A change is as good as a holiday…

Those of you who still read this blog (am I deluding myself in thinking that anyone does?) would have noticed the distinct lack of updates these days. I’m really sorry about that. It’s not that I haven’t thought about updating it – I have. And it’s not that I haven’t produced any new crafted items to show off – I have. The main problem is, and I’ll be honest here, is that I don’t really like this blog any more. It started as a purely crochet blog, but as I’ve moved onto other crafts (still crocheting, mind you) it’s started to be a bit all-over-the-place, and I don’t like that. It’s not just that, though. I need a change. A change of name (I already have a new one in mind, but it’s a secret for now), a change of domain, maybe even a change of blogging platform. And definitely a change of banner. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, but ultimately I’ve decided to wait until I get to the USA to implement my changes. I want to put a lot of time and effort into my new blog, and that’s something I wouldn’t be able to do now.

I want to learn some web design skills, so I’m not at the mercy of a blogging theme I don’t understand and can’t change, and I also want to improve my photography skills. What’s the point of making pretty things and taking bad photographs of them?

So please, watch this space: Once I get to the USA and get settled, I’ll redirect this blog to my brand-spanking new one! Until then, keep calm and craft on.

PS: For anyone who is concerned, I will be moving my patterns to my new blog and they will still be available there, just in a better, easier-to-find format.

Current Projects

What I’m currently working on:

• Midsummer Night’s Shawl, in Jaggerspun Zephyr Wool/Silk blend, Admiral colour. Coming along nicely, but slowly.
• Waikiki Scarf, in Debbie Stoller Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe, Mermaid colour. Not too sure about this one, though, it might get frogged in the near future.

What I’m hoping to start on soon:

• Jeans-to-skirt refashion. They’re black jeans, and I’m thinking tulle, velvet and lace ruffles, somehow.
• Men’s shirt-to-fitted women’s shirt refashion. Picked up a great blue and black checked shirt at Goodwill for $6.50!
• Shirred dress-to-shirred waist skirt refashion. Bought a dress in Japan, but it’s a bit tent-like. It will look much better as a skirt!
• American McGee Alice cosplay! Very excited about this, was hoping to start cutting dress pattern pieces today, but stupid me bought the wrong size, so it will have to wait for a little bit.
• Portal Companion Cube crochet for my brother’s birthday. Just need the yarn.
• Luke’s super secret birthday present! Need materials.

I have all the time in the world at the moment to work on these, but sadly, not the cash. You know you’re poor when you can’t even make your own clothes, haha!

Happy New Year!

Bit late to the party, aren’t I? I meant to update this blog a lot earlier, but life got in the way, as it often does. Still, never mind, I’m back now, with a nice, sleek new blog design to celebrate 2011!

I’m very proud of all I achieved in craft-land last year – with one exception, I gave every single person I knew who had a birthday a handmade gift! The exception was my father, for no good reason, really – he’s very hard to buy for, let alone craft for, and in the end I chose a gift for him that, while not handmade, I knew he’d love.

I tried my hand at quite a few different crafts – crochet, knitting, cross-stitch, papercraft and sewing made the list, and I learned a lot from my accomplishments (and my mistakes!). I accumulated far too much yarn and fabric (oops!) and added an impossible number of projects to my to-do list (some of which have spilled over into this year…oops again!).

Now, what would a new year be without some resolutions? Chances are I won’t stick to any of them, but hey, a girl’s got to try, right? I hereby resolve to:

• Update this blog regularly. I fall into the trap of not posting unless I have a project to display, but after a year of avidly reading many fabulous craft blogs, I’ve realised there’s so much more I can blog about!
• Not overload myself with projects. I’m a generous soul, and I tend to promise to make things for people without considering the time I have available to me. This is perhaps my biggest failing as a crafter; it makes me look unreliable when I can’t produce crafted items on time, and inept when they aren’t done to perfection because I rushed.
• Sort out my epic yarn and fabric stashes and organise my sewing area. I’d post photos of its current state, but it’s far too embarrassing.
• Reuse and recycle as many resources as I can. I have so many ideas for re-purposing clothes and shoes and have seen so many inspiring tutorials online, and I can’t wait to start making myself a whole new wardrobe for a fraction of the cost of buying new things!

Phew! I think that’s enough for now, don’t you? There are big things in store for me this year, including a much-saved-for two month holiday to Japan (only two and a bit months until we’re heading to the land of the rising sun, with all its adorable charm and breathtaking scenery), and an overseas move! Yes, that’s right, unless something goes horribly wrong, my husband and I will be leaving Australia for sunny California, where we’ll live for two years. It’s both exciting and terrifying, but one thing’s for sure – they have a hell of a lot more craft stores over there than they do here! :P

Octopus Mobile

A little while ago, Crafty-Kat commented on my blog and admired my little octopus, and we worked out a swap – I’d make her an octopus in exchange for some stitch markers (which I felt was an unfair exchange on my part, the stitch markers were far more awesome than my octopus!). Her initial plan was to do a sea creature mobile for her niece (I think), but after receiving my octopus, she asked for some more to make an octopus mobile! I happily obliged, and sent her an array of marine-coloured octopuses, and she just posted her completed mobile on Craftster! Go and check it out, it looks amazing!

Yarn addiction

I have a confession to make. I’m addicted…to beautiful yarn. Soft yarn. Vibrant yarn. Unusual yarn. I love it all.

I didn’t know, when I first started crocheting, that there was a world of yarn outside Lincraft and Spotlight. But as I got increasingly dissatisfied with the range of yarn from those two stores, I started to look further afield. And on my travels, I have found some amazing, unique yarns that I would love to have in my possession someday.  Early on in my yarn quest, I came across Mademoiselle Chaos’ blog, where she spins yarn out of unlikely objects like umbrellas and newspapers. I found a listing for some yarn on Etsy that has been spun out of cassette tapes. I’ve found yarn made out of milk, cotton, bamboo, camel, alpaca and soy. I’m currently wrangling a project out of yarn that has been spun from old saris.

Sadly, I have also discovered that unusual yarn doesn’t come cheap. The most amazing skein of yarn I have come across costs a whopping 52USD, and that’s without postage. Worth it? You tell me. I can just imagine the projects I could make from that yarn, but I don’t think I could ever justify spending that much on one tiny skein of yarn. For now, I’ll just have to be content scouring Ebay and Etsy for deals on luxurious yarn, so I can dip my toes in the world of yarn art and imagine what it would be like if I was rich.

Sea Otter and Fish

I saw this pattern for a sea otter on Ravelry recently, and I just HAD to make it. He’s so adorable! I honestly think he is the cutest thing I have ever crocheted :) I used some Moda Vera Jazz yarn I had bought on a whim a while ago from Spotlight, and although it was a royal pain to work with, I think it turned out perfectly! What do you think?

Although the pattern called for him to be holding a starfish, I felt that a fish would be more fitting. I searched Ravelry  and the Crochet Pattern Directory looking for a tiny fish pattern to crochet – but I couldn’t find any that matched what I wanted. So, I made my own!

Ingredients:

• A little bit of blue yarn, either worsted weight or dk. I used Spotlight’s Premium Marvel Plain, 8ply.
• A little bit of black yarn, for the eye.
• A 4mm crochet hook
• A needle

Method:

Sc 4 into a magic ring. Alternatively, you could ch 2 and sc 4 into the 2nd chain from the hook. I like the magic ring because it looks neater and leaves less of a gaping hole at the end.

Round 1: *2inc, sc* twice (6)

Round 2: *2inc, sc 2* twice (8)

Round 3: *2inc, sc 3* twice (10)

Round 4: *2inc, sc 4* twice (12)

Round 5: *2inc, sc 5* twice (14)

Round 6: *2inc, sc 6* twice (16)

Rounds 7 – 11: Sc around (16)  Stuff the fish.

Round 12: *dec, sc 6* twice (14)

Round 13: *dec, sc 5* twice (12)

Round 14: Dec around, finish stuffing and fasten off. (6) This is the body of your fish.

For the tail:

Sc 10 in a magic ring.

Round 1: 2inc around (20)

Round 2: Sc around, fasten off. (20)

Fold the tail in half so you have a semi circle, and sew onto the end of the fish. Sew a black cross onto the fish’s head with your black yarn and needle. Ta-ha! Insta-fish! Would make a great cat toy if you popped some crinkly material or cat nip inside! If you have any questions or problems with the pattern, email me at kirsty [at] whimsicalkitty [dot] com and I will get back to you as soon as I can!

Hello, and welcome to my blog!

This is my little place on the internet to recount my adventures in craft! Having had a Livejournal for quite some time (namely, since 2000 – my, how the years fly!) I am no stranger to writing for an audience, but this is the first time I will be writing for complete strangers, and subjecting my work for your scrutiny.

At the moment I am mainly dabbling in amigurumi (lit. knitted stuffed toy) and sewing, but I’ve also done cross-stitch for years. Incidentally, my amigurumi are crocheted, not knitted, as I am ashamed to say that knitting is the one craft I fail at. Hard. My poor mother cringes to see me picking up knitting needles, and despite her many, many attempts to teach me, I’m still incapable of producing even a mere scarf. In fact, the last scarf I tried to knit started off with 18 stitches, and had grown to 40 by the time I was a quarter of the way through. Yeah, I don’t know either. So it is very unlikely you will ever see anything knitted by me on this blog or in my Etsy store.

Speaking of my Etsy store, from time to time I will be selling my handmade goodies there. No surprises, that’s what an Etsy store is for. If you happen to see something here on my blog that is not on my Etsy store, but you think is pretty cool and you’d like one for yourself, let me know. I’m more than happy to take special requests!

Now, I’m still a bit of a noob when it comes to crochet and sewing – I’m learning a lot with every project I make, and as such I have discovered a lot of awesome (and some not so helpful) tutorials and the like on the web that have helped me on my way. I plan to have some of my own tutorials up and running before too long, and hopefully this will help and inspire any budding crafty-types who happen along this blog.