Friday, October 1, 2010

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!

Monday, August 9, 2010

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.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

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!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

"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:


Saturday, April 17, 2010

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!

Friday, February 5, 2010

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...

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

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.