Crochet Stitch Close-ups of Club Penguin Puffle

For amigurumi and toy crocheters who'd like a closer look at the Rare Orange Puffle, here's the starting shape, which you can see here at the base of the toy:

I hope that you can make out that the first rounds of single crochet stitches were worked in a rectangular shape. I did this so that it would sit flat, not wobble or tilt. Also, a Puffle body is not perfectly round.

For the hair I unearthed my old latch hook rug making skills. (I don't have the handy latch hook tool anymore but a simple crochet hook worked fine.) Here's the revealed hairline:

You could really just tie on the yarn pieces with simple overhand knots. (It looks like that's what I did in this photo anyway.) I'm thinking that I should trim the hair slightly shorter. It's a bit too flat'n'floppy.

And here's a close up of the face. Crazy cartoony looking features, huh? I'm proud of the satin stitching of the pupils.

Rare Orange Puffle Sighting!

Kids who are members of Club Penguin know how rare an orange Puffle is. I even found a GetOrangePuffle Blog! One day Chippy the cat must have captured one in the wild because look:


The Puffle seems as comfy as Chippy and Bob, so maybe "befriended" is a better word than "captured."

This is a 99% crocheted Puffle, even the eyeballs! The remaining 1% is whatever embroidery stitches I was able to recall on the fly from childhood. I was able to do the Satin Stitch reasonably well for the eye pupils--they came out nicely once I rimmed the stitches with short chained stitches. I watched my fingers do that stitch (for the mouth too) with wonder, because my mind doesn't remember it even though my fingers do!

What do you think of the eyes? I like the embroidery but don't know if I like the white part. My son loves it :-)

Holiday Frolic with Jelly Yarn: Free Pattern!

Silly me, after using Jelly Yarn to make some personalized bungee bookmark gifts for my son to take to school (see pattern below), I rather foolishly left it sitting out on the day that he had two friends sleep over.

That's right, 3 grade school boys in a room with 1 ball of Jelly Yarn and a tempting pair of scissors. 

Everything and everyone got wrapped and tied. You could try counting all of the cut ends in the photo but you'd miss some :-)

I'd say there's less than a half of a skein left. Note to self: if providing Jelly Yarn as a party favor, allow 1 skein for every 3-4 kids.

Ready for the....Happy Holidays 2008 Free Pattern? This pattern is very simple and easy and requires only the most basic crochet skills. Full copyright held by Vashti Braha; for personal use only, please share the link to this pattern, not the pattern itself. Thank you.

Book Bling Bungee

Supplies Needed:

• 5mm/H/US8 aluminum crochet hook
• Jelly Yarn, fine weight: small amount
• Some bling (I found these giant acrylic 'crystals' in a holiday display at Michaels)
• 2"x2" (approx.) scrap of Foamies (foam rubber sheet-also at Michaels); I cut mine into a tree ornament shape and punched a hole in the top.
• Hand lotion, small amount (for hook)

1. Don't use hand lotion yet. String bling onto Jelly Yarn ("JY"). Make a very tight slip knot with a loop to fit over your hook. Chain 3.
2. Don't use hand lotion yet. Pull up one bling bead close to hook, chain: this is a beaded chain stitch. Repeat for the rest of your strung bling. You can use hand lotion now.
3. Insert hook into hole that you punched into your foam piece, pull JY strand through, chain 1.
4. Chain about 54--it depends on how tightly you chain and the size of your book. Finished bungee will stretch.
5. Stop using hand lotion (so that your fastening off will stay tight.) Slip stitch into each of first 3 chain stitches to form a ring, slip stitch into the next 2 beaded chains, chain 1, fasten off as tightly as possible. Hide ends behind bling. Write something on foam piece with magic marker if desired.

Meet Togepi, the Crocheted Christmas Pokemon

!!This is a BIG HIT with Toy Tester Bob and friends!!

I finished it in time for Christmas and frankly, at first I wasn't sure I would. The pattern was in all Japanese. The diagrams are fantastic though and after a few false starts, the rest fell into place quickly. For example, the diagram that I thought was for the head was actually for the bottom. I should have realized that the diagrams are color-coded, so since the head is yellow, so is the diagram. The feet and crown points are not perfect spheres and that threw me off at first, but there is no better way to explain it than the diagrams that were given.
The yarn is Bernat Cottontots because that's what I have in pale yellow and white. (Classic amigurumi is made with worsted-wt acrylic but I think I like Cottontots yarn better for this.)
Was unable to get felt pieces in the right shades of red and blue, and I have a thing for fabric paint anyway, so I went my own way and used it for the details. In the third photo it is freshly applied and very wet. It dried well as you can see in the first pic.
I actually prefer the fabric paint for the surface decorations--it has a durable and shiny-rich surface, but I wish I had embroidered the face so that I could've ripped it out until it was exactly perfect.

Blogs Collide

Boo! I have two posts on my main blog that I could post here instead, so this is a heads-up about them. I guess otherwise this Toydesigningvashti planet really does orbit the sun on a different path than the Designingvashti planet.

One post is a conference report about the toys I brought home for Bob. I don't usually find Bob-worthy toys at crochet conferences so I hope this is a new trend. Here's a bonus pic of Bob with the goods. That's my cutie.

Today I just posted a Halloween crochet report over there because it involves The Chaps of Fashion 2007, but if I had any pics of the kids in costumes too, I would have posted them here.

At any rate, I will pick up the pace of posting to this blog. I've been doing toys for publication and haven't been able to blog about those.

Pokemon Crochet Book ARRIVED

Straight over from JAPAN where some of my MOST FAVORITE crochet books originate:

I bought it from an eBay seller named Megs Favorites, a great source for Japanese crochet books. Not only did it arrive fast and in great shape, but Meg also speaks English, a big plus for me over ordering books through Japanese Amazon.

About half of the projects are knitted (basically the sweaters). Most everything else is first-rate happydance-worthy crocheted amigurumi, YAY!

My toytester "Bob" is shiny-faced for a Togepi first and a Poliwag second. In case you've somehow managed to avoid learning about Pokemon, Togepi is white with blue and red triangles, and Poliwag is blue--won't that spiral be fun to make?! Like most kids, he would have chosen red-cheeked Pikachu first but already has some. Togepi toys are less common.

All right, I admit it, I like Pokemon too. I love Clefables, all the Evees, Bulbasaur, and the legendary ones. I love it when lightning comes out of Pikachu's cheeks and what happens when Jigglypuff gets mad. I love that in battle, some Pokemon can use Friendly Look or Heart Swap to confuse.

When Your Kid is the Designer....

....that makes you the contract crocheter! "Bob" drew up a firebunny plan for me to execute (this was 3-4 years ago). He shopped in my stash for firebunny-appropriate yarns. I drew a simple bunny outline. He ok'd the outline and then "designed" it by coloring it in to show me how he wanted the finished bunny to look, based on the available yarns. We ended up going with the top, side view sketch when we realized that he needed to pick a color for the tail.
It was a fun game! I enjoyed the challenge of trying to match his color changes!

I remembered last night that I never blogged about this toy because at bedtime he looked at it affectionately and said, "This is a special bunny. I'm glad you made it for me. I wonder why the ears don't stand up?" (I said, "Because it was the first time I'd ever tried to crochet bunny ears.")

G-G-Ghost B-B-Bunny

Halloween being one of my most favorite holidays, it's not over for me until another holiday takes its place. So I introduce to you a joint effort between my son and me: Hector the Ectoplasmic Ectomorph (a.k.a. Ghostbunny).

I crocheted a barrel-chested squat bunny with pure angora yarn. When my son hand-felted it, its body type changed rapidly from endomorph to ectomorph. 'Bob' was so eager to felt it while getting ready for school in the morning that I didn't get a before-felting photo. Knowing this yarn (Jolie) I'd say it's two-thirds felted. A clones knot tail felted beautifully by the way. The ghostly eyes are my first-ever attempt at needle-felting which I did with a size #16 steel crochet hook from Lacis and wool roving from my Mom. Yeah, no paws, isn't it spooky?

Hector tends to float through life better than stroll or sit, so I needed a prop for him. He's the one who requested the tub of Ricemellow Creme. That is just so typical of him.

Vintage Spongebuddy

When my son was in Kindergarten 2 years ago, he needed a way to carry his juice box or water bottle around throughout the school day. When you live in a subtropical area that only offers full-day kindergarten and the buses are not air-conditioned, your little kindergartner needs to have drinks at hand!

I'm partial to the fingered handle.

That's 3D fabric paint for the face. Sure beats embroidering something like that! It's as durable as the worsted-wt. craft yarns that I used. In fact, this item will probably still look like new when I'm long gone.

Glee Worm Tests Result in a Free Pattern

That face....that tilt of the head....don't you want to pinch its cheeks?

Worms just want a little love.

The final test scores were very high: After showing his Dad what it can do (perch on a pencil, stretch to five times its length, get thrown in the air and bounce a little, etc), Bob took "Pumpkin Worm" to school, lost it, and misses it.

Note: we've added two new worms--a blue one and a lime green one--to fill the void left by Pumpkin. They're cousins. Bob could tell by looking at their eyes.

When a toy survives Bob's tests, the design is reviewed for possible publication; in this case, it qualifies for free pattern status at this blog! See complete pattern below:

Glee Worm

(like "glow worm" because the Jelly Yarn almost glows, get it?)
Pattern is for personal use only, make a copy for your own use but copies of pattern in any form may not be distributed in any way; please link to this site instead, you know the drill. Thank you.

Supplies:

• Jelly Yarn (R), fine weight, about 3 yds. (That means 1 skein could net you 28 worms! Yee-haw!)
• G/4mm crochet hook
• A little hand lotion, or a "Vinylex"-type silicone if hook doesn't glide enough (comes with the Jelly Yarn)
• 2 seed beads of contrasting color with big enough holes for the yarn.
• clear glue (I used Aleene's Platinum Bond for jewelry)
• Yarn needle

Commence hooking:

1. Leave a 3-inch tail and make a slip knot so tightly that you stretch the yarn thinly; put a dab of glue on that knot. Chain 18.
2. Single crochet in 2nd chain from hook, 2 single crochet in each chain across except last; 1 single crochet in last, fasten off with a tight knot, dab knot with glue, and leave a 3-inch tail.
3. String 1 bead onto 1 tail. Weave tail in such a way that it positions the bead to look like an eye; you'll probably need to use a yarn needle. Secure with glue and trim. Repeat for other eye.