My very talented father (of Poncho and Chico fame) has started his own carving blog: Tributes in Wood. And he’s having a lot of fun with it. So far he’s posted his first three caricature carvings (including Zeke the bank robber, shown below). I’m hoping he’s also planning on taking some nice photos and posting all of the other carvings he’s done over the years.

So click on over and have a look.

In other news, I miss blogland! I’ve been gone for so long. I’ve been loving teaching but, not surprisingly for any teachers out there, find that it consumes a looooot of time. So, I haven’t had much time for crochet lately. Or let alone blogging about it.

I was looking over some photos from the summer and realized that I never posted some jewellery stuff that I made! I’ll have to get around to that at some point as well.

Well enjoy the holidays, folks! And happy crafting!

I’ve discovered a new thing to crochet! And now, unsurprisingly, I’m unable to put it down.

I was inspired by Irregular Expressions to try out the technique of using beads and crochet cotton to make jewellery. (I’ve known about Irregular Expressions for a while now, and every now and then I just go to their Flickr page or Etsy page and drool a little bit. Click on the links and I guarantee your jaw will drop.)

Here is my first attempt at a cuff:

Basically, I just strung a bunch of little beads onto the cotton before I started crocheting, and then I just added a bead to the middle of some of the stitches. I’m totally in love with it.

So, I also made one for Odis.

Except hers doesn’t have beads. Because either her or Boo would chew them off and eat them. I also dissected on old collar of hers so that I could use a safety clasp on this new collar. She says she would prefer that I refer to it as a ‘necklace’.

I am so addicted to this now! I’ve been making quite a few of these little jewellery things. More to come!

Woah, my desk is a mess. Although, maybe I prefer calling it ‘controlled chaos’, for, even though it is piled high with craft/school/financial/amigurumis/sewing  machine/garbage/other random stuff, I still managed to find some partially finished scribbles of my Totoro pattern that I started a year and a half ago. Woot!

(Random pattern scribbles complete with genuine coffee stain.)

SO, I quickly typed up the pattern (using a lot of shorthand – but don’t worry, there’s a little explanation at the top) and filled in the blanks by staring at the stitches in my finished Totoro for a while. So, while it’s not a perfect pattern – it’s free.

ENJOY AND MAY YOUR TOTOROS BE PLENTIFUL!

I heart Totoro. I only discovered the movie about a couple of years ago, and I was completely swept away in the adorable whimsy of all. I even have a Totoro painting in my living room.

A whiiiiile ago, I started making a large Totoro doll. I finished up all of the crocheted bits, then I set him aside until I ‘got some felt’ to finish off the details. It only took a year and a half for me to get around to ‘getting the felt’.

After the felt was good and gotten, it only took a grand total of 15 more minutes to complete him … so HE’S DONE!!!

He’s currently sitting on my mantle, along with my shuttle, various craft gifts I’ve received and a nifty horsey-pulley-thing we took from Mark’s parents’ cottage (it’s possibly actually called a yoke). Here’s our mantle:

Well, I suppose I need to start this post by way of some updates …

First of all: I finished my teacher’s education program. Yay! About a month ago, I attended my graduation ceremony (it was actually my first time on the ‘official’ campus – oops) and ended up sitting a few rows in front of a certain famous celebrity.

Second of all and more importantly: I GOT A TEACHING JOB!!!1!!! So, when this September rolls around, I will officially be a SCIENCE TEACHER. I am super excited about this and I can’t quite wait until September.

I also have been getting back into the swing of crafting now that I’ve ended up with a lot of time on my hands. I was inspired by my Dad’s carving of Chico and Poncho. (Aside: he has since done TWO more carvings … I really should post some pictures of them as well.)

So I decided to crochet my own Chico to give to him for father’s day. For comparison, here is a close up of Dad’s Chico (he is only about an inch tall):

And here’s my Chico.

And here he is beside their (now one-year-old) dog, Rosie. Be very impressed that she was able to stay still for the picture; she is not a stationary dog.

Chico still needs a little red kerchief. Mom and I are both on the look out for some scrap material.

Next up: adding the long-awaited finishing touches to a project I started *gulp* over a year ago.

Well, I’ve been mia for the past couple of weeks, but there is a pretty good reason: I’ve been out placement teaching…PHYSICS! Phew. It’s been super busy. I haven’t had much time for the usual crafting. Instead, I’ve been making things like little motors and speakers (oh, and lessons. Lots and lots of lessons.)

Speakers are sort of crafty, right? Well, maybe it needs more sparkles.

In other crafty news, my Dad has finished Poncho! He’s also made him a dog named Chico. (I heart Chico.)

Oh, and he’s already started on his next cowboy carving. The next one’s name is Ringo. I sense a theme.

This Christmas, I got Dad a whittler’s pocket knife from Lee Valley. (You really can’t go wrong with giving my Dad a pocket knife as a present.) He was so excited. As soon as we’d had breakfast, he was already down in the basement pulling out the best block of wood to carve something out of.

That something ended up being Poncho.

Pretty crazy, right?

Dad had quite a lot of fun carving him. He’s even invented an entire back story for Poncho. See the chunk out of one of his ears? That was from a bar fight. Even his gun is holstered backwards. Because that’s just how he rolls.

Dad even pounded out some metal for the spurs and attached some copper on the rifle. 

When I left after Christmas, Poncho was just starting to materialize. At the time, he had a uni-brow, but Dad has since decided that Poncho should have two separate eyebrows. Here’s a picture of Poncho when his feet were still a work in progress:

And he’s not even done yet! Next, Dad’s going to paint him. I haven’t seen any pictures yet, but Mom says his pants look like they’re made out of real worn khaki. I’ll update you all on Poncho once I get my hands on some pickies.

As I frequently do, I went on a little bit of an amigurumi binge last week. I was inspired by someone at teacher’s college who also LOVES crochet and is venturing into amigurumi making! (Isn’t it so exciting to meet someone else who understands your craft obsession?)

So, I decided to make a ninja. But just to mix it up, I gave her a little skirt – just like the girl Power Rangers (shout out to Power Rangers!)

She’s hanging out on my amigurumi shelf now, which is getting a little crowded. However – that did not stop me from making my girl ninja a little friend.

Ah, I love me some squirrel. It occurred to me that I haven’t had a squirrel in the house for at least a year (!) The squirrel was decidedly overdue. As a bonus, I love how they ended up being the same itty bitty size.

As I was looking for eyes to use for the squirrel, I discovered this beautiful pair of sparkly green eyes. How did I forget that I had these? I think they make my little squirrel look very ‘forresty’. I feel like these little guys satisfied my amigurumi urge … for now. Enough at least to get going on some squares that I’ve decided to make into a new laptop case. More to come!

Well, I certainly had an enjoyable (and very long) holiday break! However, the break was quickly followed by ramming myself back into school gear and trying to complete a ton of school projects that are due this month. Phew!

My snowflakes that I gave to people for Christmas were a hit! I had loads of fun making them, too. There were even a few little ones left over for me to hang on my tree next year.

The cats loved Christmas. Odis’ favourite part is opening the stockings. She plops herself squarely in the middle of them and won’t budge until everything has been unwrapped.

Boo tends to find his own fun (see below).

In crochet news, Mom gave me a gift bag for Christmas that was full of random, colourful yarns (which made me ridiculously happy). I’ve been working away at some dainty little squares using my new colours, although I haven’t photographed them yet… also, I haven’t even decided what I’ll end up making with them. A tote? A new laptop case? Perhaps inspiration will strike at random.

Also, I found a new place to buy yarn that’s incredibly close to school!!!!!!! And it’s way cheaper than Michaels. It’s called Len’s Mills, and I think they have a few locations in Ontario. I bought a bag of stuffing there on Thursday for – and keep in mind that I get furiously excited over simple things – $2.63. Gah! And they have Patton yarn. Nice.

Now that I have some stuffing again, I feel an oncoming amigurumi spree. Last night I made a yellow ninja with a skirt. I feel as if she needs some friends. Updates to come.

OK. So I’ve been a little obsessed with snowflakes recently. I discovered this amazing directory of snowflake patterns linked from a fantastic blog called Snowcatcher. I seriously recommend checking this out. This woman has mad snowflake-making skills. There are over 100 snowflake patterns on that directory and they are all unique. Amaze-balls.

I started experimenting with some patterns using the only white yarn that I had lying around: acrylic worsted weight. So, the first two are a little on the chunky side.

But then I went to Michaels (with coupon in hand) and purchased by first ball of skinny cotton yarn! Armed with the cotton, I went to town on more snowflakes.

One amusing thing I learned: don’t rub your eyes while you’re crocheting with this stuff because the mascara that rubs off on your fingers will show up on the snowflake. And it won’t come out easily. Rats.

I stiffened the snowflakes by painting on a glue and water mixture. I bought some sparkles today at the craft store, so I’m planning on experimenting with them on my next two, which aren’t stiffened yet. I’m also planning on attaching a red ribbon to the tops of them, so they can be hung on a Christmas tree.

I’ve been leaving the snowflakes to dry on wax paper on the kitchen counter. They’ve sort of been taking over the kitchen lately… Mark’s starting to get a little worried. He’s asked, ‘Is this a new thing?’ (Knowing my track record on crafting obsessions, that’s a fair question.) I’ve assured him that I’m giving them all away for Christmas, so he doesn’t have to worry. Well, maybe I’ll keep just a few…