Cloudy Tea Shawl

Awkward Soul

I’ve been MIA because of this project – All other crochet and knitting projects have been put aside in order to finish this shawl in time for my family gathering / wedding. I was trying to get this done for my civil ceremony, but completely failed, so I really pushed to get this done.. with 13 days to spare! YAY!

The pattern I used: Cloud Illusions by Boo Knits

Link to the Ravelry Project Details

I started this beast in February and finally finished in October of the same year! ARGG! I followed most of the pattern, using the large sized base, and lace pattern to row 55 (which I slightly modified to fit the lace border). I wanted a larger shawl, but I knew I didn’t have enough time to do the entire lace pattern. I used KnitPicks Shadow Lace Yarn in “Midnight Heather” with my amazing Harmony interchangeable circular needles.

I nicked named this shawl, “Shawl of Doom” because of the amount of time it took to finish. The longest parts were the base, adding beading and the picot edging. I don’t know why, but making the stockinette stitch body just took forever! It was also very very dull, I guess that is why I was very slow on it.

The picot bind off took around 8 hours to complete. It was very tiresome. However, the results are fantastic and I’d do a picot border again!

Beading wasn’t too bad, if I had more time I would of added more. I love the extra sparkle the beads added!

Beautiful lace pattern! The final measurements: 82” long, stretched out. 20” at the widest point.

The lace pattern was a good moderate difficulty – not boring but easy enough for me to pick up and remember. The lace border required some attention but was not difficult.

I’ve been really wanting to make my own lace pattern – I have a couple ideas but I still need to get some shaping theory down first. PHEW! Now this is done (and once the wedding is past) I can work on other things!

Space and Deodorant Yarn at Daiso

Awkward Soul

Happy day! I discovered Daiso Japan stores have been popping up all over southern California. This is awesome! I’ve often visited Daiso back in Richmond, BC Canada and it’s an awesome store for crafts (and gift boxes,  cute pencil cases, toys, japanese dishes, tea gear, cute storage bins, candy, kitchen stuff, cute stationary, mittens, makeup, carbon deodorizers, decorative jars, travel gear) and it’s all $2! Well, in the US everything is $1.50! WOOOOOOOOOT more of a deal!

This Daiso in Torrance just opened so some of the stock was meh compared to the one back home. No bead kits or eyes of any type. The yarn selection was interesting though:

Spaced dyed yarn.. umm what? For $1.50 this yarn can’t of been launched into orbit then dyed? Besides that, this yarn might make an interesting sock. I didn’t purchase any because I don’t know how much yardage I need for socks, but I’ll be back!

I googled and found out Space Dyeing is a dyeing technique also known as “dip dyeing”… BOOOOOOOO! I want actual space yarn!

 

The next interesting find is this:

 

I’ve purchased antibacterial yarn from Daiso, but not deodorant yarn. I’m not sure if there is a difference or not and no one has compared the two so far.  I did purchase this ball so once I get around to using it I’ll see how it works up. They did have a good range of bright colours – green, blue, red, yellows and staples of black and white – so this would be an interesting amigurumi yarn to try out. I might have to get more of this yarn and report back.

Ultra Nubby Scrubby Crochet Tawashi Dishcloths

Awkward Soul

CROCHETING BIG TEXTURED POOFY STUFF IS FUN!

Get a load of this ultra nubby beast of a crochet project:

I’ve been nursing a sprained/fractured finger over the last few weeks. Right before I messed up my finger I had started on this project then I was forced to take a break. I then discovered I could still crochet (slow paced) however I cannot do tight gauge stuff like amigurumi until my finger is fully healed.

While I was making these, my husband kept stealing them to fidget with. He really likes the white one because it is really stiff and has fun little arms to pull.

This white tawashi is called “Jellyfish” tawashi. Everyone who saw me making it couldn’t figure out what I was doing and concluded it was a jellyfish. This variation in particular is really sturdy and scrubby.

♥ With this pattern there are 5 forms, all easy to modify to be bigger and higher nubs. ♥

Here is all the other forms that I put in the pattern:

Fluffy Jelly Tawashi Dish Cloth – this one is very soft compared to the regular Jelly Tawashi. The nubs are constructed differently to be more open with also has more height and poof going on.

Sun Burst Tawashi – this dishcloth is more on the flatter side, fun and loopy with great scrub capacity. This one crochets up fast!

Medallion Tawashi – this one has coarse, tight nubs for ultra scrubbing power! Very compact!

Spiral Tawashi – a simple spiral dishcloth. Light scrubbing and looks great with variegated yarn.

♥  I got this fun crochet pattern up at My Etsy Shop or can be purchased via Ravelry (no account needed) by clicking this nifty button. ♥ 

Unfortunately, these dishcloths do not make good rabbit hats. Kinda looks like a chef hat or nubby beret? Benson was not impressed. He threw it off and made a cage jail break escape!

Phew! Lots of dishcloths! I actually majorly dented my cotton yarn stash making these and will have to buy more yarn (yessss!).  I got another crochet project idea I’m going to start working on today since I have this one completed. Though, I probably need to go back and make more of this pattern, ya know… christmas gifts. ARG!

Summer Farmer’s Market Bags!

Awkward Soul

Summer is here and farmers markets are in! Benson is 2 lbs right now and can eat a huge handful of cilantro in one sitting! Then he gives me a mean look “That’s it? Not even a dessert?” Okay fine, have a strawberry.

“NOMMMMMM!”

That little bugger can eat so much produce! With that said, I need to buy up the cheap produce that is popping up and make some more crochet bags to put it in! You ever notice that you crochet or knit certain items depending on the season? I tend to make bags in the summer. They are a fast project of 1-4 hours, useful and impressive gifts.

First, I had to locate some cheap cotton yarn so I don’t have to bust into my expensive Egyptian cotton stash. I found some at a closeout at a japanese store – $0.50 a ball!

Too bad they only had green. A very nice green though with a weird set-up to get at the ends.

The yarn also came with an intense lacey sweater pattern rolled inside the ball. I’ll pass for now.

The pattern I used is one I put up for free a summer or two ago: http://www.awkwardsouldesigns.com/2010/07/07/sky-shopping-bag/

For this particular bag, I made 2 handles instead of one (10 rows each) and made the bag body 31 ch wide by 16 rows high.

The bag’s first job: Watermelon for watermelon juice! My amigurumi Boomkin is thirsty and is low on mana!

Success!

Of course, string crochet bags are great – they can hold heavy objects and look cool. They also roll up into a small bundle which is sometimes more convenient than the store bought bags.

I also saved $0.10 since Long Beach charges for bags. Errr.. well with the difference of yarn, I spent $0.40 but in a couple visits I save!

Now to make 4 more *dies*

 

Now, another picture of a typical day of my married life:

“More strawberries!”

(I thought the rabbits were supposed to look disapproving and not the husbands…)

Owl Bears and Beasts! Oh My!

Awkward Soul

RAWR!

Owl bears or Owl beasts. I didn’t know about them until World of Warcraft seeing Moonkins running around and my boyfriend (now husband) at the time saying they are Owl Bears taken from Dungeons & Dragons.

I never got into the paper and pen RPG world, only really recently shown by my husband, who has many many RPG books. I was more of a “play RPGs on my video console” girl, loving old Final Fantasys and Dragon Quest.

While I’m STILL bashing my head over my pattern creation block on a certain item that has taken 7 attempts, my husband was suggesting various D&D creatures I could crochet (probably for him to play with and show off while doing a game, oh I love him). Owl Bear came up right away as I had a pattern written down already that could be stripped down.
Of course, I never shared this pattern nor was it tested yet. I liked this amigurumi being an original – my favorite amigurumi I ever made:

Boomy

From my times on WOW, I loved Boomkins. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was my husband playing one and we RAF’d together so I saw his all the time. Then I had one and I loved it more than my main and I rather play it than my main, despite crappier gear + I sucked with a druid. Whatever, having fun counts right?
I think they are cute and silly! Anyways, I spent many hours on my boomkin “Boomykins” herbing and digging holes. I had to make my own. Then I did.. then I took a crazy pencil I got from a friend and turned it into a staff. Then I showed him to all my friends and they thought I’ve become more nutty with age.

So I redid the pattern and made it and Owl Bear – which is really cute on its own. Teeny claws and cute attitude.

IMG_1024The pattern is up at my Etsy Store or through Ravelry (no account needed).

I went into crazy amount of pictures and detail on each part and how to sculpt the claws/horns/antlers with polymer clay. Then of course, lots of options so you can make an Owl Bear the way you think it should look like – head shape options, ruffles, white tummies and horns.

As always, check out my Amigurumi Commissions section if you would like to arrange for a completed Owl Bear for your very own.

I’m going to do a few more Dungeons & Dragons creatures (why does everyone say I need to do an “Invisible Stalker” or whatever it is called? Then I google it and feel like an idiot every time!)

Silver Fox and Loppy Bunny

Awkward Soul

I’ve been missing in action the last while because I moved from Vancouver Canada to Southern California. Wow I see sun! I haven’t seen sun since early fall!

After that, I had to wait for my stuff to get shipped over then find the yarn (in a large crushed box).

Then, I got working:

I had the idea to do a grey/silver fox. Pretty neat effect, though the whole time my husband thought I was making a squirrel.

Sadly, he is surrounded by orange foxes! Either way, I posted him and his orange brother fro adoption at my Etsy Shop. As always, you can purchase the pattern at my Etsy Shop or via Ravelry (no account needed) to make your own fox.

I did change the eyes I used. On the left is the 8mm eyes. For the new foxes I tried the 10mm eyes which I think made a huge difference!

In other news, I have a new addition to the family (not including my husband):


His name is Benson P. “P” stands for a name I wanted to give him, but not acceptable of a name.. *cough* Pooper *cough*. I almost named him “Lute” but he seemed more like a Benson. He is a Holland lop with the helicopter ear thing going on – his right ear sticks straight up with the left lopping down. His ears are 90% like that – after he cleans his ears they go into horizontal-copter-mode, but that one ear pops back into the air after a few minutes.
I got him from Roaring Heights Rabbitry and found them to very enthusiastic, knowledgeable and love rabbits! They also have many many cute lionheads and dwarfs too!
So Benson in the pictures above was 8 weeks. He is now close to 10 weeks and growing (and eating and pooping) lots! He loves oats, nosing people and throwing toys.

(fyi, we had no news paper at that time, thus cage looking like a bad setup)
Sadly, I had to leave my hamster Chestnut back in Canada. I was flying to California plus he is close to 2 years old and probably wouldn’t of made the trip. Rest assured, I have a close friend caring for him.

As a final picture, this is what my married life looks like:

Yep. Husband vegging out on his computer + disapproving rabbit on his lap.

Squid Amigurumi Crochet Pattern – Squidlings!

Awkward Soul

A new pattern finally!

I’ve been working MONTHS on this other pattern (TOP SECRET) and it’s on its 7th attempt – holy perfectionist Batman! Last month, I just gave up and had another idea for something complete different – a squid pattern. A classic amigurumi, like the octopus.

And I freaking nailed the pattern on the FIRST ATTEMPT! (WTH, and on the 7th with that other pattern I’ve been hammering at???!!!). I ran it through some wonderfully amazing testers off of Raverly (thanx!) to work out some pattern writing kinks and taaadaaa!

The pattern comes in 2 sizes: Mini and Giant

The Mini squid is a quick crochet job. They measure 6.5″ high by 3.5″ wide.

The Giant squid is 9.5″ high by 5″ wide. Both sizes may vary depending on your gauge and yarn used.

What I like about these squidlings is they are quick, simple and cute. That what I like – minimal sewing on parts and cute.

Pattern is up for sale at my Etsy Shop
or via Raverly (no account needed for purchase).

Glamour Jellyfish

Awkward Soul

I don’t know what is up with the Jellyfish I crochet. Not sure if they are all ultra dreamy or wanna-be models or what.

This jelly fell off the upper-rung of my shelf and onto the top of my scanner. And he sat there like this for awhile. I scratched my head, as I didn’t pose him but he looked so well posed. The day I needed my scanner back, I snapped a photo before I had to move him.


(if you are interested in the jellyfish pattern, it is up for sale at My etsy shop or via Ravelry (you do not need an account at Ravelry to purchase).

For other strange creatures, I have this freaking grey sea gull, I’ve renamed “Gul Dukat”. He’s pesky and visits my balcony every day, sometimes twice a day. I have not ever fed him. I’m making a cup of tea and I peer over my balcony and he’s there, peering into my apartment.

Not sure what he wants. He sometimes makes his seagull noise and head-bobs. Most of the time he just stands there looking into my place.

weirrrrrrd

I love it when my nails match part 2 & knitted hats

Awkward Soul

Behold!

Well.. my nails almost match my project! Here I’m wearing Zoya Nail polish in “Kotori”. I should of been wearing Zoya’s “Jo” instead, I think it was a closer match, but I recently wore “Jo”. 😛 I love Zoya nail polish <3

What is the knitting project?

My periwinkle slouch hat, pattern by Tiny Owl Knits, which turned out pretty cute for my first attempt at bobbles and travelling stitches. Currently blocking it. The blasted thing took a long time to knit – mostly the cables being the most painful. I’d do it all again because I like the pain! HAHAHAHAH!

I am on a knitted hat obsession right now – one a christmas gift (who hasnt’ gotten it and I’m tired now of not being able to post it – oh well!).

This pink hat – very cute but pink really isn’t my colour. Hurray for my sister who wears pink!

Top view, nice detail on the crown

The Spring Beret pattern was pretty cool, however the crown drove me crazy with the K2togs which I found my tension went to shit on ;____;

Finally, I love this hat… and this is the one that started it all for me making hats

Star Crossed Slouchy Beret is the pattern and it was pretty easy and quick since it is on big needles.

Slouchy hats are awesome! I am working on an evil plot that includes a knitting pattern (can you guess what it is?).

Now that christmas is over…

Awkward Soul

Now that Christmas is over I can actually post and show off something I made without spoiling gifts! <3 Hurray!

First huge christmas gift I worked on was a Meandering Vines pattern I found on Ravelry. This one I harrassed my fiance on what colour his mother would wear and likes and after hours staring at swatches I finally got something I think would be look great.

Here is the shawl blocked:

This was my first time blocking something that large, so it went kind of weird. Also, I wasn’t home so I didn’t have my mats that I can use for blocking (that I also use to workout on too). I found blocking on towels to be painful, especially when I’m trying to widen the thing as the towels just smoosh back. My fiance was smart and piled some geeky books on the towels to help, but it still was a struggle to block it perfectly.

Pretty detail shot of the lace pattern:

I love knitting lace – I love using my Knitpicks Harmony needles and thin yarn (palette yarn) – which I also got off Knitpicks. Lace works up fast and when it’s blocked it looks very different! <3 love it!

LOL @ getting my man to pose with the project… it might be the last time I ask him the model as he gets too silly <3

With that said, this being my first huge lace project, I was geared and experienced to do another lace project right after, and this time a christmas present for me!! ME ME ME!

This was the project I mentioned in a previous post about my nails matching my yarn (lol). This Dragonfly Wing shawl came out beautifully <3

Worn:

blocking:
blocking
For this project the blocking went over better – I had those mat things and also control and accuracy. I don’t ever want to block with towels again (unless its a tiny project).

There’s one more item I should post.. but the recipient hasn’t gotten it yet! >__< GAH! Either way, more to come later <3