Thursday, June 30, 2016

My Little Owl Family (Pattern)

Little balls of scrap yarn accumulate in my house. There's always that little bit of yarn left over after a project... or I've had people give me bags of scrap yarn, knowing I will find a project for it. I designed these owls to use up really small (.3 oz) balls of yarn.

Supplies:
Worsted weight yarn in main color, plus small amounts in white, black and yellow/orange
Size F hook (Size K for Mama Owl)
Yarn Needle
Stuffing material (I used fiberfill)

After making my first owl, I decided the best order is to make the face, wings and bottom first, then make the main body. That way, you can attach the face while you can still access the inside, and when you are working on the body, you can just keep going until you just have enough yarn left for sewing and the top tufts.

Wings (make 2):
Chain 6.
Starting in second chain from hook, work a slip stitch, sc, hdc, dc and tc (your stitches are getting taller as you work back along the chain). Finish off, leaving about 6" for sewing wing to body. You will sew the wing to the body along the edge of the treble crochet.
Tip: to make the wing a little more solid, I do a linked double crochet and treble crochet. Rather than doing a yarn over for the double crochet, I pull up a loop from the hdc before it. Likewise, when I do the treble crochet, I do one yarn over and pull up a loop from the double crochet before it. Here is a video link from Moogly on linked double crochet.

I work in a spiral, using a stitch marker to mark the beginning.
Bottom:
Round 1: Make 6 hdc in magic ring (6)
Round 2: 2 hdc in each stitch (12)
Round 3: *2 hdc in first stitch, hdc in next stitch*, repeat around (18)
Finish off.






Face:
With white yarn, make 8 dc in magic ring. Tighten ring, but do not join.
Turn the half circle so you are working along the flat edge. Along the first dc, make a sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc. Slip stitch into the center, then make sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc along the double crochet on the other side of center.

Body: 
Round 1: Make 6 hdc in magic ring (6)
Round 2: 2 hdc in each stitch (12)
Round 3: *2 hdc in first stitch, hdc in next stitch*, repeat around (18)
Repeat Round 3 until your owl is all tall as you'd like it to be, or until you only have about two yards of yarn left. Don't cut yarn...

Sew on face, with top of heart around row 3. With black yarn, embroider eyes as shown (I did a knot with a double strand of yarn). With yellow or orange, embroider beak.

Sew wings to side.

Add stuffing, then put bottom in place. Do a row of SC, working through both the body and the bottom. When you only have a few stitches left to go, you can push a little more stuffing through the opening, if needed. Finish off.

Tufts: 
Cut 6 strands of yarn about 5" long (if you don't have enough of your main color left, supplement with another color, or the white you used for the face). Take three strands, double them over and pull a loop through at the side of the top of the head. Pull the yarn ends (6 strands, since they're doubled) through the loop and tighten. Trim if needed. Repeat on other side of the head.

Finish off.

I followed the same pattern for the Mama Owl, but used two strands of worsted weight yarn and a size K hook.
For her beak, I did a smaller variation of the wing: chain 4, then starting in second chain, slip stitch, single crochet, hdc 
Her wings are the same size as the smaller version, just because I ran out of the pink yarn (poor planning... I should have remembered to do the wings first!)



Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Once A Month Challenge

Another blogger posted a challenge... to make a purchase from another crafter's Storenvy shop once a month. My first thought was "oh, man, we have this bill that needs to be paid, and the checking account is running low, and we have to buy so much stuff for the grad party, and I haven't had many sales from my own shop lately to help with finances."

The more I thought about it, the more I thought I really should take the plunge and commit to the challenge. I have been accumulating funds in my SavingStar account, so I cashed in on that, depositing enough money into my PayPal account to fund a few months of small purchases. So, what to buy?

My middle daughter is expecting our first grandchild in October. We just found out that it will be a baby girl, so I wanted to get something for her. I have seen that a fellow crafter who makes adorable and practical monster toys (many of her items double as storage bags) had branched out into sensory blankets - little cuddly blankets with varied textures and ribbons. Oh, yes... babies love little ribbons and tags hanging out of toys! I looked around her shop and found just the right little cuddly for "Pumkin" (temporary nickname for a late-October baby)!
Since my daughter was visiting last week (for her little sister's graduation), I was able to give her the gift. She loved the blend of different materials, and how it was just the right size to put in a purse or diaper bag. So, with one gift, we have a bunch of happy people... I'm happy that my daughter likes her present. She's happy she got a present. Baby girl will be happy to play with cuddly blanket, and a crafter is happy that she made a sale through her Storenvy shop!

That got me thinking of reasons why the challenge to purchase one item a month online from a crafter is such a good idea.

Reasons for shopping handmade:
1. You make a crafter happy! When you purchase something from Target or Walmart, the cashier doesn't say "Oh, you bought a cute t-shirt! That makes me so happy!" When you make a purchase from a crafter's online shop, it is "Happy Dance" time! Participating in online craft groups, I always see posts saying "I got a cha-ching!" or "I made a sale!" Purchases from crafters' online shops go toward paying for kid's braces, saving up for a family vacation, or maybe even just putting groceries on the table. It's a big deal to that person.
2. You are getting a unique, one-of-a-kind product. You can find stuff in Storenvy shops that you just can't find in a big box store. And you can shop in your pajamas! (Well, maybe you can do that at Wal-Mart...) When your gift is opened up at a baby shower, or bridal shower, you don't have to worry that somebody else got them exactly the same thing! It is handmade, with love, not mass-produced.
3. You can get things customized. Many of the items made by crafters can be personalized with names or your choice of colors. I can't post a picture yet, but one of my recent sales was a custom order for a little girl who loves unicorns, pink, purple and purses...and I was able to combine all of those for a very special gift!

So, where do you begin looking? Here are a few of my friends' shops:

Lu and Ed is the shop where I bought the blanket for my granddaughter. This shop has adorable little toy monsters, Mon-Stor bags where kids can store their toys, pajamas, or stuff they need on a long car trip, and the adorable sensory blankets like the one I got!

The Craft Penguin does some cool string art pictures, and she can make custom signs. Her "State Love" signs, with an outline of your state, and a heart where your city is located, would be a great gift!

Sudzy Bums makes a wide variety of soaps. Cute little shaped soaps, scented bar soaps, body butter, gift sets, party favor sets... just lots of fun stuff!

Wilde Designs has a mix of products from magnets to bookmarks, earrings to stickers, bobby pins to buttons, leaning toward the geeky side.

Black Rose Essentials has a lot of bath products (body scrubs, bath bombs, salt soaks) in some of the most amazing scents!

And then there's my shop: Penguin Place Cute little stuffed animals, American Girl doll clothes, hats, scarves, afghans and so much more!

So, would you join me in the Once A Month challenge? If you have a baby shower, bridal shower, or birthday party coming up, consider looking through Storenvy Shops to find that special gift. Looking for something in particular? Let me know, maybe I know a crafter who can help you out!


Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Look out, June! Here I come!

Kenny Giraffe & Tutti-Fruitti Elephant
It's hard to believe it's June 1st already. June of 2016 has a lot in store for my family
  • Youngest daughter graduates from high school
  • Middle daughter will announce the gender of her first child (my first grandchild)
  • Oldest daughter will graduate from her hospital residency program
  • Hubby and I celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary
  • I hit 55 years old (which gets me the Senior Discount at Michael's craft stores!)

Since there is so much going on, I am trying very hard to keep organized... so that means LOTS of lists. Shopping lists, menu lists, to-do lists, project lists, custom order lists.

Putting some of my lists out in public view helps me to keep plugging away at them. I love being able to cross things off lists. Maybe that's why I'm loving the whole "bullet journal" thing!

June Must-Do items 
  1. Write long-overdue letter to uncle who isn't on the internet to see family pictures - DONE
  2. Make another mini-giraffe, taking good pictures to illustrate pattern
  3. Plan Grad party menu - DONE
  4. Shop for Grad party - DONE
  5. Survive Grad party - DONE
  6. Set up delivery for penguin mittens order - Contacted customer, no response. Will try again.
  7. Do a new giveaway on my Facebook page - DONE
  8. Use up bag of blue scrap yarn (starting weight 20 ounces)
  9. Restore craft room to guest room status (by June 8) - DONE
June Projects
Kenny Giraffe
  1. Kenny Giraffe - DONE
  2. Red/Purple Sock Monkey - DONE
  3. Sea Horse - DONE
  4. Plane 1 - DONE
  5. Plane 2 - DONE
  6. Plane 3 - DONE
  7. Soft Serve Cone - DONE
  8. Hungry Caterpillar cocoon set - DONE
  9. Shark - DONE
  10. Elephant - DONE
  11. Farm Mat Square 1 - DONE
  12. Veronica crochet-along - a bit behind, had to tear some out to correct an error
  13. Mini-Giraffe - legs are done...
  14. Owl Obsession square...haven't even started
 
Plane #1




P.S....It's a girl!