The Bee Girl Amigurumi

Tags

amigurumi, Bee Girl, Blind Melon, Crochet, Georgia Graham, Handmade, Heather DeLoach, No Rain, Poseable Limbs

Remember the 1992 single from Blind Melon’s debut album about “watching puddles gather rain” and “sleeping all day and then complaining there’s no rain”? You do! Well that’s excellent news because today I have something for all you Blind Melon fans out there. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a round of applause for the lovely Bee Girl! This amigurumi is modeled after the little tap dancing Bee Girl (drummer Glen Graham’s younger sister Georgia Graham) on the band’s album cover, later portrayed by Heather DeLoach in the No Rain music video. Here is where I faced the dilemma. Should I base my design on the album cover girl (who has a halter neck costume) or the bee girl in the video (who wears a camisole)?Eventually, as you can see, I decided on following design on the album cover. The bee girl amigurumi has movable arms which, incidentally, is my first attempt at working with wires. I love how a bit of copper wire in the limbs makes this doll poseable and a delight to photograph. Unfortunately, my first attempt at shaping a pair of glasses for this girl also made me realize how utterly useless I am in this area, forcing me to enlist P’s help. So yes, it was P who made the glasses, not I Moving on (ahem!), this is how she looks without her hat and glasses. And here is our Bee Girl wandering through the garden, stopping every now and then to perform her dance for whomever willing to watch I hope you enjoyed this post. I’ll be back soon with the Bee Girl amigurumi pattern, which is currently scattered all over our living room in numerous bits of paper

A Trip Home

Tags

amigurumi, bunny couple, Café Fiction, comic books, Crochet, Gangtok, Handmade, knitted dolls, knitting, pirate bunny

Greetings and salutations!

To rectify my failure to post anything on this blog for more than a month, I’ve brought peace offerings—in the form of photographs But first, let me explain my long absence. First, there was work—lots of it!— the kind that brings home the bacon, and also the kind that involves hooks and needles. And as soon as we wrapped up our work, P and I packed our bags and off we went to Gangtok to visit my mom

And my mom had some amazing crafty goodness to show me! Check out these flowers she’s made with yarn. Aren’t they amazing! There were lots of them but I managed to take photographs of only a few. I’m an idiot, I know Again, some more hurriedly taken pics of some of her amigurumis (along with a few I’d made for her). It’s a pity she stores them away along with her crockery! The second image is of the knitted nativity set she’s made from Jean Greenhowe’s pattern. These look tiny in the picture but each character, barring Mary and baby Jesus, measure about 12 inches. If I had taken up this knitting project, I’m sure I’d have given up mid-way since I have the attention span of a five year old

The doll you see in the middle (flanked by two gorgeous hunks) in the third image, that was knitted by yours truly as a Mother’s Day gift to my mom and I’m happy to report she promptly fell in love with this yarny little girl. On her left is rugged football star (who now sadly moonlights as a pin cushion—did you notice the needles on his jersey? ) knitted by my mom, and on the right is the doll I used to play with when I was little (sorry, can’t remember his name; it was a long time ago, but it was good to see him too). The knitted bunnies, I made them for my aunts and they loved my little gentlebunny and lady bunny

While we are still on the topic of people falling in love with yarny creatures, allow me to present to you this next image: Meet my childhood friend K and her son and their new best friend—Agya Pirate. Agya means ‘elder brother’ in Sikkimese-Bhutia language and that’s the name this pirate bunny has been given by his new ship mates Look, how happy he is with his new family!

Speaking of families, these guys are the latest feline and canine additions to our family in Gangtok: Barring Pepe, who’s been with us for a very long time (and spoilt rotten by my mom), Bruni (the grand old lady), Michael and Jackson (that’s my youngest aunt’s sense of humor for you!) were homeless until they found their forever home in my mom’s house. Bruni, you lucky dog!

A visit to Gangtok is incomplete without a quick trip (or numerous not so quick trips as it was in our case) to the most popular book shop-slash-cafe in town. You can sink your teeth into the ‘Open Chicken Bikini’ sandwich at Café Fiction (if you’re into that sort of thing ) or you can grab a cuppa and head upstairs to Rachna Books where the selection of books is eclectic. Sadly, the only photograph I have of the book shop is this blurry “drank-so-much-coffee-that-my-hands-are-shaking” pic. P and I headed straight to the comic book section and found these goodies: Hmm… now you know why this blog has been so quiet these past few weeks

 

 

Amy, the Amigurumi Doll Free Pattern

Tags

amigurumi, Amigurumi Doll, Craft, Crochet, Crocheted Doll, free pattern, Handmade, Nepal

Last year, when I was taking my baby steps into the world of crochet and amigurumi, I was astounded by the sheer volume of patterns and tutorials offered for free by the ever generous crafting community. Thanks to these wonderful people, I was able to learn this new craft and enjoy countless hours of crafting bliss. Today is the day I contribute to the community that has given me so much.

Ladies and gentlemen who crochet, I give you *drum rolls please* Amy, the amigurumi doll, my very first amigurumi design Amy is 6 ½ inches tall and loves Spring. Now that the Winter’s over and the woolens have gone back to where they hibernate for the rest of the year, Amy is thrilled. She’s dumped her boring coat and heavy boots and is now rocking her white peasant top, sweet Mary Janes, and her new “Spring hair makeover”.

If you like Amy and want to give this amigurumi pattern a try, you can download the print-friendly PDF here.

A few words on Using, Sharing And Selling this Amy Doll: 

USING: I designed this doll for you. So I encourage you to use this pattern and make little Amys for yourself, your friends and your family. I’d be thrilled if you drop me a line (along with your link); I’ll make sure to give your Amy a mention on my blog.

SELLING: Unless you happen to run a sweatshop somewhere, I don’t mind if you sell your dolls made from this pattern. In fact, I’d be stroked if you did. I’d also like it very much if you mentioned somewhere in the description of the doll that it’s made from a “Twisted Fibers original design”. I’d love to hear from you and see your Amys. Send me your link and I’ll give your online shop a mention on my blog.

SHARING: You can pin any image of this doll on Pinterest or give your blog readers a heads up regarding the availability of this free pattern by using any of these images, followed by a link to my blog. Sharing is loving. So go ahead and share the love

DON’T: Please do not sell this pattern or publish it in its entirety on any website because that would make me very sad and force me to send my ninjas after you.

Linking it up at:

 

 

 

Spring Wedding Anniversary

Tags

Alan Dart’s Bridal Bunnies, Handmade, Knitted Bridal Bunnies, Knitted Bride and Groom, knitted toys, knitting, Nepal

The fifth of March marked our second wedding anniversary. And I figured Alan Dart’s Bridal Bunnies would be the perfect project to celebrate a Spring wedding anniversary

Here’s a pic of the work in progress:

The chubby bunny bride:

And the wide-hipped bunny groom :

For the bride’s veil, I didn’t have the recommended yarn and, as you can see, it came out quite weird. I’m planning on replacing it with a netted fabric or something. I also decided to skip the instructions for the bridal bouquet (so what’s new! ) and instead made a bouquet of tiny ribbon roses and ready made blue stamens

It took me around 12 days to make these two. And what does my very own Mister Bunny have to say about our anniversary project? “Not your best work,” he says, promptly pointing out all the areas that could use a little improvement.

Ah, men! Pattern: Alan Dart’s Bridal Bunnies

I’m linking to these Linky Parties: Hookin on Hump Day #36 | From Dream to Reality Linky Party #58

Full Circle

Tags

amigurumi, amigurumi dolls, amigurumi toys, Craft, Crochet, free pattern, Handmade, Nepal

About a year ago, I decided I wanted to learn to crochet and make amigurumis. After watching approximately half a dozen, two-minute video tutorials on the subject,  I was confident I was ready to jump head first into the world of amigurumi and hook up a teddy bear. Needless to say, the result was  horrendous and I shudder at the thought of (re)posting an image here! (But if you want to see it anyway, you can find it here.)

A year (and many amigurumis) later, I had the urge to make the same teddy bear again. So I dug up the pattern online and—TADA!—now I have these to show you (Left to right) Papaya, Berry, Aubergine, and Apple

These little bears love hanging out together.

And like most little girls, they love dressing up. But don’t let their sweet faces and girly demeanor fool you.

Whenever the world is in danger, they put on their fighting boots and go beat up super villains like Megatron. Cool, huh!

Pattern by Jane of Jenny and Teddy | Pattern Link

Linking this project to these fiber Link Parties:
Hooking Up on Hump Day #35 | From Dream to Reality Linky Party #57

Chronicle This!

Tags

Chronicle Books, Craft, CraftFoxes, Sewing

A quick shout-out to the lovely folks at CraftFoxes, something that’s been long overdue. Craftfoxes, a social network for crafters, recently held a Get Crafty with Chronicle Photo Contest where the members were encouraged to upload photos of any knitting/crochet/sewing related projects they had completed. As usual, I acted like an eager beaver and uploaded five project photos, the maximum number of times one was allowed to enter And guess what, I won a book!  I may not have won the grand prize (books worth $100 of winner’s choice —can you believe it!) but I effing won a runner up prize. Yippie!

This is the book I won!

Not only that, these lovely and amazing people also featured my projects on their blog and shared my Secret Agent Bubu-the Bear project with their twitter followers! I just love these folks

I know I’m gushing and I’m sure blogging etiquette prescribes putting an immediate stop to your writing as soon as you realize you can’t stop hitting the exclamation key. So I’ll stop my clacking and let Jack, our young swashbuckling raider of the high seas (and of craft room supplies) do the talking. Over to you, Mister Jack.

1. Look at what the CraftFoxes have sent me (well technically, it’s not for me but a crafty bunny can dream, can’t he!)—this amazing book on sewing. Just the perfect thing to help me get started on this almost unused sewing machine.
2. I’ve already got my sewing machine out
3. Now all I need to do is learn everything this book has to teach me
4. Oww… all that reading has given me a headache!
5. I need some stress buster. So what shall it be…
6. Knitting?
7. Or beading?

While Mister Jack makes up his mind on his next project, how about we head over to CraftFoxes’ site and check out all the amazing projects shared by its members? Now that sounds like an excellent idea, doesn’t it?

The Yarn Loving Pirate

Tags

Craft, Handmade in Nepal, Handmade Toys, Knitted Pirate Bunny, knitted toys, knitting

Does this floppy eared pirate look familiar to you? No?

Well then, does this picture ring any bells? Those of you who answered in the affirmative, please feel free to pat yourself on the back Isn’t he is a deadringer for our inimitable Captain (read all about him here), the ruler of the high seas? Well, what do you know—he is Jack, our very own Captain’s little brother.

Even though they may look—and dress—alike, they have very different personalities. The Captain, as you know, loves his ship and his rum. He is, what you would call, your typical seafaring bunny.

Jack, on the other hand, is neither interested in drinking nor in chasing pretty lady bunnies.

In his free time, he quietly goes into his crafting space and works with needles and yarn.

Lovely fella, isn’t he!

[Pattern Link]

LINK PARTIES

The Girl Who Kicked the Mice’s Butts

Tags

Handmade in Nepal, Handmade Toy, Knitted Teddy Bear, Knitted Toy, knitting

Who says a girl can’t go topless! Especially when her pants are so HUGE they go right over her chest Another knitted toy project that didn’t go quite as planned (original pattern here) but even so I like this one beary much

A Day in the Life of Agent Bubu-the Bear (in her own words)Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Bear, Bubu-the Bear (no, not Bear Grylls!). I’m the double-O-seven of all hand knitted bears. It is of utmost importance that whatever I tell you today, you are not to breathe a word of it to anyone.

I’m on a secret mission to save this little patch of greenery in my employer’s balcony garden that is under attack from the mice mafia. They intend to take over this garden, chew up everything green in sight, and turn it into a poop-yard. They know they have very sharp teeth, they know they have the numbers, they know these humans can’t do much to get rid of them. What they don’t know is I’m in charge now.I lay in wait, hidden by the canopy of leaves, waiting for them to come. Come, they will, but they don’t know what’s in store for them.

As soon as they approach the area, I slide down the leaves and swoop on them like an eagle.

The only problem is sometimes all that sliding and swooping lands you right in the middle of thorns. Ouch! I guess that’s the downside of being a secret agent, things tend to get a bit rough (and prickly) sometimes.

Back when I was this high, I didn’t like getting hurt. And I definitely didn’t like getting pricked by stupid thorns. But now I’m all grown up and big girls don’t cry. They just get the job done.

And yeah, like I said, I kicked the mice’s butts. I kicked them so hard, they begged for mercy and went scurrying back to wherever they came from. And so here I am, back to enjoying this lazy February sun. Ah… I love winter sun