Angry Birds!!

Twas the week before Christmas, and I was seriously stuck for something to get my son. Ok, Santa was all sorted with his gifts (he started with Amazon pre-orders back in June, the super organised fella that he is!) but I wanted something for under the tree for baba from my hubby and I. As any reader has probably already guessed, I love making stuff for him, so with that in mind and the fact that he was going to be getting tonnes of other toys between the jolly old St Nick and our extended families, I decided his present was going to be home made. Now, as I said, twas the week before Christmas, so I wasn't going to have time to make garments, but I figured I'd be able to knock out a decent toy for him in under a day and chose to make an Angry Bird.

I picked Red Bird because his basic shape would be the easiest to figure out - he's essentially a ball. The beak and stuff were going to be slightly more complicated because I didn't have a pattern. Now there are hundreds of Angry Bird crochet and knit patterns out there in internet land but honestly, none of the ones I looked at really jumped out at me. Some had elements I liked but then other bits that I hated so I figured I'd wing it (no pun intended) and see how things went. 

For the main body I just made one big sphere, now for this I did use a pattern - it's one I found on the internet a while ago on how to make a perfect amigurumi sphere, and it's amazing, the results are perfect every time. It's from Ms Premise Conclusion and she's actually got it as a free download on her site, which is really cool because she must have put an INSANE amount of effort in to figuring all of these out. I used the largest size pattern which was a 30 row sphere.

I wanted the body to be fairly substantial in size, about the size of a small football as opposed to maybe a baseball or tennis ball, so I used a 4.5mm hook and also two strands of yarn at the same time. This made the fabric nice and thick and also ensured that I could stuff it nice and firmly without having to worry that the stuffing would be visible between the stitches. When making the sphere, I find it easiest to crochet until you've got about 2 or 3 rows left, then stuff and continue crocheting. If it's starting to feel a bit loose as you're about to close the sphere you can work in a tiny bit more stuffing as you do the last round. NB: if you're using 'safety eyes' you'll need to attach these BEFORE you stuff and close your sphere.

The whites of the eyes were fairly straightforward, they're just plain circles. I used white DK weight yarn and a 3.5mm hook, then I made two circles with 36 stitches around. To attach them I firstly positioned them on the body before it was stuffed and then applied the safety eyes going through both the 'eye' and the 'body' fabric. Then, after I'd stuffed and closed up the body, I took some black yarn and the same 3.5mm hook and worked a row of single crochet around each eye and then took a tapestry needle and used the black yarn to secure the edges of the eyes to the body. The eyebrows were just two pieces of 14 double crochets, and then I did another row of single crochet halfway along each of them to give the 'frowny' expression. They were also made using the 3.5mm hook.

To make the 'tummy' of the bird, I got some beige coloured yarn and just made a flat circle. To figure out how big to make the circle, I checked how many stitches the body had at the widest part and used that as a rough guide. My bird had 59 stitches around it's middle, and I wanted his 'belly' to be a bit smaller than that so I worked until my circle had a 54 stitch circumference. I attached the tummy after the body had been stuffed because it made it easier to hide the stitches holding it on.

The beak was a bit of a challenge, I couldn't figure out whether to do it two dimensional or three dimensional. I checked a load of patterns online and there seemed to be a fairly even split between both, so I actually made one of each and held it up on the bird to see which one I preferred. In this case I used the 3D one (as you can see) but I actually held on to the 2D one also because I'm planning to make an Angry Bird hat for my son and the 2D beak would be perfect for that. The 3D beak is basically just a cone shape, which I stuffed and then attached on with the yellow yarn. I got some black yarn and sewed up along each side to give it the illusion of being more pyramid shaped. I also did a bit of sewing at the top of the beak to improve the shape between the eyes.

For his weird little doo-dads on the top of his head I again used the 3.5mm hook and crocheted two 'tubes' that tapered off towards the end, one slightly shorter than the other. Then I put a teeny bit of stuffing inside them before I sewed them on.

The tail was the finishing touch, and it was news to me that Angry Birds even had tails but that's another story. Don't laugh, but the tail is actually a shamrock, I just used black yarn and sort of smushed it about until I liked how it looked.

And that's it! One Angry Bird! My son loves it and has a great time throwing it around the living room while yelling 'angeee birds!'. Thank god it's not made out of anything harder than yarn!!!

Sphere Pattern from: Ms Premise Conclusion

Stuffing from: Springwools

Safety Eyes from: Springwools

Yarns and hooks from my own stash.

Knitpix 2014.....Now With Added Crochet Goodness!

image credit

Greetings and Happy New Year to you all!

Once again, I have been absent for the world of the blog for many weeks, however they were not fruitless weeks, oh no! They were weeks filled with crafting festive gifts for those I love, so I've got lots of lovely things to post about on here in the coming weeks. Hurrah! 

In a change from my gifts last year, this year's lot were crocheted. I only learned how to crochet very recently. It was something I'd always wanted to do, but could just never get my head around how it worked. One of the reasons for this - I think - is because of the way I knit; I'm a thrower. "A what?", I hear you ask, I'm a thrower. That means that when I knit I hold my yarn in my right hand and it's my right hand that loops or 'throws' the yarn around the needle. This is also known as 'right hand knitting' or 'English knitting'. 

In crochet you hold your yarn with your left hand, and your hand movements are more similar to 'left hand' or 'Continental' knitting, so for those that use the continental knitting method it's not such a huge jump to crochet, because you're already used to holding your yarn and controlling your tension with your left hand.

I'd tried to learn how to knit continental style before and it was a complete disaster, much the same way my previous attempts to crochet went, however one of the main reasons I wanted to learn crochet was that you can make any size project you want; you're not limited to the length of your needles the way you are in knitting. 

Just after my son was born I made a massive blanket for him, it's 150cm x 150cm, and the trouble I had trying to get a circular needle to accommodate a project that size was unbelievable. The longest one I've been able to find is 180cm long and 4.5mm thick. Once you start getting into bigger thicknesses it's impossible to find a cable that long, also if you've got a piece of work that has 500 odd stitches in a row and you suddenly find you've made a mistake and have to rip it out, you'll pretty much lose the will to live because on projects that size a single row can take up to 40 mins to knit.

So with that in mind, I went and bought a set of 5 chunky crochet hooks and a book on how to crochet. First and foremost I'm going to say that, aside from containing some lovely patterns to get me inspired to learn, the book was largely useless as far as teaching goes, so I did what I always do in times of craft related confusion - I checked YouTube! 

Now there are millions of videos on how to crochet on YouTube, in fact there are also videos on how to perform colonic irrigation on your self (don't ask) but after looking through a few of them I found a great one from Staci on VeryPink.com which was part of a series she did called 'Crochet for Knitters'. After watching a couple of her videos it was like a light went on in my brain and suddenly I could crochet along, too!! Huzzah!!

That was back at the end of September and since then I've made lots of crocheted projects, and at the risk of making an utterly, utterly dreadful pun, when it comes to crochet you could say I'm 'hooked' (cue laugh reel). I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. 

There are a few things I really like about crochet in comparison to knitting, the main thing being that you work takes shape so much faster, I could finish a crochet hat in about one hour whereas it might take me a whole afternoon or more to knit the same thing. Also, if you set your work down and it starts to unravel, it's not catastrophic the same way it would be with a knitted piece, since each crochet stitch is 'closed' before you move on to the next. 

That being said, I've found that some projects just don't work as well in crochet as they do in knitting - for example I recently crocheted a sock which turned out grand, only it's not really something you'd realistically wear - it's insanely thick, and the nature of crochet stitches mean it's not quite as smooth as a knitted sock would be.

All in all, I love crochet and I'm so glad I finally got the hang of it, but I'll never give up the knitting - I'll just have a wider range of projects to choose from in the future. So for any of my fellow knitters out there who are considering learning a new skill, I'd definitely say go for it, you won't regret it! And if anyone's interested, I'll list my favourite YouTube crochet channels below.

VeryPink Knits

The Crochet Crowd

Crochet Geek

YarnYard

nerdigurumi

Entrelac Hat!

Hi All!

Well first, I must once again apologise for my lack of posts over the summer. What with the unexpectedly warm summer we had, I found it very difficult to actually get any knitting done. I love sitting out in the sunshine (ok, under an umbrella, but watching the sunshine) and knitting along, but it was just so hot that trying to knit anything was like sitting under a woolly blanket, so I ended up packing away my knitting for those lovely sunny days.

A couple of weeks ago, when the weather started to turn, I picked up my needles again and started a new project - Entrelac. This was something I'd never tried before, and any time I'd looked at pictures and videos of it, it looked terrifying! I decided I'd give it a go, so after watching many, many youtube tutorials, I grabbed some chunky wool and thick needles and knit up a sample piece.

It actually turned out to be easier than I thought, once I got into the rhythm of it. The main thing I found was that it was really important to keep count of your stitches, seeing as it's not like knitting straight along until you reach the end of a row, but once you remember to do that then it's a lot less complicated than it looks.

Each winter I've knitted a hat for my son. Unfortunately for him, he inherited my slightly large size head, so it can be difficult to find nice hats to fit him. I decided that this winter's effort was going to be in Entrelac. Knitting it in the round actually turned out to be easier than knitting a flat piece, and I was surprised how straightforward it was, once I'd joined the two sides together. 

I used double knitting wool that I had in the house already, and 4.5mm circular needles. It took me about 2 days to complete, but that was two days of doing not-a-whole-lot else. 

I'm very pleased with how it came out, and most importantly, so is my son! I'm currently knitting one for my husband and one for my mum, so my knitting schedule is going to be nice and full for the next few weeks!

Here's my handsome little man modelling the finished product!

How To: Pyjama Case/Sock Bag/Blanket Bag/ Nappy Holder Thing

Lately I've noticed that my son's wardrobe has been looking a bit messy, and seeing that he's only a toddler, he can't be blamed for it. So when I checked in the wardrobe to see what was going on, I noticed that the little basket where I used to store his socks had gotten far too small for the job. It worked grand when his socks were teeny tiny and would have fitted onto one of my fingers, but he's getting a lot bigger now and the socks were overflowing out of the basket and all over the wardrobe. 

I realised that it was time for a sock storage overhaul, which led me to make this cute sock bag!  It's actually pretty versatile, because it can also be used to hold a multitude of different things, for example: pyjamas, socks, undies, bibs, muslin squares, kitchen tea towels, dusting cloths, nappies, toys, or you could even store a spare set of kiddies bed linen in it and hang it on the end of their bed so it would be close to hand if there was a night time 'accident'. 

This is a fairly easy project to make. I didn't have a pattern or anything, I just had an idea of what I wanted and went from there. I'm going to outline the steps below, so if anyone who's interested can make one if they want. If you're a child, or just not good with sharp objects or sewing machines, make sure there's an adult around to help you with this. (I had my mum on standby for sewing help, and my husband on standby to drive me to Accident & Emergency in case I cut myself with the scissors or ran my hand through the sewing machine - both things have happened before).

So here's my how-to guide! I hope you enjoy it and if you've got any questions then leave me a comment and I'll do my best to answer!



What You'll Need:

• 1.5m x 1m fabric of your choice
• 1.5m x 1m wadding (I ended up with a bit left over but it's better to have extra in case of mistakes)
• A needle, thread, pins and a good sharp scissors
• A sewing machine (doesn't have to be super fancy, a basic one is fine)
• A button (optional)
• Ribbon (optional)

Before You Start:

I'd allow about 2 hours to complete this project, so if you can, try to do it at a time when you can just go from start to finish with minimal interruption. Make sure you have enough space to work in; I used my mum's dining room table to work on which meant I had enough room to lay out my fabric and have the sewing machine set up at the same time. Also, make sure your work space is somewhere that has good light so you can see your stitches more easily, this is especially important if you make a mistake and have to do unpicking.

Step 1:

Take your fabric and fold it in half, then in half again. Cut along the side and the top so you now have four pieces of fabric that are the same size. Set two of the pieces aside for now, then take the two remaining pieces and cut them in half, lengthways. These pieces will be the front part of your project, and from now on I'll refer to them as 'front pieces'. 

Step 2:

Take two of your front pieces and put them together with the patterned sides facing each other. Tack the two pieces together down one side (it's better to do your tacking in a different colour thread so it's easier to see and pull out afterwards). Next, use your sewing machine to sew the side that you have tacked. Use a normal straight stitch. Once the pieces are together, pull out the tacking thread. Repeat this step with the other two front pieces. 

Step 3:

Now we're going to stuff the front pieces. Take your wadding and cut a strip slightly smaller than a front piece, then lay it on the front piece as shown above. Wrap the front piece around the wadding, so that the patterned sides of the fabric are now on the outside. 

Step 4:

Using the sewing machine, sew the open side of the front piece together so that your wadding is secured inside. Leave the ends open. Repeat step 3 and 4 with the other front piece. You should now have two pieces that resemble cot bumpers. One side will have a nice invisible seam, and the other side will have the slightly messier seam that you just sewed to seal the wadding inside.

Step 5:

Now take the two stuffed front pieces and lay them on top of each other, make sure the neat seam is on top of the other neat seam, and the messy seam is on top of the other messy seam (as shown above). What you're going to do now, is sew the two pieces together along the side that has the neat seams. This can be quite tricky, so take your time. Using the sewing machine, start running the two pieces through so that they're joined together.

Once you get about halfway up, stop the machine and leave an open gap of about 5 or 6 inches, then continue sewing until you get to the end of the fabric. When you've finished you should be left with something that looks like this:

Set this piece aside for now and proceed to the next step.

Step 6:

Grab the two large pieces of fabric that you set aside earlier, these will now be referred to as the 'back pieces'. Cut a piece of wadding that is roughly the same size as one of the pieces (it doesn't matter if it's slightly bigger because we'll be trimming off any excess at the end). Sandwich the wadding between the two back pieces so that the patterned sides of the fabric are facing the outside, as shown above. Now use the sewing machine to sew the sides together. Leave the ends open, like you did with the front pieces.

Again, this can be quite tricky so take your time. It doesn't matter if this isn't the neatest sewing you've ever done, these edges aren't going to be seen in the finished product, so if it looks a bit messy, don't worry. Once you've sewn the sides together, if there's any big bits of wadding sticking out beyond the edge of your fabric, then trim them back so that they're in line with the fabric edge.

Step 7:

This is where things start coming together. It's very important to remember that you will be sewing this together inside-out, so place it together with the 'outsides' facing each other. For the back piece this doesn't really make much of a difference, unless there's a bit of your pattern that you would prefer to see on the outside. For the front pieces, you want your seams to be on the inside of the bag when it's finished, so lay the front piece on top of the back piece with the seams facing up.

Now bring the project to the sewing machine and carefully sew the two pieces together. As with steps 5 and 6, take your time doing this and make sure that the stitches are going through all the pieces of fabric. Leave sewing the top part together until last if you plan on hanging the bag up, because this is where you attach your ribbon. If you don't want to hang the bag, then once you've sewn up all the sides, turn the piece right-side-out and proceed to step 8.

If you're adding the ribbon, wait until you've gotten both of the sides and the bottom sewn together. Now take your ribbon and fold it in half to make a loop (the loop can be as long as you want, it's up to you). Insert the loop in between the front piece and the back piece of the project, and leave the two ends of the ribbon sticking out. Sew the top part together, so that the stitches secure the ribbon between the front and back pieces. Now turn the piece right-side-out, your ribbon loop should be sticking out the top of the bag.

Step 8:

This step is optional, but I'd recommend it, especially if you're planning on hanging the bag up because it'll stop your stuff from falling out. 

To make the loop for the button closure you can either use some scrap fabric, or some ribbon. I used scrap fabric. I took two small pieces of fabric about 1 inch wide and about 4 inches long and sewed them together with the patterned sides facing each other. I only sewed the sides and left the ends open, so I had a little 'tube', which I then turned inside out so that the pattern was on the outside. 

Pick a spot around the middle of the opening at the front of the bag, then hand stitch your ribbon or fabric loop to the inside of the bag, as shown above. Make sure your stitches only go through the fabric on the inside layer of the bag, that way they won't be seen on the outside, and everything will look neater. Next, sew your button on to the opposite side of the front piece, at the same level as your loop so your bag now has a fastener.

Step 9:

Fill your bag with whatever you plan on putting in it, then step back and admire your handiwork!

Fabric & Wadding from: Hickeys

Piggy Knapsack

 

  

I was browsing around in Hickeys yesterday when I came across a load of little felt craft kits. Most of them were for purses and stuff like that, but then I noticed a selection of adorable little kiddie backpacks. There were four different designs - pig, cat, panda and a thing that looked a bit like a cross between a fox and a raccoon. As you can see, I chose the pig.

 

 

The pack cost EUR15 and is supposed to contain everything you need to make the backpack. It even has a little plastic needle so it would be something that young kids could make with some adult help (not the under threes though, due to small parts). The one thing I noticed was that the back part of one of the ears was missing, but by the time I noticed I'd already started putting it together. Luckily, I was able to improvise by tracing the shape of the ear onto a thin piece of cardboard and I used that instead. 

The other thing that was annoying was that there wasn't enough thread either. I ended up having to get more of both the brown and the white thread. However, despite that, I really enjoyed making it. It took me around an hour or two and the instructions were nice and straightforward. In spite of the cardboard backing on one ear, I'm happy with how it turned out and my little boy loves it, he's hilarious toddling around the sitting room with it and it's nearly as big as he is!

First-Time Cardigan

 

Well I'm cutting my "garment" teeth on this delightful cardigan here. I'm knitting the navy cardigan in the main picture for my sister.

Yes, I'm aware it's a bloke's cardigan, however she wanted something a bit big and warm, kinda like a woolly version of boyfriend jeans. Her boyfriend will also likely benefit, because she might be less inclined to steal his sweaters once this is finished. 

When I first read the pattern, it seemed a bit daunting, but I'm making good progress with it and so far (touch wood) there haven't been any major disasters. Because the wool is nice and chunky, the size of the pieces increases quickly, which is a nice motivator - you can start to see the piece as part of the finished item, as opposed to knitting something with 4 ply and for ages it just looks like a random strip of knitting which can be almost soul destroying!

I'll post a full write up when I'm finished (hopefully not too far in the future) and I'll also put up pictures of the finished product!

If anyone's got any tips for making clothes, particularly for sewing all the bits together, I'd love to hear them!

Blast From The Past.........Friendship Bracelets!!

Anyone else remember these dealies? I made loads of these when I was about ten but apparently they're the 'in' thing right now (?). 

Anyhoo, seeing them in various magazines and blogs over the last while made me awfully nostalgic, so I got out my embroidery thread and decided to have a go at making one.

It's been about 15 years since I made friendship bracelets, so I was a tad rusty, but once I got going it was like riding a bike! In fact, it was easier than riding a bike, especially considering that when I ride a bike it usually results in a terrible crash and a visit to the hospital!

I think I managed to knock out this friendship bracelet in about an hour (my ten year old self would be disgusted) and while it's not as neat as it could be, I'm pleased with it! 

I'm going to make a toddler sized version of this for my son next!