Owl Amigurumi Crochet Pattern – Tea Mug Owls?

It’s done! This pattern is the answer to my teaser photo I recently posted here.

owl amigurumi pattern by awkward soul - PDF

OWL AMIGURUMI!

Phew, finally!

I’m a huge owl fan – right up there for my love of octopi! My other blog, The Oolong Owl, is my owl-themed tea blog. Lots of Owl and Tea!

Alright. This took around 12 attempts to get the pattern just right. I had an owl graveyard of crocheted owl parts that didn’t make the cut. I really wanted to limit the amount of parts I had to sew onto these guys.

After 9 attempts I had a better idea how to pull off the best shape. Annoyingly, it took 3 tries to get the neck right – all times scrapping most of the body.

What I love about my Owl creation is that they are ridiculously photogenic! I took LOTS of pictures, so this is a photo-heavy post!

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My Owl pattern features:

3 head shapes – Round, Easy Ears and Large Ears.

2 face construction options – Felt or Colour chart

Simple chest feather detail

I made five owls (whoa!) as demos for this pattern. Three of them are the more of the bright and fun colour variety. Two of them are more realistic type of owl.

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The first Owl, the prototype, is this green owl. His name is Laoshan. He likes tea, especially green tea. Any tea nerds in the house?

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Owl Amigurumi Crochet pattern by awkward soul designs (5)Owl matcha? I dunno….

My second favorite owl is my purple owl – she has no name yet. She was made last of the 5, so she’s the youngest. So far, I’ve just been calling her Attractive Purple Owl. I love the yarn I used here – the colour is great and was soft to work with (Craftsmart brand). Oddly, I stuffed her a bit too much, so she’s a little bigger than the other owls. Oh well.Owl Amigurumi Crochet pattern by awkward soul designs (12)

The second owl I created was the Big Blue Ear Owl. I was experimenting here with the chest feather detail and the colour chart. He’s got the tall “ears/feathers” on his head. I think he looks like a lot of fun.

The third owl I made is a more realistic type. I haven’t named him yet as I was planning on putting him up for adoption. I did an “x” felt detail on his face, and chest feathers to his chest.

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If you haven’t noticed, these Owls had a fun photo shoot with my teaware, LOL! I wanted to say they are “tea cup” owls, but they can barely squeeze into my tea cups! They fit into a matcha bowl fine, the rest of the teaware was a tight squish!

They sized up for me 5″ high, 3.5″ wide, up to 3″ long with worsted weight yarn and 4mm hook. Size will greatly depend on your gauge and yarn. Tea mug it is!  I’m sure if you made these owls with DK or sport yarn they’ll fit into a tea cup (and steal your tea).

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The fourth Owl I made.. well, he’s all mischief. I wanted to make a Snowy Owl, as that appears to be a popular type of owl. I prefer the Northern White face Owl myself (TRANSFORM!). Anyways, my Snowy Owl is very cute – my husband likes him the best!

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He looks like a well mannered Owl? Pfffft.

Owl Amigurumi crochet pattern by awkward soul designs

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Which Owl do you like more? Did I get your creative juices flowing? What colours or owls would you like to see or make youself?

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You can purchase my Owl Amigurumi Pattern at My Etsy Shop

or

purchase directly via Ravelry by clicking this  button. You do not need a Ravelry account to purchase.

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P.S. I will be listing 3 of the Owls for adoption on my My Etsy Shop. You may also check out my commission page if you’d like a custom made owl.


Finishing Amigurumi Tutorial: Sewing the body closed and hiding yarn ends

Finishing Amigurumi Tutorial - Awkward Soul

What do you do are making an amigurumi and you finish the last row of the main body. You may have a neat little circle opening that needs to be sewn shut. The amigurumi instructions say something like “Fasten off, sew the body shut.”

Here’s what to do when you need to close an amigurumi form:

TIP: This works best for 6 stitches remaining. More than that, I’d a number of decreases until you get 6 stitches left.

1. If you haven’t done so already, Slip stitch the next stitch, snip the yarn with a few inches of leftover, and pull the thread through.

Thread the yarn tail.

Finishing Amigurumi by Awkward Soul (1)

2. Insert the needle into the next stitch, and out the stitch after that.Finishing Amigurumi by Awkward Soul (2)

3. Insert the needle the same way as the previous step, but for the next pair of stitches.

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Keep doing this until all stitches are worked in this manner.

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I left large loops to help show, but more often you won’t have big loops like this.

4. Pull the yarn tail, which will close the circle closed. Do not pull too hard as the yarn could snap.

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5. Knot off the tail. I insert the needle in the next stitch and tie the yarn off from its loop to secure the tail. Do this as neatly as possible if this is the top head of an amigurumi.

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Now, what to do with that yarn tail?

Hiding the Yarn ends/tail

Use this method to hide the yarn tail. This method works for all yarn tails, such as tails leftover from sewing on legs/arms/head/tail.

1.  Using your needle with the yarn end threaded, stick the needle through the body of the amigurumi – through the stuffing.

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As you can see here, I made the needle go right through the entire shell.  At least have it go an inch or so through the body. You can squish the body to help the needle pass more distance.

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2. Pull the yarn through. If you place your fingers against the body while you pull the yarn, you are less likely to have stuff fuzz out.

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3. Snip off the excess yarn tail. If there is a bit of contrasting yarn colour peeking out, use your crochet hook to stab it back inside the amigurumi.

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And you are done!

The turtle featured in this tutorial is my Turt the Turtle Amigurumi Pattern!

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Cute Cute Crab Amigurumi Pattern!

Another pattern already? That was fast!

Introducing  Awkward Soul’s CRAB AMIGURUMI

Crab Amigurumi pattner by AwkwardSoul (1)

I have an interesting crab story from my childhood.

I was around 10 years old and was fishing off a dock. I caught something REALLY heavy and hard to pull in, that it took a long time to reel in and I needed help from my older cousins. I got it out of the water and it was a SCARY spidery leggy looking spikey crab! Very angry crab too! I started screaming and my cousin kicked the crab off the dock!

In retrospect, it was probably a good eat, oh well.

Crab Amigurumi pattner by AwkwardSoul (3)Don’t kick me off a dock!

I had the inspiration quickly after making my Turt the Turtle Amigurumi pattern. I noticed other amigurumi crabs had that round shape, and I thought going oval makes for a cuter, more realistic-ish shaped crab.

I was set on doing 8 legs instead of 6, but I couldn’t fit the extra legs without making the crab bigger. I also wanted to make a cute crab, not a scary angry crab from my childhood fishing incident!

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I wish I had a better name for this crab. “Crabby” was taken. “Snippy” didn’t suit him. Oh well. His name is “Crab”.

You can purchase this Crab Amigurumi pattern at my Etsy Store

or
Snag it via Ravelry by clicking  You do not need a ravelry account to purchase!

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Blanket Achievement Unlocked!

I finished a blanket! My first blanket! It only took…….. almost 3 years.

I took so long that the pattern was taken down, however googling up “Star Crochet Blanket” you will get lots of variations of the same kind of blanket.

My Ravelry Project Page for the Star Blanket
The blanket started as this around May 2010:
star blanket -progress

Progress around October 2010 – the edges are touched the side of the double bed!
star blanket wip

and is now this, as of Mid February 2013 – The final result. My star blanket measures about 74″ wide, though it is hard to measure since this blanket has 5 points

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The blanket on a california king sized bed! The points drape a little of the sides of the bed.

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There is a neat story to this blanket. I intended to make this blanket for my boyfriend – something he can use on his computer chair. Thinking back, I didn’t think this project was going to take this long and boring to make – definitely not a gift for a boyfriend! Anyways, I took this blanket with me to visit my boyfriend, who was long distance, and left the stupid project there to work on during visits.

It dragged and draaaaaaaaaggggged on for me to finish the blanket. Each round went up 30 stitches. Doing never ending double crochets is painfully boring, especially for a crocheter like me who likes small projects or a knitter who like lace and more interest. Often I’d do a side of a point, then put the project down to do something else. Once the blanket got really big, I refused to work on it during the summer as it was too warm sitting on my lap while I worked.

My boyfriend became my husband, and he complained sometimes that I never finished his blanket. I finally cracked down and worked on the beast of a blanket for a week, trying to get it done. My goal was to finish all the yarn I had – which was 3 jumbo balls of bulky weight. There was a few panic moment with the red as I had just enough to do the last round with like 4 inches to spare!

Finally, once the blanket was done – I handed it to my husband, who snuggled with it the entire evening and was very happy with it. Then he put it on my papsan chair and napped there for awhile.

IMG_2874(it’s hard to see, but behind the chair is a mountain of yarn.)

Uggg. I don’t think I’ll make this kind of boring blanket for awhile. I know it was a faster blanket project than most, since I used bulky weight yarn, but I’m more of a smaller scale project type.

I’m going to stick to small projects for awhile, like turtles and dolphins.

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Turt the Turtle Amigurumi Crochet Pattern

turt the turtle amigurumi pattern - awkward soul designs

Hey crochet peeps! Finally, I have a new pattern available!

Turt the Turtle!

Annoyingly, the other pattern I’ve been working on, which is on its 8th or 9th attempt, I put on hold to work on a turtle pattern. This turtle design came to me right away –  I also came up with a flipper design.

With that said, my turtle design comes with two leg options:

Flipper leg Turt!

Turt Turtle Amigurumi - AwkwardSoul (5)I like swimming!

Stumpy leg Turt!

Turt Turtle Amigurumi - awkwardsoul (13)I like cruising around at my own pace.

Both turtles are super cute and are enjoyable to make!

The only trouble I had with this pattern was creating the head. I wanted something a little tapered, but not complicated. Of course, I got complicated and it took a few tries to get the head just right. The legs and flippers were easy for me to figure out.

Shaping for the turtles came out very nice. I wanted to do a more realistic oval shell shape than the usual round amigurumi turtles out there.

Turt Turtle Amigurumi - AwkwardSoul (2)

These cutie turtles are on the small side, 5″ long and 4″ leg span with worsted yarn, so they are a fast crochet project – leaving you time to make a large nest of turtles!

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Turt the Turtle Amigurumi Crochet PDF Pattern is up for sale at my Etsy Shop!

Alternatively, you may purchase the PDF Turt the Turtle pattern directly through Ravelry, no account required! 


Knitted ornaments – teeny sweaters and mittens!

AGAIN! Just like last year, I made christmas gifts, but could not show them off here (or anywhere for that matter) as my family and friends would see them. I can’t do a “IF YOU ARE RELATED TO ME, STOP READING” post, as my family would be “SCORE!” and keep reading. Especially my husband. He’s not into surprises.

So I made my first knitted sweater.

Sweater ornamentIsn’t that nice? Sweaters are hard work! It’s for my husband and is in nice manly colours!

Does it fit?

hand sweaterIt fits my hand, kind of.

I used a free pattern from  Knitpicks called Tiny Holiday Sweater Ornament Pattern. I was too lazy to do the cable down the front. In retrospect, I should of done a cable just to show off I can freaking cable. This was also hard to work on as I had to work on it when my husband wasn’t around, which was tricky and annoying. Often I was thinking “OMG I want to work on my sweater!” but can’t because he’s around. Sigh.

How about some mittens?

mitten ornaments

The pattern for these is Mini Mitten Ornaments on Ravelry – free as of this time. Actually, it’s a pretty good pattern – the mittens are made just like regular mittens, but much smaller.  These guys fit on the tip of a finger. I made a lot of these mittens – they are easy, very cute and fast to make – less than an hour.

For all the items I used leftover sock yarn with 2.25mm circular needles. I usually used the magic circle technique and it worked out well. Really neat is the yarns are variegated, but since on a small scale the item turned out striped.

Ornament collectionI also made a toe up sock – however I tried 3 different patterns and were not happy with any of them, including that one. All of them did some crappy heel turnings, YO as toe increases, and no pick up stitches, so the heels had holes everywhere.

My rant: Yes, the item is an ornament. I get it doesn’t have to perfect. However, I  do not want holes in my work! This item is an ornament that will be on a tree for years, maybe even multiple generations! I do not want half-effort patterns, the item is small and quick to make anyways.

I also crocheted a squid, from my own Squidling pattern, but it was very last minute and was gifted before I could take a picture!

I predict next year I will have the same issue and post. Yeah… I’m sure other crochet/knitting bloggers feel the same.


DAVIDsTEA Steeper Cozy Crochet – Free Pattern

I LOVE my DAVIDsTea Steeper. I use the Steeper every day, multiple times a day, for about 85% of all the tea I drink. I’ve taken my Steeper with me when I go on vacations! My father bought one so I have one there for when I visit him. This tea steeping device is serious business.

Don’t know what it is?

Here’s my Steeper! Mine’s all tea stained and I was too lazy to baking soda it pretty. Sorry peeps.

You put the loose tea leaves inside the Steeper. Pour hot water. Steep your tea for as directed by the tea. Stick Steeper ontop of mug and the tea pours out from underneath! Whooo!!! No spills or burnt hands!

Of course, you can buy the Steeper from DAVIDsTEA ♥ along with some tea. Their teas are great btw. My all time favorites are Cherry Blossom, Chocolate Orange, Goji Pop, Chocolate Rocket and The Skinny. My rabbit approves (of their boxes)!

♥ I created a crochet cozy pattern for my Steeper! The pattern is actually fairly easy to make and it fits nice and snug over the Steeper. I used an acrylic yarn here (what I had on hand) but I think wool would work better to retain heat. There is no seaming in this pattern, and the cozy is held in place by a button. The Steeper Cozy provides a fun canvas to add funky buttons, colourwork and bling! ♥

My Steeper Cozy pattern is for the 18oz Steeper only! I’d do a 36oz cozy version, but I don’t own that size to make a pattern for it. If anyone wants to donate me a 36oz Steeper, that be pretty cool ♥♥♥

To get this pattern, click download now which will direct you to Ravelry for a copy of the PDF pattern. Or visit the Ravelry Project page and download it from there.

I made myself 2 different cozies. This DT aqua blue one:

And this white one, inspired by DAVIDsTEA’s “Cherry Blossom” white tea, one of my favorite teas of theirs!

I linked a few embellishment ideas on the pattern, however feel free to go crazy and let your favorite teas inspire you!

This pattern is Free! If you make this, please post to the Ravelry project page or link it to me in the comments below! I wanna see the fun embellishments!

Also, I’m Awkward Soul over on Steepster.com, feel free to pop by and say hello!


Dolphin version 3 – updated colour work!

Sigh, sorry crochet peeps. I redid the colour work on my Dolphin pattern AGAIN! I dislike updating a pattern like this as I wish I got it right the first time!

PINK!

I was making the dolphin for a commission and was really unhappy with the colour work. Annoyingly with spiral rounds is the rows don’t perfectly stack, especially on decrease rows. With that said, the tummy block would begin to spiral out and bend.

I moved stitches around and improved the colour work A LOT so the tummy is a straight natural shape. Took 2 attempts to get it right!

Left: old tummy work. Right: improved new tummy

I can see why lots of amigurumi patterns don’t do colour switching, they often would just sew on another shape as it is hard to mess with the spiral rounds not stacking plus taking 3D shapes into account. Phew, I did pull it off though resulting in a very cute dolphin. The colour changes are still kinda tedious, so this pattern is not for a new crocheter.

I posted the Dolphin pattern changes on my Pattern Errata page for peeps who already purchased the pattern. All dolphin patterns sold will now have the new tummy colour chart.

You can purchase my Dolphin Amigurumi Pattern at my Etsy Shop or via Ravelry by clicking this  thing! You do not need a Ravelry account to purchase the pattern.

BONUS RABBIT BOMBING AMIGURUMI SHOTS!

Apparently my Dolphin Amigurumi tastes good to rabbits. Benson photobombed the photo session to lick and paw the dolphins. Sigh.


Octopus and Jellyfish best friends!

Someone requested I crochet up a green octopus and blue jelly jellyfish for adoption. Here’s a pic of the two before they went swimming to their new home:

Super cute best friends!

The colour combination of the two sea creatures went very well together!

In other news, I survived my wedding and all the family has left finally, PHEWWWW!

Right now I’m back to working on new patterns and I will be taking commissions for the Christmas holidays of 2012. In between that, I will be making amigurumi that will be selling at my Etsy shop in time for winter holidays!  Check my shop to see what is up, or feel free to commission me if you would like to purchase a specific amigurumi and I will reserve it for you.