Freebie Friday: keeping it warm

So last weekend I made my first fingerless gloves...which I think was just about the most perfect timing because this past week is definitely calling for some fingerless gloves as Old Man Winter is starting to wake up very slowly T_T. It really isn't fair. We were at a decent weather - 16c -so that I can continue my denial of oncoming winter season and sport a nice windbreaker and hoodie with a light scarf.  Then, Santa Claus parade happened and suddenly the temperature sank into minus without warning; and not slowly edge into it, but really sank its teeth into it and started the week off from -10c. URGH so rude and inconsiderate. Thankfully, my fingerless gloves were keeping my little hands toasty.

This pattern is super simple - I got brave and tried to modify it because certain parts didn't make sense but take it from me, the pattern is well written and worth following exactly.  The original is made with multi-colored yarn and I had thought it was just a regular crocheted look -but its got the "vertical knitted" look (as I call it) that you get from BLO stitches (which I love) and you can see it when you use a single colored yarn.

This ruffled edged glove  pattern by Diva Stitches is super easy to follow and only requires one skein (actually I think 1/2 makes a pair).  She's got some really cute earring designs that I definitely will be trying out when sunshine season approaches. Most of her projects are one skein or less which is right up my alley so I will definitely be coming back to her site for more!

Remember that ridiculously teeny weeny baby- size teapot?
Well. it posed more challenges than I thought it would. First it didn't have a little topper on its lid which made some designs a little more challenging to make for it as it used the little topper as a stopper. My "client" was adamant about simplicity - and we had such a different definition of simplicity (I was thinking rose topped cozy and she was thinking drawstring bag with next to no embellishments and single color at most).

We finally narrowed it down to a scalloped cozy or a raspberry cozy - I really liked the raspberry (two colors and who doesn't love puffy stitches) and she was really keen on the scallop finish.  I think the universe feel that she should get the design that she wants because the raspberry design was nowhere to be found but I had a wonderful design in my stash of scallop/scale stitch tea cozy by Corchetroo .

THIS stitch is really FUN but confusing in the beginning and I did have to reference a few Youtube videos. This tutorial by Moogly (photo and video) was what I found to be most helpful.

 here is what mine looks like - it took about 1/2 a skein. It is by far the cutest thing I made, I totally see myself doing this stitch for everything now lol!!

But the pot measures about 4.5" and the cosy is only 5.5"x 5.5" .....its like my teapot gave birth to it. Loook at how small it iscompared to my giant tea mug!!! ridiculous. But absolutely adorable to just look at! my customer was also super happy with the result so, that was a plus as well.




Hope you like - 'till next time,

Love always,
Shines

Freebie Friday: Totoros

One of my favourite animation studios would be Ghilbi studio - and though many will favor Totoro from that studio as one of the best, I personally love Ponyo...this isn't saying that I don't like Totoro, I just think Ponyo is super cute and it being a different version of the Little Mermaid rates it higher in favor for me. Maybe its because Ponyo was the first movie I saw and first love is hard to replace.  HAVING SAID THAT , I could never pick a favourite from that studio...it definitely makes some adorable movies that grabs your heart strings like a new born baby.

ANYWAYS.
I only watched Totoro for the first time sometime late 2013(yeah I know its pretty bad) and of course fell immediately in love with these imaginary creatures. That CAT bus?! OMG. and the kid?! urgh! so cute....so of course I was on a mission to expose everyone who didn't know anything about the studio to its awesomeness. Last November sometime, a dear friend of mine was "force exposed" to Totoro and fell madly in love and demanded that I crochet her a little Totoro for "forcing" Totoro on her and to improve my crochet skills. I had some gray and pink and red yarn left over from a failed cat cave endeavor (my cats didn't grasp the concept) and thought why not?
As you can see, Totoro doesn't look great in pink and googly eyes are just not becoming...but it is recognizibly Totoro and the recipient was thrilled so that worked out. :D

Since then , I have collected many Totoro patterns, made freely available by generosity of very talented people. There are tons more but here are some of my favorite patterns.  I've tried most and the large set of 3 I am currently in the process of THINKING about attempt again as the first turned into a dud :S and you know that thing about first impressions? its true, I love this pattern to pieces but I have yet gotten over the initial fail (he has tiny lazy eyes and his fluffy belly is not even and, oh the list goes on...!  maybe 2016 will be better time for this, now that I have a few more projects under my belt...I tried to make this after only making a couple of projects and I had no idea that not all yarns were created equal).
 This is the only picture of the previously mentioned failure. Even so, look how FLIPPING ADORABLE it is!!!I still can't get over how PERFECT this looks with the teeny white one sitting on the leaf on the giant one...<3
I think its such a GREAT design  that captures the "details" of each creatures so well - and I really will try it again. The lady who came up with this (Lucy Ravenscar) also has a free patterns section filled with cute little designs, generously shared on her blog here.
2016, LESSSSSS DOOOOO DIIIIISSS!!!!!

This EASY BREEZY & super adorable Totoro is what I should have started with...but I didn't. This is shared by Mei at Amigurumei. She has a growing list of Free patterns on her blog as well, and they are really easy breezy. I made a Molang and Purin not long after and it turned out just ADORABLE...apparently, they're bunnies... ?






Laast but not least.... this fabulous pattern set from Sharon Ojala. I love this Cat bus... its the nicest one (in my humble opinion) out there so far and it LOOKS simple to do. LOVE it more because Totoro and the gang doesn't fit in it :D
I DID attempt the Blue Totoro shown here, but I don't seem to have a picture to share - and it really shouldn't be shared.... I was JUST trying to see if I can make this - so I used what I had which was gray and PINK with googly eyes. Which turned out rather hideous but, the pattern is super easy to follow. There is also a Grey Totoro I haven't tried, but its supposed to be smaller than the blue one(because after my attempt at the blue one, my ego exploded and I went charging headlong in to making the giant set by Lucy - so the failure with that set was a good wake up call in some ways ,lol deflated my ego quite a bit).

Well that's all folks! I hope you do give it a go and let me know how it goes! till next time,

Happy hookin'!!!!

Freebie Friday : Crochet apples and cherries

Back in Novemember 2014 I saw a cute crochet ghost ornament that grabbed all my heart strings and pulled it. It looked easy enough and my ego as a crafty gal was sky high having "successfully" made a cushion (it was supposed to be a cat cave really, but they didn't grasp that concept well). I was soon pressed to admit I had no idea what was going on when it came to amigurumi and humbly chose something super easy to make first - Cherries. Well, that wasn't my intention actually - I was looking for HOW to start crocheting and this cherry caught my eye on Youtube as it was one of thes shortest videos and I wasn't really into making FLAT appliques.

 I made A LOT of cute cherries that day (10) and I was starting to get comfortable with how crocheting worked. It was super easy to make and so ADORABLE.  The practical side of me said, "what will you do with this? will it just be a dust collector?" and I felt instantly bad even though it made me so happy to look at these little cherries. Then, just like a sign from up above this little meme came into my life and made it all better !!!

Yes, happiness IS useful - in fact, most useful thing ever.

So after I conquered cherries, I decided to try something BIGGER....an APPLE.
I don't have this apple I made anymore - I made this apple with a friend and her sister napped it before I can take a picture to show it.  Its another super duper easy project - and absolutely adorable. Unfortunately though, I didn't write down where I got them from in the tip-in pages of my agenda so I couldn't give credit to one this pattern came from. I used a 3mm hook (size E i think?) and light weight yarn I think - this yarn had lost its label so I bought it , which is why I couldn't say but its similar to my other lightweight yarns. it makes for a cute key chain! you can click HERE for pdf version for download, if you prefer.

3D apple key chain

·         lightweight yarn of your choice for apple

·         light weight yarn for leaf

·         2.5 or 3mm hook

·         key chain parts

Stiches used:

Sc = single crochet

dec = decrease

mc = magic circle 

Notes: when it says 2sc this means 2 sc in the same stitch, when the number comes AFTER, it means the amount of crochet in consecutive stiches. For example, sc2 means sc in each of the next two stitches.

rnd 1:                 mc 6st                                         (6)

Rnd2:                 inc around                                (12)

Rnd 3:                sc , inc around                         (18)

Rnd 4:                sc 2, inc around                      (24)

Rnd 5:                sc around                                  (24)

Rnd 6:                sc 3, inc around                      (30)

Rnd 7 -8:           sc around                                  (30)

Rnd 9:                sc 4, inc around                      (36)

Rnd 10 - 12:     sc around                                  (36)

Rnd 13:             sc 5, inc around                      (42)

Rnd 14:             sc around                                  (42)

Rnd 15:             sc 4 , dec around                      (36)

Rnd 16:             sc 3, dec around                      (30)

Rnd 17:             sc 2, dec around                      (24)

Rnd 18:             sc, dec around                        (18)

Rnd 19:             dec around                               (12)

F/O

Pull the yarn from the top to the bottom centre to make indent to give apple a shape, secure it with a few knots and  trim.

Leaf:

1: chain 5, sc into 2nd stich from the hook

2: hdc, dc,hdc 2

3: stem - ch2 , hdc 2

4: dc, hdc, sc

f/o and attach to apple.

OPTIONAL: attach key rings at the tip of the stem.

There once was a Youtube video on making an apple - I think that's where this came from - but I can't seem to find it now :( I hope the pattern is easy to understand and hope you enjoy!! This would be my first attempt at writing a pattern so let me know if I'm missing anything :S Of course,  feel free to share this pattern and what you made via my other social networks on FB or, instagram at shyni_moonlightings.

till next time!!!

Love always,

Shines

Goodbye DLP T_T it was good while it lasted.

YEAP, I fell off the blogging bandwagon...again. I think I'm just going to stop counting the many times I fall of this bandwagon and focus on the fact that I manage to come back to it pretty consistently....yes, there IS indeed a silver lining to every situation lol.

Anyhow, my crochet obsession has gone full blown - and as soon as I started to think that my "giant stash" of yarn was going down (instead of 2 giant bags, I can fit everything into ONE giant garbage bag), Michael's started their week long yarn sale.  SPEEEEAKING OF MICHAEL'S.... you know, this store was nowhere near my work or residence - or I never managed to find one. I knew one existed about an hour bus ride away and that was just too far for me to bother with. However now that I started crocheting and getting sorta serious about my arts and crafts hobby, a Michael's is in every corner I turn! one opened downtown Toronto, and there is TWO near my work, right on my way from and to work.  Although the selection in this store leaves lots to be desired as it is a smaller store, it still makes me happy to gander after the work day is over. The good part of this is, that its strengthening my spending control - since the store is so accessible now, I don't buy everything  I want at once for current and future projects I may engage in. WHICH is gggggRRRREEEAT!

ANYWAY...sorry rambled off there... lol

Earlier this year ,I had a whirlwind affair with Documented Life Project. This is a fantastic project - uses one book for 3 purposes ( I LOVE IT)and was a fabulous way to get started on the artistic journey.  I saw some from 2014 and the prompts were thought provoking and the artworks by others were just fantastic fun to look at. So I had a go this year. Although I thought it very commercial that they decided to endorse Dylusions art journal and abandon the 3-in-one book idea that originally made it popular, the weekly prompts REALLY spoke to me and related 100% to my life at the time and I was madly in love with it.   But then some point - I think mid May - I found that the prompts were not as...thought provoking. They were posted late, and I dunno - it felt like it was starting to get half-hearted. I couldn't relate to any of the prompts (which was odd cuz it was travel themed and I had just come back from travelling) and I stopped entirely by July.
I also slowly started to realize that I need to separate my journals from planners. It worked for me when I was just trying to get back into journaling and being creative; but as the juices start flow regularly, I found that I was spending more time being artsy in my planner vs. planning in my planner and I was starting to need more real estate for my creativity and stopped planning in my planner altogether  :O .  After some thought and with good dose of hesitation, I separated my planner from my creatives - I guess its true that you should never mix business with pleasure as one WILL overtake the other.  I still think this is a great project to get your juices flowing and will probably fall back to it (well ,the idea anyway, its too commercial now for me) whenever I feel its dwindling, but for now I need to say good bye to it.

The thing is, I still had tons of tip-in pages stuck to my planner....and on it I had started to write down some of the crochet patterns I wanted to try out that seemed to be within my skill level (waste not want not) - I actually now have a giant binderful of these patterns shared by generous souls on the internet XD.  Some I've tried successfully, some I have not and I really should because they are uber cute and should not be wasted. Anyhow, I thought I would start sharing these on line with my two cents as I struggle to make these, starting next week.

I have SO MANY free things I found online that I feel should be shared - so  I am going to start a Freebie Friday blog to share them  *YAY*. I'm going to start with crochet patterns because, as I say, I have a giant 3" binderful of patterns I really must try and sort through and I want to make a commitment to sharing/blogging. So along with Freebie Friday, I'm going to do a Crafty Update posts- which will just show what I'm working on now. Hopefully by committing to these two things I can follow through in my commitment to share more what I know  and help others find their creative (cuz everyone has it) and what I'm up to (and not fall of the bandwagon again LOL).  Till next time,

Love Always,
Shines.