Softie Circus Seal & Ball

I have been making a lot of crochet amigurumi items lately.  They are fun to make and a great stress reliever after a long day at work.  I am also getting a lot better at reading the patterns and faster at making them.  I'm trying to learn something new with each project that I make.  This seal was the biggest and most complex amigurumi I've made thus far.

Why a seal?  My husband has been on a work assignment for months with a seal as the logo, and he asked me to make a seal for him.  I found several free patterns, and I picked this one.

(Circus Seal pattern by Michele Wilcox and picture at the Premier Yarns website)

Supplies:
--3 colors of yarn: 1 for the body and 2 for the ball
--embroidery floss
--crochet hook
--tapestry needle (mine is plastic)
--screw on plastic nose (optional) (available at craft stores for around $0.99 for several noses)
--scissors
--stuffing
--locking stitch markers (I use colorful paperclips)

I used worsted weight acrylic yarn and a size H hook.  The pattern is all single crochet, and I did all of it in back loops only.  The seal ended up being quite a bit larger than expected, but it is really cute.


For the ball, you will need to make a couple yarn switches, but it was pretty easy to make.  The pattern for the ball uses typical continuous single crochet rounds requiring some increasing, continuation of the same number of stitches, and then some decreases.

The seal itself was quite a bit more complicated.  It was also all single crochet in continuous rounds.  First, I crocheted each part of the body--main body, head and neck, front flippers, and back flippers.

Next, I stuffed and sewed the parts of the body.  I stuffed and closed the main body, and then sewed the back flippers on (no stuffing).  Then, I had to add on the nose and whiskers to the head/neck piece.  The pattern has the nose and whiskers made out embroidery floss, but I used a plastic nose and embroidery thread for whiskers.  Next, I stuffed the head and neck, and I attached it to the main body.  Finally, I sewed the front flippers onto the seal. The pattern says to sew three 1 inch lines onto each front flipper (at the point furthest from the body), and then add some stuffing and attach.

Here, is my finished circus seal with ball:

I'm very glad it turned out well.  I was a little bit nervous about dealing with all of these pieces, and whether I could sew them together correctly. I was most worried about messing up the face.  My husband seems happy with the finished product, and he says his co-workers like it too.



Update on the Amigurumi bird:

It has multiplied!  Behold the bird family that has appeared in our home.  There are now 3 different sizes: smaller bird, taller bird, and bird with more stuffing.

The birds are getting faster and faster to make.  I'm glad that I started with this Stacey Trock pattern.  It's a great beginner pattern.

Angry Birds Perler Bead Magnets

I had a very busy week, so I never finished the bear and I skipped out on the baby shower, so I haven't posted those projects yet.  Yesterday, I had an urge to work with perler beads again, so I did several projects with them.  Today, I am sharing the Angry Birds Magnets.

I didn't find many perler patterns for Angry Birds.  I used patterns for the pigs and red bird, and I looked at the online images of the game for the other birds that I made.

I am including the pics of the unmelted perler beads for the patterns.  I thought about making some sort of graph for my own patterns when I did the Mario post, but I wasn't able to figure out a good (i.e. quick and easy) way to do it.  If the images are too small for you, you can increase the size.  I hit command and the plus sign to increase the size when using Firefox on my Mac, but yours may be different.

The only pattern I completely followed is the pig, and only for the first one that I made.  I ran out of the dark green, so I substituted a different green for the second one.

I didn't have enough black perler beads to outline the red bird, so I had to improvise and change it a little bit.

The following birds are my own patterns.

Yellow bird:

One of my nephews is a huge Angry Birds fan, and I recently learned that he likes Angry Birds Space a lot, so I wanted to also make him some Angry Birds Space magnets.

Angry Birds Space blue square bird:

Angry Birds Space green spotted bird:

After I put the beads on the boards, I melted the beads together.  To melt them, I put wax paper over the pattern and used an iron on medium heat.  This time I melted both sides.  I didn't melt the visible side as much as the side that would be hidden.  After the beads were melted and cooled, I used my hot glue gun to add magnets to the back.

These magnets were easy and fun to make.





While I had the perler beads out, I also made a Mario and Wario for one of my other nephews.  I had to make my own Wario pattern, and I will share it sometime soon.  I also made some cute floppy discs that I will share in a upcoming kawaii perler post.

Lamp Shade Upgrade

I found this lamp at Target a couple weeks ago. 

It was about half price, and I got another 5% off of it.  I really like the color of the base, but the lamp shade was really plain. 

I thought of several different ways to decorate.  Originally, I was planing to do some sort of ombre paint chip decoration, but I couldn't find the right color paint samples, and it didn't look right.  I also thought about recovering it with a sweater.  I even found one that was pretty close in color, but it also just didn't look quite right.


Finally, I thought back to some ribbon I had from a summer wreath I made, and I knew it would go well with the lamp shade.  You can't see much of the ribbon in the only pic I found of that wreath, but it's at the very top.

Here is what I ended up with as a final product:

I used a glue gun to to add the ribbon at the top and bottom.  I think it added a nice decorative touch.  At one point, I thought about adding a beading around the center, and I bought some beads.  However, once I laid them on it, it looked too cluttered.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  Now, I just need to find the perfect spot for this lamp.  :)




I also did some more amigurumi projects this week, but I am not quite ready to share them.  I have a bear that needs to be stitched together and a project that I will not be able to post until next weekend after a baby shower.  I finished another amigurumi bird, and I will post it later with the bear.  I am definitely enjoying these amigurumi projects, and I already have a couple of other ones in the works. 

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.

Sweater Upcycle: Sock Fail to Okay

Last week I made a pillow cover and a plastic bag holder out of sweaters.  Another idea that looked quick and easy was making socks out of the sleeves of a sweater. Well, I tried it, but it was a resounding fail.

Supplies for failed socks:
-sweater with 2 sweater sleeves
-scissors
-sewing machine (or could do by hand) & thread


I used the same red sparkly sweater from last week's pillow case. As you can see, I pretty much just had sleeves left from it anyway.  Darwin wanted to help too.

I cut the sleeves off of the sweater.  Then I pinned the toe and turned over the top to hem it.

I sewed the toe closed.  Instead of just sewing straight across, I angled the sewing on the sides to try to make it more circular like a sock toe.  Next I finished off the top.  This gray thread makes it easy to see.

I should have angled the toes some more, but it wouldn't have saved these socks.  They were a total sock fail.

I guess the picture doesn't show the complete fail. The photo actually makes it look much better than it was.  The bottom was a square and the top was like a wavy/scallopy, slouchy top.   The sock was too big. I think I used a L or XL sweater.  I guess it needed to be a size or 2 smaller.

So, I took the material for the other sock, and I came up with other uses for it.


First, I made a water bottle cozy.  (I don't drink coffee, but it would also fit a Starbucks or other coffee cup.)

Next, I made a headband.  It could be used for cold days or for while I'm waiting for my hair to dry.

Finally, I made a loose collar for Darwin.  He actually didn't hate it.  I thought he looked quite dapper in it.

(I don't know why it looks pink in this photo, but it does.  You can also see Deli.)

 I also worked on a sweater blanket this week, but it's for another post.  It will probably take me several weeks or more to complete it.

I think I will blog about this lamp next week.  I bought it with the intention of decorating the shade.

Sweater Upcycle Project Week 1

For this week's project, I wanted to try some of the neat sweater upcycling projects I have been seeing on Pinterest.  There are a lot of great ideas floating around on the blogosphere.

This project also forced me to finally get out my sewing machine and figure out how to use it.  I used to sew back in high school, but that was quite a few years ago and my mom was always there to help when I didn't know how to do something.  I got a tutorial on sewing machine anatomy and use at Craftsy recently (available there for free), and it made me feel much more comfortable about trying out my sewing machine.  It took me some time to thread the bobbin and then thread the machine, but I eventually got it working and got to sewing.

For this project, I went to Goodwill and got an assortment of old sweaters from both the men's and women's sections.  I searched for sweaters in good condition and tried to find ones that were XL or XXL, so that I could get more fabric for my buck (wells bucks).

Blue Stripe Pillow Case
My friend Heather came over for this project, and she had a couple sweaters as well.  With one of her sweaters, we made this pillow case.  She didn't have any stuffing, so she will have to finish it later.

Red Sparkle Pillow Case
I found this great sparkly red sweater and wanted to make a pillow case out of it like these pillow cases.

(I also got a blue sparkly one, but I already had coordinating ribbon to go with the red and none for the blue.)

Supplies
-sweater
-pillow
-ribbon
-scissors
-sewing machine & thread

I cut it off right below the armpit and sewed that section closed.  I added the ribbon on the bottom where it was already hemmed when the sweater was made. In this photo, you can see the pillow I wanted to cover, the ribbon, and where I cut off the fabric.

I learned something while making this pillow case.  You need to account for the fact that the sweater tapers out towards the bottom.  I had to go back and sew a little more inward to make the pillow even.

Bag Holder
I also wanted to make a bag holder for the cat box area, so that my husband didn't have to keep hunting down a plastic bag each time he changes the cat box.  We reuse the plastic grocery bags rather than buy cat waste bags.

Supplies
-sweater
-embelishments
-scissors
-sewing machine & thread
-glue gun & glue sticks

For the bag holder, I used a purple sweater and cut off the sleeve.  I cut off another piece of the sleeve to make the handle. I turned the sleeve inside out and sewed the top closed (not the cuff).  Next, I used the other section for the handle and sewed it so that it was more finished.

I thought it looked really plain, so I added these blue buttons that I had cut off of another sweater.  I think they added a nice touch.  Instead of trying to use the button sewing part of my sewing machine, I took the easy way out for the embellishment.  I got out my hot glue gun.

 

Here is the bag holder stuffed and hanging up.  It was hard get a picture because of it's placement by the dryer.

Finally, while I had my glue gun out, I fixed my redneck wine glass.  I had put it in the dishwasher, and it came out as two pieces.  Here is it drying/cooling.

There are still quite a few more sweater upcycle projects that I have in mind, including a blanket that I may make this next week.  I will probably have one or more additional sweater upcycle posts in the near future.

8-Bit Mario Magnets

I saw these coasters on Pinterest, and I thought they looked like fun.  I looked at Etsy for coasters and other household items made out of perler beads, and I thought it might be fun to make my own.  Instead of making coasters, I decided to make Mario magnets.  My husband is a big Mario fan, and we like to play Mario games together when we have spare time, so I went with that theme. (There are lots of other perler options, like Zelda, Dr. Who, and Star Trek.)

I obtained some perler beads from Target, and got to work.  The boards that came with the beads were smaller than the examples I found on Etsy, so I changed the patterns to fit the boards.  I plan on adding easy to follow patterns for the ones I created later this week.

My husband really liked the Mario patterns, so we went to Joann's today and bought bigger boards and more colors.  The beads I bought the previous day didn't have all of the colors I needed to create some of the Mario characters.  With the bigger boards, I was able to just look at examples on Etsy and recreate them.  I won't be sharing those patterns because they are not my own, but I will link to some of them.   There are so many options, and it's easy to work from the finished example if you magnify the image.

Supplies:
-perler beads & peg board
-patterns
-magnets
-glue gun & glue stick (if magnet isn't sticky enough on its own)
-iron
-wax paper

Directions:
Step 1: Find patterns you want to recreate and buy corresponding perler beads and boards (or use what you have).

Step 2: Place beads on your board according to your pattern.

Step 3:  Heat iron to medium.  Once the iron has warmed up, place wax paper on your bead project and then put your iron on it.  You want to leave the iron on the beads long enough to fuse the beads, but not so long that you are melting the plastic boards.  The directions recommended 10-30 seconds, but it took significantly longer than that to make sure all of the beads were uniformly fused.

Step 4: Once your project has cooled, place a magnet on the back of it.  I used the stick-on magnets, but they were not sticky enough, so I used a hot glue gun to make them stick.

Here are some examples of what they look like unfinished:

Now, for some closeups of the finished magnets:

(This project was featured on House of Hepworths.)