Tips for Learning Crochet + Hello Kitty Amigurumi!

 It feels awesome learning new skills! Crochet is something I've wanted to learn for so long, but it's taken me years! I first tried it out a couple of years ago and had originally decided it wasn't for me, because I literally could not grasp the concept of it. But I decided to try again a few months ago because I was determined to figure out how to make a Hello Kitty amigurumi figure after my friend gifted me with a Sanrio character-amigurumi how-to book for my birthday.

I know I've already showed off my crochet skills, (back in March: for the Birthday Cake IGGPPC Craft Challenge), but I had actually completed this Hello Kitty before I did the cake. It just took this long for me to finally photograph it! ;)


Check it out:

 I know that it's SUPER WONKY but keep in mind: this was my very first time making an amigurumi figurine!  Also, I just used whatever yarn I already had on hand, (well in reality, what my mom had on hand), so that's why she's green.

(my friend suggested that it could be a zombie Hello Kitty. Why not.)


Embroidering the facial features was also a lot harder than I thought it would be.. and by the end I was so anxious to finish it that I just sewed on her body parts any old way, hence the visible threads. Sue me.


Have you ever wanted to try out crochet?  Here are some tips!


Handy TIPS:

Find BOOKS, and YOUTUBE VIDEOS !!

Make sure the books contain CLEAR photos and that the instructional steps aren't too "wordy".. They should be as concise and simplified as possible so that you don't get lost. And of course, photos for every single step help tremendously! In fact, the book that I used that finally helped me "get" it, (after staring through countless other resources) was called "AmiguruMe" by Allison Hoffman. I highly recommend it!

And aside from books, good, clear, and professional YouTube instructional videos are necessary to see the process in action!

Learn and Do ONE Tiny Step at a Time

Start with ONE thing, and ONE thing only. For example, I (for some reason) was having trouble understanding the term "yarn over", for the loooooongest time. And I soon discovered that if I ever skipped a "yarn over" at any point, the entire step/stitch turned out completely wrong! Find out what the essentials are, and master them one at a time!

When You Master a stitch, make a Project Using just that ONE

 

When I finally understood "yarn over" once and for all, I made a circle using ONE singular stitch, (the Single Stitch) until I mastered that one.. and then the "Double Crochet Stitch", and the "Half Double Crochet Stitch", and so on. (There's a ton of stitches in crochet!) Before you know it, you'll be mixing them all up into one super cool project.

When All Else Fails, Enlist Help

Sometimes, no matter how many photos or videos you stare at, it helps to have somebody there in person showing you how to do something. Luckily for me, my mom knows a bit about crochet, and she would happily watch me while I tried something and told me whether or not I was doing it right, or showed me a different way to do something. Everyone has a unique approach to things, so if the way one YouTuber does it isn't working for you, you can enlist someone else to show you a different method and it helps a lot! If you don't have a crocheting mommy or grandmommy, ask your coworkers, your friends, that sweet looking elderly woman in the doctor's waiting office at your next appointment... Find someone who knows how to crochet and beg for help!

 

 And most importantly: don't give up!

Ok, well, I gave up several times before I finally got it. There were times when I just thought I would NEVER grasp the idea of this, but I kept at it, I made stupid mistakes, (and yes, I got frustrated and threw things across the room), but one day.. something just CLICKED. And suddenly, everything else finally made sense.

Stick to it! Wait for your "clicking" moment, and then celebrate!



Hope that help!

IGGPPC: March 2015 Craft Challenge - Birthday Cake!

I had so much fun with the Craft Challenge for February that I decided to try March's Challenge as well! The rules are that you had to make a cake! A birthday cake, that is. The International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club celebrated it's second birthday/anniversary this month, so the challenge was to celebrate with cake.

Just one tiny catch: the cake has to be NON edible, (in other words: not made of food!)

I've been trying my hand at crochet and amigurumi-making, lately, so I thought it'd be fun to try making an amigurumi cake! I scoured Pinterest for the best tutorials and found this one: here, (from lanukas.com). It was super easy to follow and it only took a couple of days.

I'm still a complete noob at this, so it ended up kind of wonky, but I'm still proud of myself, Even if my strawberries look a bit more like raspberries. OH, and I did originally crochet the candle (like in the tutorial), but it just looked too big and out of place, so I substituted a real candle.

**Happy Birthday, IGGPPC!**

IGGPPC: Fictional Crush Swap - What I Received and What I Sent!

Hooray! My first ever swap! If you're not already familiar with the International Geek Girl Pen Pals Community, then you should know that one of the many fun activities they plan for members is what's known as "mail swaps"! Each month, there are several themes to choose from, and you can sign up for as many as you want. You get partnered at random with another member, and you both agree to send each other a package of goodies that fit that month's theme(s). So much fun!

Back in February, I finally decided to sign up for one: the Fictional Crush Swap, because I was so curious about it. The rules were that you had to essentially pretend to be a character that your partner has a 'crush' on/wants to be friends with, and send them a package full of goodies as that character. If you've been getting to know me these past few months, you already know how crazy I am about Supernatural and Doctor Who, so my own list consisted of (who else?) but Dean Winchester and the 10th Doctor as a secondary choice. (But mainly Dean.. 'cause I'm "Team Dean", haha). We mutually agreed to give each other an extra week in sending things, hence why I'm blogging about this in March!

I was so lucky to get partnered up with none other than official IGGPPC cooking and book review blogger LydiaJoy, who just happened to be a big Supernatural fan like I am! She was totally willing to pretend to be Dean, and she even had a couple of Supernatural characters in her own list of 'crushes' for me to ponder over and become.. It was meant to be!

Check out what Lydia (as Dean) sent me!

Dean doll, dvd, Tardis mug and tea pot are my own!

 

In the letter that Lydia included, "Dean" told me the story of how during his and Sam's last hunt, they ran into some British dude who called himself "the Doctor"! (How amazing would a Supernatural/Doctor Who crossover be?!?!) And apparently the Doctor let Dean borrow some of his personal stationary... In keeping with true "Dean-fashion", he mentioned how he thinks this "Doctor" dude is crazy and weird and how they come to disagreements about hunting things. Believe me, I was grinning like the Cheshire Cat the entire time I was reading it.

Dean, however, is now worried enough about encountering weird things that he felt I could use some "protection". So he sent me a bottle of rock salt and a demon-protection pentacle charm necklace:

 

And for fun, he sent me some hand-written recipe cards for his favorite kinds of pie. (Who knew the guy could bake? I sure didn't!). The Doctor also wrote down his own recipe for homemade Jammy Dodgers! Yum!

One of these days I'll actually try my hand at them! (As I mentioned before, Lydia writes instructional cooking posts for the IGGPPC website, so I know she knows what she's talking about, here!)

 

There were also several 'postcards' of some of the places Dean has traveled to, made out of a U.S. map. He did circle specific towns, like "Lawrence, Kansas" (his home!), and seemed quite adamant about warning me to stay away from "Carthage, Missouri"!! ;)

OH, and check out the silver polishing cloth! Gotta keep those silver hunters' knives in top shape!

And finally, the books!!

When we first emailed each other, I thought it'd be a good idea to let each other know our hobbies, to help with item ideas. We both mentioned reading, so Lydia/Dean gave me some cool books:  H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" and Ray Bradbury's short story collection: "The October Country"!  (And yes, I think it's kind of a secret, but Dean apparently *does* read/is familiar with classics, such as Kurt Vonnegut's works.. he mentions this in the episode "the Monster at the End of this Book" in season 4 - yes, I am a nerd about these things). But ANYways, I have been wanting to read more classics, myself, so I'm super excited about these two selections. "War of the Worlds" is of course, a nod to the Doctor with the sci-fi/alien invasion theme, and "the October Country" mentions demons and apocalyptic omens and the grim reaper, himself! I wonder if Eric Kripke read this when he was dreaming up Supernatural???


And now, check out what I sent Lydia! I was originally going to go with another, completely different character from her list, but after having some trouble finding the items I had in mind, I decided to 'stay with what I know', and what I know is, of course, Supernatural.



Guess who the character I'm supposed to be is?

I pretended to be none other than the King of Hell himself's human secretary. My boss man asked me to help him put together a gift for his "future queen" Lydia.

Lydia mentioned she liked tea and reading, so I found some delicious hibiscus tea that turns the water super dark red, almost like blood! ;)

And I included a d.i.y. paperclip-bookmark with a cross-stitch image of Crowley that I stitched myself!

*(The pattern for it was purchased on Etsy from the seller GeekyStitches)*

isn't he so cute?!

I also included a chocolate bar (the darkest chocolate! I love the 'Chocolove XOXO' brand because they include love poems inside the wrappers - they did half my job for me, haha).  And the heart necklace charm and mini bouquet of black roses were gorgeous finds from the craft store. The black candle holder was something I already owned, and the red candle looks so perfect inside it, don't you think?!

After taking these photos, I also added a mini glass vial charm filled with some garden soil, (but it was meant to be dirt from the secret location where Crowley's human bones are buried - yes I went all out with this!)

OH, and guess what?? Both Lydia and I received our boxes in the mail on the same day, so she couldn't have had any idea that I had gone with Crowley for hers.. (because we didn't mention who exactly we chose for each other, anyways). But there was a bonus gift inside my package for me.. from Crowley!! 

Serendipity. At it's finest.
I guess it was a 'thank you' from him for helping him out with putting together the care package. What a nice boss man.. ;)

He says "I wanted to send something as well. Hope you don't mind."

I have to give a massive THANK YOU once again to Lydia for being an awesome swap-partner! I loved what I received and I especially loved putting hers together, too!!

This was a fun experience and I look forward to signing up for more IGGPPC swaps in the future.

IGGPPC: February 2015 Craft Challenge - Heart Plushie!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

I decided to take part in the International Geek Girl Pen Pals' Craft Challenge for February. The challenge is to create a heart plushie (to fit in with the month's theme of hearts!), using any materials you want, and the only requirements are that it has to be stuffed, and has to have a face!

Keeping in line with my post yesterday where I talked about some of the reasons why I love the show Supernatural, I put together this fun little Supernatural-inspired photo story to showcase my creation - enjoy! 




Those of you who are fans of the show, (and therefore familiar with) the episode "Bad Day at Black Rock" (Season 3, Episode 3) will remember that this episode started out with the Winchester brothers finding out that their late father had a storage unit where he kept special things. They found out a small box was stolen, and it contained a lucky (but oh so cursed!) rabbit's foot.

What we didn't see in this episode, was that there was a second box that was stolen...

the stolen box!

One day, Bobby Singer called Dean to inform him that he was able to track down said stolen box. Apparently some random chick in Texas was keeping it in her bedroom.

Dean got himself decked out in his FBI agent suit and paid a visit to the girl's house. The girl let him in without hesitating, (he was an FBI agent, after all, wasn't he?) and he surreptitiously made his way towards her book shelf, where the box was sitting amongst a bunch of freaky looking dolls...

He grabbed ahold of it, paused for a second admiring his father's Devil's Mark on the lid, and decided to open it.

What he found was... unexpected...

What was it that was being stored in this black box, and was meant to keep demons away??

It was a heart!

But not just any heart.. This particular heart with a malevolent looking face used to belong to a demon!

Dean dropped the lid and grabbed his phone. He called Bobby, hoping he could tell him what he should do. Bobby quickly grabbed his thickest demonology book and read out loud: "A demon's heart is a dangerous and cursed object. The only way to prevent it from spreading evil is to..." his voice trailed off.

"Bobby? What is it? What do I have to do?"

Well, Dean-y boy.  It turns out the only way to lift the curse off a Demon heart is to cuddle it. But only on February 14th.. which is today!!

Never one to question Bobby Singer, Dean scooped up that demon heart and cuddled it for hours.

And it never harmed a living soul.

The End.

 

What do you think??

;)

The Day of the Doctor

Today is the day!

If you've "saved the day" then you know that today is when they show the official 50th anniversary special of everyone's favorite British television show, Doctor Who!  I have been anxiously awaiting this date for months, as it marks the (temporary) return of my favorite Doctor, the Tenth, played by David Tennant.

I had been wanting to make myself a pinafore style dress to wear for some time, so at the last minute I got the idea to attempt a Tenth Doctor-themed design as a way to celebrate.  Ten had quite the variety of sharp suits and ties that he wore on his adventures, but I based my pinafore on this particular one. Blue suit, white shirt, red tie.

There are several tutorials out there explaining how to make a pinafore, but I added my own ideas and improvised on a lot of details. For example, I wanted to give the illusion of the suit jacket's collar, so I cut and sewed a two layered blue square, and the top layer was cut open with the top bits transforming into a "collar" and a v-shape at the bottom, to tuck the tie in. I'll admit, I sort of screwed it up, haha. (Don't judge me, I was in a rush!)

The ruched white bit in the middle was from an old shirt I cut up, and I thrifted the red tie. Tennant himself never actually wore such a brightly coloured tie, but I didn't find one that matched his, exactly.  However, if you do a search for fan-made Tenth Doctor-themed dolls and toys, they all use a similarly bright tie, for some reason. (See also: my Dr. Whooves My Little Pony, below. Isn't he adorable?! I love how they modeled him after David's Doctor, right down to the hair!).

Aaaaand of course, the only thing missing was the signature long, brown coat!  I couldn't find something that looked anything like it, unfortunately.  However, I'm pretty pleased with how this whole creation turned out, overall!  It makes me feel like the female-doll version of the Tenth Doctor. I'm fairly proud.

I will definitely be sewing more pinafores in the future, as they are a pretty easy project for when you don't have a lot of time on your hands, and they are adorable too!

And finally, some parting words:  not to sound all mushy and stuff, but I am both amazed and incredibly grateful that this T.V. show has stood the test of time.  Fifty years!  I'm so glad that it keeps growing and so very thankful that I happened to stumble upon it only three years ago. It keeps me entertained, gives me joy, and sends my imagination on a wild ride.

Thank you, creators/dreamers/team of Doctor Who, both past and present.  I look forward to the next fifty years of adventures!


-Gaby