Cute Amigurumi!

Lakers!! 8D

For Father’s Day this year, we made a Lakers plush toy! Our dad LOVES the Lakers, so since the timing was perfect and all, we decided very last minute that this would be his Father’s Day gift.

Making the ball was annoying. It was turning into a giant pill. So we had to undo it and start all over again… Cutting the words was also very annoying because felt does not equal paper…

First we printed a big picture of the logo, cut out the words, and then traced the words with very dull scissors that used to be sharp and useful. I wanted to give up after cutting the L because the felt kept slipping everywhere and the thin part of the L was dangling like a wet noodle. It looked so ugly but I kept cutting, wondering “just how much uglier can this thing get”. But after cutting the rest of it, I realized that it didn’t look so bad after all!!! Thanks to my sister’s constant support throughout the cutting process! Now that I think about it, I was probably just throwing a hissy fit…over nothing. heh..

So, when I say friend of R2D2, who comes to mind?  C3PO?  Luke Skywalker?  …Yoda??  No – wrong, wrong, wrong!  The obvious answer should be:

R5D4, of course!!

This brilliant idea wasn’t mine actually…it was a custom order!  I would never have thought of making R5D4, but he definitely makes the cutest counterpart for R2D2! 

Making him was pretty difficult.  I had to start over so many times to get the head shape right.  I even made an extra body using an off-white colored yarn, because for some funny reason, I thought R5D4 was an off-white color…but actually he’s white.  It only looked off-white because of the reflection of the sand on his body.  Ha ha ha…I should have looked at him more carefully before I started darnit….

AND…R5D4 is so much fancier than R2D2!!  Look at all his fancy embellishments!  Those decked out disco-light neck squares, 3 eyeballs instead of 2 (and a glassy crystal eyeball too!), fancy rectangles on his body, and 4 different colors instead of 2 ooooh so special!  When I finished and compared him to R2D2, I almost felt sorry for R2D2 because he looked so empty and, well, naked all of a sudden!  Maybe we got a little carried away with our decorations on R5D4.  Oh well, it’s ok R2D2, you’re still our favorite!

Unfortunately, I didn’t write anything down so there’s no pattern, in case anyone’s wondering.  He was too hard to construct, and making a pattern with nice pictures and step-by-step instructions just seems too daunting for me!  Perhaps in the future when I have more time…

That’s all for now!  Went through quite a dry spell of not posting for a while, but I’ll be making more posts soon, so please visit again!

Who doesn’t like chi-hua-huas??  So, here is a free pattern for how to make an amigurumi of one!!  Enjoy!!!  If you do take time to make one from my pattern, send me pictures!!!  I’d love to see! 

Palm-Size Pup: Chihuahua

Materials:

• Size D/3 (3.25 mm) crochet hook
• Worsted weight yarn in cream and tan
• 1 pair of 9 mm plastic safety eyes
• Small pieces of tan, black, and pink craft felt
• Black crochet thread
• Sharp needle for crochet thread
• Tapestry needle
• Craft glue
• Stuffing

Head

• Color: CREAM yarn
• R1: Ch 2, 6 sc in second ch from hook – 6 sts
• R2: 2 sc in each st around – 12 sts
• R3: (1 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 18 sts
• R4: (2 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 24 sts
• R5 – 8: sc in each st around – 24 sts
• R9: (2 sc, dec 1) repeat around – 18 sts
• R10: (1 sc, dec 1) repeat around – 12 sts
• Fasten off
• *Attach the 9 mm plastic safety eyes to the head. Eyes should be inserted between R7 and R8. The most ideal distance between the eyes is about 5 stitches, but it’s up to you!
• *Stuff the head with fiberfill

Snout

• Color: CREAM yarn
• R1: Ch 2, 3 sc in second ch from hook – 3 sts
• R2: 2 sc in each st around – 6 sts
• R3: (1 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 9 sts
• Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing to the head

Nose

1. Cut out a nose shape from black felt.

2. With black crochet thread and a sharp needle, sew the nose felt piece on the tip of the snout, as shown in the picture below. DO NOT sew the nose piece in the center; leave enough room to sew a mouth.

3. Right below the nose felt piece, continue sewing a mouth

4. Cut out a small tongue shape from pink craft felt, and set it aside. Gluing the tongue to the mouth should be the last step to prevent it from falling off while working on other parts.

Ears – make 2 of these

• Color: TAN yarn
• R1: Ch 2, 3 sc in second ch from hook – 3 sts
• R2: 2 sc in each st around – 6 sts
• R3: (1 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 9 sts
• R4: (2 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 12 sts
• R5: (1 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 18 sts
• Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing to the head
• *Cut out 2 ear shapes from pink felt. Set aside.

Body

• Color: CREAM yarn
• R1: Ch 2, 6 sc in second ch from hook – 6 sts
• R2: 2 sc in each st around – 12 sts
• R3: (1 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 18 sts
• R4: (2 sc, 2 sc in next st) repeat around – 24 sts
• R5: (2 sc, dec 1) repeat around – 18 sts
• R6: (1 sc, dec 1) repeat around – 12 sts
• R7: sc in each st around – 12 sts
• Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing to the head
• *Stuff with fiberfill

Arms – make 2 of these

• Color: CREAM yarn
• R1: Ch 2, 4 sc in second ch from hook – 4 sts
• R2 – 5: sc in each st around – 4 sts
• Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing to the body

Legs – make 2 of these

• Color: CREAM yarn
• R1: Ch 2, 4 sc in second ch from hook – 4 sts
• R2 – 3: sc in each st around – 4 sts
• Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing to the body

Putting Everything Together

1. Using a tapestry needle, sew the snout to the head. The top of the snout should start at R8 on the head. Make sure to keep the snout as centered as possible between the eyes.

2. Sew the ears onto the head. Pinch the ears so that they become flat. The ears should be placed starting at R2 and ending at R5. Next, glue the pink ear felt pieces onto the ears.

3. Sew the head to the body.

4. Sew the arms vertically onto the body. The arms should be positioned right below the eyes. Arms DO NOT need to be stuffed.

5. Position the legs horizontally and sew it to the body. Legs DO NOT need to be stuffed.

6. Cut out a tail shape from tan felt. Glue the tail between the legs on the back of the body.

7. The final step is to glue the pink felt tongue onto the mouth. Simply line the top edge of the tongue with craft glue and place it in between the 2 black lines of the mouth. Hold in place for about 10 seconds and allow enough time for it to fully dry.

8. Decorate your new pup and enjoy!

You can use the same pattern to make different dogs a well.  Just change the ears and cut out different felt patterns for coloring.  These are some other dogs I’ve made using the same pattern.

A Doberman Pinscher:

A Golden Retriever:

The possibilities are endless!!  Hope you enjoyed them!

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So!  It was that time of the year again (bro’s birthday) and we decided to crochet him his favorite game in the entire universe…..Super Mario Bros!!!  Although we were 1 month and 3 days late in giving him his present, it still beats our original idea of making him an ewok…which he HATES.  Don’t worry, I hate them too.  No, I don’t hate them…they’re just annoyingly fuzzy and kickable.  Sorry ewok, maybe another day.  We made Waluigi 1 year ago and yeah, I think we’ve improved a lot since then.

This is the finished product.  It took forever to cut out his face, his wonderful stache, and especially his hat.  At first we stuffed his hat with stuffing, but for some reason it didn’t look very good and then it dawned on us: hats shouldn’t be stuffed, when you wear it, is there stuffing between your head and your hat? NO!  mmm…genius.

He’s flying…

into the wall…

nice view, right?

It’s the “I’m the winner” platform…..ish thing.

Go! Go! Mario! Save the princess!

See?  They like each other, right?  They even take trips to my privately owned Museum of Contemporary Art together.  <3  No, I’m kidding I just stuck them there since my painting happened to look Mario-like.

The End!

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Hello!  This is polarbear!!  Otherwise known as janama’s lovely, wonderful, agreeable, joyful, talented sewing machine-sister!!!

Hahaha no, I’m not any of that.  I just sew and cut felt.  yeah…

Anyway, it’s almost the 16th of September!  Which marks the…(air-drum roll)…20th anniversary of the pillows!!  For anyone who doesn’t know, the pillows are a Japanese alternative rock band, best known in the US for their “Ride on Shooting Star” single.   So to celebrate their 20th anniversary, I am dedicating these to them (especially the white one because I like Manabe the best!).  Yes, I am very very very biased…

Pictured above, is the band mascot, Buster-kun, in all three colors.  It’s supposed to look like this..—————–>

The first one we made was the white one..

I say it turned out nicely.  I would constantly tell my sister to redo the body parts and also to make sure that they were all exactly the same size, symmetrical, flawless etc.. There was even one time during the process when I yelled at my sister: “I don’t want a disproportionate Buster!”  After that said, of course I couldn’t slack off on my laser-precise felt cutting and sewing, so then I shut my yap and got down to work!

This is the side view…

This is the back…

But, knowing that there’s supposed to be one Buster-kun per member in the band, I just had to have the rest.

They like beer…

In fact, I’m listening to the pillows right now.  Even though I say that now, I’ll most likely be listening to them whenever you come to read this blog.  Please visit again!

That’s my painting on the left!

The white Buster-kun is very special to me~  I spent the longest time on it.  Therefore it is ultimate perfection!!!  Haha kidding…

After crocheting my beloved boba, I’m on a drinks rampage now!  I just feel like crocheting a bunch of drinks!

This whole rampage was spurred by coming back from In n Out milkshake-less, and regretting it!  Something about sweet icy beverages makes them absolutely irresistible, right?  So after making boba, I HAD to move on to a strawberry milkshake…with a strawberry on top too, please!

I like the last picture.  The colors are so nice!  That’s what happened when I used a hot pink colored background against the light of the setting sun. 

You can find the pattern for the strawberry milkshake on my etsy.

And of course, a strawberry milkshake just isn’t complete without a chocolate companion!

Chocolate milkshake got to have a more dramatic look!

Now, both of them together!

Chocolate vs. Strawberry.  Who’s gonna win?!

BOBA WINS!!

…so of course I couldn’t resist making an amigurumi of one!  It was a super easygoing project that didn’t require much thinking.  Getting the cup part to be the right shape was a little tedious, but it turned out well.  What I liked most about this was the straw.  Boba straws are so fat, so it was possible to make a life-size straw (unlike the neck of the martini glass Brian Griffin holds)! 

You can find the pattern for it at my etsy.

My sister is a major boba fanatic – much more so than I am.  When I finished making it she was ecstatic!  Yet, as it sat around for a few more days, staring at her every time she walked by, tricking her more than thrice that it was the real thing, and constantly reminding her of her boba craving…she went crazy!!  Now she resorts to holding it like she would a real boba cup and slurp invisible boba out of the straw.  Maybe she’s hinting that I go buy her the real thing…I guess she deserves one, especially because she helped me cut out the felt pieces and arrange them.  Noo…guilt tripping myself!  Ok, off to the boba store!!

What does that look like to you??

What about this??

The answers better be CAKES!!  not HATS!!!  So, these were some things I crocheted out of stringy thready stuff.  They’re supposed to be cakes, but most everyone I’ve shown it to thinks they’re hats!  The final count: 1/9 correctly identified these objects as cakes.  Isn’t that sad??  Is it really that bad…

I made more, but haven’t found the time to take pictures of them.  When I get around to it, I’ll post more.  In the meantime, are there any suggestions I can do to make them more cake-like?  I need them to be unmistakable!!  No more “I thought it was a hat” business!

Each one is about 1 inch in diameter, and 3/4 inch tall.  I even stuffed it with polyfil, so they’re nice and squishy!  I used the smallest crochet hook possible – no idea what size that is…and some weird stringy thready thing that I don’t know what it’s called.  Sigh, such is my amateur knowledge, I apologize.  Most of the decorations are made of felt and random craft trimmings I found lying around my mom’s craft stash.  The fruits I meticulously made out of cutting microscopic pieces of felt, gluing them together, and then sewing on lines.  Lots of work for the fruit, but I think it’s worth it. 

It was a family friend’s birthday party last weekend and I decided to make her an amigurumi of Hobbes as a present because:

I am a poor grad student

I noticed on her wish list that she wanted Calvin and Hobbes comic books

Therefore, she MUST like Hobbes

Instead of getting a gift straight from her wish list I wanted to add an element of SURPRISE!!

Hobbes would make a cute plushie…except I don’t even know where I could buy one

So, based on those excuses – oh I mean, “very sound reasons” – I set out to create Hobbes.  The only thing holding me back was I had no idea what Calvin and Hobbes was about, except that Hobbes is a really skinny and tall tiger.  Plus, the occasional Calvin bumper sticker that I see of him peeing on a cross stuck on some people’s cars…

Later, my brother incredulously filled me in on the story behind Calvin and Hobbes, bewildered that I had no idea who they were.  That’s when I thought, “OHH!  No wonder Hobbes looks so animated and long and skinny and twisty all the time!”  And then, “Uh-oh, that does NOT sound pleasant to make into an amigurumi.”  In the end, I just decided to not be so ambitious and just make whatever I can.  Here’s what it looks like:

At first, the nose was also made of felt.  Then, my bro said his face looked too flat, so I carefully scratched off the felt, cut a hole in the face, inserted the animal nose, unstuffed the head to fasten the nose, and restuffed it.  So much work just to make his face look less flat, and I’m not even sure if it looks any more contoured!

As always, the intricate felt work was done by my sis.  She also helped sculpt his scruffy white beard, which I made by attaching small strings of yarn to the head, like real hair!  She’s also a great hair stylist by the way – she trims my bangs all the time!  We both agree that the head is the best attribute of this Hobbes.  It was unfortunate I didn’t know how to make his hands have fingers, because I think it’s an important part of Hobbes that makes him “alive.”  Then again, my goal was not to be so ambitious…or else this would also go into my pile of failures!!

When my friend got around to opening our present for her, I was nervous.  What if she complains that it’s not from her wish list?  What if she thinks it belongs in the Pile of Failures too?  What if she’s totally unimpressed, after all the hard work my sister and I put into it?  Our worries were put to rest when she gleefully exclaimed, “OMG!”  She really looked surprised and happy.  Then, when I saw her cuddle with it, I knew all that hard work was well worth it.  Hobbes, you did good!!

Ever since I started playing Animal Crossing 2 years ago, I’ve been playing that game EVERY day.  Yes, I am that devoted.  Actually, it’s my nighttime lullaby – puts me to sleep in an instant!

But anyways, what I really wanted to talk about today was Kaitlin, the mommy cat who visits your town searching for her lost daughter, Katie.  You only get these characters when you visit another friend’s town, so they’re pretty special characters.  Plus, I got her phone charm when I was playing with the coin machine again hehe.  I just so happened to have recently bought a lot of yellow yarn too, so I was finding ways to use it up, and Kaitlin was what I came up with.  Here’s her original picture in case you have no idea who I’m talking about:

Now, before you fall asleep reading my blog, here are the pictures of my finished product:

Unfortunately, she doesn’t stand on her own.  This is what happens when you try to copy cartoon characters to a T.  They inherit the impossibly skinny limbs that are supposed to support the fattest heads in the world.  So out of proportion!  But it just wouldn’t look like her anymore if I hadn’t done that.  Oh well, there’s only so much you can do I guess.

I also got lazy again and didn’t make her a spatula.  The hair my sis helped me out with again.  I cut the hair out on my own first, then showed it to my sis, only to receive this utter look of disapproval and disgust hahaha, so she ended up taking care of it instead – thank God!!  She also glued together the apron – although I did the little white fishy!  See, I can cut felt too…

With 2 Animal Crossing characters done, of course I couldn’t resist taking a picture of them together!

Kind of an odd couple, but whatever, they’re both cute Animal Crossing characters!!  If only I had the patience to knit a house…that would really complete the picture!