Donkey!

It's only been a few days since I opened my Etsy shop and I've already gotten a few orders. I need to make some more items for my shop! Along with my shop items, I still take custom/special orders. Recently, I was asked to make a donkey. There aren't many donkey patterns out there that aren't Eeyore. But I found a cute one and added a mane to it. I won't be able to put this up on my shop though since the pattern's creator has asked not to commercially sell the finished products. But I might be able to make an original pattern when I have the time.

Little Donkey Amigurumi by ClaireSibley

Hello Mon Ami!

I launched my Etsy shop! Finally! This shop has been something I've been wanting to do for some time now but I had been putting it off for so long. During my spring break, I used that time to start building up inventory for the shop. I made several items from crochet patterns I've found online and some that I've created myself. I posted the items that are currently in my shop.

Here is the link to my shop: HelloMonAmi

I hope you love it!

Spring Bunny #...I lost count

I can't remember how many times I've made this bunny. I think it may be my sixth time now. Although this time I made it using a different accent color which is a nice change from the usual pink and tan colors I've done. This bunny has a nice, fresh feeling with its minty green accents. The flower is a cool mint green. The lining of the ears has a pretty green floral pattern. And for the feet, I used soft green fabric since I couldn't find any mint green felt.

All About Ami: Spring Bunny

I have no more orders to complete so I finally have the time to start on my Etsy shop. But after all this crocheting, I think I want to take a short break. I've been drawing some doodles of dolls I might make for the shop. I want to try to keep the patterns simple.

Cow Amigurumi

Right after I finished the hats for my paternal grandmother, my mom thought it would be a good idea for me to make one for her mom since her birthday is coming up soon. My grandma is a talented knitter. I originally wanted to learn how to knit and she tried to teach me when she came to visit us one time. But knitting wasn't for me. Having to work with two needles was awkward for me. Crocheting requires the use of only one hook and was easier for me to learn and quickly pick up on. My grandma has knitted a lot of hats, scarves, slippers, and gloves for our family. She's also knitted a shawl with fringing for my mom and rooster dolls for my sister and me. She knits a lot nowadays, sometimes selling what she makes. She's knitted so much for us so of course I should make something for her.

Since she lives in Los Angeles, I didn't think a crocheted hat would be a good idea so I made her an amigurumi. I've saved a lot of patterns that I've wanted to use so I went through my folder and found this cow pattern that I had been wanting to make for a while. It's a cute and easy pattern. Only problem I had with it was that it didn't say which hook size to use so I had to experiment. The creator says she usually uses an H hook for her patterns but I thought that was too big so I tried a size smaller. But after a few rounds, it was getting too big so I tried an even smaller hook. It's still turned out bigger than I wanted but I stuck with that size since using a smaller hook with the kind of yarn I was using was going to be difficult. I was a little short on the white yarn but thankfully I've been trying to be frugal and kept all my leftover scraps of yarn so I had some extra white pieces to finish the pattern.

Studio Ami: Cow Pattern

Spring bunny again...and again

This is my fourth time making the Spring bunny. I've gotten so much better at sewing the limbs and the little details. Doesn't it look cozy in the shipping material?

Looks like I have to make another one of these. This time with the ears upright and without the flower. I'm having a love-hate relationship with this bunny right now. I'm hoping I will be able to start on my Etsy shop soon! I think I'm going to have to stop taking orders after this one to finally crochet items for my shop.

Elephant #3

This is probably the best elephant I've made so far! (I've only made two before, which includes the "elephin") This elephant is much bigger and more realistic with its floppy, folding ears, and thick legs.

I found this awesome pattern for free on a UK site, www.deramores.com. Since it's from the UK, the crochet terms were different but still simple enough to follow. Although it did get confusing since "DC" means double crochet in US terms but in UK, it actually means single crochet. But other than that, it was a simple although time-consuming pattern.

I love this elephant pattern and it's not difficult to make but I do hope I won't have to make it again. At least any time soon. But unfortunately, my sisters already seen it...and now she wants one for herself...even though I've made her two elephants for her before. (sighhhhhhhh) I need to try to put that off for as long as possible. I tend to get bored easily doing the same patterns so I like to try something new and different. My next project, however, is the Spring bunny, which I've done a couple times before; both the white and tan Spring bunnies for my mom and one for a friend. Hopefully I'll get to try new patterns after I do the bunny.

Deramores: Elephant pattern

Giraffe

After taking a break from crocheting, I've decided to start again but this time I want to start selling my creations. I've been putting this off for some time, making excuses that I was too busy to crochet. A lot of my friends and family have been telling me to open up an Etsy shop but I wasn't sure if I was good enough. Last year, I set up an Etsy shop, thinking up a name and building my profile, but I never put up any products. Now I've decided to start taking orders and slowly make products for my shop. I already have my shop name, HelloMonAmi.

A couple of people of made orders already; the first one is a giraffe. I spent all day working on it and it turned out really well. I think I've gotten a lot better at sewing the limbs and the details. This pattern I got from the Vanna's Choice Easy Crochet Critters book; the same book where I got the patterns for the lion and "elephin" I made a couple years ago when I first started. The original pattern uses softer "baby-like" colors but the person who ordered it wanted it to be like an actual giraffe. And luckily, I had the perfect colors for it! I'm really pleased with the way it came out.

I'm still taking crochet orders and I'm open to any suggestions on what I should make to put in my shop. Message me on Facebook or on my blog and we can discuss what I can make you! I can do most animal amigurumi dolls, scarves, hats, and a lot of other things. Tell me what you want and I will see if it is something I can crochet for you! Or you can wait until I have my Etsy shop up, which I hope will be soon!

Panda

It's so nice doing a short project after spending a year on a long, monotonous pattern. After the scarf, Megan asked me to make her a doll. She's leaving for her mission on December 4th and she is pretty much the only friend of Donna's that I haven't made a crocheted doll for. This panda is really simple. The problem I have with these dolls is sewing together all the body parts so that it isn't lopsided. This one looks a little crooked but it isn't very noticeable, especially if you squint.

I really need to work on my sewing.

Angie's Art Studio: Panda Bear

...and on my photography skills.

Graduation Gifts

The spring semester is ending here at San Diego State University. It's finals week and everyone is trying to finish writing their papers and cramming for their final exams, eagerly waiting to escape for the summer.

This semester I made a few friends at an internship I had for a few months. Most of my fellow interns are graduating this semester with a bachelor's degree. I've gotten pretty close to a couple of girls there so I crocheted a couple of dolls for them.

One doll is the All About Ami's Spring Bunny I made before for my mom on Mother's Day. I just made the "male" bunny and used white yarn and beige felt to make it look more feminine. I made the bunny a carrot too but it's not shown in the picture.

The other doll is Ana Paula's Amigurumi Bear. I added a party hat and a bow tie. For the party hat, I only crocheted a few of the top rows since it needs to be small enough to fit on the bear's head and for the bow tie, I used a smaller crochet hook to make it more miniature. I dressed up the bear because I planned to give it as a gift at my friend's birthday party. I think they both turned out really cute.

Crocheted Christmas

This holiday, I crocheted a few Christmas gifts for family and friends to help save money and also to give something more personal.

1. For my friend, Jerrica and her baby daughter, I made a pair of slippers and booties.

I found the pattern for the blue slippers on All About Ami. All About Ami blogger, Stephanie found the pattern on Calypso Gray's blog, The Little House by the Sea, which she made some modifications on. It isn't shown here but I added some little pearly white buttons as decoration later on.

These baby booties were also found on All About Ami. The original pattern is from the blog Topsy Turvy. These booties are really cute with the scalloped edges and the wrap-around style.

2. For my aunt, I made her a thick headband with a flower.

I bought the pattern on Etsy by Rosedew Creations.

3. I made a few mini snowmen keychains for some friends.

 Here's a picture of them in the snow...

Dapper Toad: Mini Snowman Crochet Pattern

4. And for these two handsome boys, I made beanie hats.

The snowman hat was found on Repeat Crafter Me and the dinosaur hat is the same pattern as the snowman hat but with crocheted spikes found on The Boy Trifecta.

And there were some who couldn't resist trying the hats on for themselves...

Overall, it was a fun, happy, and busy holiday.

Korean Wedding Ducks

It's been a while...

I think it was a couple months ago when Angela unni requested a crocheted doll. She just celebrated her wedding day a few days ago and displayed my creations at her ceremony. At a traditional Korean wedding, there are a couple of wooden ducks that symbolize the bride and groom. Angela unni wanted these ducks but wanted something a little different so she asked me to crochet them for her.

There are absolutely no patterns for these specific ducks. I did a long search for them on Google but couldn't find anything even remotely similar to them. I ended up using a simple rubber ducky pattern I found online and altered it so it was shaped more like the traditional Korean ducks. I made my own wing and tail pattern, lengthened the beak, and added "feathers" using small rounds of different colored yarn. It needed a good base too so I flattened the bottom of the body and added cardboard to the base so it would stand. It turned out pretty good. I did run into some trouble and had to redo them a couple times because they turned out too short or too small. My parents were great help telling me the approximate sizes they should be and how they should be shaped.

Angela unni displayed them at her Korean wedding ceremony and told me they received many compliments.  So it was a success. It'll probably be some time until I work on another project since I've just started grad school. But I plan to make some stuff for the holidays. I already have some stuff on Pinterest that I plan on making.

Here are the ducks...

E for Elephant

In one of my earlier posts I uploaded a photo of an "elephant" amigurumi I made for my sister. It turned out weird so I promised Donna that I would make her something better. She still wanted an elephant and wanted a big one. This was about a year ago. We found a pattern together not too long ago on Etsy and I just finished it now while she was in California for a few days. It came out awesome so I'm really excited to give it to her as she is returning to Utah today.

Ami Amour: E for Elephant Amigurumi

Knight

My good buddy, Brett, is leaving for his LDS mission in August so I thought I would make him a goodbye gift. I made him a little knight from the Creepy Cute crochet book. Working on this pattern, I finally figured out how to do the basic head! I've always had problems with the instructions but the head would always turn out round and that was enough for me. Now, I won't have to struggle because I have finally figured how to do it correctly! I was so happy because the head came out like it was supposed to.

Anyway, I love this Knight pattern. This little guy is so cute and he comes with a shield, sword, and helmet. I figured this was a good amigurumi to make for Brett as a knight is one to go out on quests and  adventures (at least from what I've seen in movies). And Brett is about to go on an adventure himself, leaving home for two years, to share his beliefs with others.

He liked the knight so much I was rewarded with multiple high fives! Whoo!

Queen Vampire

I made an amigurumi for Donna's friend, Gavon. He asked for a Queen Vampire from the Creepy Cute Crochet book so the Nosferatu I made him a while ago wouldn't be lonely. He asked for this some time ago and I didn't make it until just yesterday. It turned out well although I ran out of black yarn for the hair. It's enough hair as long as the hair is scrunched up a bit to fill in the bald spots.

Mini Octopus

Yay! I really like this latest amigurumi. It's so cute. My friend Jerrica asked me to make her an amigurumi keychain. She decided she really wanted an octopus after I showed her a pattern I found on a blog. It's an easy pattern that looks difficult because of the curly tentacles. When I finished it, I showed it off to others and got "gasps" and "aws" at how cute it is and requests to make more. I hooked a key ring onto the top and voila!.. a cute amigurumi keychain. As always, I've posted the link to the pattern under the photo.

EssHaych: Mini Ami Octopus

Graduation Bear

I had made this bear almost a month ago but I forgot to post it so...here it is! :D

This bear was made for my friend Tasha for her college graduation. It's amazing how fast time flies. Now we have to be adults and look for grown-up jobs. <sigh> But that can wait until after the summer. We plan to do some fun stuff before my sister and I move to California so that allows us to be irresponsible, immature, lazy, and carefree for at least a couple months.

This pattern is from All About Ami. I've been finding a lot of cute patterns on there so check it out.

All About Ami: Graduation Teddy

Spring Bunnies

I'm kinda slow at posting new blogs but I just finished a couple bunnies that I made for my parents. My mom was having a hard time deciding what she wanted me to make her and decided on these cute bunnies. She wanted two, of course; one that represented her and another for my dad. I found the pattern on All About Ami; the same website the Sweetheart Bunny pattern is from. These bunnies were pretty fun to make and are pretty freakin' adorable.

All About Ami: Spring Bunnies

Oh and in the picture, it looks like a hat on the white bunny but it's actually a flower.

Darth Vader

It's been a while since I've posted. Over a week ago, my cousin Mindy requested a Darth Vader doll.  It was hard trying to find a good pattern but I found one on Etsy for a couple bucks. The pattern wasn't particularly difficult but I did learn some new techniques that made the process a little more slow going. The end result came out well. And I'm sure I've said this before but I dislike sewing the little details, such as the buttons on Darth Vader's belt. I thought it would be cool to make a light saber too but I didn't want to have to pay more to get a pattern so I created my own pattern. (Gasp!) ...I know. It was really simple but I'm still proud of it since it's my first original pattern.

Darth Vader pattern

Bunny

I made this amigurumi bunny at the request of my cousin, Amy. It's a cute doll but painful to make because it uses such a small crochet hook. And the safety eyes were really hard to find. I went to all the craft stores in town to find the right size but none carried it so I had to order it online but it wasn't until after I paid for it that I noticed it would take approximately 3 weeks to deliver! 

So I started out slowly, waiting for the eyes to come, then when it arrived I worked on it continuously until it was completed and my fingers were stiff. The pattern itself was pretty easy though. Amy found the pattern on this awesome website, All About Ami. It has a lot of cute stuff on there so go check it out!

All About Ami: Sweetheart Bunny

Koala

This is the latest crochet doll I made for a family friend, Rachel. It was an easy one to do but I always have some trouble with sewing all the parts together. For some reason this one was particularly difficult for me, especially the head. I had to keep redoing it so it looked right. And the ears keep folding down, covering its face. With little adjustments, squishing and twisting the doll, it looks pretty good.

The Koala pattern was found on Craft Passion. It is originally from the Woman's Day website.