Crochet Projects - Chicken Hat & Chris-moose

I love the summer. It gives me time to work on projects. In-service days begin next week and students come back on August 13th. These are the last projects I had time to work on this summer - Chicken hat and Chris-moose.

After I finished working on my version of a Dolly Parton-ish doll,

I had the itch to work on something else. I dug through my printed pattern box and found the moose pattern from K's Crochet Critters. I modified the pattern a little bit to make my Chris-moose. It will carry a gift card and be part of my work's annual White Elephant Gift exchange at Christmas. 

Then, I was randomly scrolling crochet patterns and came across the Chicken Hat pattern and the Angler Fish hat pattern by Crochetverse. I immediately bought both patterns on Etsy and decided to work on the chicken first.

The chicken pattern is made using a double strand of yarn. I looked through my yarn stash and found a skein the perfect yellow color. The only problem was that I needed 600 yards of yellow so I had to go buy another skein. 

 

Luckily, Red Heart Super Saver yarn is pretty consistent. The yarn skein from my stash was from 1986. It felt a little bit rougher than the new yarn. I was surprised the Bright Yellow color was almost an exact match. I also had to buy Bernat Velvet red yarn. The rest of the yarn came from my yarn stash. Most of the other colors feel like they are Red Heart Super Saver Yarn. I have had several people give me collections of yarn so I don't have labels on a lot of my yarn stash skeins/balls.

I started working on the chicken pattern on Sunday and finished it around midnight on Thursday. I have no idea how many hours I spent making it but it was most of the week. My husband, son, and I went skydiving Thursday morning and I took the project to work on the one hour drive each way and in the lobby of the skydiving center. It helped calm my nerves before the big jump.

I forgot to take pictures while working on the chicken. The pattern was well written and easy to follow. I added a few extra feathers at the front and lengthened the collar by about two inches so it would sit on my shoulders. My version is not perfect but I love how it turned out.

I plan on wearing it for Book Character Day at my school on Halloween. I am pairing it with the book The Little Yellow Chicken by Joy Crowley.

Faces cannot be covered by masks at school so I am leaving the face hole open. but I am planning on adding a yellow piece of material, not sure what kind, to cover the hole from my nose down. I'll attach it with little hooks so it can be removed, if I want to wear it at places other than school.

I ordered several things from Amazon to add to the costume.  I am having fun with it.

I'm curious... What have you been crafting?

Crafting 2022 (So Far)

My crafting has slowed down since my Christmas break. Here are a few things I have made.

A friend of mine collects elephants. She asked if I could make one. This was my attempt. The nose is a bit wonky, but i think it turned out okay. I used this pattern from Amy's Crochet Cave.

A co-worker asked it I could make a fox for her to give as a Valentine Gift. I showed her several different patterns. She chose this one from Craft Passion.

The pattern called for a "Split Single Crochet Stitch" that mimics the look of a knit stitch. I tried the stitch and had a terrible time trying to use that stitch. So, I changed it to a single crochet stitch. I followed the pattern exactly, other than stitch type, and the head turned out way too tall. It looked ridiculous. A note on the pattern said not to try it with a different stitch because it would "not work well. You will find the size, shape, and colorwork, not in the right proportions ".   Yep, that statement was true.

I started over and changed up the number of rows as I went along. I had to make changes in the head, muzzle, ears, body, legs, and arms. I think it turned out cute. The pattern maker said she bought doll glasses for her fox. I used some 18 gauge craft wire and made some glasses for my fox. I thing the glasses turned out really cute. Since this fox was a Valentine gift, I added a red scarf with hearts on end. The scarf also helped hide the little-bit-too-skinny neck.

I got a gift card for a craft store for a Christmas present. I used it to try a new craft... needle felting. Needle felting is where you take wool and poke at it with special barbed needles to make the wool fibers bind together. I saw some amazing animal creations and thought I would give it a try.

I wanted to make a little white Maltese dog. I tried, but it didn't go so well. The head was so lumpy.

I kept working on it and it started to look more like a dog, but not like a Maltese.

I posted this picture on a facebook felting page. I was informed that you are not supposed to use all of the needles in the wooden handle at one time. The needles are different sizes. Oops! I didn't realize you could open the wooden handle and pull the needles out.

This is how my little dog turned out. It took me about three hours to make.

The felted dog is soooo tiny. It is only about 2 inches tall.  Here it is next to the Valentine fox.

I thought I would try my hand at 2D needle felting. It is also called painting with wool. I tried to think what I would make. I thought about a picture I took this past summer on a camping trip and knew I wanted to try and "wool paint" it. It is a very loose interpretation  of it.

I made a flat pug for one of my friends. She liked it. I did not like it much. She has a pug that is a certified therapy dog who works with children.

She keeps it on her desk at work.

This was supposed to be a cat to go with this Cat A Pencil. It was kind of scary looking.

Every year that we went to Canada for Christmas, we went on a feed the birds hike. 

The little chickadees are so cute. They will take seeds right out of your hand.

So, the next thing I wanted to needle felt was a chickadee. It is not quite right, but I think it is close. I still need to add legs to it and make the black at the bottom of the throat a bit smaller.

I pulled out my stamping supplies to make a few cards for co-workers.

Work and family has been keeping me very busy. I haven't had time to put any new projects on my crochet needles for several weeks.

What are you crafting?

Homecoming 2021

 Homecoming 2021

Boogs is now a sophmore in high school. He has been friends with Z since they were in preschool together. Z asked Boogs to go to her school's homecoming dance. Boogs and I met up with Z and her mom at the prayer garden on the grounds of the church where they went to preschool. It was so cute. They were both nervous. These are all the pics I go that day:

They had a great time and I had fun crafting for Homecoming week.

I made a mum for Z to wear to school on the day of the homecoming game.

Then I tried my best to make a proper corsage. I think it turned out great and cost one fourth of what the flower shop wanted to charge. (Just ignore my old, wrinkly hand :-)

Boogs and Z had a great time at the dance. I had fun learning a new crafting skill. 

Crochet Freediver

 I showed my friend the scuba diver I crocheted and she loved it. 

She insisted that I make one for her daughter who is a freediver. She kept saying, "I commission you to make one for me." It was funny. She did not stop saying that until I told her I would try to make one. She asked me to change the hair and eye color to brown, to make the wetsuit black, and to make the accessories turquoise. She also said to make sure it had big lips. As a freediver, the doll would not need a scuba tank and vest but would need a snorkel. 

It was soooo much easier to make this doll the second time. I felt like I knew what I was doing. Luckily, I had saved my handwritten notes (on this pattern from AmiLovesGurumi) showing how I'd changed the first scuba diver from the pattern of a frog to the pattern of a human head. I think the freediver has a much better nose than the first one.

I really struggled with how to make a snorkel. I could not find a pattern for it and was unsure how to crochet the mouthpiece. I remade the mouthpiece twice and the snorkel tube four times before I felt like it look correct. 

After finally figuring out the snorkel, I felt like the doll was missing something. I whipped up a little weight belt for it and it completed the look. The weight belt can be unbuttoned and removed. The little gray weights can also be removed from the belt. I left the hair long and untrimmed so my friend could cut it to match the length of her daughter's hair. I really like the way it turned out. I bought about $10 worth of supplies to make it. Now, I just have to decide how much to charge for the doll. 

I had a different friend request a beagle to give as a baby shower gift. 

I found three amazingly adorable beagle patterns and had to buy all three. (One, Two, Three) All three patterns were less than $15 and I know I will be making and eventually selling all three. When I showed them to her, my friend chose the first little puppy. She asked me to add pads to the bottom of his paws. I chose to make them pink. I think they make this puppy look even more adorable.

It is so hard for me to figure out how much to charge for these creations. If I didn't have to support my crafting habit / budget, I would give them all away for free. 

I am currently looking for some cute Christmas patterns to make and sell at craft shows in the late Fall. What amigurumi Christmas items do you think people would want to purchase?