Amigurumi Ducks - Free crochet pattern

This class of duckies all have embroidered eyes to make them safe for youngsters. The pattern below uses black craft eyes if you prefer.

I've had a few requests for a pattern for these amigurumi ducks I made. Actually, it's a modified version of another free pattern from here:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=154060.msg1531839#msg1531839.

I modified the pattern by shortening the neck and making a bigger beak. Here's the pattern if you'd like to give my version a try. Enjoy!

Amigurumi Duck
(My version) 6/20/09

Materials used:
Lily Sugar and Cream Cotton Yarn
G crochet hook
2 safety eyes
polyfill for stuffing

6 sc in a magic ring
2 sc in each sc around (12 sc)
1 sc, sc inc in next sc repeat around (18 sc)
sc around (18 sc) for 4 rows
sc inc in the first 9 sc, sc in last 9 sc (27 sc)
sc in first 6 sc, sc inc in next 6 sc, sc in last 15 sc (33 sc)
sc around (33 sc) for 3 rows
sc in first 9 sc, do 3 sc dec, sc in last 18 sc (30 sc)
sc in four sc, sc dec repeat around (25 sc)
sc in 3 sc, sc dec repeat around (20 sc)
sc in one sc, sc dec repeat around, end with 2 sc (14 sc)
Position eyes and attach
Stuff
dec around to close leave long tail.
I used tail to close and then to shape bottom so duck would stand even. Pull the yarn up through the back of the duck and back down to pull in bottom. Repeat on other side of duck.

Beak

6 sc in a magic ring
1 sc, sc inc in next sc repeat around (9 sc)
sc around (9 sc)
slip stitch into next sc and leave long tail for sewing
smash down and sew to body in a curved upside down “u” shape between rows 5 and 6.

Tabi Sock Bunnies

I was inspired by the shape of those Japanese bunnies, you know the ones shaped like a round ball with some ears on it? I decided to try to make some out of my supply of Japanese tabi socks. It's a little tricky figuring out how to pull back the ears (divided toe part of the sock) and I learned how to embroider some decent looking faces on them. It seems like there is a lesson in every new project!

Here's a side view of one of the bunnies:




And here's a back view of one. I really like this tabi sock with the bunny design!

2010 Year in Review

Gertie's taking a siesta on our deck

I swear time goes by faster as you get older. The new year comes in a blink of the eye and you wonder if it's enough time to do anything. What did happen anyway?

GERTIE

Well, I never thought that Gertie, our outdoor stray cat would top the list, but she gets top billing for events of 2010. Last summer, we noticed this very small cat drinking water from the gutter and that may have been the biggest event of the year. From there we befriended her, trapped and neutered her, and released and lost her for a few weeks. It was JOYFUL when she returned to us. We chased bully tom cats from her many times a night and built a small house and a large condo for her outside. We bought her a heating pad to keep her warm at night and now my husband can even gently scratch her head when she comes for dinner.

CRAFTING

This year I finally got into my first craft fair and had a favorable response. I love it when I hear people come by, pick up my creations and say "OH HOW CUTE!!!!!". Also, I love when kids come by, eyes wide and then run off to retrieve mom or dad. Many people ask me what my amigurumi are for, what is their purpose? Is it a pincushion? My answer is, I make them to make you smile and they agree that they do make them smile. This makes me happy. I did a few craft fairs this year and it's been a learning experience for sure. I'm on the board of our Craftmen's Guild this year and have met some nice people.

GARDENING

I stopped making veggie deliveries this year to concentrate on my crafting hobby. I'm still gardening for myself and have a lot of healthy greens growing right now. Instead of traditional lettuces, I've been eating mizuna, shingiku, arugula and Italian dandilion in my salads and they are delicious. I'm also growing sweet pea flowers which I hope to sell at my spring craft fairs this year. The past few months we've had a lot of rain, and usually it rains one day and then it's sunny the rest of the week. The past month it's been raining constantly. I think it's a record amount of rain for our area so I never have to go to water the garden and the rain is so healthy for it.

TENNIS

What a turn around. Last year was my worse year, but 2010 was pretty darn good. I really am not putting much effort into tennis, but am lucky or just getting good partners because it was a very good year and my USTA senior team even went to Nationals in Palm Dessert. It was an awesome experience to meet such nice people from all over. The weather happened to be gorgeous (one of the weekends with no rain). I really should get into better shape though, and in fact I'm working on it for this year. Really!

KINDLE

Seriously, this Kindle has changed my life. It's one of the best things I've ever gotten for myself and something I look forward to using everyday. After getting it I realized I didn't need all these books cluttering my house so I've been donating them all to the library. I also love that I can lie in bed and surf the internet on whatever topic I was curious about that day. And who cares if you have to wait somewhere as long as I have my Kindle with me, I am happy.

HEALTH AND ENERGY

In the second half of the year, my energy level begin to fall. I was really eating very poorly and even now my brain is somewhat in a fog. So I've made a lifestyle change in my diet. Basically I eat whatever I want in moderation, but mostly I'm eating whole foods and less processed carbs. I'm also trying to get some cardio in everyday, either jogging or Wii Zumba and also some strength training. I can't say I'm losing much weight, but I hope I will gain more muscle, endurance and energy. Life is all about energy, right?

Here comes the bride and groom

My cousin asked me to make some wedding dolls as a gift for a friend who has getting married. Immediately I thought about using lace for the wedding gown. I was pretty excited to get started, and luckily, everything fell into place in this project.

Everytime I attempt something new, I never really know how it's going to come out. Sometimes it surprises me what can happen when you put yarn and embellishments together. This was one of those times and I got to try something new with lace and paper flowers.

And I just had to take this picture of the groom after the wedding... Too much champagne?

If you love your dogs...

My friend wanted a Christmas stocking made for her sister. I suggested we put on them little puppy heads that looked like her 3 dogs, Yuki, Hana and Chibi. They are yorkie, maltese and morkie dogs.

I've never made a Christmas stocking, so now was the time to learn. I used a Lion Brand pattern that I modified to size and improvised the doggy heads. The stocking needed some color so I embellished it with holly leaves and used felt balls for the holly. (Finally, I found a use for the felt balls I purchased).

I'm giving it to her tomorrow, so hope she likes it...

A reason for everything...

A few days ago, I received a request from a customer to make a cat for her daughter. She wanted it to look like their orange cat "Sam". We discussed it a bit and she sent me photos of Sam, who I fell in love with at first sight. She needed a bigger size than I was used to making so I played with my yarn and made a few prototypes until I thought it was just right. I was excited about my "ball of fury Sam" and posted it on Etsy for her to purchase. Unfortunately, my customer decided to give the assignment to someone else who could make a bigger, more life like cat for less money. I was dissappointed to say the least, but I wished her well and took Sam with me to my mom's bowling league where someone purchased her on the spot!

Every time I work on a special request, it's challenging and time consuming but I usually learn something from the process of being pushed beyond my boundaries. I have been thinking about writing up a new pattern, and I think Sam will be perfect for the project. So now I'm off to making more of Sam's litter mates for the pattern photos. Oh, I think I'll make a black cat, and a grey cat and a calico and.... Oh how fun!

Always look for the silver lining in every situation! :D

Keep those hands clean!

These little purses hold travel size bottles of hand sanitizer. They look simple enough, but it took me many prototypes to come up with this idea. First of all, a friend put a bug in my ear that it would be nice to have a holder for her Purell because she keeps losing it in the bottom of her purse. So I decided to take on the challenge. I had a hard time finding little bottles of Purell around here so I had to buy a case of them online. Next, I played around with different shapes for the holder and decided to make it so that the bottle could be used without removing it from it's holder. I liked the look of these "mini purses" and embellished them with sequin and ribbon flowers. What do you think? Are they cute?

Eddie and Gertie

A few months ago, my husband noticed a stray cat drinking water out of the gutter. Well, that was totally unacceptable, so we started to feed her. She was small, so small, we thought she was a kitten. We feared she was being pursued by neighboring tomcats so we trapped her and had her spayed. We found out she was not a kitten, but a full grown cat and we named her "Gertie". We took care of her in our spare bathroom for a few days, and then released her back outside hoping she would stay with us as an outdoor cat. We were so sad when she did not come back the next day, or the next and as the days went by, I walked the neighborhood looking for her. Then almost a month later, she shows up at our front door! How can a stray cat make you so worried and happy?

Now Gertie is staying with us and she is loving her 3 meals a day of Fancy Feast. We have 2 cats indoors and our male, "Eddie" has taken a liking to Gertie from the beginning. He hates the territorial tom cats that come by and will alert us when he sees them. Eddie takes his job seriously, watching over Gertie's safety day and night.

They have recently created a bond together pawing at each other through the glass patio window. Sometimes I see them lying across from each other looking at each other through the window.

Gertie seems too feral to come indoors and we worry that our other cat will not be happy sharing her attention, so we try to make Gertie as comfortable as possible outdoors. We are enjoying her company so much!

Scappy Cats

For some reason, I'm in the mood to make cats. But of course, I just can't make the same cats...I need to do something different. It all started when I looked into my box of yarn scraps, which you can imagine, I have a good collection. I was inspired by a chunky brown yarn speckled with orange and burgandy. From there, I decided to make some cats inspired by a yarn in my scrap box. Here they are: "Spicy", a burgandy and brown cat; "Rikki", a green and magenta cat, and "Punkie" a turquois blue jewel colored cat.

The Donut Kokeshi Club

Well you see, there's this girl named Mie, and one day while shopping in Shibuya, she found this cool donut thing and thought she'd wear it in her hair. The next day at school, her friends saw it and thought it was "kakoii" (cool) and so they all started to wear them. This was the start of the "Donut Kokeshi Club". And then, there is this girl named Nami who decided to wear a cupcake dress. These crazy girls!

"Ni Hao!" Kai Lan...With Headphones?

This was another special request from one of my best customers. She asked me to make a Ni Hao Kai Lan doll with some removeable headphones. I thought she was a bit nuts (in a cute way), but this is the result. I'm quite proud because she is completely improvised. HOWEVER, I should have written down how I made her because after some people saw her, I ended up with orders for 3 more! Sheesh. She is about 8 inches tall and wide.

Later, I was making more kokeshi dolls and decided to give them the Kai Lan hair style:

My First Craft Show!

Finally, I got my act together and prepared for my first craft show at the Torrance Craftsmen's Guild Spring Faire. What a lot of preparation for a one day show. It took a lot of thought to come up with a display for my "shop". I realize it is a work in progress and it will take some time before I'm happy with it. The theme is a flower garden and the centerpiece is a flower garden cart I've had in storage for a few years. It happened to be the perfect size for my little shop front. I added a garden flag sign and made a shop sign. It was a great starting point. Then I decided on the color scheme...garden green, pink and yellow.



I needed something to display my items, and instead of a shelf, I found a garden fence and used it to hang things on. It worked great and was inexpensive and easy to store.




When I make amigurumi, I want to make something to make people smile, and I'd have to say I saw a lot of smiles today and received a lot of positive feedback! This makes me very happy and suddenly, all that preparation and work paid off big time!

Juggling Cats

I call these “Juggling Cats” because they are just the right size to do that. However, if you are not into juggling, add catnip to the stuffing and give it to your cat to juggle. Or, add a cord and hang them to make people smile. Make them into ornaments, a keychain, a zipper pull...

You need:
Lily Sugar and Cream in colors of your choice.
“G” crochet hook
Polyfiber stuffing
Optional craft eyes (6 mm)
Yarn needle

Body:
Using white yarn color for face:
Make magic ring*, ch 1
Round 1: sc 6 into a magic ring, pull tight.
Round 2: sc 2 into each sc around (12 sc)

Change to yarn color for body:
Round 3: (sc 1 into next sc, then sc 2 into next), around (18 sc)
Round 4: (sc 1 into next 2 sc, then sc 2 into next) around (24 sc)
Rounds 5 to 9: sc around (24 sc)

If you are using plastic safety eyes, place them now.
Round 10: (sc 1 into next 2 sc, sc2tog) around (18)
Round 11 (sc 1 into next sc, sc2tog) around (12 sc)
Stuff with polyfiber.

Round 12: (sc2tog) around (6 sc)
Join with sl st to next st. Fasten off, pull tight to close and hide yarn end.


Ear - (make 2):
Make magic ring, ch 1
Round 1: 4 sc in magic ring (4 st)
Round 2: (sc 1 into next sc, sc 2 into next sc) twice (6 st)
Round 3: (sc 1 into next sc, sc 2 into next sc) three times (9 st)
Join with sl st to next st. Fasten off, leaving long end of yarn.

Tail
Ch 12
2 Sc into 2nd ch from hook, 2 sc into each ch until end
Fasten off, leaving long end of yarn.

Assembly:

Sew ears on top of face. Sew tail on back of body. Embroider some whiskers…and play!

* Don't know how to make a magic ring? Do a search on YouTube to see a demo...

Bunny Pencil Toppers

Okay, so everyone needs one of these, right? Probably not, but they can brighten your day with their cute little faces.

I was inspired by some plastic bunny cabochons that I have. I decided to try to crochet some bunnies in a similar shape and ended up making these pencil toppers. They turned out better than expected...

Meanwhile, in the real world, we are getting a lot of rain this week. It's been awhile since I remember having a good rain. Usually this means my garden turns into a pond, but the rainwater really makes the plants perk up. I guess the city water has too much clorine or something in it. We are in a drought too, so the rain is much appreciated. I'm one of those people who'd rather walk in the rain without an umbrella. So I say, bring it on. I just hope it doesn't hurt the folks threatened by mudslides.

Out goes 2009

"It's a rare moment when the mature princess allows the restless youngster to get his paws on her..."



Another year goes by. A time to reflect on the past year. How fast time flies...

DUSTY AND EDDIE
Eddie's been with us a year now and it's changed our lives. We have a feeding issue...uh hum! Eddie wants to eat all the time, so food can't be left out. But Dusty is a grazer and likes to eat a bite here and there. This means I am constantly sneaking food to Dusty throughout the day (it seems like she wants to eat every 15 minutes!) and on top of that, I get up at 4 AM every morning to make them their breakfast. I have no choice since something is pawing my face and pulling my hair.

CRAFTS AND MORE
I opened a new shop on Etsy. It's my "golf stuff" shop called Teeball where I sell my fun and funky golf gifts. It's been a slow start, but I can't complain. Hopefully more golfers will start finding my shop. Surprisingly, my Mutts amigurumi shop does better and much of my business goes to people outside the US. I've met so many nice people through Etsy!

I joined our local craftsmen's guild. They have a crafts fair in spring and fall. I didn't have enough inventory to participate in the fall fair, so right now I'm trying to stock up for the spring fair.

I can see that crafters are doing this for the love of crafting. They couldn't possibly do this for a living, especially in this economy. So my motto is to pace myself, enjoy the moment and make things with care and pride. Hopefully, I can break even! This year I spent more than I made. I have a habit of buying things I MIGHT need someday just because it's on sale. This puts a strain on my bottom line, but now I have enough stock to last oh, 10 or 20 years...

WII Love LEGO
My husband and I are spending our "quality time" playing Wii games almost every night. We just love Wii Lego games because we can both play and work together smashing everything in sight to complete our mission. It's relaxing, very funny and makes you think too. And, if we disagree we can always smash, shoot or punch each other. We've played Indiana Jones, Star Wars and now Batman. Another game we completed this year was "Mini Ninjas". It's not multiplayer, but it's very cute and the art work is a joy to see and the Japanese taiko background music is wonderful.

SWEET PEA FARM
I'm still farming and delivering veggies, but have scaled the business down since I've been focused on building up my craft hobby. Things at the farm are in the groove for me although I still have to work with and around Mother Nature. I had a bad spell with Harlequin bugs this year and they wiped out my Sept and Oct plantings. It still surprises me how good it feels to be out in the garden. Something happens to you and you just feel so great that you want to stay out all day.

TENNIS AND GOLF
:( I had a horrible tennis season this year. Oh well, it had to happen sometime. I played for my old team who were short on players and didn't do anything at all to help them out. But, I really did enjoy being with the team again and also seeing all my friends from other teams. Golf? I think I played once this year.

I FEEL GREAT!!!
This year I really stuggled with fatigue. I realize now that life revolves around energy. With no energy, you just don't feel like doing much. I saw the doctor and made some changes and dang! I've got to say that right now I feel better than I have in years! This is so, so, so great that I can do more than one thing in a day. Now, wouldn't it be nice to have more time in a day?

Okay! Now onwards to a great 2010!
Happy New Year!

Mutts and Alley Cats Donation 2009

It's the holiday season again. How quickly it rolls around. The weather is getting frosty and I worry about the homeless pets outside in the cold. Last year, several of my mutts and alley cats made some money to be donated to the Best Friends Animal Society. This year, some of them went to the TLC pet adoption here in Southern Cal. I adopted three precious cats from them over the years and met a wonderful lady named Lisa. She saved our Eddie and fostered him and has been a wonderful contact. Lisa is also a veterinarian and I keep her updated on Eddie. She is truly concerned about saving cats and I can tell she loves them all. I hope the donated mutts and alley cats help them raise some money to help many more.

GoLf HeAd CoVeRs

I've been racking my brain to come up with fun and funky designs for some golf head covers. After all, there needs to be more FUN playing golf, don't you think? So, here are some of the head covers I've come up with this month. No, they are not selling like hotcakes...but I hope some people will find my shop on Etsy and start thinking about the holidays. I quarantee you won't find anyone else with head covers like these...

The series above is my "Kokeshi Series". I guess I got the idea from making all those amigurumi kokeshis last month. I had these gorgeous J fabric fat quarters in my stash and am thrilled to find a use for them. I like how these came out.



This is my "Cactus" series head covers. They are topstitched with zigzag stitch to give it that ribbed cactus look and embellished with a rough cut funky shaped flower and topped with a selected button (again from the old stash).



This is my "Birdie" series of head covers. They were fun to make and I love working with fleece. It's so easy to sew, feels soft and cuddly and now comes in so many designs.



And lastly, this is my "Art" series of funky animals. A shocking pink cat, a hooty eye owl and a camoflauge monkey.

Kokeshi Kokeshi and More Kokeshi

I've been meaning to post this a month ago... Time just jets on by...

I needed to put together some items for a local craft show in November. I think the audience for this event will be mostly Asian, so I decided to make some kokeshi amigurumi. Kokeshi dolls are traditional Japanese dolls usually made out of wood in a simple cylinder shape with a round ball head. Ah, perfect for amigurumi. I made some traditional geisha type ladies and then spun off into other areas, like China dolls, ninjas and even fishermen. Check these out:









These are the first 10 I made, and there are 10 more I haven't photographed yet. Hope they like them!

Watermelon Turtle and Flower Garden Turtle

I finally got around to making this "Watermelon Turtle". The idea was swimming around in my brain and I finally got it made. I used cotton yarn for the shell and a bright green acrylic for the body. The "seeds" are made with French knots. I think he looks delicious!

And, this is my "Flower Garden Turtle". She's a colorful girl with daisies embroidered on the top of her shell.

Fun and Funky Golf Head Covers

I've been wanting to make some unique, fun and funky golf head covers. So finally, I came up with a great base for the covers. The inside has a thick plush lining with an elastic band to hold the club head. The club still slides in and out easily enough that you can take it on and off while playing if that's what you do. I've been designing the outside using fleece. It is so easy to work with and the colors are vibrant. I found a skull pattern that I just love. I looked everywhere and can't find any more of it. So far, I've come up with 2 series. The first one is the contemporary series. It's a triangular shaped head in various prints. One of them was made with soft minky fabric. The second series is called "Ninja Skills". Take a look. I've got them on sale right now in my etsy shop: www.teeball.etsy.com.