Ghinji and Renjirow

I started working on this post in July of 2011 and forgot about it. My extreme laziness would not allow me to rewrite so I'm posting it as is.

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I made a slightly larger frog Renjirow 2 months ago.  The only thing I did different for this one is to use a 4mm hook instead of 3.75mm hook I usually like to use.  I just wanted to see how loose it would turn out to be.  It didn't get as loose as I thought.  I used the same yarn for all three frogs.

Ghinji was my newest cat...the reason I have to put it in past tense is that Ghinji and Renjirow are on their way to Japan.  They will got their separate ways, however, I have arranged good families to adopt them upon arrival.
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"Sora, you need to practice yoga. Someone this inflexible cannot be called a cat"

Hedgehog Amigurumi

It's been already a year since I started crocheting amigurumi.  I made this hedgehog about 2 months ago and forgot to introduce him. 

I'm not sure if it would look better if I stitch a little brown nose on this guy...

There is no pattern to share at this moment...I didn't write down exactly how many stitches I crocheted for his body.  That's what happens when I crochet in a car.

Handspun Yarn Scarf

The brown-peach 2-ply yarn I spun in December now has a new life.  I knitted a skinny scarf with the yarn and crocheted the ends with brighter peach single-ply yarn.  It's a very simple scarf--- cast on16 and repeat k1 p1 until the scarf is long enough.  I had just enough yarn to make this scarf!

As soon as I finished my scarf, however, daytime temperatures here rose to 65-78F and it's been too warn to wear it.  Of course, I'm not complaining.  Stories about massive snow storms and deep freeze many northeastern and midwestern states are experiencing this winter sound like news from other parts of the world.  I remember how much I hated falling on my butt when I was walking to elementary school in winter.  No more icy roads for me! 

Kitty Cat Shrooms

The lizard cat toy is starting to look tired after multiple violent attacks by two cats.  I crocheted two mushroom shaped catnip toys and gave them to the monsters on Christmas morning.  These shrooms hold a lot more catnip than the lizard toy.  Entire shroom cap and most of the stem is filled with catnip! 

My cats tend to hold cat toys with their front legs and scratch with back legs.  I make their toys a lot bigger than the store-bought cat toys so that they can grab and scratch a little easily.

Bigger toy means more nip inside.  There's very little fiber stuffing in these shrooms.  I hope I didn't OD my cats. 

Crocheted toys are tough enough to take continuous beating.  I usually use leftover yarn from other projects so it doesn't cost much to make catnip toys.  Now I keep a big jar of catnip at home and I'm ready to make one whenever my cats need a new one.

I forgot to take pictures of mushrooms before giving them to my cats. This is how they looked a week later.  I wonder if crocheted toys are strong enough for dogs.  I might make one to try it on my brother-in-law's puppy.

One-Eyed Alien

Deciding what to give my preteen niece for Christmas was easy since she requested a necklace with handmade lampwork beads.  She chose a necklace with green beads as I expected.  It was a bit of challenge picking a right gift for her younger brother.  Then, I remembered what my niece said when she saw Octy.  She thought her brother would like an alien like Octy if it didn't have big lips.  A picture of an alien with a big open mouth popped in my head and I started to crochet according to my sketch---I usually draw a simple design on a scrap paper.

This is the finished one-eyed alien.  He became cuter than I thought he would be.  I almost kept it for myself!

My nephew was surprised that I made it for him.  I'm just soooo happy that he loves the squishy alien!  I think I'm going to crochet another one to add to the alien family.

Christmas Decorations

I'm not Christian but a friend of mine thought that I should have a Christmas tree.  This is the 'tree' she gave me several years ago:

 I love this 'tree' and I display it every year.  The 'tree' is a huge pine cone---the biggest pine cone I've seen.

I added Christmas tree ornaments to the 'tree'. 

Although it is not my holiday, I enjoy spending time with family and friends around Christmas.

Alien Encounter

Whenever we're on the road for more than one hour in daylight and my husband's driving, I crochet in passenger seat.  It usually is a great time to experiment since I don't want to spread any space-taking pattern or book.  One day, I took a purple yarn I got on sale and started crocheting another alien to give Octy a pal.

Octy, this is Nudi.  Nudi, this is Octy.

 

"..."

 "Nudi, your lips are beautiful like mine!"

 

Sora and Gen-nai enjoyed a relaxing massage by Nudi.

Until all the body parts were assembled together, Nudi's body looked like a little granny hat.  I love taking all the parts out and putting them on the table.  It kinda look like a crime scene.  I've been watching awaaay too many crime investigating TV shows!

Gen-nai

Sometimes I just can't get in a mood to put amigurumi parts together for a long time.  I crocheted all the parts to make another amineko about 6 month ago and almost forgot about it.  This is Gen-nai ('Ge' is pronounced as in 'get', and 'na' is as in NASA) with Sora-A-mon (friendliest blue amineko in the house!).

Aaahhhhhh! A foot massage!

My First Blanket

At last I finished the blanket I had been knitting on and off since last March.  I'm so grad that I finished it---it's getting pretty cold and I can definitely use another blanket.  With the morning temperature of 26F, I can only imagine where 'snow birds' in this town come from to avoid extreme winter. 

The blanket is only about 42"x42" but it is stretchy and is big enough to cover my lap on the couch.  It's very warm and comfy!  The yarns I used for this blanket were pretty bulky so I knitted with 10mm needles.  I made 3 strips and stitched them together.  Three layers of single crochet trimming with a 5mm hook and bulky army green yarns completed the blanket.  I'm going to try knitting my next blanket with a circular needle which I have never used before.  Well, there's a first time for everything!

Ami-bot

Sometimes projects don't turn out the way I designed in my head.  I started crocheting another alien but the body simply didn't look right for an alien---it looked more like a robot in cartoons.  It doesn't take a negotiator to change my mind.  Soon, the body belonged to a robot with a big antenna on its head.

He's not wearing a scarf because he's cold.  When I finished assembling, he looked, well, very plain.

Buttons and felt didn't seem right for him.  I almost put some colorful polymer clay beads on his chest, then I changed my mind (again) when I found a yarn I bought long time ago but I didn't know how to use a yarn with exploding colors.  Actually, this yarn has 4 or 5 different textures to it, and the only part I didn't know what to do with was the polar fleece portion of the yarn.  I cut fleece parts and tied them together to knit his scarf with.  All the knots are on the back side of the scarf.

A simple but colorful scarf adds warm appearance to my baby-blue guy.

There's a pit bull (and a cat) who adopts chicks, a robot and sheep can be friends, too.

Click "Read more" for the pattern.

Cuddly Sheep

 
Who doesn't like soft, fluffy, squeezable crocheted animals?  A bulky gray-black yarn I found at craft store gave me an idea to make a sheep with it.  I made sheep's face as goofy as possible. 

The length of this sheep is about a foot from nose to tail.  I might crochet smaller one and large one to find out what size sheep looks the best.

Utamaro

My mother-in-law fell in love with my first Amineko Masamune and asked me to make another one for her.  I made body parts 3 month ago but I couldn't be in right mood for assembling parts.  As soon as I put the parts together Sora wanted their picture taken.

Utamaro, or Uta for short, is the same color as Masamune and that's the color she requested.  Uta (pronounced "ootah") was adopted by my mother-in-law on the same day.

Resident Alien

My husband was looking for a large flashlight and it was hiding in plain sight...under a green alien.

After finding what he was looking for, he said "It looks like you're anal probing an alien."
That's not how it looks like.

His name is Octy.  Birthplanet unknown.  He's a lot cuter than that fat gray psychotic alien in American Dad.

His big lips reminds me of batfish near Galapagos Islands that attacked my husband during one of the best night dives ever.

Eyeball Earrings

I crocheted another pair of eyeballs (without the chain) and turned them into perfect Halloween earrings.

Plastic pumpkin makeover!

Dead Bunny Catnip Toy

I always buy or make 2 new cat toys so that my cats don't get jealous.   After completing a lizard toy, I decided to make a bunny toy.

Oh no!  My cactus killed a bunny!

This bunny is filled with organic catnip as well.

Dead Bunny Catnip Toy

Click "Read more" for a pattern.