Crochet the Vote!

The first poster I've ever crocheted.

I used 10 out of the 20 colors of DesigningVashti Lotus yarn, crocheted double-stranded. (It's sport weight yarn, so two strands of it together are equivalent to a worsted weight yarn.)

The background is an aran crochet stitch pattern. For kicks, I used a unique Tunisian crochet stitch for the letters. Here's how to do that stitch. (Single crochet would have been traditional.)

Toytester Bob Weighs In

150g of yarn; Approx. 12" x 14".

My son, home from college, thought the letters would be attached with velcro. What a fun design idea! You could spell more things: TOE. Or VETO. Or LOVE if I make an L.

The velcro idea has problems, though. If I put it only on the letters, over time the yarn of the poster would get snagged and frayed looking. If I added velcro to the background yarn, you'd see it between the letters, and it only comes in white or black as far as I know.

Know what would be even more fun? Magnets! I could attach the magnets to the back of the poster and to the backs of the letters. They'd need to be strong enough magnets to work through the yarn thickness.

Crocheted Minecraft Creeper, Complete

Sinister glow in the wrong, wrong light.

I'm shocked to discover that I never posted photos of the completed Creeper! 

Forced out of the shadows.
For the moment...

I was sure I had. Instead, I'm probably remembering adding photos to Flickr, Ravelry and Twitter.

The finished Creeper stands quite tall. I love the size, and it wouldn't have taken so long to crochet if I'd used a different color block multiple.

I like that the foam blocks I used for stuffing are green colored. I blogged about a few more Creeper ideas I had here.

It's very sturdy. I crocheted a stitch from each piece together to join - Crochet 101, really. The head can turn just a bit to fixate on a victim, thanks to the slight flex of the crocheted joins (seams).

Here is its project page in Ravelry.

A raging Creeper!! Quelle terreur!!

Chez Chippy: Cat Cave Under Construction

If I didn't have a sweet kitty who wants his own crochet nest, I'd be tempted to turn this into a boho tote, or a big round area rug. I LOVE the touches of mohair and alpaca, and the color blending (which looks richer in person than in photos.)

Bottom and side edge of cat cave.

Chippy Cat loves alpaca and wool, so I'm using up chunky scrap craft store yarns that have some alpaca, mohair, and wool content, and incorporating wool roving occasionally. Most of the time I'm crocheting with two strands of different yarns held together. The solid deep burgundy yarn is thicker, so I used just one strand of that (until I ran out.) 

This started out as a simple wintertime TV crochet project. I was deeply inspired by photos of "Nest" ("Pesä") -- a cat cave crocheted by Hanne Katajamäki. I'm changing two things (besides the yarn): I made the cave opening higher up because I think Chippy will want to nuzzle in and nap below the line of the opening. 

I also plan to add a round crocheted sleeping mat of the same yarns. It will be a removable insert so that I can wash it.

Cave entrance is coming along.

Bulky squishy yarns, random color and texture blending, casual stitch increasing and decreasing: fun and seemingly simple. I've learned a lot from this simple project though! Had to rip out several rounds when I began the sides, because 3 - 4 rounds of the sides (when I stopped increasing) still sat like part of the base, making it much bigger (and yarn gobbling) than I wanted. 

Also, I did some rounds with turning, some without turning, as I pleased. After ripping out to make a smaller base, I switched to turning for ALL rounds, because it came out thicker, stiffer, more structured. See, I rarely do hats or round-bottom totes, or projects in all single crochet, so...learning this stuff now.

Even so it's still a bit on the saggy side. Probably when I cover the top it will cave in a bit. My son assures me that Chippy will love this even more :-) 

I thought using two strands of chunky yarns held together and crocheted tightly would be stiff enough. I see from photos of someone else's project that theirs is saggier, even though the stiff Wool-Ease Thick & Quick yarn was used throughout. Looks like it was crocheted in spiraling sc (no turning for any rounds)? 

Hanne's structured (and wildly inspiring to me!!) pale pink one at her Eilen Tein blog is made from a yarn that now makes me think that crocheted fabric strips would be crazy-stiff!! But not touchable; however ... crocheted t-shirt strips could be both. 

I also realized late that I could have done a "clothesline crochet" type maneuver. I'm seeing fresh ideas for this old basket weaving-like crochet technique of single crochet stitches {UK: dc} over a rope, such as cotton clothesline, that coils in the round. Really, I'm doing the closest thing to a covered basket, which is more sculptural; not so much a hat or tote type fabric.
For specific yarns used, see its Ravelry project page.

Home Stretch: A Minecraft Creeper Christmas

OK yes, it's taking me a looong time to finish this crochet amigurumi project. It's partly because of all the teaching I did this year. Try as I might, I wasn't able to use the Creeper as part of my class prep.

Inventory: 20 out of 28 Pieces DONE. Eight remain before final assembly.
I can do this!

For example, none of my class topics include its "jacquard" or "tapestry" or "intarsia" color change technique (for the primitive bitmapped look). None concerned 3-D crochet toys or sculptures either. Not this year, anyway.

Tunisian swatch on the right, single crochet on the left. 

Curious about a Tunisian crochet version? Me too. Here's a quick swatch using Tss: (Tunisian Simple Stitch) 

I've finished almost all of the Creeper pieces. Today's inventory:

4.5 out of 8 Leg Panels DONE.

The Four Torso Panels (the largest pieces besides the head):
DONE!

The Eight Toe Panels (my favorite part):
DONE!

The Tops & Bottoms of Feet (smallest panels of all):
3 out of 8 DONE.

The remaining small panels are perfect for TV crocheting, depending on the show. I'm watching season five of Lost and my crochet hook stops moving when it's on. Can't help it.

Update: Minecraft Creeper Crochet

I've made significant progress since my last post!

Here is the completed head, which I stuffed with 8x8x2" pieces of foam rubber after seaming together 6 squares. It worked out.


This means several things: 

1. The size of the crochet pieces (approx. 7.5" square, plus a selvage stitch at each side edge) works out with the 8-inch square foam pieces. I'm glad I added those selvage stitches.
2. Cutting the foam into the sizes I needed was fast and easy. (I sawed through the foam with a bread knife.)



Chair cushion pads (they yellowed while in storage with my
sewing stuff). The bread knife worked great for
cutting the 2-inch foam into 8" x 8" squares. 

3. The seam turned out easier and better than I expected. It's a simple slip stitch crochet seam. The medium green yarn blends the best. 

Slip stitch seam with wrong sides facing out.
Ready to be turned right side out, and stuffed with the
four squares of foam.

It blends so well that I was even able to crochet the last seam after stuffing, instead of sewing it. This meant the seam was done on the outside of the head -- a.k.a. with right sides facing out, instead of with wrong sides facing out, like I did the other seams. Doesn't seem to matter, which is great!

Three pieces of foam added so far. One to go.
It's been pretty easy so far. Will the fourth foam piece
be difficult? It wasn't, really.

Another happy accident is that the foam doesn't show through the stitches because it's green. 


Meanwhile I have three out of six body panel completed, and a few of the 24 pieces needed for the feet.



The only thing I still wonder about is the best way to attach the head and feet to the body....

Crocheting a Minecraft Creeper

Courtesy of Minecraft Wiki

I started crocheting a Minecraft Creeper near the end of Dec 2011. I got in over my head.

Creepier Side of the Creeper, no?

How could I resist Toytester Bob's vision? We both want to see crochet capture its pixelated look. 

This certainly complicates the crocheting: the color changes are frequent and random.


I pretty much only got the face done by Christmas. It was so slow-going back then that...I...lost heart. It's my first challenging crochet intarsia project. A project like this takes a unique kind of planning, as I'm finding out.

A little over a month has gone by and I've figured out how to go about it. I've crunched the numbers (of pixels, colors, yards per gram of yarn, etc). I'm re-inspired! Most importantly I can now track how far along I am (37%)--I thought it was barely 10%. No wonder I lost heart! 

Kitting it up

Another reason I initially lost heart is that I thought I couldn't make it portable. Today I'm "kitting up" the Creeper body parts. This makes it even more fun. They're grab-and-go little kits because I've learned that to have a fair chance of finishing this project, it must be portable. This means NOT lugging around 6 messy skeins of yarn, for example.

Ready to wind into butterfly bobbins

A plus is that the crochet stitches only have to look nice on one side. For a stuffed 3D figure--it will stand 8 inches tall--it needn't be reversible. I also won't be weaving in any yarn ends. If it were to become a Minecraft Creeper afghan instead (imagine!!), I think I'd still go about crocheting it the same way and put a soft fabric backing on it as for a quilt.

Another plus is that as crocheting amigurumi goes, this one is elementary geometry: just stack some 3D squares and rectangles. This means: zero shaping (increasing or decreasing stitches); I can crochet it in several flat pieces; all seams are straightforward; it's easy to calculate yarn amounts needed for each color.

When I first started this project I planned to blog my progress, for my own records and for others who wish to crochet a pixel-like Creeper. This means I have earlier blog posts in my head. To move forward from here instead, I'll just list the steps taken so far.

Initial attempt to make it quick & easy: variegated
camo yarn and diagonal box stitch (shown is
linked stitch version--to close gaps between the
stitches.) Toytester Bob reminded me that
a true Creeper has no shades of brown.

1. I picked the crochet stitch (single crochet in rows), yarn type (worsted weight), and construction (flat in rows then seamed; stuffed with foam blocks). I'd hoped I could just do the diagonal box stitch with variegated yarn! If so, I could have finished it in a few days. It didn't create the digitized look we wanted, though. Also, the taller double crochet stitches had gaps between the stitches, which let the stuffing show through. 

Courtesy of PlanetMinecraft.com

2. Once I accepted the jacquard-tapestry-intarsia-crochet challenge, I limited the number of colors to five, plus black. (For the record, a true Creeper appears to have more than 3 shades of green and 2 shades of grey). I used a mix of ToytesterBob-approved colors from my stash + whatever I could find in the three stores nearest me. I found the best color choice at the time with Vanna's Choice afghan yarn.

The 8 toes of the 4 feet

3. After crocheting the face I then crocheted all of the "toes" of the feet blocks. This was so that I could eliminate the skein of black yarn. The project page I created in Ravelry covers the first stage. 

4. Decide on bobbins or stranding. Yes I know: Step 4?? But until this stage, I wasn't sure if I should pick one technique: crochet over the other colors, or strand across the back, or use small cut lengths (bobbins). A mix of all three is working out the best in terms of uniformly snug stitches, clean color changes (I'm still learning though!), and ease of working. 

Whew.

5. Mapped out on the graph for each of 7 different types of pieces when bobbins are best vs. stranding, block by block! 

6. Measured best cut lengths of yarn for one block of color, a group of two, and so on. This was so that I could create bobbins for my portable kits.

7. Counted totals of blocks of each color to see if I would need more than one skein of each. I'll need another skein of the light green and the medium green.

Handmade Cords: Easy Crochet for Boys

This post is an update of one that I wrote in 2007. I'm writing an issue of my Crochet Inspirations Newsletter about crochet cords, braids, lanyards, etc., and how they work out well for boys and men too. 


Just sent it, here's the link! Crochet Inspirations Newsletter: Fancy Cords in 360º - http://eepurl.com/dBav1


At left is a simple lanyard that my son needed as soon as possible for his new school ID. I chained a bunch, then for Row 1: *hdc, ch 1, skip next ch, repeat from * to end of row.


It's holding up really well.


The 2007 post concerned a commemorative lanyard for a younger Toytester Bob, who was deeply involved in his new Nintendo DS Pokemon games. Here's another image of that lanyard that I photo-edited a bit for clarity:


A third cord I've crocheted for him might be called a fob? No--a tether. It is the simplest chain of extra-fine Jelly Yarn (r) in black (so that it looks like leather!) and it permanently tethers a special screen pen to a Nintendo DS XL device.
I'll upload a photo when I have day light!

Crochet Helps Make Chores Cheerful?

(Bottom of Bank)

 What is that?

Toy Tester Bob's endorsement, while looking back on his earlier years with Cheerful Chores: 

Toy Tester Bob

"It was fun and not complicated. It was easy to keep track of my money. It made me feel like I was earning something real because it was physical."

The basic idea: crochet as many "coins" as you need, a Parent Bank, and a Child's Bank (one for each child) using craft foam sheets and a small amount of colorful yarn. Everyone starts the day or week with some coins in each bank. Coins can be color-coded for each child to prevent accidental mixing. As the day or week goes on, the child can earn more coins, or may have to pay some fines or behavior "taxes." 

It's great for recycling containers, leftover yarns, and scraps of craft foam sheets. Older children who know crochet basics will enjoy helping with this project. 
I've created these site pages about this downloadable crochet pattern: in my Ravelry shop, and the original "Crochet Family Banking!" project record. It also has its own Flickr photo set (most of the photos in it are fully public; a few, such as the template images and assembly, are accessible via a link in the pattern).


I was inspired by the philosophy of these books: Playful Parenting (1993) and Playwise (1996), both written by Denise Champman Weston & Mark S. Weston (published by Tarcher in the USA). I wish I had developed it sooner. In my limited experience (with one son), I imagine it would have worked well when he was as young as age five or so; however, I started using it when he was age eight, after trying other methods. It gradually lost out to the power of real money by the age of ten or so. 

Best of all: It appealed to his innate good nature and strengthened it. It rewarded Toy Tester Bob for considering other family members. It seems that the fair-minded purity of a young child responds beautifully to the idea of "taxes" as a negative consequence, rather than some type of punishment.
Even a young child can understand that if s/he doesn't do chores, a different family member has to. The "tax" is the price the child pays to reward someone else for doing that chore. I found that this cultivates compassion and empathy for others. The real message is that one's actions impact others, and when you love your family, you want to be responsible.

Inside of Bank

I wanted to hold off on using the traditional weekly allowance system of real cash for several reasons. Using crocheted coins remove the risks of careless handling of real cash. When someone gave my son cash as a gift, he preferred that I convert it into crocheted money and I was very happy to do so!

Children aren't born taking real money seriously the same way that adults do, so they're likely to do crazy things like:
- Leave cash sitting out in the open
- Stuff it partially into little pockets with no awareness of when it falls out
- Make unequal trades; for example, give someone a dollar bill in return for five pennies, because the five "pieces" of money look like more than one "piece."

Other advantages of this system for a parent like me:

1. The “taxes” consequence is simple and easy for a child to comprehend. Parent sees real results faster, saving parent from that “wasted breath” feeling. 
2. It's low maintenance. Parent can see at a glance how child is doing. 
3. It seems to encourage saving! A pleasant surprise in my experience was that crocheted coins were rarely cashed in. Perhaps because there was something cozy and satisfying in the handmade coins themselves? They are pleasantly thick, so a stack grows in size quickly.

The appeal of this system for a child like mine:

1. It’s playful, cheerful, and tactile. It seemed to charm him into making better behavior choices. It also made character-building life lessons more enjoyable, less punitive and bossy. 
2. A crochet coin is big and colorful, so it feels like a lot of money to a young child. It seemed to change the experience of money, making it look and feel cozier, more substantial and satisfying. 
3. It's simple and easy to understand: adults forget how confusing and abstract money is. Teachers of young children know how much struggle it takes to distinguish and memorize the meaningful differences between seemingly look-alike coins and bills. During this developmental stage, Cheerful Chores served as a kind of money that Toy Tester Bob could relate to, and start to understand basic concepts about earning, saving, and budgeting. 

Happy Birthday to Toy Tester 'Bob,' Fan of Carnivorous Plants

Toy Tester Bob kicks back with his tiny cousin

As of his birthday yesterday, Toy Tester Bob received by mail the last installment of his exciting collection of carnivorous plants. They are small and delicate when they arrive, and need special care. Bob set to work researching how he could help them feel more at home here. When he heard that music can help plants thrive, he said,

"If any plants like rock music, it would have to be Venus Flytraps." 

I knew I had to blog that! (After researching it, he learned that classical music is a safer choice for any type of plant.)

Venus Flytrap Toy with suspenseful lace-up action

My birthday boy has been captivated by carnivorous plants for most of his life. When he was his tiny cousin's age, we learned about them from picture books.


During elementary school years we created a batch of these crochet Venus Flytrap toys for his school's "Mini-Mall" day. As I've previously blogged, Bob conducted extensive toy testing and delivered a sales performance report to me on the way home from school: the Venus Flytrap Action Toys SOLD OUT to a wide age range after a BIDDING WAR for the last one. 


Toy Tester Bob is now completing his first year in middle school. If the Venus Flytraps weren't dormant right now, I'd provide a photo here so that you could appreciate the compelling realism of the crocheted version :-) Here's a pic of two pitcher plants, in relation to the size of the Toy Tester's fingers. 

Bob notes that the larger pitcher ate a small ant the other day. He also learned that although they are often called "Monkey Cups" (because monkeys really do drink from them), it's better to call them by their botanical name, Nepenthes, when searching for information on them.

Toy Tester Bob is having a great first year in middle school. Last week he performed in a musical review called Brand New Day. (This is the best photo I could get with my cell phone, no flash permitted. He's wearing a microphone headset.) He did great on stage: not only did he speak his lines clearly and loudly, he had a solo in a song! I'm very proud.

Crochet Toy/Amigurumi Pattern NOMINATED FOR AWARD!

"What an incredibly creative way to teach measurements of this sort!"  

                                                                     --Carol in Ravelry

I'm pleased and excited to report that one of my crochet toy patterns is an award finalist! The Teacher's Gallon Friend, an educational toy that helps teach the relationship between cups, pints, quarts, and gallons, has been nominated by the Crochet Liberation Front for Best Crochet Design for Children!

Here's what people have been saying about it in Ravelry since the Teacher's Gallon Friend pattern PDF was released in November 2010:

"This is really clever! I need to make one for my small granddaughters. They will love it."

"Awesome idea! Love it!"

"This is totally cute and a great learning device! Every child should have one. (And maybe adults, too! LOL) I’m going to try to make one of these from your pattern. And kudos to your son for his amazing drawing!"

Wonderful! I think I need one for my kitchen."

"cute + brilliant!!!"

My son was a part of it from the very beginning (starting at age 9). So it's a special feeling for both of us to announce it in this toy designing blog. When I began this blog a few years ago, I didn't imagine that the things I crochet for my son and his friends would qualify for awards, I was just keeping a journal of how crochet is play and adds to the fun that I can have as a mom. I hope that as my son grows up, this blog will become a record of how crochet grows along with him. 


I do have other crochet toy patterns in mind, and you can bet that just being nominated, and seeing the wonderful designs in this category, inspires me to design more.


Please visit this Crochet Liberation Front page to see all nominees. (It may take a while for all images to load.) The CLF founded the annual Flamies Awards about three years ago. You will be amazed to see all the wonderful crochet designs. Starting tomorrow, Mar. 15, you can cast your votes in all award categories. 

Crochet Accessory Wins First Place....

....in son's heart as padding for the strap of a musical instrument.

A tenor saxophone is a heavy instrument for a kid! All of the weight is felt at the neck. 

It only took about 20 minutes to crochet a rectangle of puff stitches with the softest yarn from my stash: one full skein of Moda Dea Aerie yarn. 

Then, seamed it into a tube while it was wrapped around the strap. 

Longer practice times are now enabled with this simple solution.

The fire red color probably has something to do with its success. It has been his favorite color most of his eleven years, with time out for blue and electric turquoise. Also, briefly in preschool years, sunshine yellow. Well, I should call it "Spongebob Yellow."

Crochet for the Classroom: 'Teacher's Gallon Friend'

Sometimes my son brings home school assignments that strike me as crochet-worthy. Maybe it's my imagination, but doesn't this look like a crochet design waiting to happen?
 
The body is a gallon and the arms and legs are the four quarts. They each have 2 pints, and each pint has two cups (or "fingers"). 

Surely this diagram would also help metric-using visitors to the United States who are confused by our strange logic of pints and quarts :-)

Here's what I worked out, and uploaded the downloadable pattern PDF today to my pattern shop at DesigningVashti and in Ravelry:

My son wanted to keep the original prototype (red at the center). We presented the new yellow-centered one it to his third grade teacher, Mrs. Karen Newhall. 
It now hangs at the front of her classroom.

Sock Alien Chooses Crochet for Fall Accessories Line

Even aliens can catch a chill. [Ravelry page]

News Item!! 

Some extraterrestrials use fashion
to express their individuality

The younger extraterrestrial populations (that we know of) seem to be turning to crochet for the practicality, fashion looks, and feel of luxurious comfort against their alien skins.

Important Developing Trend for Crochet

The number of crocheters will skyrocket (so to speak) if this popular hobby catches fire on other planets.

It will then become a beloved tradition across the galaxy in just a few generations. [Or however it is that aliens reproduce.]

Human crocheters can look forward to new crochet patterns by alien designers. Hopefully it will be easy to substitute Earth yarns.

This young alien sees crochet in the stars