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.

Baked Goods Pt. 2

This is Part 2 of the Baked Goods post I put up in March last year. Since then, Donna and I have made some really yummy desserts.

 Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake by Donna

 Chocolate Cupcake with Strawberry by Donna

 Fruit Tart by Me :) 

(I put a fruit tart up last time but this one is so much prettier)

 Christmas Treats made by Donna and Me

Tiramisu Cake by Me, Decorated by Donna

(I know...another tiramisu cake)

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.

Puff Stitch Scarf

I made a scarf for the very first time. I found this really cute pattern for a puff stitch scarf by All About Ami. (I love her patterns!) This pattern isn't difficult but it did take a long time because I wanted the scarf to be really long so it could be worn in different ways. It used up lots of yarn and Stephanie (the creator of this pattern) warned that it used up to 3 balls of yarn. But I saved money by buying one of those huge one pound yarn balls. Whoo!

I didn't run into any problems with this pattern but I did realize after getting halfway through that the yarn didn't feel as soft as I thought it was. It was kinda scratchy so I panicked and tried to find ways to make it softer. I found that a vinegar bath is really helpful and also washing it with conditioner helps too so I tried both and although it's not crazy soft, it did become less scratchy and it smelled really fragrant.

I made the scarf for my cousin's birthday. She always gets me nice accessories for my birthday so I wanted to get her something too. However, since I'm not currently working and am a full-time MBA student, I've been trying to find ways to save money so I decided to make her a gift. And she just got it today and said it's by far the nicest hand-made scarf she's received. :D

All About Ami: Puff Stitch Scarf

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!