Unicorn Poop!

I love making knit and crochet toys. There's something about all those little parts coming together into a toy that will be around for years and years that I adore.

This little guy came in a kit stuck to the front of Simply Knitting magazine edition 158. And since the only thing I love more than buying yarn is buying knitting magazines, and this particular one had the yarn for a cute project kitted with it, well of course I picked up a copy.

It all came together into this little guy (shhhh I sacrificed a pillow to stuff him, since I don't have any polyfill with me here in Crows Nest Pass). I only stuffed the body, should have probably shoved some into the legs.

Alex doesn't seem to mind however. Dom didn't either. In fact the only complaint they had was that there weren't two of them. This is a recurring problem in our lives.

The pattern is the Magical Unicorn by Sincerely Louise.

A cow for a cow.

Here's a little project I'd been meaning to share for a while.

First, the backstory. You see my boyfriend Kevin graduated from Medical School this past June, as a member of the Class of 2015, or the Cows. You see the University of Calgary has a long tradition of giving their Med School classes animal names, and for the past three years, he and his peers cheerfully Moo'd their way through school.

So for graduation, I thought I'd give him a hand made cow.

So I searched the Ravelry pattern database using the following criteria: crochet, free, has photo, all toys and hobbies, keyword:cow; and a total of 30 patterns came up.

After some debate, I decided to go with the Spotless Cow, by Sabine Ingrao.

And he turned out great! He only took two evenings to make, and I was able to use all stash yarn, Red Heart Super Saver for the white and brown, and Red Heart Soft Touch for the rest.

I threw on some buttons for eyes, and added a stethoscope to make him into a 'Dr. Cow'.

I loved the way the pattern turned out, with the great big nose, and floppy limbs (which are incorporated into the body as you go along) this plus toy has a great feel. Plus the double thickness ears stand up tall and hold their character.

I threw a UCalgary brand on him as an added touch.

Oh, and if you are curious, I made the pillow in the background as well. You can watch the youtube tutorial here.

Guardians of the Galaxy Crochet

Just thought I'd take a moment to share a pair of projects from February. I worked up this pair for Kevin as his Valentines Day gift. They are baby Groot and Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Don't they make a perfectly adorable pair? And FYI, I took these photos outside in February... yep that's how mild and dry our winter has been

The Baby Groot Pattern is by the always fantastic Twinkie Chan. He worked up really quickly with some brown acrylic I've had in my stash for years. He's got a pipe cleaner skeleton and is potted with some brown pom poms. Because he was for Valentines Day, I put a cute little heart in his hand (branch?).

The pattern is free, and simple to follow. If you're confused at all, there's also a YouTube video you can follow along on.

Unfortunately, I didn't hide Groot well enough, so Kevin spotted him a few nights before Valentine's day, and loved him right away. However, I still wanted to surprise him with something, so I thought why not his pal Rocket, the angry and awesome racoon?

I bought this pattern on Ravelry from Kristel Koevenig and really I wish I hadn't paid for it. At first the pattern was going great as I worked my way up the legs, but when I got to the strips on his body, something funky was going on with the way it was written, so I improvised from the waist up on his body.

Then I ran into the same trouble with his head. Maybe it was because I wasn't reading carefully enough, but at $5.40 for a small toy pattern, I guess I just expect it to work up with clear directions that give you the anticipated result. However, I am happy with the over all result, and love the details on his face and with his little backpack.

Well that's all I have for now. Happy Hooking!

Crochet Minion Toy

As much as possible, I prefer to give hand crafted gifts to purchased ones. However, that can be difficult when you have a half dozen or so Christmas Gift Swaps and White Elephants.

Much like Micheal from the office with his iPod, this is how you win a Yankee Swap.

With a crocheted Minion from Despicable Me. I followed the pattern by Nicole's Nerdy Knots (available as a free ravelry download). With some free style modifications to the gloves and the face to save time and effort. I worked in in Red Heart Soft Touch, and apart from buying the blue and yellow, the rest came out of my stash.

He worked up quick (I made him the day before, about 4 hours while watching Netflix). And he was stolen many times during the swap. I've got enough of the yellow and blue yarn to make a couple more, and might have to do it (especially if they make a Despicable Me 3, which they probably will).