Sakamoto-san!

I've been watching a new (to me) anime lately called Nichijou (日常)...I doubt very much that I'm its targeted audience, but it's cute.

The cat, Sakamoto, begins talking after Hakase ties a red scarf around his neck...then we find out he's kinda condescending, yet protective of the 2 girls, and tries to control the goings-on at the Shinomome house.

He would be supercute to do in amigurumi...and I thought it would give me a great excuse to try the Gumball the Kitten pattern I had tucked away on my hard drive a while ago.

I followed the directions for the head and ears as written, but just couldn't get the look I wanted with the body, so I winged a new one:

I magic ringed (MR) 5 sc, then increased every round by 5 sts, until I got to 25 or 30 (yeah, I probably shoulda wrote it down!) stitches, and then just crocheted plain until I thought it was long enough.  If I had to guess, that would be about 10 or 12 rounds.  Finish off, leaving a long enough tail for sewing to the head.

I then stuffed the body with some beans, so I could shape the pose better, and to provide better weight balance.  Then I sewed the body to the head.

Then I improvised a tail...LOL...I have the worst time crocheting small diameter tubes so where ever I could make a stitch, I did.   I started with 4 sts in a magic ring (not a big deal, that), and then decreased to 3 sts after 1 rnd.  I think I short-changed his tail a little--it should be a scooch longer.  You can choose to leave the tip end of the tail loose, or tack it to the body after the scarf is placed.

I then made two front legs by 5 sc in MR, making them long enough to fit under his body.  Don't sew the ends of the paws themselves until the scarf is placed.  Then you can tack the paws to the head.

The scarf is crocheted flat from each end to the middle in rows...pretty much like a red bow tie.  Start with ch2, skip chain closest to hook, and inc by 1 st on each end of row until right around 15 sts (yeah, didn't write this part down, either), then decrease at the same rate until 5 sts and crochet until half the length to go around the neck plus enough for tying a simple knot.  Do the second half like the first and just crochet the 2 halves together (the join is hidden under the paws).  Tie in place around Sakamoto's neck.  Then tack paws to head.

Eyes are small ovals of white felt, edges left free (of course, you can tack the edges in place with white thread), and tacked in place with black embroidery thread.  It gave him this really surprised expression as that's the ongoing joke--what is Hakase going to do to him THIS time?


*Edited as I remembered just a tiny bit more what I did to make this little guy.  After reading the first go around, I was, like, "Wha????".  So hopefully, this will make a lot more sense. :)

I'm still

Working through my crochet compulsion.  I really, really dig doing amigurumi.  I'd never cared a pin for crocheting before I first saw their supreme cuteness.  Then I knew I couldn't put off learning anymore.

My newest friend...I like making characters from animes nad games

You see, I thought I was pretty much complete being just a knitter and (sometimes) spinner.  But  I kept seeing these cute little creatures popping up on Ravelry when I'd do various searches for small things that could use up yarn-y odds and ends.

I like making up my own things, too!

Mmmm...berry goodness

Eventually, I gave in and said to my Mom, "Where's your crochet books?".  Boy, was she surprised! LOL  Usually she would get to witness me launching the hook across the room in frustration all the other times I'd tried to learn.  So I had given up, and just told people, "I don't crochet!"  But I had to try just one more time...the urge for cuteness was inescapable.  Then finally, finally! The light went on and I could do it!

Why yes, that is a crappy picture.  

So I made a scarf, just to get the hang of ch, sc, dc, sl st and the like.  And yet the cuteness called.  So then I answered.  I feel pretty confident in my hooking skills crochet skills, now.  Yay, for cuteness.  Yay, for カわいい。

Commissioned monkey...he turned out so cute, I almost kept him.  And I don't even like monkeys! LOL

Sometimes people ask me to make them an ami, which really makes me feel good. And now I am truly hooked (pun intended! LOL)...so now I'm feeding my obsession again.  Inspiration is everywhere, but lately I'm in the mood to do ami's from anime or video games...I recently made a Bob-omb (see last post) and I see that Wolfdreamer has a whole suite of Mario characters to crochet!  Fantastic!  Now, where did I put that green yarn?

So...

It's been a while, ですね？

The Ponderer has been away on vacation in Vermont, and I'm here, at home with the chickens and elderly mother.  The Eldress, herself, ever so slowly declines in her old age.  I'm grateful for everyday that she's here, and all that she is able to do for herself.

So that means that I don't get out as much to blog as I'd like.

I have been busy with a few things, though:

Meet Bob-omb...isn't he cute?

I used Wolfdreamer's pattern, and really enjoyed doing it.  This pattern was well written, easy and straight forward.  I stayed with the pattern for the most part, but did change the wind up key...

I inserted the hook into the place in the back of the body where I wanted the key to go, and pulled up a loop, leaving a generous tail.  Holding both the working and tail yarns, I then chained 10, and put the hook pack into the body just below the first insertion (making a loop from the chained sts), then chained 10 more chains.

Then, with only one strand, I sc around the chained loop 20 times, then sc 20 times around the second loop.  I secured the second chain with a slip stitch, and cut the yarn leaving a long tail.  I then wound the tail round the base of the loops that make the key, rather like winding the shank when sewing on a button.  I then tied it off, and buried the rest of the tail.

I also took her advice and filled Bob-omb with too old to eat dried beans put in a cut off sock (mismated, of course).  That way no stray beans would be tempted to try to migrate out.

I used mostly mystery yarns from the Eldress' stash, but I do know the grey yarn is Caron Simply Soft.  Luckily, she had a stash of felts to play with, too.  I chose to tack the eyes in place with a little bit of glue stick, and then sewed around the edges.  This wasn't as brilliant of an idea as I thought--it's hard to sew through gummy felt! LOL  Live and learn...

He's gone to live with a charming young man, who really enjoyed getting him.  I may have to make one for me, now! LOL

Most times

I'm glad we take our camera with us when we make short trips...even just going across town.  

We spied a sundog going home from Senior's  Tuesday evening...

Most of the colors in the refraction are lost in this view...

This camera sometimes struggles to take pictures like this...I can't really complain as we don't have one of those super fancy cameras (it's a Nikon Coolpix S3000).  For most stuff it does really well, but anywho...

More close-upish...I just couldn't time the brightest refraction.

The sundog  remained in the sky for quite a while, and I'm glad we looked up and took the time to notice it. :)

Rune Flags

I did actually iron them, but boy did they wrinkle back up.

The Ponderer had a great idea to mark the corners for ritual--Flags!  He volunteered to lead a ritual at his camp, and just wanted something special to mark the occasion.  It's the first time he's leading a ritual for someone besides family.

Ansuz, symbolizing air and the East.

He had ideas as to how they should look...Elder Futhark runes in more traditional colors associated with the Four Directions.  As purple is his favorite color right now, it would do for Center.

Kenaz, symbolizing fire and the South.

I had ideas as to what might be cute and easy to execute...fabric appliques affixed with double sided fusible web and edged with monofilament thread.  Sewn grommets for sturdiness, and mitered hems.

Laguz, symbolizing water and the West.

Luckily, most of them overlapped. LOL  Then we shopped for fabric.  Let me tell you, this is the second time he actually VOLUNTEERED for fabric shopping.  The first being the cushion covers and curtains for the camper.  I think he did a great job picking out the fabrics!  All are 100 % cotton. Lightweight twill for the flag backgrounds, and pretty batiks and tone on tones for the runes.

Isa, symbolizing earth and the North.

So we decided on a size for the flags, 24 inches x 24 inches. Then we drew out the Rune templates.  And then transferred them to the fusible web.

Some of these sewed a little easier than others.  You can tell I did the hems by eye.  

Then I worked out how I was going to do the grommets.  First I zig-zagged around the line for the hole, then I cut out the hole.  That looked kind of messy.  So I tried cutting out the hole first, and then zig-zaging around the hole, just shy of one side of it, so the threads would wrap nicely over the raw fabric edge.

For the grommets, I zig-zagged around the cut holes a few times.

That turned out pretty cool, eh?  Gladly, the Ponderer really likes them and is excited to take them with him as am I.  Having to stay home and mind chickens and (whats' left of) the garden, and really, because we could afford to only send one of us, I'll miss getting to see Vermont this year.

Just clucky!

So I haven't posted about the girls in a while...

They're doing okay...really hot!  The heat and drought has taken a toll on everything, I'm afraid.  They've been molting for a while now, and my fingers are crossed that they'll begin laying soon.

The girls in their daytime coop...

Rose. 

Iris, who STILL does not approve.  <sigh>

She'd rather be hunting for tasty bugs

She's still a wee bit smaller than the others

Don't be fooled by this sweet face...she IS the boss...

She is missing the tasty J beetles now...

Is she not the prettiest bearded lady, ever?

Stamina...where did you go?

I can't imagine that a measly flu-like bug would leave me sooo worn out, but it has.

So instead of knitting and crocheting, I find myself being really intrigued by the tiny house movement...

Wow.  I thought I was the only freak that wasn't interested in owning a Mcmansion.  Having lived in some smaller spaces, I find it really isn't a hardship at all.  So much less to clean, and one really has to frequently assess how much (or little) clutter they can stand.

Isn't it lovely?

I've kind of taken a liking to this house plan here.  The Loring house is a similar façade, but I really prefer the staircase option provided by B-53.  A really nice, traditional look, no?

Would definitely like to add this to the book collection!

We did check out this great book from the library, which was reviewed here.  Too bad the book isn't in front of me now as I saw quite a few cute, adaptable plans.

We do have a super cute travel trailer that we've kinda been fixing up.  Sadly, it's begun to leak somewhere around this large window.  The previous owner confessed that it did leak around the sink, but that turned out to be a cracked "T" joint.  The Ponderer worked on the roof, but I swear the leak is somewhere in the wall or around the window itself.

Views of the dining/kitchen area.  You can see the place where the heater goes.

We've camped (dry) in it before and really, really like it.  We've yet to test the hot water heater, but everything else works pretty well, after replacing the wall heater.  We've not done a whole lot to it, save new coats of paint, and a really good cleaning.

The Ponderer reclining on the couch/bed area.

I did sew new curtains and cushion covers.  Then we tie-dyed them.  THAT was fun.  The mattress cushion was really rather interesting and yet infuriating to sew up.  I ended up just making a copy of the original cover, so I could make better usage of the yardage.   And my sanity.

The camper would definitely prove to be a challenge to live in full time.  I do love my crafty stuff, and would never be able to store all my supplies in a space that small.  I really love this space, but I also like a space that is better rooted to the ground.  Like on a foundation.  Tornadoes, doncha know.

So, when I can convince my stamina that it's in its best interest to hang out with me for a while, I'll have to see what I can further pare down.  And dream of teeny tiny houses.