimes strange ideals. I bought a green plastic bowl (It looks like a punch bowl) at Walmart after Christmas and was holding it to make a Minecraft Easter basket for my little square head. His minecraft figures went over well for his birthday. I have seen Minecraft candy online but have yet to actually see any in a store. I was hoping for at least green marshmallow bunnies but they have the strangest flavor 'peeps' this year. Sooo anyway I decided to make a blanket to fill the 'basket'. The recent cold and snow made it the ideal option. The creeper seems to be a popular subject as there were plenty of version when I searched. It really wasn't something you needed a pattern for though. Random shades of green + black 'face', right? I committed to the ideal in the yarn isle at Walmart. Really there isn't much of a selection at the store we frequent but I picked up 3 shades of green and a gray. I figured I had most of a black skein and plenty of green in the scrap bag. The green I was fine on. The black required a trip to purchase a whole skein and every scrap of black I could find in the house. I had a pair of boots to a batman ensemble I was totally prepared to frog but I made it. The blanket is 100 squares, 20 of those are black. I used a H hook and a generic granny square pattern and Paint Shop to lay out the design and add in my colors. The yarn was Redheart SS. The main greens were 7oz/364yd skeins of Sping Green, glowworm, & jade. The gray was a 5oz/236yd skein of grey heather. They didn't have a gray in the larger size. <<shrug>> Paint worked really well for this. I could adjust the approximation of the colors I had and set them up before I invested time making any squares. I used the main colors I had first and adjusted as I knew how many extra color squares I'd need. The 7oz skeins made 15 five round grannies with a medium ball left over. I might have gotten one more square out of it but more likely it would have come up short. If your lucky enough to have a yarn budget you would be best to pick 7 greens, 1 gray (or your preference. possibly beige, brown or white), and 2 skeins of black. (maybe that jumbo skein) 24 yards for each square to be safe. The additional color scraps I used where in a bright xmas green, dark mint, sage, and forest green. Plus one square of bright green I needed to fill a spot. I'll include 2 jpg that I made showing the adjusted color scheme of the final product. One is full color which I used as a reference and the other is b&w that I printed out to keep with the project as a guide. I used the join as you go method to have no bulk or line between squares and no boarder. When I started I added the squares as I made them but realized I'd need to ration out the yarn. Not to mention the black held me up a bit as I tried to work around it. I ended up crocheting the 5 round squares but not tying them off just leaving a short tail and cutting the yarn. Once I had the pile of completed squares I would pull out 3/4 of the last round and join it to the others. I often had a longer tail after the join. Probably because I made tighter stitches as I maneuvered the rest of the blanket to add the squares. The 20 black squares are the only must  in the design. (24 yds x 20 = 480 yds min of black)

Square Counts
A glowworm 15
B spring green 15
C jade 14
D bright xmas green 8
E dark mint 6
F sage 5
G forest green 8
H black 20
I gray 8
+1 bright green 1

The granny square was a chain 3 with a sl st to join.  ch 3, in the ring 2dc, ch 2,( 3dc, ch2, ) x3, join with sl st in top of ch3, sl st in each dc and ch space to move to starting space for new round, ch 3, 2 dc, ch 3, 3 dc in starting corner. Each round will have 3dc, ch3, 3dc in the corners and 1ch between the side clusters

I specifically used these stitches for the granny because of the join as you go method. I needed to have the corner counts at 3 so I could ch1, slst, ch1 and have a matching number of stitches just as the ch1 & slst in between the side clusters. Otherwise its a matter of preference. The squares measure approx 5 " give or take an 1/8 or so. That puts the 10x10 square blanket at 50x50 inches (probably closer to 51) The nature of the subject is square but I suppose you could lengthen it in one direction by a row on each end to cover a twin size bed. I'd hear it if it was less then square so that's how I'll leave it. It will be used on the couch or as a wrap anyway. Knowing the wear I wouldn't use much else that the cheap RH acrylic yarn but I've read many blogs that claim to soften the yarn with a shampoo wash and conditioner soak. I've tried it with a smaller project in a medium tub but the blanket I was wondering if I could use the washer itself on a delicate cycle. I haven't seen any horror stories with conditioner in the washer but it would be my luck. Wouldn't fabric softener have a similar effect?

This post was delayed because my camera hates all batteries but the rechargeable ones I can't find the charger for.

Poo Bear Face

So I have this red polo shirt that is really comfortable. It unfortunately has the logo of a former employer above the left breast. I figure what better to put on a red shirt then poo bear. Right. I attempted to make a face to stitch to the shirt. It was HUGE. I made one a bit smaller but not small enough. And then I lost interest. Two Poo faces into the FO box.

It's really March already?

Wow. Time has flown by. I got most of the teacher and helper items done for xmas and put the needles away for a bit. The Celtic bag never got finished. More because I have to borrow a sewing machine than anything else. The beginning of the year has been cold. really cold. When I get the pics done to post I have a new  warm slipper to show off and not much else. I made my son a black wrist band with the pink ribbon logo for breast cancer to celebrate the return of his former teacher who is back after her battle with cancer. (No pics there) Besides digging into the scrap bag for odds and ends I haven't been inspired. A few days ago my grandmother sent a WIP she's had for some time to me. Her eyesight has made it hard for her to continue to crochet. Finishing off the cotton round table topper was enough to get me checking out patterns. My mom usually makes bunny baskets to hold her homemade chocolate eggs for teachers for Easter. This year the cold seems to have her hands hurting too much to make them. We re purposed the apple cover owls I made that never made it to school for the job. I've since found a project or two to work on. A few dragon egg drawstring pouches made like Easter eggs and a blanket for my youngest. The 'Creeper' from minecraft done in granny squares and using much more black yarn than I was expecting should be done in another day or two.