the Akamai Knitter

Much of my time this weekend was devoted to stealth knitting, but I did manage to finish a project that I can share.  It’s Chubby the Fish!

Chubby the Fish

Pattern: Chubby Fish (Ravelry link) by MyGurumi

Yarn: Red Heart Classic

Hook: E / 3.5mm

Started: November 11, 2008

Finished: December 21, 2008

Chubby the Fish!

This would have been a quick project if I hadn’t lost steam once I finished the body. But i did and it ended up taking over a month to finish.

I really love MyGurumi‘s patterns. Her signature eyes are really cute and very child friendly. The patterns themselves are well written and easy to follow.  I plan on making more of her fun creations.

I’d really like to make a companion seahorse in the same turquoise color, but I have obligatory knitting to do. Do you find that when you absolutely have to get a project done, you absolutely don’t feel like working on it? My inner rebel springs to the forefront when I have deadlines. So far I’ve been successful in beating it down, but it’s been quite a struggle!

Finally, I thought I’d share my second mini tree. My mom rescued this from her office before it hit the trash. The reason it looks so disreputable is that the boys (cats) think it’s their new toy. You don’t even want to know how my other tiny tree has been faring.

mini tree!

Happy Holidays, everyone! Please drive safely!

My crochet hook has been busy whipping up even more amigurumi fun. The latest are two seahorses. Although I used the same hook size for both of them, the difference in yarn size produced one tiny seahorse and one large seahorse.

seahorses!

These were fun to make and a bit challenging. The body is made all at one go, then you have quite a few tiny bits to make and sew on. The designer uses her own stitch in certain spots so that took a bit of figuring out to do. It wasn’t hard, but it took my sleep deprived mind a few moments to wrap itself around it.

I think it’s also best that you’re familiar with reading a crochet pattern before doing this one. It’s not exactly cryptic, but it does border on it at times.  All in all, I wouldn’t recommend this pattern for a beginner. But that’s just my lone opinion. :)

I personally like the little guy on the right better. He just has a cuter face.*

lookie the cute face!

I also made miniature Lingering Garden pendants to be used for earrings.

Lingering Garden Pendant and Earring Set

I had a hard time with the first earring because the components were so much smaller. After much sweating and swearing,  I got it done. Thankfully the second earring went much smoother then the first.

Lingering Garden Earrings

They’re a lot lighter then they look. In fact, when I wore them I hardly noticed them at all. I’m really looking forward to making more.

Happy Friday and Happy Halloween everyone! Here’s a picture of the coastline down by Waimanalo for your viewing pleasure!

oahu coastline

*For more details check out my Ravelry project page, which I’ll update right after I post this.

A friend of mine just welcomed two new cats to her home. I decided it would be a good idea to give the cats a little present to welcome them into their new home.  So I took my handy hooks and some scrap yarn and went to work.  Truly though, I can hardly call these work.

cat toys

All of the toys above have been made with acrylic yarn, which makes for a good sturdy fabric in which cats can gnaw at will. There’s an octopus, a fish, two mice, and a goldfish. I’m much too lazy to link all the patterns I used here, but you can check them out on my Ravelry projects page.

A few people* have nominated me for a blog award that’s been circulating the blogosphere. I’ve finally decided to participate in the nominating of the award.

The rules are as follows:

1. Please put the award on your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you

3. You must nominate at least 4 fellow bloggers for this award.

4. Add links to the recipients.

5. Leave a comment so the recipients know they have received an award.

And the nominees are (in no particular order):

1. Cookie – Shut Up & Knit
2. Karen B. – Yarn Is My Metier
3. Lori – From The Wool Room
4. Megan – Knitting the Knotty Way

There you have it. That’s how I spent my Wednesday night. Whipping up cat toys and contemplating which blogs to award. I almost skipped the whole thing, but I really think the four ladies above deserve some recognition.

Have a good one folks! Friday is becoming ever less elusive!

*Thank you Fleegle, Jeanne, and Hakucho!

For all of you who seem to admire crocheted poop, I present to you a finished bear (Ravelry details).

amigurumi bear

Poor Mr. Bear felt really crappy (no pun intended) to know that you all thought his arms and legs were turds. So I created some friends to give him some emotional support.

mr. bear and friends

He’s going to need all the support he can get, because I now have the overwhelming urge to name him Mr. Poopy.

Thanks, guys.  ;-)

I haven’t been up to much this past week. I’ve mostly been working on the sock from hell and various other small projects. One of them is a little alien cat toy (Ravelry details). It’s a little dorky but the cats seem happy with it.

dorky alien!

Since that’s all I got, I thought I’d show off some stuff I just got.

Even though I don’t sew, I recently acquired some fabric simply because I couldn’t resist. Luckily, my friend Acornbud does sew and she just opened up her own Etsy shop. So I begged her to make me one of her cute project bags and a crochet hook roll. She acquiesced and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results.

project bag and crochet hook roll

The project bag is just the right size for a ball of sock yarn and my sock project. What I love most about it is the little charm she put on it.

skully!

And the crochet hook roll? It’s perfect.

hooks!

As for what I’ve been doing with the hooks? Well, I’ll save that for another day. In the meantime, here’s a peek. (If you plurk, you probably already know what they are.)

*appendages*

Happy Saturday everyone! Enjoy your weekend!