Remember when I used to post stuff?

Yeah me neither, but look crochet stuff! So this will be a quick post. I made this little guy, using this pattern, for a friend's birthday about a month after her birthday. I didn't follow the directions for the eye and just sort of made it up as I went, but since the other instructions we're good, I'm sure the ones for the eye are as well. It's still sitting in my living room. I'll mail it. One day. Soon. Hopefully.
I also made a crochet hair band for another friend (which I didn't take a picture of. And I also have to mail. One day. Soon. Hopefully) based on this design but tweaked a tad to make it continuous. This lady (who is funny enough located where my friend is...) has some other beautiful designs (including these hand warmers which I made but didn't take picture of, to go with a teal version of this hat which I made but did not take a picture of, that was for the same person as this cuttlefish a teal version of which I made but didn't take a picture of, using a pattern I bought from Hansi Singh on Etsy, the same person who wrote Amigurumi Knits which has an octopus pattern in it which I DID take a picture of but never posted, and also has a pattern for a Loch Ness Monster I didn't take a picture of. You see a pattern no?)
That's all I got. Sorry. I'll work on getting some other stuff to write about. Now that Conan's gone I don't know what to do with myself. Maybe post more?

***EDIT***

I found the octopus picture:

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This Post is Bigger After the Jump

Sorry; that was too easy I suppose. So, for you Doctor Who fans, here's a TARDIS iPod sock I made for my roommate's birthday. (October is le month of birthdays here in Ziggy's Magical Starship.

It's a basic sock, with the windows and suck embroidered on it. The end. Keep reading...

Beware: Needles are Back

Good Golly! It's Time for some elderly crafts! Yea, I know. I've been pretty m.i.a lately. And I apologize. But good news is that I've been busy! OK, not really, but I finished a few projects and am ready to share.

Now if you'll recall I've mentioned the lack of knit projects for cute toys out there. I'm not a crocheter, at least not a good one, so I was desperate to find something. Sure i had my bird pattern, but that gets boring. Enter Amigurumi Knits.
My reaction when I came across this book at Borders? FINALLY! I mean really, crochet had the strong hold on the cute squishies for much to long. Future research lead me to Hansi Singh's Etsy page where she had more patterns for sale. But first the book.

Compared to the other book I've briefly mentioned, this book was wicked accessible and easy to follow. How do I know this? Because the octopus I made for my roommate's birthday looks like this:

Yeah. The fact that it even remotely resembles the one in the book is a fabulous sign. Many points won. But really, HE'S SO CUTE! And he really is mini. I could hold it in one hand. The entire book is filled with cute patterns, from garlic to a snail to a jackelope. I'm so pleased!

There are more for the future, including a pattern I bought on the Etsy page, and I'll keep the updates coming. Now if you'll excuse me, Rascal Flatts are on Conan and I need to plug my ears.

Lator.

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Oh, er, hey there.

So, I swear I haven't forgotten about you fantabulous Juicebox readers. (Really, there are two drafts from me on our list, I promise.) It's just been one hellz of a semester. But here's me getting you up to snuff on what elderly crafts I've been doing since the new year, unless this becomes another incomplete draft! Please excuse the horrendous blurry pictures; I haven't figured out the whole capturing completed projects thing yet.

JANUARY

A Sad-looking Bear, a birthday gift for The Cuteness. I just realized that I never took a picture of him with arms. Woopsies. This was actually my first completed crochet project. WOAH! I find crochet faster in the satisfaction department, but lacking in the neatness department. Maybe I just crochet to loosely, but knitting just looks better in my opinion. Here's the pattern.



Birds and Worms. Birthday gift for a friend for my roommate (the model in the next pics actually). The yarn is 100% Baby Alpaca so they're the softest birds in existence. The bird is my modified version of this pattern. I use my modified version more than the original now.

Sweater/shrug, chevron pattern. This was a birthday gift for my aunt. It's a little small. It's this pattern but I added a button (hence why it's too small...). I kind of want one for myself. However, this was the small size and it took forever, and goodness knows I'm not a small. I started this last summer and worked on it little by little and I still didn't have it done one time for her birthday. It's sad; I fear I won't have the patience to make sweater vests.

FEBRUARY

Uh, an unfinished glove. I am very very ashamed. I WILL finish these by next winter though. They're smoking gloves with a beer opening palm, so I might have to smoke a cig or two to legitimize my creation. Actually, they're a mix of Cigar from Knitty, and the beer gloves from Son of Stitch N' Bitch. I'm really excited to (eventually) finish them.

MARCH

Birds and Cocoa. Yet another birthday bird gift.
The Cocoa is this pattern, my second attempt at crochet. A bit tighter than the bear. Maybe I'm getting better at it? Probably not because mine came out a lot leaner than the one in the pattern. I can't count stitches in crochet. Sshh, don't tell!

And that leaves us to now. I'm in the middle of another crochet gift, so I'll post it when it's done (and not six months from now). But for now, I have a few papers to write and an apartment to find.

Lator.

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Some Knit Goodies (And Baddies)

So, I went on a whole birthday present knitfest. It was awesome. I went through a few different things. I found a cute cupcake pattern for crocheting, which I haven't quite mastered (or really learned at all). So obviously I tried to make my own pattern. It needs some work:

Pretty much looks like a poop penis with herpes and jizz all over it. (Quite appropriate considering the previous Penis Slide post.) I'll work on the pattern. Hopefully I'll get it right at some point because this will definitely be a cute last minute gift option.

The next is Godzilla from the Knitted Icons book. This is for my one year old nephew. He likes Elmo at the moment, so I need to make him a man! Which equals GIANT JAPANESE LIZARD!

Well, as much as I like the one I made, it doesn't quite look like the one in the book. It's the first time I've used the book's patterns, and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. The assembly for the legs and arms seem to not have been included which made my life a little difficult. We'll see how the other patterns work out for me. And who knows, maybe there'll be a future book review. Hmm...

Lastly, I made this bird from a pattern from the Knitted Toy Box. It is the cutest thing of my life. This is what I ended up sending to my friends for their birthdays. Definitely my last minute gift option for a while now.

I made a brown one too, but I guess I forgot to take a picture. The brown one had a smaller and cuter beak than this one, so it would've been nice to have two to compare. The purple one here was about to get packaged and sent out. I liked the nest of candy.*

Anywho, that's it for now. I need to get a mustache chart done so I can post it. It's necessary I sure you.

Lator.

*Don't ever buy candy at Sugar Heaven. They rape you with the prices. Just buy a lot at CVS candy and eat the leftovers.

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Build Your Own Rabbit Army!

So here’s the pattern for the bunny hat. Yea! This is meant for an adult. One day I might make a smaller version for a child or something, but for now adults get to be adorable.

I used a Medium weight yarn (Bernat Berella “4.” You know, The Afghan Yarn) in two different colors, white (C2) and black (C1). Though brown and beige, or any other cute bunny colors, would work. I had a lot of yarn left over so you could probably also use just one ball of one color, if you’d prefer. According to the packaging, tension’s about 4.5 stitches per inch. It didn’t occur to me to measure to get it right, but I’m sure any medium weight should be fine.

You’ll also need:
16” Circulars, Size 8
DPNs, Size 8
Straight needles, Size 8 (Optional. I just use the DPNs)
A stitch marker
A piece of pink felt, about 8x10”
Needle and thread that nearly matches the pink felt
Small crochet hook

Also please excuse any mistakes in notation and such. I’ll try my best to keep it to the standard notations but if there’s any confusion let me know. Onward!

Main Hat:

CO 90 stitches in C1. Place marker and join the round.
Rows 1-5: *k5, p5.* Repeat from * to* until end of row.
Rows 6-10: *p5, k5.* Repeat from * to * until end of row.
Row 11: Switch to C2. K until end of row
Continue in stockinette stitch for 20 rows or until the C2 section is about 3.25 inches. Again, I forgot to keep track, but I’m pretty sure it was about 20.

Decreases (Switch to DPNs when needed. I had to at about row 27)

Row 21: *k11, k2tog.* Repeat from * to * until end of row.
Row 22: *k10, k2tog.* Repeat from * to * until end of row.
Row 23: *k9, k2tog.* Repeat from * to * until end of row.
Row 24: *k8, k2tog.* Repeat from * to * until end of row.
Row 25: *k7, k2tog.* Repeat from * to * until end of row.
Row 26: *k6, k2tog.* Repeat from * to * until end of row.
Row 27: *k5, k2tog.* Repeat from * to * until end of row.
Row 28: *k4, k2tog.* Repeat from * to * until end of row.
Row 29: *k3, k2tog.* Repeat from * to * until end of row.
Row 30: *k2, k2tog.* Repeat from * to * until end of row.
Row 31: *k1, k2tog.* Repeat from * to * until end of row.
Row 32: *k2tog.* Repeat from * to * until end of row.
At this point there should be about 8 stitches on your needle. If not, then I forgot a row, which means you should repeat Row 32.

Cut the yarn and pull through remaining stitches. Weave in the ends.

Ear Flaps:

On CO edge, find a square of stockinette stitch. CO 15 stitches using straight needles. You should have CO on along three squares in a knit, purl, knit pattern. (I hope this makes sense). When you start knitting, the wrong side of the hat should be facing you.

Rows 1,3,5,6,8,10,11,13,15: k5, p5, k5
Rows 2,4,7,9,12,14: p5, k5, p5
Row 16: k1, k2tog, k2, p5, k2, k2tog, k1
Row 17: p4, k5, p4
Row 18: k4, p5, k4
Row 19: p1, p2tog, p1, k5, p1, p2tog, p1
Row 20: k3, p5, k3
Row 21: k3, p2tog, p1, p2tog, k3
Row 22: p3, k3, p3
Row 23: k1, k2tog, p1, p2tog, k2tog, k1
Row 24: p2, k2, p2
Row 25: k2, p2tog, k2
Bind Off. Weave in ends.

Lay the hat flat so you can find the location of the other side’s earflap. CO 15 stitches as before. This time the center square should be a stockinette square.

Rows 1,3,5,6,8,10,11,13,15: p5, k5, p5
Rows 2,4,7,9,12,14: k5, p5, k5
Row 16: p1, p2tog, p2, k5, p2, p2tog, p1
Row 17: k4, p5, k4
Row 18: p4, k5, p4
Row 19: k1, k2tog, k1, p5, k1, k2tog, k1
Row 20: p3, k5, p3
Row 21: p3, k2tog, k1, k2tog, p3
Row 22: k3, p3, k3
Row 23: p1, p2tog, k1, k2tog, p2tog, p1
Row 24: k2, p2, k2
Row 25: p2, k2tog, p2
Bind Off. Weave in ends.
(As you may notice, the other earflaps are exactly the same, other than the knits and purls are switched.)

Ears:
Try on the hat and pinpoint where you want the ears to be.

CO 10 stitches.
*Row 1: k10
Row 2: k2, p6, k2*
Repeat from * to * 19 times.

Row 41: k2, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k2
Row 42: k2, p4, k2
Row 43: k2, k2tog, k2tog, k2
Row 44: k2, p2, k2
Row 45: k2tog until end of row
Row 46: k3
Bind off. Weave in ends. Repeat for other ear.

(At this point you need to choose which side of the ear you like better: the knit or purl side. The side you like will NOT be covered by the felt.)

Measure the ear, and cut out two pieces of felt smaller than the ear so it fits in the non-garter stitch edges. Sew the felt on using a light colored thread, making sure to only sew into the top layer of yarn and not go through to the other side.

Braids:

Cut five 14” pieces of C1 yarn. Cut four pieces of 14” C2 yarn. Cut two pieces of 5” C1 yarn.
Divide into three groups:
Groups 1 and 3: two C1 strands, one C2 strand
Group 2: one C1 strand, two C2 strands

In the center of the ear flap, pull through Group 2 with the crochet hook in standard fringe way. Pull through Groups 1 and 3 in the same way, one on either side of Group 2.

Braid the strands together, treating each group as an individual strand. Tie off the end with one of the 5” strands. Trim to make even.

Repeat on the other ear flap.

And you’re done! As I mentioned before, this is my first real pattern, so hopefully it makes sense and if not, feel free to ask for clarification. Hope you enjoy making and wearing it.

Oh, one last note, though it's mildly unnecessary as you know this and are a good person. Please only use the pattern for personal use, not for some monetary gains.

Okay, enough bureaucratic shit. Go make a cute hat!

Lator!
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(Enter Rabbit Noises Here)

So I have completed a knit project. Yea! If it weren't for school, I'd have more, but you know, education sometimes gets in the way.

Anywho, here's a snapshot:

This was for a friend's birthday. She's wanted a bunny hat for quite some time now, so I figured I'd surprise her with this little guy. I think it came out super cute, and she loves it, so all in all, awesome times.

The pink felt was last minute, but I think it definitely made a difference. The ears are extended in the picture, but they actually flop over which gives an extra cuteness to the whole thing. Kind of proud of this since it's my first completed hat pattern. Actually, that's a lie. I have another one that I made for another friend's birthday, I just keep forgetting to get pictures of that one.

I have the pattern for the bunny hat written somewhere, and once I type it up I'll post it. I just wanted to get the picture up to share. I also have charts/patterns for a pipe and mustache that I need to post as well.
Goodness, if only knitting were a major...

Lator.
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