Ballerina Mouse

This is the oh so cute Ballerina Mouse that I got on Ravelry.com. Its a Christmas present for my daughter. I realize that Its not even September and the holiday season is 4 months away but I was pretty sure this project would take me forever so I started early. It turned out SO cute and I'm crazy about how darling it is...

 

Here's the yarn I used.

 

 

Monkey Girl...

This adorable toy was found on Ravelry.com.... I love this website!! If you aren't a member and you love to crochet, knit or are just starting to learn, GO and sign up!! Its helped me on my crochet journey. So anyway, As you can see, there are two examples... this monkey was really great practice for me. It has very simple shapes, not too many pieces and the pattern is really well written with a lot of pictures. The ONLY difficulty for me was getting the face perfect. I had to redo the faces at least once on each. But I LOVE how they came out in the end. The Purple one I gave to my little niece for her 2nd birthday... Now what to do with the yellow one. :)

Goomba Monster & Invisible Decrease...

This little "Goomba" was a lot of fun and so easy!! The most difficult part was getting the face just right. I REALLY needed this project. I was having some trouble with some other crochet projects and I was starting to feel like, "I'm never going to be good at this" type of feeling and then I did this little guy and It was SO easy and turned out exactly like the pattern photo!!

He gave me the push to keep learning and keep trying.

Here's the link for the pattern... http://nerdigurumi.com/2009/12/goomba-gurumi-pattern.html

P.s. Don't forget to watch the video at the bottom... :)

 

 

Another GREAT thing I learned with this pattern was how to do an "Invisible Decrease." This is one of the BEST tricks I've learned. Use this technique in place of a regular decrease. It makes your crochet look perfect!! Trust me! So here's the YouTube video on how to do and invisible decrease....

                       

Cupcake Phone Cover...

I found this really cool stitch called the "puff stitch." It looked fun and I didn't seem too complicated so I chose that as my "take a break" project. Well guess what?!.... Dumb move. This stitch doesn't LOOK that hard but for some reason I really struggled with it. After I spent hours and hours perfecting this demon child stitch, I decided to make another cell phone cover. Mostly because its a really simple shape and I was tired of complicated :). So I purchased this beautiful pink yarn and all I needed was the right button.... so I decided that because my daughter LOVES pink I would use her as my inspiration. What does she love most next to the color pink?.... Cupcakes :) So naturally I had to get a cupcake button and Ta Da!! my Lydia inspired phone cover with the puff stitch.... She loves it... :) The post below is how I learned to crochet the "puff stitch." feel free to check it out :)

Crochet Geek - Crochet Puff Stitch

This next video is a new stitch called the puff stitch. feel free to practice. my next post will be all about this video ;)

Mario Mushroom... BLUE

We LOVE everything Mario in my family so when I found this FREE mushroom pattern I had to try it. There were some issues I had with the pattern though. It wasn't written very well so I made a few adjustments. But overall, It turned out great. & that "Magic Ring" I mentioned before was used throughout this whole pattern. Here's the link if your interested... http://auroragurumi.blogspot.com/2012/01/mario-mushroom-amigurumi.html How I made it: I plan on making a RED and GREEN one so I got all the colors I needed... Blue, White, Off White, Red & Green. I was kinda in a hurry to get it all done so I don't have many progress pictures :( This one below is about half way done with the head. In the image below I'm 80% through. All I have to do Is attach the white spots. In the image It looks like they get smaller but they are actually all the same size. Then In the image below I started by pinning the spots to exactly where I wanted them so they all looked evenly spaced. (image below) After I had them placed where I wanted them, I got a quilting needle which is just basically a thick sewing needle and using the white yarn, I sewed the spots onto the mushroom. There you have it!! one mushroom down and 2 more to go! I think I'll go RED next :)

Cozy Owl Cover...

After I did my "mug warmer" I decided to try something a little more challenging... An "owl cell phone case." It looks easy right?!... NOT. I lost count of how many times I took it apart and I had to call up my sister for help. This project drove me crazy! But now that its done, I'm happy with how it turned out and I've chosen another, less frustrating project to work on. :) Maybe something Mario inspired... ;) Here's the link if you want to make this... http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/ilyd/linda-cyr

Magic Ring for Crochet...

I was finding all these AWESOME patterns I wanted to try one day and the one thing I was coming across over and over again was the "Magic Ring." To be honest, I thought of The Lord of the Rings!! what does The "Magic Ring" mean?! well, its just a short cut to make a circular beginning to your project. This is a GREAT video on how to create this... Enjoy!

Learn How to Crochet - Part 1

Contrary to popular belief, I did NOT just "figure it out." I spent a few day's looking up video's and articles about all the secrets of crocheting. My very successful first crochet would NOT have been possible without this video and more like it. I'm a very visual learner and YouTube has become my new best friend. :) Go to this link for How to Crochet Part II... http://youtu.be/DlTdOMTDkug Enjoy!
Another thing that helped me was finding this awesome list of crochet abbreviations: Common Crochet Abbreviations approx - approximately beg - begin(ning) bet - between blp - back loop only BP - back post CC - contrast color ch - chain dc - double crochet dec - decrease(s)(d)(ing) dtr - double triple crochet flp - front loop only foll - follow(ing) FP - front post hdc - half double crochet inc - increase(s)(d)(ing) MC - main color pat - pattern rem - remaining rep - repeat rib - ribbing RS - right side sc - single crochet sl - st slip stitch st(s) - stitch(es) tog - together tr - triple crochet WS - wrong side yo - yarn over hook *or** - repeat whatever follows the * or ** as indicated

1st Crochet... A Success!!

I have been wanting to learn how to crochet for a REALLY long time. I wanted to be that person who could say, "yeah, I made that!" I had been making excuses for so long or I was just too scared. Then I thought, "what am I so scared of?!" So I found this FREE pattern on www.Ravelry.com (which is my new pinterest) and I just happened to have (from past efforts) a 6mm hook and some pretty blue yarn. I don't know about you but I love how it turned out!! Go to this link to get the pattern for this ADORABLE "Cozy Mug."...
http://finvara.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/pattern-marions-cozy-cup-warmer/