Awkward Soul Designs

100% unknown yarn bits

May 10, 2011 Awkward Soul

I see this crazy Factory Mill Ends 100% unknown fiber yarn at walmart and zellers a lot. Majority of the time, it is on clearance for crazy cheap. One day, it was on just too cheap for 1 pound of yarn, so I bought 3 colours (hot pink, nuclear yellow, and blue) that would work on amigurumi.

So… what the hell is this yarn? I have no clue. The 3 packages I bought seem very similar in texture and thickness, though there are different styles and colours. The ones I bought had no gauge listed, but it seems like a DK yarn thickness.

I made a nice pink Jellyfish outta the stuff for a test

PROS:
+ Hella cheap, 1 pound of yarn!
+ Vibrant colours (though might not be available all the time)
+ Shiny finish

This yarns main feature is it’s cheapness. If you need 1 pound of hot pink yarn to make your amigurumi octopus world takeover, this stuff is up your alley. This yarn worked smoothly through my fingers when crocheting.

CONS:
– No listed dye lot
– No listed gauge
– 100% unknown fibers / not much information
– Ultra squeaky to work with
– not durable to frogging
– strands fall apart

Having no dye lot is kind of bad. There is a ton of yarn, but in the event you are in a middle of an octopus in your amigurumi octopus takeover army, the colours may not match. Or maybe it will, I don’t know. As I said earlier, it appears to be a DK gauge, but it is not listed. What you saw on the photo is all the information I got on this stuff.
What the hell are the washing instructions anyways? CRAP

To work with this yarn, at first I had to try multiple types of hooks as it was just too squeaky and resistant to some of my crochet hooks. My Boyle hooks were a no go, unless I wanted to wrestle crochet. I ended up using a Daiso hook that is more metal feeling that lacks a finish on it.
From there, the first few rows were just annoying with the yarn not staying twisted together and being very squeaky. Once I adapted, I found it fine to work with, but it is not the kind of yarn that is easy to use.

Since I was trying to determine my gauge, I frogged a few jelly heads – and whatever I frogged I just tossed. The yarn was too fuzzy and splitting apart to deal with.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS
– The 100% unknown fiber, I feel, is less of an issue with amigurumi, as it is not a worn item, however this may be an issue for other people. I would be weary of using this yarn if it is for a large project for someone to snuggle with, in regards to people who are sensitive to wool.

THE VERDICT
Factory Mill Ends 100% “what the hell is this stuff” yarn will serve you well to make your evil octopus world takeover amigurumi army…. once you get past the wrestling crochet to learn to work with this yarn. I think that’s what would make your octopus army more evil. The army will be expendable, as if you frog it, the octopus is considered gone for good. If a dozen of your octopi get bombed, the materials was expendable anyways.
I don’t think I’d use this yarn to make worn items, it is not worth the risk for washing failure or allergic reaction. (Would it even survive a hand washing in cold? Would it be able to block?)

With that said, try this yarn if you are the patient type, on a budget, hell bent on making a large quantity of amigurumi.

Here’s another Jellyfish

(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).

Now in green!

April 23, 2011 Awkward Soul

I plan to make a rainbow of these one day – however I wish I had 8 colours of the same yarn to make it more symbolic!

I actually started the green octopus head so long ago that I forgot when. I was organizing my basket that contains active projects and found it – I’m guessing I made it at work one day and it got buried at the bottom of the basket.

(If you are interested in the pattern, it’s up at my etsy storeor buy now download via Raverly)

In other news, I got a couple amigurumi patterns I’m creating right now.
I got one pattern I’m creating that needs to be tested and written out nicely before I put it online. This is the one I posted a few hint pictures awhile back. There’s been a delay in the pattern being written out as this is when my old computer died with all my pictures I took of the pieces construction (cry).

I am also working on another one that I’m unsure if I’ll post the pattern as it’s more of a fan thing – but I’m on a snag with it right now as I need some buttons for it.

Orca Amigurumi Pattern Errata

April 13, 2011 Awkward Soul

There is a pattern correction for my Orca Amigurumi Pattern, mostly having to do with the Big Orca’s tail. I’ve listed the correction on my Pattern Errata section.

Sorry for the confusion – I will be happy to resend the updated pattern, please email me from the address you had the purchased pattern sent to.

3 months of socks

March 28, 2011 Awkward Soul

I’ve been working on these for almost 3 months:

Phew, and now it is over! Here is the pattern I used via Lion’s Brand. The first time I did socks, well one sock, was back in university. I knit that sock non-stop during all my breaks and in class sometimes and it took a whole semester! This sock I just did on the skytrain commute and during slow times at work, thus at least 4-6 hours per week for almost 3 months. I’m guessing I’ve just gotten faster at knitting than yearsyearsyears ago.

More pics!

What’s the new projects I’m on? Top secret, with more ideas than time to create.

Here Kitty Kitty Hat

January 31, 2011 Awkward Soul

I always wanted to have a hat with ears, but everything looked too ugly or cheezy for me.

This pattern, http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=61208.0 (or ravelry http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kitty-hat-2 ) is ultra cute, but I made it and it turned out way to freaking small, holey gauge loose and icky. It didn’t help there was no gauge listed or nothing. The fail cat hat was promptly gifted to my roommate who has a smaller head than me, and doesn’t care if his hat covers his ears or not.

Determined, I redid the pattern and listed my gauge. The fail part was I don’t know what yarn I was using, I just remember it is a Bernat that is discontinued (I think). However, I did make another one with Bernat Haven and that turned out just as well.

gauge for 3” = 11 sts x 18 rows
Bulky yarn with 5.5mm needles

CO 40
K2, P2 ribbing for 5 rows
Work a Stockinette (Knit one side, purl the other) for 11.5” (not including ribbing)
P2, K2 ribbing for 5 rows (to ensure the rib continues on the backside of hat)

Bind off, weave in ends. Seamlessly sew up the sides, folding the hat in half and starting the stitches at the “ears”.

It should look like this, very uninteresting and rectangular. Mine is kinda wide on the ends from me wearing it >__<

However, once you put it on, it takes on the kitty ears!

I’ve actually made 3 of these now. One I did at work which I wear there (the clients think I’m either a cat or a horned creature) and the other I gave away before I could take a picture (a late xmas gift).

Most of the photos I took here I was lazy so I used my new webcam. Hehe, I don’t need to hold up a camera, yay!

Amigurumi Yarn Review – Shepherd DK

January 12, 2011 Awkward Soul

This Christmas, almost all the amigurumi gifts I made I used this yarn. The colours worked perfectly on what I wanted to make.

I got this yarn from Dressew as well, on sale <3 For the longest time I’d admire it, but not buy it as I’m usually after more “bang for my buck expensive wool/cotton/bamboo”. I saw it being acrylic and was “meh, I can get acrylic anywhere”, however the yarn snuck into my shopping basket after a few trips.

Shepherd Aussie Baby DK

is a 55% nylon + 45% acrylic yarn, recommending at a 4mm gauge. My first impression (which lead me to buy it) is HOLY CRAP SOFT feeling! Since it is a DK weight, the amigurumis will be on the smaller side vs worsted, though with DK weight and creating a pattern, one could make a moderate sized amigurumi with more smaller stitches which would look great.

PROS
+ Ultra soft that makes you want to snuggle the yarn all day
+ Great colour selection – nice vibrant colours to pastels that have alot of colour without looking too pukey baby or nuclear. Awesome for amigurumi. I am in love with the peachy skin tone colour they offer
+ 4 ply and very strong thus holding its shape together without being floppy
+ not too fuzzy

The feel of this yarn makes for excellent amigurumis (and I guess for its intended purpose of baby gear) and also the look is very high quality vs other acrylic yarns such as Red Heart super saver.

CONS
– Dense and slightly slippery, thus can be tricky for knots to hold (for adjustable loop or slip stitching the last stitch)
– Hard to determine gauge and a little tricky to get a tight gauge – more on this later

The denseness of the yarn is nice, however I found it being difficult to keep the adjustable ring closed. I can keep it closed if I pull the ring VERY tight, but I get nervous that the yarn will break, thus I suggest pulling before that point, and doing a few knots in the inside to ensure your finished product doesn’t have a hole in the top of its head.

Same goes for your last stitch, a slip stitch, I found it would just not close snug at all and slip out. To work around this, do an extra couple slip stitches and do a knot on the inside.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS
~ Works up similar to cotton, as there is no stretch (probably why I found it hard to get a tight gauge) This might be a pro or a con depending on what you like. I do like this yarn more than cotton because of the softness – much easier on the hands!

Personally, I found it a bit of a negative thing to use yarn without a little stretch as it is hard on my hands as doing a tight gauge creates more pressure while crocheting. I found more difficultly in finding the right hook size for this yarn, 2.5mm being the safest to not create holes inbetween stitches, though I think 3mm could work as well. However, I still had the same struggles with the yarn density with any sized hook.
With that said, and working with a small hook with a tight gauge + lack of yarn stretch, this stuff hurt my hands to crochet with if I was working with it for an extended period of time.

~ Makes great hair! For my Angel, I un-spun strands of Aussie DK and it worked very well! However, strands on their own have no strength, so don’t pull too hard!

THE VERDICT

Shepard Aussie DK is fantastic yarn, with great options for colours and wonderful softness for amigurumis. This yarn will greatly appeal to crocheters who prefer cotton for their amigurumis – it has similar lack of stretch and denseness, but no drying or scratchy texture! I would however, take extra care when using an adjustable ring and testing gauge before starting a project.

Christmas Projects

January 6, 2011 Awkward Soul

I left on an over a month holiday out of the country, so wasn’t around to update. However, when I was gone I made a handful of amigurumi items (and forgot to take pictures of a few eeep). I rarely follow a pattern these days, at best I would modify it to be happy with it.

Froggie was a gift to my boyfriend’s granny – I modified the pattern from this series of japanese books. I made the body smaller by about half as I felt the body was too large (and smaller body than head = MORE CUTE).

I also made an Angel for my boyfriend’s other grandma. The pattern I used I got from http://www.etsy.com/shop/kandjdolls?ref=seller_info. Though she doesn’t have an Angel pattern, I took the Red Riding Hood pattern and added a scallop to a longer skirt (shoulda flared it out a bit).

This shroomy item I just freestyle crocheted with some fingering glitter yarn. If anyone is interested in the pattern, let me know and I’ll write it up!

More to come later – I got a yarn review planned!

Ghost Amigurumi

October 20, 2010 Awkward Soul

Just in time for halloween! <3

At the moment, the little ghost is haunting up my external hard drive >_< I hope he defrags it or something for me. I’m so happy I was able to squeeze in some crocheting and pattern design this week, my schedule is so busy!

Haunting…. oOOOoOoOoOoOoOOOOOoo!

If you are interested in making your own, this pattern is up for sale for $1.99 (via ravelry and paypal – you do not need an account at either site to purchase) <3

Ravelry link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ghost-amigurumi

Holding back my comment

September 29, 2010 Awkward Soul

^ found on the Antibacterial yarn package, purchased from Diaso (Richmond, BC, Canada). I’m trying really hard to hold back any smart or insulting comments to go with this picture.

I’ve been missing in action lately as my computer(s) were spazing. Okay, I have one computer my sister and I built about 2-3 years ago… and each part on it broke except for the tower case and power supply (even the case fans broke). From there, I switched to my father’s computer a few months ago which is at least 6 years old and can just barely handle internet browsing.

So I bought a shiny Dell computer (i7 quad processor + 8gb ram) and now I’m FLYING! However, that project = installing everything, moving files around, reorganizing files, and playing on things I couldn’t do before my previous computers didn’t. While I was doing that, I’ve been chipping away at this blanket: