Graduation owl

I waited a LOOONNNG time to put this little guy together, and finally on July 21st I was able to assemble him to mark my graduation from Massage Therapy school. It's been 2 of the most INTENSE years of my life, filled with tears, breakdowns, and unfamiliar anxiety but I pulled through, with helpful hands from everywhere. Learning a hands-on program online for the first year was mind-blowingly hard, especially as I have no science background but, miracles happen and it all came together by second year thankfully. it would be impossible to become a good therapist without knowledge of how the body works....

only a couple of  expensive licensing exams to go before I can register and get out there to help people with physical pain... I know it will be worth the arm and leg I am paying to get there!!

wish me luck!

Free Amineko amigurumi pattern

This is a super quick and easy pattern, a beginner favorite and great for scrap burning. Children, as well as those who are kids at heart LOVE this guy....

This isn't my pattern - it's been around for a while, made freely available by a Japanese designer (you can find original design here ) . the orginal works has great diagrams and illustrations which was amazing when I first started to crochet, but over time I've modified some of the design and made it more printer friendly(click here for pattern).

For this project I used 9 skeins (23.9ft/7.3m each) of craft thread I've been hoarding. Initially I meant to make friendship bracelets with them but I soon found that was not possible. The threads are weak and tend to fray or rip as you tighten your knots and the beautiful gradation of colours were simply not done any justice. I've been hoarding a boxful of these even before I started  crocheting in 2014, and been saddened that they just collect dust.😢  Here we are though, finally found a project that showcases the colours beautifully <3 the hoarding was worth it!!!

As for the hook, I used a 2mm hook, but you can use a 1.5mm hook for a even tighter fit (particularly good if your tension tends to have slack). The kitty stands at about 7.5" tall from tip of ears to paw.

couple of things I changed:

• the ears are shorter
• snout is different 
• i didn't use weighted filling . for this size, it didn't make any difference to have weight or not but for larger, it may be useful. I never have ,even for larger size.
• used wires for limbs instead of stuffing - mostly cuz i am lazy but also, this made the limbs posable

hopefully you try it out and find it easy to follow!

Happy hookin,

Shyni

 

Mini me

Once upon a time there was a girl named ...let's call her Karen  - who was happily married, had job of her dreams working with special needs children, lived in a beautiful country with lots of sun and no snow...had everything she wanted except a child. Despite doctors telling her that she couldn't conceive, she kept trying and when I met Karen during my visit to Costa Rica, she was starting to lose some faith although very hopeful still. Although we couldn't really converse (we both spoke very little of each other's respective language), the way she looked at children passing by pulled at my heartstrings, knowing that she may never have them (something I can relate to), no matter how much she wanted them.
On one of my last nights there Thumbellina happened to be on TV - none of us were watching it - it was just background noise. I had just started to get a hang of crochet and was working on JiJi the cat from Kiki's delivery service and others were playing cards or just talking. At one point though, we all ended up watching the movie and enjoying it's simple pleasures.

When I returned to Canada I happened to stumble on a baby crib crochet pattern and somehow that lead to Clare's Youtube channel for a little purse that flipped out to be a little crib!!My mind blew.   I had bought a pattern from a designer I just LOVE, of a baby even though I had NO IDEA what I would ever do with it. When I saw the crib, I thought " wouldn't it be nice to make Karen a little thumbellina?" So I set out to work.

This purse crib thing, is a super easy and flexible design and could be made to fit any size doll. You can get the written pattern here but i really do recommend watching the video tutorials where you can hear her logic behind the design and how you can create it to match any doll.
Her channel and website is a gold mine for some amazing projects - bright, happy and  easy projects you can whip out in no time - so be sure to check it out.

Anyway.
when I made this, I had NO idea how to put on hair or face so I left it blank...and now I don't think I will add a face it is just so cute without it~
I used Redheart supersaver and a 5mm hook for the crib and some random blue shimmery dk weight yarn and a3.5mm hook for the baby.  The baby pattern was a little challenging to follow and the designer wasn't all that responsive (I'm sure she's hardly checking since her Etsy is dominantly patterns generating income) but I made him finally and he is SO CUTE!

what is almost amazing is, shortly after I sent her this set she became pregnant and had a beautiful boy! although we aren't really in touch any more, I also heard she's expecting a 2nd child... so don't let those doctors kill your dreams..:)

I also made another baby in purple - just to make sure that I understand the pattern XD
I did change the hat to be more of elf hat than a bear hat and I made the moon and clouds....the blurry red thing there is a dangly heart that I can never seem to catch standing still. Initially, this idea was going to be my logo - but I changed my mind lol. Just in case you are wondering, the doll is made with 3 mm hook  and measures about 5'... it sits in the palm of your hand *sqeeee*

 I have yet to find a moon pattern  size - what I did was follow a pattern for a horn and then reverse it. you could probably make 2 horns and attach it. There are TONS of cloud patterns out there though , just pick one that"speaks to you ...:)

That's it today! I hope this inspires you to check out Clare's Youtube channel  - Bobwilson123 for some excellent reasons to buy more yarn :D and try this adorable crib !!!

Blushin' Hippie

OKAY.

I FINALLY DID IT.
I MADE MY FIRST BUTTON JOINED DOLL.

This doll is product of many trials...  I want to almost call it my test baby.
I tried crocheting eyes as small as I can (which wasn't that small, her eyes are about 1.5" in diameter)tried different stuffing, and tried to join the limbs...all turned into a great success , I love the way she turned out.
She has a pretty blush, GORGEOUS eyes and a doily heart on her butt (I had made this as part of another project- then lost it and it suddenly reappeared to belong to her behind).

Initially this project started with a box of yarn a friend sent (that she's been hoarding hoping one day she will magically become a great knitter/ crocheter and cover her space with hippo things and purple) along with a Happopotus pattern by Heidi bears. I made a giant hippo (footrest size really) and still had enough yarn to make a Max the dog by Heidi among other things and this little bashful gal...and there are still much yarn left, I need to make another Heidi hippo or something, this is hindering my shopping tendencies lol.

I am HORRID at coming up with names so she will just be Blushin' Hippie for now....this pattern is a simple mod from Heart & Sew's Happy Hippo which looks like the little standing one to the left. IT is adorable just as it is and the pattern is SO EASY  to follow ! the only tip I would say is to print out the darn thing, it will make life so much easier.

This is a BIG doll; she stands about 18" tall using a 3.5mm hook - she's absolutely cuddlable and reminds me of holding a baby she's just that size and build.

Super fun to make and super easy to follow instructions  with lots of details and notes on how to make your baby perfect.... I recommend making 2 if this is a gift, because you may NOT want to part with it once you're done ( I could not LOL).

that's all today! happy hookin'!

my top 3 crochet hacks/tips

2017 is ending on a really exciting note for me! I discovered places to market and sell my little creations that is slowly invading my tiny apt (so I can make more stuff to fill my tiny apt with lol) and I held a workshop to share my passion with others. I made some amazing custom orders I didn't really think I could pull off and made some progress in being a regular checker of my Etsy shop instead of ignoring its existence (or just forgetting).

During the workshops I held and whenever I teach people crochet there is just never enough time to share some easy hacks , the excitement of learning new craft AND dis-spell myths of needing expensive tools to be able create great things; they are certainly nice to have and in cases of art, it CAN enhance the final outcome but isn't a requirement to create great pieces.

Today I want share with you my absolute fave tips that cost me nothing but made quite an impact in my hookin' life - I practice creating without breaking the bank (it’s more enjoyable that way too!) which is why I also created the Amigurumi starter kit in my shop - it's probably the only things you will need for at least first 2 years of this hobby (I still use the same stuff).

I started to include the materials required for these hacks in my kits as well, so that you have everything you need to make your journey more enjoyable.

So first thing is the binder clip hack.

These little guys are so awesome in keeping your yarn in check, and from tangling if you end up

using multiple colours.
All you have to do is get a bowl – glass works best as it has enough weight to stay still – and clip it on. Thread the yarn through the metallic parts and voila! It will keep your yarn untangled and the ball of yarn from running around , falling off and irritating the cat and you. If you FORGET to thread it before you start, not to worry; the metal holder comes out when you squeeze the wider side and you can always thread the yarn through.

I find this hack to be much better than a yarn bowl as the size of my yarn ball CAN change whereas the yarn bowl size cannot. Also  I just don’t carry my yarn bowl around but there is always a plastic container or cup available to clip to.

I also like to use the Lysol or Purrell wipe containers for larger spools of yarn or multiple little balls of yarn. Just cut out the circle where the wipes come out and voila!  You can get really creative with this and it will save you so much hassle and even some money.

The next hack is for the hook itself.

This is an important hack – your hands will tire and cramp up as you crochet like a madman…. Your hand will be stressed trying to keep up with your excitement and also because hooks are just not designed ergonomically. There are many ergonomic hooks available out there that you can purchase but it IS an investment that you may not be willing to make ,as they can be pretty pricy.

I have personally lived off this hack for the longest time before wrapping my hook with some clay  – and though I now own a couple of ergonomic hooks( you can read my thoughts on it here ), I still use my clay covered ones most (you can read about how to make it here ).

All you do is, wrap the elastic band at the center of the hook a  couple of times (where the size is indicated). Write down the size somewhere because you will need to know it to put on the pencil grip. The point of the elastic grip is to provide support/grip so that the pencil grip stays in place; the whole elastic doesn’t need to be used but it does need to be as flat and tight as possible.

Slide the pencil grip to the center of the hook and write down the size of the hook on the grip with a black pen/sharpie.

That’s it! This little trick will pride you with a comfortable grip for much longer period of time and let you enjoy your craft in comfort.

Lastly hand exercises!

This is important to be able to enjoy your hobby for a long time to come and for general hand health – we use and abuse our hands all the time, we should reward them :D

This is my fave exercise set I try to do after every crochet session. It is from We are Knitters and says it’s for knitters but crochet’s like a cousin of knitting so I think it’s still applicable.  XD

https://blog.weareknitters.com/knitters-life/hand-exercises-for-knitters/

And that’s all!

I hope this was helpful and happy hookin’!

elephant pattern round up!

what is BIG , gray and a little clumsy but comes with trunkful of good wishes? AN elephant!
Many eastern cultures believe them to possess wisdom and to bring the owner good fortune and they are possibly one of the most loyal animals - I have been moved many times watching videos of elephants journey to pay respects to a human that had shown kindness to them. Not only that, baby elephants are STUPID cute.

Anyway, among many of the patterns available out there in the greater Internet, I found these to be the cutest and easiest.

The 3 larger elephants - in the tower of elephants - are all one pattern made with different sized hooks. From the bottom we have the gray elephant made with 3.5mm hook, than a 3mm hook and then a 2.5mm hook. This is pattern made available by Stephanie from All About Ami which you can get here .

The itty bitty tiny elephant up at the top... is by Canal Crochet and you can get it here ; she even has a video tutorial available, which I found to be helpful. I honestly wish I'd watched the video first, so I can understand how this is all put together because just off the written pattern, I was well confused - its not  HOW it was supposed to look in my mind - but that's just me.

The last dark gray elephant - I LOVE this color for elephants because I feel like they are dark gray - is by Amour Fou which you can get here. I unfortunately ran out of the charcoal gray yarn so my Gustav is without ears :( but still ridiculously cute without them) . I added a stand at the bottom of the ball so that the whole thing takes up less space (because my apt is running out of room), and can stand on its own. It's really just a circle cut out from cardboard, secured with wires to the ball and works great.

The last one - this one is was made by a friend of mine - that I never tried, mostly because it was too big to sit on my tower of elephants and I ran out of gray yarn for the time being . When I get more (that is, when I have space to store more) I would definitely make this little guy. This one is a free download from Ravelry here.

That is all I have today! I hope you try one of these and happy hookin'!

Freebie pattern: JiJi the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service

WELL.
It has been a long time, almost a year since I wrote down anything....you'd think I planned it this way, the date of last post is pretty close to this one lol.
Anyway.
Life was a crazy roller coaster ride for last few months; it was certainly emotional, and had I enough wit,I would have remembered to rant here, but I didn't. The good thing is the learning curve was pretty steep and I had to take actions (some drastic) to try to improve the sticky situation I was in , and to relieve some stress I was making a LOT of things. I also watched a LOT of movies and TV shows I meant to but didn't have time for until now; in some ways, my life hit rock bottom, just so I can catch up with the things I loved .

So THIS movie, is probably considered a CLASSIC Ghibli studio movie - I love the character design but until this past week I did NOT see this movie (which bought the shock of my fellow animation fan who immediately disqualified me as a Ghibli fan or animation fan for that matter LMAO).

And though she was kidding, I realized I didn't watch a lot of classsic animation, so I'm going to be watching them in the upcoming days, at least from Studio Ghibli, whom I keep confessing my love for.  I actually watched a couple more of older Ghibli studio movie, "Whispers of the heart and When Marnie was There. I loved how accurately Whispers of the Heart captured daily life in Japan eons ago - the focus was on capturing time instead of fantasized characters we have these days. The second movie was very heavy and sad and I cried. Then, even though the ending left me completely hanging and unsatisfied , I went back to watch Kiki's Delivery service for the second time , in case I missed the ending somehow ( I didn't apparently). After, because I am crazy and was dead in love with the little black cat Jiji, I watched it the 3rd time while making this doll. Jiji is full of personality - sarcastic ,playful and bashful - a lot like my own little black cat, and it totally make me wish that my cat could talk to me!

I will say this turned out much better than I expected considering this was made in the wee hours in the morning. I am still surprised that I didn't stab myself while needlefelting the ears and the eyes.

To make this little guy, I used worsted weight Redheart Supersaver yarn with a 3.5mm(E) sized hook. The little nose is some baby pink baby yarn I had laying around since I learned the different size of hooks. The pattern itself is pretty straight forward, although I was a LITTLE BIT confused when I made the body part because of the shape (which made sense after) and I skpped out on the paws because I thought it made it... unnecessarily bulky looking? I mean when I see my cat sit this way, especially in the dark, I can't tell where his paws are; I see his tail ,body, head and his giant ears....so that's my interpretation of it.

For this pattern in other languages, click the picture

 The amazing lady who designed Jiji The Cat pattern (probably Angie is her name) - you can get my downloaded copy from the link above or  visit her Ravelery site by clicking the photo below (that's her version of the cat) where she has the pattern available in multiple languages such as Russian, Spanish, French and Dutch.