:: aavrooman ::

Wee Robot

I saw a book on amigurumi robots and figured I could come up with a wee robot without having to splurge on a new book. So, here’s how the first one turned out. I might add a button on his tummy, but like him being minimalist. Fear my robot army! (:

Tags: amigurumi, crochet, robot

Yarn Skills of the Year

In December of 2008, I learned how to single crochet. This was probably quite frustrating for my mother who kept trying to yank the yarn out of my hands to let her just do it right. Apparently, I didn’t hold the yarn the right way or wrap it around my finger correctly to “feed” it to the stitches. I held firm though, and refused to let her take over. Please don’t judge her though. As someone who has a tiny amount of computer knowledge, I completely understand the frustration of watching someone fumble around clicking the screen, not using keyboard shortcuts, and generally “doing it wrong.”

This is supposed to be a post about new skills from the past year, but 2008 was several years ago. How is that relevant?! Well, because after making the iPod cover I was working on that Yule, I pretty much put the hooks and needles into storage and didn’t pull them back out until September of 2010. What prompted this? Well, as said in a previous post, I wanted to crochet a panda amigurumi. I found a free pattern, did a Google search for “how to crochet” and started off on the Panda Project.

Panda Amigurumi

It was slow going at first. The worst part was losing count of the stitches since working in a circle doesn’t give one a frame of reference for a beginning and an end. I’m sure there is a way to actually figure this out, but at that point I had not. So, I made lots of notes and would only work a single full round at a time, pencil out the round on the pattern, then move on to the next one. I’m sure there are mistakes in there somewhere, but the panda ended up looking pretty good and I’ve heard no complaints, so in my mind, he’s perfect. I’m guessing markers would help but I really don’t know how to use those either. Perhaps affixing a safety pin to the stitch from which to count might help. If you more experienced crocheters have any advice, I’d love to hear it!

Skill up #1: Learned to crochet in a round!

Even better was that I was invited to a crafting party. It was nice to talk to everyone, but my lack of attention to what I was doing meant I kept having to rip and start over. The lovely hostess noticed and asked me what I was working on. She then proceeded to tell me about the “magic ring” technique. Soon after that, I was given Creepy Cute Crochet by Christen Haden as a present. I had a bit of difficulty following the directions for the magic ring so it was back to Google. Soon enough, I had figured that part out as well and it was much easier than beginning the round traditionally.

Skill up #2: Learned to begin a round via the magic ring!

Working through a couple of the patterns in Creepy Cute I found myself confronted with double and triple crochet. I had downloaded a how to guide from Lion (download printable .pdf) and that gave me the general idea. By the time I actually needed to work the stitches though, I was visiting my mother so she showed me how. What really amused me was that she’s been working with those stitches almost exclusively for so long that I had to show her how to single crochet! It all comes back around. (To be fair, she would have figured it out without me, but it was nice to be able to just show her immediately.)

Skill up #3: Learned to double and triple crochet!

Overall, I’m happy that I learned new stitches and techniques, but I’m most proud of actually finishing several projects and being able to give them to friends.

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Tags: 2KCBWDAY2, amigurumi, crochet, Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, panda, skills, yarn