Finally finished orbit the dragon!

 I crocheted this amigurumi up pretty fast given it's size. But it went into hibernation for a few years, and was just a bag of parts. For some reason I really struggled sewing this guy together. It hurt my hands. Maybe because I stuffed it so firmly. Or because I'm not very experienced sewing amigurumi together. I got it done though. I had to teach myself to take my time sewing amigurumi together. Use a thimble and have several types of yarn needles available.

 By the way this pattern is from Projectarian. They have an instagram, a ravelry and etsy. Orbit the dragon pattern on Ravelry. 

Anyway...I found that having a bent needle helps me a lot. People on youtube don't seem to like bent needles but I found that having that bent needle was the only way I was going to sew certain parts of this dragon together. I have a smaller one and a larger one. And I use both depending on the situation. The smaller one goes through the stuffing easier but the bigger one can travel farther across areas of the amigurumi. 

I also noticed that having those cheaper plastic needles can help in areas where you need the needle to bend a little bit. So if you are struggling with sewing your amigurumi together you can try stuffing less. Or you can do as I do and use a thimble, multiple needles and teach yourself to go slow and don't force your needle through.... I'm used to normal sewing where there's no angles and no resistance. Sewing amigurumi is very different than that. 

I pretty much had to retrain my brain to do it. But now that I got the hang of it is much easier. Also take breaks and stretch. 

With my chronic health problems I have to do that anyway. Lots of breaks lots of stretching in-between. And if a project needs to hibernate...no shame in that. My mother who also had chronic health problems used to over do things and then under do things. Going from one extreme to another. I kind of learned to over do it myself and then crash. And the mindset really backfired as I got older. I had to learn to pace and rest and do things in small bits. It makes life a little more manageable. A little less painful. 

So that's how I realized I have to sew amigurumi. Small bit's at a time. Wriggle the needle in in small bursts not shoving it through all in one go. I say this because someone out there with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue or other conditions might get discouraged when trying to finish their ami. And these tips might help.  

Litten Amigurumi Finished

 

I finished Litten. This was my first time hot gluing felt onto crochet. I use Red Heart yarn. Glue guns are messy so I accidentally got some hot glue on it's face. I used a black sharpie to darken the glue so you can't see it. But I don't know if I want to use hot glue next time. It seems the best way to get it to stick. Though I've seen other people say they used Fabri-tack glue. This Litten was made from a free pattern from Ravelry the link is in the blog below this one. The creator is Christjan Bee. 

I had to make my own muzzle part because I didn't like the one the pattern had. I used a safety nose from aliexpress. The head started being worked in chain one turns and ended up with a big seam in the back. Otherwise I'm happy with the result. 

I have chronic health and mental issues. So I'm really proud I can accomplish making an amigurumi. It's not the easiest thing for me to do. It takes a lot of focus and detail. But I think it helps me mentally. I think it stretches my thinking ability and keeps me mentally occupied. I guess kind of like doing a brain puzzle. 

Pokemon Litten Amigurumi

 

So I am working on this Pokemon Amigurumi. It's Litten. I found this free pattern on Ravelry. Free Litten Pokemon Ami Pattern This person has made a lot of pokemon ami patterns. I was surprised how small it was turning out to be. I have all four legs, body and tail done and sewn together at this point. I hot glued the tail on and then reinforced it with some sewing. 

Now I have the head to do. I'm at the part of the head where you start slp stitching chain 1 and turning. I thought this was going to make a different shape but so far it seems to just be doing the same thing as if I had went straight up in a spiral. So I don't know why the pattern is doing all this ch 1 and turning. I hope it all works out and I'm not doing something wrong. 

There is only that one blurry picture of the Litten and no one else on Ravelry has done this pattern to see what others may look like. I thought about messaging the pattern designer but I'll wait a little while longer and see what happens first. 

I picked this pattern because I had the colors of yarn I needed. So far though it's really cute. The back legs are nicely shaped and adorable. 

Slouchy Hats

 This was a free youtube tutorial by thepatternfamily. Slouchy Hat Pattern #348. Mine ended up smaller and a little scrunched up. I think because my tension is tighter than it should have been for the pattern. I changed the pattern at the brim because of that. I didn't do the decreases. 

I had this ball of baby dk weight yarn which is not what I normally buy. It was from years ago when I knew nothing about yarn weights. Now I stick to worsted weight yarn. So that's why I did this pattern because it used the smaller yarn. I still have way too much left. I'm really thinking about donating the rest to the thrift store. I just don't see myself using all of it. 

I actually made a teeny tiny bear amigurumi out of it too but thought crocheting that small was miserable. Right now I'm really into medium sized amigurumi. Not too small not to large. 

thepatternfamily youtube tutorials are a little hard for me to follow compared to some other tutorials I have watched. My favorite tutorials are definitely from BagODayCrochet. But the pattern families patterns are worth it to me to figure out. My favorite hat by the pattern family is the one that uses just the V stitch. I want to make a black one. So far I've only made scrap yarn hats from it. 

Amigurumi Spider

 

Last night I finished crocheting this cute little spider pattern I found on Ravelry. I made it for my husband. Here's the pattern. Free Spider Ami Pattern I used some small eyes I got off aliexpress. I really love how it turned out. The curly cue legs I thought were very unique. I think my ability to make amigurumi has really improved. I can't design them myself. But if I have a nicely written pattern I am pretty confident I can do it. 

I remember when I couldn't even read a pattern. I've been crocheting since around 2003. I know that's a long time. But I've had no teacher other than youtube lol. Also I have a lot of other hobbies. But it's been an interesting journey. And it has given me a lot of confidence. The boost of self esteem I get after finishing a project is really cool. 

But I have to give some credit to my clover hook .Without it amigurumi is much harder. That clover hook just glides though the yarn. I highly recommend a clover hook if you are struggling or straining pulling the yarn through. I read this really weird amigurumi book once where the author said making amigurumi isn't fun and is really hard. And they only like adding the embellishments at the end. That was the first amigurumi book I had read. And it hindered my progress a lot in the beginning. 

This person was having the same struggles making ami as I was. Only they wrote a book about making ami and published it from that perspective. Which made me think making ami was just difficult and not fun. I pushed through eventually though and found answers to why I was having so much trouble. Things like how to hold your hook and the invisible decrease and yarning under. Maybe I'll write more in depth about all those things later. I am just really happy with my ami skills now and I'm always learning more from youtube. 

 

Finished Buddy Bear 2.0

 

So I finished this little guy. He's a free pattern by craftably ever after. Patterns by craftably ever after. I learned how to connect the two legs and work up the body with this pattern. So I learned a new technique. Very exciting! 

The eyes are from aliexpress a store called masckaszem. I think they're gorgeous and the pic doesn't do them justice. He took me a few days but I crochet slowly. 🐌 All red heart yarn. And a 4mm clover hook. 

Broken Photos

 Just a quick post saying that the pictures on all the past blogs are broken from PhotoBucket's changes. So I took them all down and now have no way of replacing them. I don't know if I can upload straight from here and if so if there is a limit to how many. I miss when blogging and hosting pics was simple. I might try to make a return here. Who knows.