More Crochet Stuff

I went on a little hiatus from posting so I thought I'd put a couple quick somethings up to satisfy readers while I work on the next few projects.  I thought I'd start by sharing a couple of crochet projects I did last year.  

Pumpkin Amigurumi

The first is a little pumpkin I did before Halloween.  The pattern was actually a Jack-O-Lantern, but when I finished the main pumpkin (including the stem and leaf), I decided that I liked it the way it was.  My cat agreed.  She kept jumping on the shelf I had it on and knocking it down so she could play with it.  

Another thing I did before Halloween is a couple of baby bibs for my boss's new baby.  I got these patterns at Lion Brand Yarn, like most of my patterns, and there were a lot of characters to choose from.  I did the Jack-O-Lanterns because it was so close to Halloween and the froggie because, well, I like frogs and I thought it was cute.  Also available were a ducky, owl, piggy, and a whole slew of classic Halloween characters.  The frog required embroidering the mouth on and I had never been taught "proper embroidering technique" so I kinda just winged it.  I also added an extra round to the pupils but I don't really like the placement of the left eye.  Mine looks nothing like the picture on the pattern.  Looking at it now, it's a bit freaky looking... oh, well.  Still mostly cute.  

Late Christmas Crochet

So, I know that it's the New Year and Christmas is considered far behind us; however, don't think it's too late to post the Christmasy things I crocheted "last year".  If this gives anyone an idea for next year, there's plenty of time!  There isn't too much to say on the subject, but since this is my first post on crocheting, I'll try to expand.  

I don't think it's realistic for me to post tutorials on how to actually crochet.  I was taught a few years ago by my sister.  I was at Thanksgiving with my sisters, parents, grandma, aunt and uncle, cousins, etc.  At one point, everyone was gathered in the giant great room doing various things and it turned out that all the women there were knitting or crocheting...except me.  I can't say that it was love at "first hook", I've put it down and picked it up sporadically over the years.  Almost everything I post that I've crocheted will be from a pattern or a variation of a pattern or chart.  If you're inspired and want to learn, you can always find someone who knows how to teach you, but the internet is vast and ever expanding resource.

Cute Amigurumi Reindeer

If I've gotten the pattern online, I will try to always post a link to it at the bottom of the post.
 

The first project is a little amigurumi reindeer that I actually had started in 2010, got most of the way through it and "set it aside" out of frequent frustration.  I picked it up again and finished it before Christmas 2011.  A couple changes I made was that the pattern called for plastic eyes.  I don't have any, nor did I feel like buying them, "sew" I did my best shot at embroidering them on. Also, I didn't put a mouth on him.  I thought he was cute enough without it.  

If you don't know what "amigurumi" is, it is basically a small, crocheted, stuffed animal or figurine.  They're supposed to be cute. One of the frustrating things about it is all the many little pieces that you eventually have to sew together.  Something important for you to remember, even if the pattern doesn't say; if you have little pieces that need to be sewn on (IE.  ears, feet, nose, etc), always leave a long tail on the piece after fastening off.  That tail will be what you use to sew that piece to the larger whole.