Mixed Breed

I was recently contacted by a previous client to see if I could make her a baby sweater and rattle set for her new baby girl.  She wanted the sweater to feature an applique of a dog similar to her beloved little pet - a black half scottish terrier half cocker spaniel with a schnauzer haircut!  We did a little digging and found a great applique at my favorite doggy-related Etsy store.  The sweater turned out very sweet in red and white stripes with the black dog.

The rattle pattern was another Etsy find.  While the seller of the pattern does not allow them to be made for sale in large quantities, she granted me permission to make one for my client.  Such a cute cute pattern!  I was a little confused by the sewing on of the legs of this guy, but once I got it all tacked down I was very satisfied.  And best of all, the client was very happy with how it turned out!

Old Favorites

I have had several more orders this month, including two of my old favorite amigurumi patterns, Gina Giraffe and Oliver Dino.  It had been a long time since I made the Oliver pattern and I remembered how I had to do some tweaking to the pattern the first time around to make it come out right.  This time I tweaked again and noted my changes.  Hopefully it will be easier if I ever make it again. 

I've made the Gina so many times now I hardly even have to look at the pattern.  But I always love the results!

Both of these were burp cloth/rattle sets and I was very happy to have found some great coordinating fabrics at our local craft store.  Aren't these little giraffes so sweet? :)

Molecular Love

My sister and I are both a bit geeky.  For those of you who know either one of us, this is probably not much of a surprise.  To be honest, we came by it naturally.  Our dad is an engineer, our brother is an engineer, I have a BS in chemistry, my sister teaches high school chemistry, biology and physics.  Geekiness (geekyness? geeky-ness?) is in our blood.  Needless to say, I was totally tickled when my sister asked me to make two stuffed molecule rattles for a friend of hers who is expecting this summer!  She requested methane (CH4) and water (H2O).

We went with traditional colors for the methane C-black and H-yellow, but for the water we went with pink and white since we just found out the baby is a girl.

I will admit I totally looked up the relative atomic radii of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and their respective bond lengths and made these molecules accordingly!  I just couldn't help myself :)  I didn't have to look up the bond angles (I still remembered those from my pre-children days).

On a side note, craftiness also runs strongly in our family's veins.  My mom ran a craft consignment store when we were little out of the detached garage behind our house.  She made pottery and sold all kinds of crafts.  I have very vivid memories of my preschool winter days, stirring the hot apple cider on the antique gas stove that was her grandmothers while customers roamed through "Nana's Cupboard" looking at all the locally made treasures!  I know that my love for crafting comes straight from my mom.   My sister has recently discovered her own crafty passion: jewelry and soapmaking.  She opened an Etsy store this winter where she sells handmade jewelry, stitch markers, and soaps.  Check out Endless Forms to see what she's got!

Tiny Gina

I got a request this week for a Gina Giraffe rattle worked in the 4-6" tall size range.  The pattern yields a giraffe that is about 10-12" tall, so I wasn't sure if I could miniaturize it.  However, after an afternoon of crocheting I came up with this guy:

He turned out so cute!  Just barely big enough to fit a rattle inside.

I have made enough of the original pattern that I knew the general shape of each of the pieces, so I simply stopped increasing a few rounds early and followed the shaping in the pattern.  I still used worsted weight yarn so he's nice and durable.   Hopefully he'll get a lot of love for years to come!

Fishy Business

My son's best friend has a goldfish, Goldie.  He is very fond of this fish, and to honor the beloved pet his mom asked me to make a goldfish stuffie for her son for Christmas. 

I couldn't find a pattern out there for a goldfish so I had to improvise.  I had so much fun putting together this little guy - from the fishy shaped body, to the ribbed tail and multiple fins,  to the bulging fishy eyes! 

I'm really happy with how he turned out! and the addition of the smooching fish lips as suggested by the client really pulled it all together.  I'm sure this will be a much better playmate than the real thing :)

Little Lady

I got the chance to make one of my favorite patterns again, this time with a ladybug theme.  The sweater and ladybug rattle are made in a soft washable yarn.   I had Steph from TwoKazoos make the ladybug.  She does such a great job and I always end up with just what I'm looking for.  The little plush rattle was made to match the applique exactly, which I just get such a kick out of! 

If you were thinking of buying handmade this Christmas its not to early to place an order.  Since handmade items take time and care to produce, put your order in early to guarantee we can get it to you in time for the holidays!  If you're interested in a sweater set or any other Knits and Knots item you can visit the Custom Order and Pricing pages for more info.

Stackers

A friend contacted me a few weeks ago with a custom order request for a crocheted stacking rings set.  It turned out so cute!  The pattern can be found on the JoAnn website. 

I love all the little details:

the tail and wings on the dragonfly

two sizes of spots on the ladybug

the stripes, stinger, and antennae on the bee

 

the lily pads and flowers on the base

 

and the cute little frog face on the pole!

Cute Kangaroo

photo courtesy of VintagePatternHouse on Etsy

I found this sweet vintage pattern on Etsy to make for a friend who requested a Kangaroo for her expected baby girl.  She wanted a standard Kangaroo color.  The pattern was interesting, my first knitted ami.  I think if I were to make it again I might make a few changes, but it was a pretty good pattern.  One of the cutest things was that the little Joey is removable so as the baby grows she'll get to play with a baby of her own :)

Giraffe Baby Set

My most recent custom order was a burp cloth and rattle set for a friend's baby.  She wanted a giraffe theme and non-traditional colors.  I found these gorgeous animal print and coordinating polka dot fabrics on Sew and Sew Fabric and bought a lovely leaf-green flannel for the backing.  There is cotton batting as the middle layer to make these cloths nice and absorbent.

My friend chose the Gina the Giraffe pattern for the rattle and I matched the colors to the animal fabric.  I just love the way this set turned out!

A Little Elephanty

This post will be a little elephanty today :)






The little elephant ami has a cat ball inside to give it that little tinkly sound all kids love. The blanket is all flannel with a silky red binding. By the end of the day I hope to have this set up on my Etsy store!

Baby Wrap

To cure my latest itch to make a baby sweater I started stalking patterns on Ravelry. Once I came across the Offset Wraplan I had to make one. Not only is the pattern free, but its SUPER cute and can be customized in so many fun different ways. I decided to make one for a friend who is due with her first child, a boy, in about 3 weeks.


I thought the sweater looked cutest when it was striped, so I picked out some super soft wool/acrylic blend yarn (Caron Country) in a light green and cream. I had seen several examples where people had put a cute little felt embellishment on the lower left side of the sweater. Since I already had made a baby owl rattle and matching burp cloths, I decided putting a little brown owl on the sweater would make the whole thing match and I would have a whole baby set! I contacted my friend Stephanie on from Two Kazoos who makes the cutest felt items and commissioned her to make me an embellishment. I sent her a photo of my rattle, and a close-up of the burp cloth material, told her the size I wanted and she made an almost exact match for me!


I have to say, I am more proud of this baby set than I am of probably anything I've made before. I made every single bit of each item (besides the little felt owl and the buttons, of course!) and each stitch was done with love. It feels really good to give something that was so much a part of myself. It takes more sacrifice for me to spend my time making something for someone than to spend my money purchasing something. While you'll still find me shopping for many occasions, I am definitely making it my goal to give more of myself and less of my money over the next few years.

Little Turtle

I made this little guy a few weeks ago for my son. I find it difficult to think of things to make for him, being a boy and all, and I finally hit on an idea I thought he'd appreciate. His new favorite color of the moment was green, and I had some camo yarn lying around. Thinking of what to make with camo yarn that wasn't war-related (he's only 4, you know, I'm trying to preserve innocence here!) I thought a turtle would be a good fit.

I did some double crochet shells in the round for the shell of the turtle, and a single crochet oval shape for the belly, all in camo. Then I made a head, four matching legs, and a triangle for a tail in the green leftover from making Marky. I thought he turned out pretty cute! My son liked him a lot.... for about 5 minutes, then went back to playing with his other toys. Now you know the other reason I hardly ever make things for him! My daughter has pretty much adopted him since that time. Go figure!

My Marky

I finished my very last auction custom order yesterday! It is Marky the Monkey from Forever T & M Crochet Patterns. I have loved this pattern for a long time, so I was so excited when someone wanted me to make one! Overall the pattern was good. I didn't understand the directions for attaching the muzzle for a long time, but when I did get it figured out it made much more sense. I think explaining it would be difficult no matter who wrote out the directions!

I used white and green at the request of the purchaser (my BIL who is a doctor - I think the colors are related to scrubs/white coat of a doctor, but I didn't ask: just a guess! *edit: nope, he just likes the color green... and monkeys*). I liked it in these colors, but the original dark green/light green was really nice. Its all done in worsted acrylic for machine washability, using a variety of brands, whatever seemed to be the right colors. You gotta love the hoodie - what a cute accessory!

I had a few issues with the pattern, but I think I realized something about it when I was done: I don't like using other people's patterns! I have "issues" with every pattern I use, it seems - maybe I'm the issue! I think I will keep my negative comments to myself from now on unless its a glaringly bad mistake that the author is not willing to correct.

This is what I hope will be done with the monkey when it reaches its intended little one... an ami just isn't worth anything if its not loved on!

Wow, clean toes! That's a rarity on my little one! Hehe, this is totally in here because I think its such a cute picture :)

I'm Sensing a Theme...

It seems like I've been making a lot of cowboy-related items lately. I realize its my fault; it all started with the super cute baby cowboy hat that I just had to make, followed shortly by the baby cowboy booties to match. But the latest two are not my fault! These were custom orders from the auction.

The first is a hat using the Yeehaw Lady pattern from SnB Crochet, but made in a manly brown acryllic instead of red cotton at the request of the purchaser. I was not thrilled with the pattern, and had to adjust it several times before I got a look I was satisfied with. Even after taking a gauge and having to go down several hook sizes, the thing was still a little large. I had to take out one row of the "hat band", and the hat still seemed kind of tall. If I make this pattern again I will be making some major adjustments. I did like the fact that the pattern calls for floral wire to be crocheted into the brim of the hat. It definitely helps the look of the hat and keeps the brim nicely shaped. I used 10 gauge black aluminum floral wire singled instead of thinnner wire doubled like the pattern calls for. It is completely hidden behind the doubled strand of yarn, and hopefully will be weather proof since its coated aluminum. I left off the reverse hdc on the brim as I felt it made the hat even bulkier than it already is. I mean this bad boy has like 9+ oz of worsted weight acryllic in it... it needed no extra bulk!

These photos are admittedly bad. Last night I realized that I was going to have my husband deliver the hat this morning and I hadn't taken any pictures of it! So the photos were taken in the waining daylight, which evidently wasn't good enough for photographing the dark color of the hat. I'll try to update with a photo or two of the recipient sporting his new style when I see him next!

The next item is "Clover the Cow". A friend chose this custom order as a baby gift for her soon to be nephew. His dad used to raise cows - you get the idea. I gave my friend a few cow patterns to look at and she chose two: one each if the baby was a girl or a boy. When they found out the baby was going to be a boy I was getting ready to buy the boyish pattern, but then I thought... surely I can make a cow without a pattern. So I started in and got done with the head and limbs very quickly. As you probably know, the face/head is the most difficult and defining part of an ami, and it took me quite a while to complete. I drew some inspiration from other cow patterns out there and looking at the stuffed animals my kids have collected over the years. It may not be my best work ever, but it is at least as good as the pattern i was willing to pay for, and it was a good challenge!

The JoJo Blanket Pattern

Its finally done! I have completed my JoJo blanket (to go along with my JoJo the Giraffe ami pattern). I am working on writing up the pattern, but its taking longer than I thought. My husband and I didn't have the kids for most of the weekend while we celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary. It was wonderful and relaxing and freeing... and I got none of the work done I hoped to do this weekend, including charting the blanket! Oh well, I'll save that one for another day. I got some great input from my friends at the 'Ville about what to include in the pattern, and I already have testers lined up. I'll be so thrilled to see this one done! It has been my most difficult project so far, as I had never done a blanket before, let alone intarsia! There is such a sense of accomplishment when finishing new and difficult project! I'm really pleased with the results :)

This pattern is now available on Ravelry and at my Etsy store!

Make it from Scratch Carnival

It seems the frog and giraffe are a hit (in the eyes of other adults, if not my children). They were recently featured in the first Make it From Scratch Carnival of 2008 on my friend Joanna's blog. If you're interested in some ideas for homemade goodies or crafts, its a great place to go. Each person featured did something "from scratch" over the holidays that will inspire you for the coming year. Happy New Year, I hope it will be a crafty one!

Stocking Stuffers

I finished Eli's frog (not my pattern) just in time for Christmas. I put the stuffed animals in the kids stockings and was so excited to see their faces in the morning! So the first thing we let them have in the the next day was their stockings... each one took a look at the stocking, pulled the animal out of the top, threw it across the room and dug in to see what was hiding underneath :( Almost like "what's this thing blocking the access to the candy?!" So, there's my lesson... next time I'll wrap them up or something!