You win this time, Crochet...

I am a knitter.  I like to knit.  I DO NOT like to crochet.  I own crochet hooks, but they've mainly been used to finish knitting projects, when I can't find a tapestry needle.  I do know how to crochet... at least, I know some of the basics.  I just don't really enjoy crochet because I always hold the yarn too tight, or I go through the wrong loop, or something.  But for certain things, you just can't use knitting... so I once again gave crochet a chance.

I saw this: How to Crochet a Heart and decided that I could make some pretty cute stuff with hearts.  Normally, I'm not a "heart person."  By that I mean that I've never been particularly attracted to the design... but sometimes I just get in a mood for something and I can't get enough of it.  And with Valentine's day coming, I thought I might make some garlands and such for my Widgetorium.

I did find that the yarn I used made the holes in the center too big, so I adjusted the pattern (which made it easier and faster to make).  This is a great way to use those little balls of yarn you might have sitting around.  Here is the pattern (with picture guides for the stitches).

Crochet Heart Pattern

Supplies:

• crochet hook (you might need to play with size, based on your yarn, I used a size F)
• 1 1/2 yards of Yarn (I used red heart acrylic yarn, it takes about 50" but I rounded up. The amount/size/finished product will be slightly different, depending on what you use)

All stitches are worked into the first chain.

Cast on.

Chain (Ch) 4

Work 2 Triple Crochet (tr) into the first chain

 Work 2 Double Crochet (dc) into the first ch

ch 1
1 tr into first ch
ch 1
2 dc into first ch
2 tr into first ch
ch 3

slip stitch into first ch and fasten off

Pull the two ends tight

 Flatten out the heart and you're done!

Hopefully the pictures and instructions made sense, I figured out how to do it from this video.  From there, you can make all kinds of things with these.  Here is one example:

Apologies, Technical Difficulties, and More!

It's been a while.  Actually, quite a while since I last posted.  I am sorry, but I was at least upfront and honest that I am lazy.

In other news, I completely forgot to bring my camera home with me after a delightful trip to my parent's house (for their birthdays, which happen in the same week in October) and so am unable to put up those delightful pictures you're all used to.  Luckily, I have a few pictures on my computer that can be used until I get my camera back over Thanksgiving.

Also, I went on a cookbook hunt recently, and procured a few rather inexpensive books from Amazon.com.  As I'm sure most of you know, I love old things.  So in addition to the Fanny Farmer Cookbook, I also got The First American Cookbook: A facsimile of "American Cookery," 1796 by Amelia Simmons.  It's fascinating!  I was reading last night "To Dress a Turtle."  I didn't even know that American's ate turtle!  And I am also amazed by just how much housewives had to know about anatomy!  It is written in an older font, which means that some of those letters that look like "f" are actually "s"... but it's definitely worth the $3.50 I paid for it.

On to the Birthday Gifts!
I made some rather silly things for my parents this year.  For my Dad, since he has a new Droid phone, I made the adorable little icon into an adorable little stuffed critter.

You know you want one of your very own!

That's florescent green swimsuit fabric, a little bamboo fiber fill for the antenna, arms and legs, and those tiny polyester beads filled the body.  I was really careful at first and didn't spill hardly any of the beads (though they stick like crazy to everything) but near the end of filling this little guy, I managed to spray little white beads everywhere!  I'm still finding them, every once in a while, but a swiffer and vacuum combo seemed to get most of the pesky things.
The pattern I made up entirely.  It took some "advanced math" to figure out how to make the rounded shape, but I got some assistance here.  Though, I did kind of end up just cutting until the paper shape looked right to me... and I did a lot of reshaping/folding under/top stitching by hand after it was sewn together.  At first the white strip in the middle was too wide, so after filling as much as I could, I stitched him closed and then folded the whole white strip thinner and stitched all the way around by hand. It made him pleasantly plump, I think.

For Mom, I knitted a dozen flowers using this pattern.  They turned out great!  That's them but with just the flowers on the wood skewers I used for the stems.  I then knitted a bunch of stems (pun intended).  Hopefully, when I have the camera back, I can get a better picture.  They were super quick to put together, and I usually completed one or two while watching a couple episodes of whatever cartoon I was watching at the time.
I also made a "villain" to be the rival of the Android... but unfortunately, I didn't download the pictures of him to my computer before I left my camera at my parent's house.  Oh well, you'll all have to wait and see him later.

(Cites: Amazon.com,  XWiki: To Sew a Sphere, Andrew Craig Williams Blog)