My First Amigurumi: Gator Bird

(The nest is made from a scarf my very talented sister in law made.)


I was originally planing on revealing the lamp I am recovering, but I got distracted as usual by another craft.  I have been seeing lots of cool amigurumi animals and dolls on Pinterest and Ravelry, and then I saw Stacey Trock's amigurumi class on sale at Craftsy, so I got it.  I was a little bit worried that this project would be another fail like last week's Sock Fail, but I am very happy with how it turned out.  I learned to crochet as a child, but I never learned stitch names, pattern reading, or more than 1 type of stitch, so I was definitely a beginner when it came to crocheting.  However, while this bird was challenging for a beginner, it was actually pretty manageable and fun to make using the videos.  Now, I know how to read patterns, single crochet, crochet in the round, increase & decrease, and attach limbs.

The bird pattern is available though Craftsy and Ravelry by Stacey Trock.

Supplies:
--2 colors of worsted weight yarn
--2 animal eyes (99 cents for 6 at Hobby Lobby)
--crochet hook
--tapestry needle (mine is plastic)
--scissors
--locking stitch marker (I use colorful paperclips)
--stuffing

The parts of this piece include 2 wings, 1 beak, and 1 body.  It's all done using single crochet in the round using the back loops. Here is a photo of the crocheted parts ready for stuffing.

(I didn't have any locking stitch markers, so I used paperclips. The paperclips worked well as a substitute.)

Once the beak, wings, and most of the body were crocheted, I attached the wings and beak by sewing them onto the body.  Then, I added the eyes.  Next, I added the stuffing.  Finally,  I crocheted the last few rounds to close up the bird.

Tah dah!!!!!  I created a  Gator Bird:

This project was a lot of fun and surprisingly easy.  I feel much more comfortable with crocheting now, and I have already started another amigurumi project--blue mario mushroom.  There are so many fun and cute free patterns available on Ravelry and blogs, such as dolls, stuffed animals, and foods. I look forward to trying more of them.

Gator Balloon Wreath

I finally finished this Florida Gator themed balloon wreath that I have been working on for weeks...well, not really weeks.  It took so long to finish because I ran out of balloons and I had to wait a few weeks for Hobby Lobby to get more in stock.

I had been wanting to Gator-up the outside of our house, and I thought a balloon wreath would be a fun and easy way to do so.  Why a Gator theme?  Well, that's where I went to law school, so I have to show my Gator pride.  :)  This was my first balloon wreath, but it was really easy to make once I had the correct supplies.

I'm going to talk a little bit about what you need for this wreath and how to make it, but I'm not going to do a full tutorial because there is already this great tutorial.  It has really easy step by step instructions.  Why reinvent the wheel, right?

Anyway, the following pic shows my completed wreath.

I really like how it turned out.  (After seeing this pic, I did fluff it and make it more rounded.)  For some reason, the balloons look blue and red in this photo, but I assure you that they are blue and orange.  The colors are easier to see in this pic:

Supplies:
straw wreath form (mine was a 14")
balloons
floral pins (I got these pins in 100 pc packs at Wal-Mart for $1 each)

Directions:
Step 1:  Pick your color scheme and gather your supplies.
Step 2: Fold a balloon in half and put the floral pin around it (not through the balloon).  Pin balloon to the wreath form.  Repeat Step 2 until wreath form is covered with balloons.

Hint:  Keep the plastic cover on the wreath form.  If you remove it, the straw falls out and makes a mess.  In the following pic you can see the back with the plastic.

Update:  This blog post was featured on Kaysi's Keeping It Simple Motivate Me Monday.   I really like her blog and I look at it pretty often because she has a lot of great ideas, so I was pretty excited when she listed my wreath as one of the projects that caught her eye.