Mermaids!

Well, my (almost) 4 year old daughter has been completely into mermaids since we saw The Little Mermaid on Broadway in February.  When I told her I would make her anything she wanted for her 4th birthday, she immediately asked me to make her a  mermaid doll.  I found a pattern on Crochet Pattern central, and used Simply Soft Quick yarn to make her so large.  I used a K hook.  Then my 9 year old daughter saw her and wanted one as well!  The second doll is made with an I hook and double strands of red heart Light ‘n Lofty yarn, and Lion Brand Homespun for the tail.

Here’s a pic of my older daughter holding them both:

I originally made them wearing bikinis, but felt they were a little too sexy for toys!  Here are the early versions, before I fixed their hair and added more to the tops:

I added more hair to both, and then put a pretty edging on their bikini tops.  I think what really helped was the addition of some blush (I used pink chalk) to the face of the whiter doll.

I’m still experimenting with yarn to find out what I like the most for these dolls.  I want to make the fins a bit more substantial, and play around with beautiful embellishments.  I’m giving these away as birthday presents today, and I’ll start on some new ones for my kids tonight.  Meg’s birthday is Wednesday, so I have to make one for her by then!  Then I have 2 weeks to complete one for my older daughter, and 3 more weeks to make King Triton for my son.

New Projects (and some old ones)

One of the reasons I started this blog is so I can remember what yarn and hooks I use for various projects. Of course, I haven’t been mentioning any of this. So now I’m going to put up some of my recent projects and remind myself how I made them.

Pigs

Believe it or not, I made these as a baby shower gift for my friend who is having her first girl (after having three boys)! I wanted her to have something fun and pink in her nursery.

I made the first one and my daughter fell in love, so I had to make another for Kristina. Here are the two pigs together:

I used KristieMN’s pattern and double strands of some baby pink yarn (I don’t remember what). I made the body somewhat bigger than in the pattern.

Bear

I also made a small bear from a pattern I bought from Etsy. I love this pattern as it’s small and versatile and is a great use of scrap yarn.

The one on the left is the one I made. I used Bernat Softee Chunky and an I hook.

Mother’s Day/Teacher Appreciation Flowers

I use Bernat Softee Chunkee for these with an I hook. I really love this yarn and the wonderful colors they make! The patterns are here:

I used this for the colorful flower, but only made three rows. The daffodil is from the LionBrand website.

Owlets

These were so much fun! I used Roman Sock’s pattern, and really used these as a way to experiment with the yarn. On one, I crocheted only in the front loops. Then I made one crocheting in both loops…I wanted to compare and see if they came out the same size (they did). I used Lion Brand Homespun for those, with an I hook. Then I used some super fuzzy white yarn that I bought at JoAnn, and some blue yarn (also bought at JoAnn). I used fun fur on the blue one, just to see what that would look like.

Bear

This bear was also a great project for me to learn on. I used Lion Brand Jiffy yarn. I had made the bear once before, and I thought that the head came out way too small for the body. So this time, I made the head using a K hook. Then I switched to an I hook for the body and arms. I don’t remember what size hook I used for the feet; The bear came out much smaller than the first one I made. I think if I make him again, I might go up to a J hook for the body. It probably could have been slightly larger.

Snake

Here’s my snake again. I actually made up the pattern, and used Homespun yarn with an I hook.

I made another one for a friend using double strands of Red Heart SS camo yarn. I think I used the J hook on that one. I liked how he came out, but gave him away before I could take pics.

That’s it. This is a long post, but it’s a helpful reference for me.

Wall Mural

My husband is an amateur artist, and I thought I’d take a moment to show off one of my favorite things.  It’s a wall mural he made on my son’s wall.  It’s based on the passage in Ephesians 6, where we’re told to put on the full armor of God:

This is the first wall mural he’s ever painted.  His preferred medium is to do portraits in colored pencil.  When he told me he wanted to do a wall mural, I hesitantly explained to him that I didn’t want anything amateurish on the wall.  He said to let him try it and if it didn’t turn out very good, we could always paint over it.  I’m thrilled with the results, and have no plans to paint over it!

Here’s a picture of my 6 year old son standing next to his mural:

Here’s a close-up of the knight:

DH put some words in the bricks to highlight some words that are in the Bible verse.  Here’s a close-up.  You can see the words salvation and faith:

Finally, my son wasn’t satisfied with JUST a knight.  So he asked DH to add some knights jousting.  These last photos show what’s on either side of the mural.  One door leads to the closet, the other is the door to the hallway.

Thanks for looking!

I Made Elmo!

My nephew turns two this week. He’s my only nephew (on my siblings side; my husband’s sister has a son), and he lives all the way across the country in California. I wanted to make him something special.

First I made him this snake:

I had a lot of fun learning how to do the stitches so he bent each way to look like he is slithering!

Then I got an email from my brother saying he was having an Elmo birthday party. So I decided to make him another gift, a big pillow shaped like Elmo’s face.

First, I used fuzzy red yarn:

I ran out of yarn right as I started on the decrease rows. And while I loved the size and fuzzyness of the yarn, I thought the color was too dark and dull. So I made him a giant red head using some Homespun yarn that I had.

But I still thought the head was too dark. So I went to Wal-Mart the next day, and bought some bright red Bernat Softee Chunky. Here’s what I made (the color is much brighter than it looks):

The color is much brighter and truer to Elmo than the Homespun version. But I thought it was too small. And I really love how soft and huggable the Homespun yarn is. So I went back to the Homespun version and decided to add a body.

Here’s the final product:

Here’s a picture of the three Elmos that I started in different yarns. It’s hard to see the difference in the pictures, but I think I made the right choice.

Here are two more pictures of Elmo:

Holding the movie Elmo in Grouchland

Sitting in my daughter’s booster seat

I really don’t like crocheting without a pattern. I kept wanting him to look better, and I made his nose and eyes (and sewed them on) several times. I know he could still be better. But he’s going in the mail tomorrow! Happy Birthday, Teddy.

p.s. I sent the snake to my other nephew. He’s almost three, and I know he’ll be loved. But now my kids all want a snake in their favorite colors! So I’ll be working on those after I finish a few other WIPs.

Purse Swap

I got my swap package today from Katrina, and I love it!

Thanks, Katrina! I love the colors and the fabric. Oh, how I wish I could sew. I love the notebook holder, which has tons of pockets for pens. And the purse is adorable. After my last post on purses, I realize that sewing a lining (or a purse) is a lot harder than crocheting. I don’t know if I’m up for that! But I so love how a crochet purse looks with a sharply sewn lining. I think I’ll stick to making animals for now!

Here’s the purse and notebook holder:

I really enjoyed taking part in this swap. It was fun to make something for Caroline, and look forward to receiving my own package. Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the purse I made. I’ll try to post them here or link to them after Caroline receives my package. But I really enjoyed my first swap!