Mame Wanko, Little Felt Dogs

I found these super cute Japanese Craft Books called "Mame Wanko". They are little, tiny felt dogs and they are absolutely adorable! The dogs in the book are only about 1 1/2 inches tall. I tried making one that size, but it's really difficult to turn the fabric and stuff them, so I increased the pattern by 100% and the pups end up around 3 1/2 inches tall. Still cute and manageable.

This is my first dog. He's a bull terrier. I just love his flat, chunky face. I hand stitched him with contrasting embroidery thread and stuffed him with polyfiber and a few black beans for weight. I named him Butch and put him in my Etsy shop. Butch is the fifth generation, meaning it took me 5 tries to get him right!



Speaking of felt, I'm on an out-of-control shopping rampage. Joann's had a felt sale at 2.99 a yard, and on top of that I had a 10% off everything coupon. I bought 12 colors of felt, 1 yard each. I would have bought a yard of every color, but it was already toppling off my shopping cart and all the other people in the cutting line were giving me dirty looks for holding up the line! It was a great buy though, so there's a big pile of felt cluttering up my sewing room. On top of that, I bought some felt from the UK from Etsy. 71 colors! Also, some patterned felt coming in the mail from Joann's online...

I can make about a million of these little felt dogs with all that felt!

Golf Tee Balls are here!

I just opened a new store on Etsy to sell my golf tee balls. What are tee balls? It's a handy gadget to hold your favorite tees and it's a unique signature of your personality to boot. I've been having fun coming up with new ideas for them. I'm so excited to have sold a few sock monkeys. Yea!

Even if golf teeballs don't improve your game, at least it might make it more fun. Since I've been making these, I even get the urge to play more golf. Which is weird for me...

Check out my teeball store at www.teeball.etsy.com

A Bunny For You

Here's a fast and easy crochet pattern just in time for Easter! I used Lily Sugar and Cream, but you can use whatever yarn you want. The size of the bunny depends on which yarn you choose. This one is about 3 inches tall and 1 1/2 inches wide. Enjoy!

This is a copyrighted pattern. Please do not copy or post this pattern on another site. Also, do not sell this pattern or make these items for commercial use.



BUNNY

Materials List:
- Cotton yarn like Lily Sugar and Cream.
- Polyester fiberfill stuffing
- Embroidery floss for eyes, nose and whiskers
- Plastic safety craft eyes - size 9 or small buttons (optional)
- Yarn needle
- Stitch marker (I just use a small piece of contrasting yarn to mark the end of each round.)
- Crochet hook size “G”

Body
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)
Round 3: sc 1 into next sc, then sc 2 into next, around (18 sc)
Rounds 4-11 (8 rounds): sc around (18sc)
Round 8: (sc2tog, sc) around (12 sc)
If using craft eyes, insert now.
Stuff body with poly fiberfill.
Round 9: sc2tog around (6 sc)
Leave long yarn tail. Using a yarn needle, gather up the stitches in round 9 and pull tight to close. Weave yarn end into body.

Ears (make 2)
Round 1: sc 4 into a magic ring, pull tight.
Round 2: (sc 1 into next sc, then sc 2 into next), twice (6 sc)
Rounds 3-7 (5 rounds): sc around (6 sc)
Join with sl st to next st. Fasten off, leaving long end of yarn.

Tail
Use a fluffy white yarn if desired.
Round 1: sc 6 into a magic ring, pull tight.
Round 2: sc 2 into each sc around (12 sc)
Round 3: sc2tog around (6 sc)
Fasten off leaving yarn tail. Stuff very lightly into a round puff shape. Use the yarn end to gather stitches of round 3. Pull the yarn end to close the tail.

Assembly
Attach the ears to the top of the body. Pull the yarn end of each ear through to the bottom of the body. Tie ends of both ears together at the bottom of the body and pull up to flatten out bottom. Tie securely and weave in yarn ends.
Attach the tail to the back of the body.
Embroider eye, nose and whiskers as desired.

Felted Mutts

First of all....HELLO Susie Farmgirl, are you still farming??? I only see crochet posts!

Yes, I'm still farming, but it's January, oops, it's already February. Where did the time go? Usually this time of year the weather is so cold that the veggies don't grow much, but stay nice and fresh in the ground. This January has been unusually warm and this week it's actually been in the 80's. The plants are very confused about what to do because the weather fluctuates so much. But that's farming...

Right now I'm concentrating on crocheting and building up inventory in my Etsy shop. I've been having fun making different kinds of mutts and I wanted to try felting some. So, I made some up in 100% wool (Patons) and washed them in hot water in the washing machine. This makes the fibers shrink and supposedly meld together into a beautiful surface. Well, I washed one dog 3 times, and the others twice. I put them in pillow cases and washed them with some clean towels for friction. The fibers shrunk and the dogs became very soft and fluffy to the touch. They also got this forlorn look in their eyes. I didn't get the felting I was expecting, so maybe the water wasn't hot enough, or there wasn't enough friction and agitation. Here's my litter of felted mutts:

OMG! 2008 in review

Introducing Eddie...

I just realized it's the end of the year. I'm just not paying attention to time.

In the past, I'm usually busy cooking all day, following the Japanese tradition of having a feast on New Year's Day. This year, I haven't even thought about it. I think I better go down to the nearby Marukai and pick up some sushi and mochi. I'm really getting lazy!

ANYWAY, here are the highlights of 2008!

CROCHET
Probably the biggest change this year was that I started crocheting. I guess that doesn't sound that big, but it really spun off into new directions. I discovered amigurumi and learned to improvise my own patterns. I joined a great community of yarn crafters on Ravelry. I made a ton of mutts and alley cats and sold them to benefit animals in need at the Best Friends Animal Society. I even got my mom and her friends interested in amigurumi and she's really enjoying it. I opened up a store on etsy called "Mutts" where I'm selling my amigurumi and patterns.

GARDENING
My SPF hobby business had a few new acquisitions. I finally got a new car, a Honda Element so I can actually carry more cargo. This made a big difference in my quality of life. I started a new garden at my father-in-laws house and he takes an interest in the garden and we have more bonding time. I started a worm bin in January and it’s expanded nicely. I got a food dehydrator over the summer and started drying fruits and veggies. My husband built me a new light bar for my seedlings and I’m now growing the best ones yet.

ECONOMIC CRISIS
It’s been a really bad year for everyone economically, so I’m glad to have the garden to supply our veggies. Gas prices went up to $4.50 gallon over the summer, so I bought a bike and started riding as much as possible. In a few months, shockingly, gas prices fell to $1.75 in December, so the bike is gathering dust for now. We’ve been cutting expenses as much as possible. The computer doesn’t stay on all the time anymore and the air conditioner wasn’t turned on in the heat of the summer.

TENNIS
I said goodbye to my tennis team. I’ve invested a lot of time to tennis over the years and I’m finding it harder and harder to stay motivated towards it. I’ve got my mind on other things right now, so I’m giving league tennis a break, although I’ll still play now and then to keep in touch with friends.

EDDIE
And last, but not least, this weekend we adopted Eddie. He’s a very sweet, alert, 8 month old and we hope he’ll be a good companion for Dusty.

Rainy Day Crochet

It was raining all day yesterday and it's really cold for So. Cal. It was too wet to go out farming, so I bundled up by a heater and crocheted while watching a Korean drama. It amazes me that I can crochet and read subtitles at the same time.

I was inspired by a cat on a teapot I brought back from a trip to Japan. Now I admit, my crochet cat is nowhere near as cute as the teapot cat, but hey, I said it was inspiration! I liked the heather blue yarn I was using. It reminds me of denim. I added the flower to the cat's ear to perk it up a bit.

Mutts

Check out my mutts. I call them Mighty Mutts. I'm having fun making them in different colors, with different ears and tails. In fact, I've made so many of them in such a short time, that my thumb is sore and keeps popping out of place. Ouch! These little dogs are a great way to use up yarn remnants. Oh, there's so many dogs to make. I'm also going to make alley cats, but that's still in the works. I'm in the process of writing up a pattern for these mutts, so if you are interested, check back later.

I'm hoping to sell these mutts to make money to benefit animals. One organization that I feel is very important is the "Best Friends Animal Sanctuary". If you would like to know more, check out their website at www.bestfriends.org.