Amigurumi Swappiness

What a wonderful morning at Caribou Coffee house a few weeks ago, no kids, lots of knitters, and all these cute little critters to share with each other.  I think everyone made out!  Now, if I could only find that darn little camera I had with me I could share the photo's with everyone.  But I do have the photo's of what I gave to Devona, and most likely her girls as well.

The basic larger owl design was from 2 different free patterns: 
The body design was from http://mactata.blogspot.com/2009/05/free-crochet-pattern-amigurumi.html by Expattern and
http://littlegreen.typepad.com/romansock/2007/12/owls-and-envy.html by
Roman Sock provided the head pattern.  This was also the pattern for the owlets.  I mean who can resist something so cute and nly takes an hour to make?

I have an aversion to truly learning how to read corchet patterns, hence I look at the photo's, try to read the pattern, get frustrated and then just 'wing-it' so the little guys look like the photo.  Sometimes it works great and sometimes not so much  This time it worked out for the best!

And since I find googgley or doll eyes just a little creepy I crochet those as well.  If you every decide to do this,  first smack yourself on the head, then repeat after me "sew on the pupils before sewing the eyeball on", believe me you will need this mantra to save your fingers and sanity.

But I must say, it was all worth the effort cause they are just adorable!

There is a side story with these creations.  When I made their bodies, without eyes/beaks/wings/feet I found I had an amigurumi thief in the house.  This small 2yr old came over to the pile of bodies, smiled, then quickly nabbed the little dudes and said "I have your babies" giggled and ran away. 

Do NOT be decieved by this cute little face...he is wanted for abduction of defensless Amigurumi

Not that he went far, instead he placed them on his "treasure chest" (aka toy chest) that sites under the front window, pulled the curtains around the chest and announced they were now in his tent. 

With no 'babies' to work on I proceeded to work on the nest.  This was a basket I made with some handspun Jacob's wool that never really shrank to be a basket.  Instead it shrank and became this floppy waste of time, water, and handspun yarn.  So I cut it up, braided strands together, and attached a roundish bottom.  Whalla, the babies now have a home.  Which was then stolen and put in the tent. Sigh, a mommy sometimes just can't win.

I did bribe my abductor with promises to make him a ninja, which is now lost in his room and should the ninja come up for air I promise to fix your neck, take a photo and add you to this blog!  Just in case the "monster's" you help to kill finally take you out, or my son throttles you to death with that death grip he has when he holds you about the neck.

Busted

I was doing soo well last night.  I came home from work knowing I would have to keep myself up as late as I could because I am covering a 3rd shift (10pm - 8am) manager for the next 4 days.  So I made a list of what needed to be done and tried to be realistic on what could be accomplished.  I completed and/or made great strides in the list, GO ME!

And then it happened.  I found the warp I wanted to use for the baby's blanket I plan on weaving...dang it.  I was hoping it was buried deep in a pile of craftiness in that glorified hallway.  But nooooo, I apparently put it in a nice little baggy in the middle of a pile.  Crap.  So the last thing I did at 3:30am was to put it in the basket with the weft by the loom. 

The only reason I am awake now is this warp...I mean, I did wake up to my 2yr old at 7:30am coming to tell me he was awake.  All mothers know that this is a very important fact and must be shared with the mommy, daddy (seperately of course), the dog, and if they haven't run out of the room, the cats as well.  If the fishies were lower to the ground I think he would be telling them to.  So I laid there for a bit after "Im awake" was announced, allowed the lovely daddy here take care of the morning routine with the kid and then the 2nd one (still inside me) started to demand food or there would be no end to the acid reflux.  I believe this kid was meant to be a wrestler, he does seem to like to tangle with my tummy.  Its either born to be a wrestler or he really likes the chalk taste from tums.

So, instead of napping, instead of accomplishing something more on my list I am getting warp ready for the loom.  Maybe the craft goddess has hidden my hooky thing-a-ma-bob that takes the warp thru the heddles and beater...maybe that is where I am going to get caught at..hehe

Just one more hour of this and I promise, I promise mommy is going back to bed until the wee wrestler (aka parasite) holds my tummy as a hostage once again.

It's been a month

AACKK...I was reminded last night at SnB that I have not posted in a month..shame on me.  Life has been busy: potty training a 2yr old, trying to organize and move things around for the baby to come, and try to play with my fiber...nesting?  I might be nesting...

So with all that in mind, I brought in the help (grandparents can be bribed with their only grandson) to tear out the bar in the basement.  The bar was not being used as a bar, it had no alcohol in it, this does not mean it was a 'dry' bar but rather a glorified closet space with no doors.  In such a tiny house why do we have such an unused space?  Especially with a 2nd kid coming? And the fact that our 3rd 'bedroom' is really just a glorified hallway where we dump stuff and I try to sew/play with fiber?  I am not about to put the 2yr old there, nor the baby.  Nightmares of my son escaping into the night to become feral (would not take but a night to accomplish), or someone coming in and taking my baby is not how I want to spend my life at this house.  Hence, the destruction of the bar.

The discussion.  Grandpa Ken and the kid are 'discussing' what comes next.  I didn't make it down there before deconstruction started, but imagine a large bar top that extended from the right of the photo to the left. It came out rather easily (especially since I was just watching and holding bits, gotta love the pregnancy excuse!).

Isn't it cute to watch the indocternation of small boys into manly activities?  Like trying to hammer nails down so we won't get stabbed by them.  I wanna know where the small 2yr old went that liked to help mommy clean stuff up? Oh, right...he never really existed but in my daydreams..

The empty space.  Whoohoo!  I had one rug and it is obviously not large enough for the space.  Good in that the area is larger than I thought.  Bad in that now I have to get more rugs.  The best news is that this only took 1 day, yes 1 day!  Thank you grandparent labor!  I am now doing the happy dance; well, the pregnant happy dance, it's a little slower.

YES, YES, YES!  Everything fits.  The loom, the sewing machine, a small bookshelf (may have to upgrade that, i own waaayy to many books to fit that...maybe the magazines could go there?).  Just need some floor lamps to increase the light and to bring up the small TV from the akron house so I can listen to movies while I play...

I will post updates as I get this space up and running.  But first, I must organize the mess this has created in the tiny 2nd - defunked kitchen (it has no stove but has an upright freezer, sink and cabinets), the larger area in the basement, the hobby room/glorified hallway, and of course the 3 season room.  Sigh, I wish I had another day of vacation.

Please NOTE:  Just because I have a studio space now does not mean I will not bring anything up to the living room to work on or play.  I mean the kids have their toys up there, the hubby has a laptop (ok, ok, so i use it more than he probably does but it's still his), and thusly I should be included in the living room play time.  And it has natural sunlight, a rare comodity in this elf-tiny house.