Weekend in Progress

I finished a couple of things over the weekend although sadly I do not have a picture of any of them (one was the ball band dishcloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting). I had been working on a gift for someone getting married soon enough, but as it was not going to be finished in time for the shower (the crafter’s curse . . . I know there must be some crafter out there that manages to finish her gifts in a timely fashion, but I am not her) I made a couple of small things instead.

Horribly blurry photo of traditional hat.

I’m told attaching the gift bows to some sort of paper hat with staples is a wedding shower tradition. I’d never been to one before Sunday, though, so I can’t say I know much about it. Well, the restaurant had no stapler, but I did have a needle and thread (because I was . . . umm . . . still trying to finish the small placeholder gifts), so I hand sewed the bows to a take out container lid. I’m not sure that really counts as a craft and I feel as if I must redeem myself by proving that I actually did some crafting over the weekend, so here’s a WIP I started during Saturday morning cartoons:

Bad Monkey

My friend Johnnyholes turned old on Sunday. I desperately wanted to make him a monkey, as he pretty much is one. I thought this was something I could handle. Without a pattern. I was wrong. So wrong, in fact, that you might never see the proof.

This guy is kind of cute, and the fact that I understand the pattern is a bonus.

Although, to be honest, I think I’d prefer something a little more like this guy:

Unfortunately, the designer (superhooker) appears to only sell the finished product, which is not currently in stock, and not the pattern on etsy, so this cute monkey is not to be had.

Cooking With Cuties

There was an explosion of cuteness in my apartment this weekend.

She came from the deep.

This octopus pattern was super easy. I made one modification, though. The pattern calls for you to make the top and bottom halves of the octopus body separately. There are slight variations beyond that, but I was able to reverse the shaping and stuffed as I went. This meant a little less sewing. I picked up on this trick while making Totoro (although he’s not finished because I do not have enough material to stuff him with . . . he’s much bigger than this gal).

Amigurumi

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but part of the reason I learned to crochet in the first place was because I wanted to make 3D objects. It’s not that you can’t do it with knitting, but it’s a little more complicated and nowhere near as satisfying. Lest you think I’m a five-year-old in a thirty-something’s body, I didn’t want to go 3D mostly to create kEwT stuffed animals. There was some vague sort of artistic intent in there somewhere. Still, I do have a tiny problem when it comes to cute stuffed animals. So, pretending that I don’t have enough projects I could be finishing (even here at work where not only do I have a work yarn stash but also work WIP’s), suddenly I’m hunting down amigurumi patterns.

I’m not familiar with Cheese-Kun, but he’s pretty cute and apparently represents Pizza Hut in Japan: