Chronicles of Meap: Crochet!

From the amazing adventures of Phineas and Ferb comes the not Bungaroo named Meap. In fact he is a space alien, and probably the cutest one you've ever seen. He even vomits rainbows, which is somehow adorable. Without his translating mustache he simply says "Meap!"

Isn't he SO CUTE??!

And now, my version of Meap done crochet style:

Hook size G
Yarn: WW white, WW pink
Felt in blue, black & white
Yarn Needle & a tiny bit of black yarn
Thread & Needle
Fiberfill

Unless otherwise posted, this pattern is worked in the round:

HEAD (using white)

MC 6
R1: 2 sc in each st (12)
R2: *1 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (18)
R3: *2 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (24)
R4: *3 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (30)
R5: *4 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (36)
R6: *5 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (42)
R7: *6 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (48)
R8 - R19 : sc around (48)
R20: *6 sc, sc2tog* around (42)
R21: *5 sc, sc2tog* around (36)
R22: *4 sc, sc2tog* around (30)
R23: *3 sc, sc2tog* around (24)
WORK ON FACE: Cut out a large blue circle, smaller black circle and 2 small eye highlights
Sew the eyes onto the head, note: they are fairly wide set
Using black yarn & yarn needle, embroider mouth. This took me forever, trying to find just the right way to show an underbite. Work it until your happy with it.

R24:*2 sc, s2tog* around (18)
R25: sc around (18)
F.O.
STUFF with fiberfill



HAT (using pink)

MC 6
R1: 2 sc in each st (12)
R2: *1 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (18)
R3: *2 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (24)
R4: *3 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (30)
R5: *4 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (36)
R6: *5 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (42)
R7: *6 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (48)
R8 - R18 : sc around (48)

EARS - make 2 (using pink)

MC 6
R1: 2 sc in each (12)
R2: *1 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (18)
R3- R6 : sc around (18)
F.O. leaving a long tail
STUFF & SEW onto hood. Do not close the ear, but as you sew onto the hood in a circle so it stays puffed out.

BODY (using white)

MC 6
R1: 2 sc in each st (12)
R2: *1 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (18)
R3: *2 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (24)
R4: *3 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (30)
R5: *4 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (36)
R6 - R18: sc around (36)
R 19: *4 sc, sc2tog* around (30)
R 20-R22: sc around (30)
R 23: *3 sc, sc2tog* around (24)
F.O. leaving a long tail

ARMS & LEGS - make 4 (using white)

MC 5
R1: 2 sc in each st (10)
R2: *1 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (15)
R3-R16: sc around (15)
F.O. and leave long tail
STUFF & SEW legs in the circle shape (open) onto the bottom of the body section.
STUFF & SEW arms first by sealing the opening with a whip stitch. Then sew onto the top of the body section near the neck.

Assembly:
Attach hat to head.
Attach head to body.
Attach arms & legs as suggested.

Cut out black felt mustache & sew on, if desired.

He's a cute fella and turned out almost "life" size! A good snuggly :)

Meap!

"

Etsy Sale!

In honour of the birthday of the late great Dr. Suess (and the inspiration for my Cat in the Hat mini hat clip) I am having a store wide sale at my Etsy store through March, 2, 2012!

^-^ **~** Enjoy a 20% discount on any mini hat clip! **~** ^-^

I'm sure I'm not alone when I mention that my kids' elementary school has a big Dr. Seuss "to do" in the month of March with tall striped hats and a green eggs and ham breakfast. Big and little girls alike would look absolutely adorable wearing a pint sized version of the Cat's famous Hat! I will be happy to take orders through mid February on orders that need to arrive by Dr. Suess' birthday (March 2nd).

My youngest is a big fan of the amazing Dr. Suess and has opened my eyes to more of his books than I even knew existed! While I grew up memorizing rhymes from Yertle the Turtle, Cat in the Hat and the tongue bewitching Fox in Socks, my sweet boy has grown up reciting lines from Hop on Pop, Horton Hatches the Egg and What Was I Scared Of? 


And so to sign this post off, some wisdom from the man himself:

"Today you are you, that is truer than true

There is no one alive who is youer than YOU!"

Discount code: drsuess2012
works only at
http://www.etsy.com/shop/karilandia

Karilandia: my etsy store is OPEN!!

Hello blog world. Have you all been as busy this season as I have? If so I hope it's the happiest type of busy ^_^

I can't believe I haven't officially announced the news: I have opened my etsy site!! I think because of my type A personality, I've been waiting to get my etsy button up and put some more items up at the store so it doesn't look so bare and so I kept putting it off. Well, I will just have to let go of that and for better or worse let the world know that you can check my store Karilandia from Kariland here.

In all honesty, I had created a few little things and had my drafts up on etsy for a long time but wavered on committing until I had some lovely people contact me about my Marcel the Shell plushie. I was flattered it was an item I could provide a unique take on, since as far as I know no Marcel plushies have been manufactured. So I've made four Marcels in the last 2 weeks and decided the most legit way for buyers to purchase my items is through etsy. All my Marcels have been purchased, but I'm sure I'll make more after Christmas and let them live in karilandia for a while. So that's the story of karilandia opening!

I will also admit that I was absolutely gleeful when I received my first happy feedback!  I love my little creations and hope everyone else will too! Currently these silly hats live in karilandia:

photo curtesy of Tim Denison Photography

photo curtesy of Tim Denison Photography

photo curtesy of Tim Denison Photography-
isn't he great?

They are mini hats from some of my favorite characters/movies/books attached to a clip for just a touch of silliness or a statement of your state of mind for the day. I invite you to visit kariland, look around and come back often. I will be able to add some more items in the next month o^o

As for now...Christmas presents await for the making. I have so much lovely yarn, I'm swimming in velvety reds, pine greens, chocolately browns, and loving it!

Merry Christmas to all!

Baby Beanies and Working in the Round

I have recently found reason to crochet a couple of beanies for baby-sized heads. There are over a hundred free beanie patterns out there and I spent a great deal of time sorting through them. I found two patterns that I thought I'd share here for those who are looking for cute, classic styles.

 These two patterns are easy to follow and, as you can judge from the picture, simple, classic styles that can be easily adapted for your own style/color/ideas. The basic baby-sized beanie to the left is found on the video tutorial here and the green one with ear flaps on the right is written out here.

Working in the round is the method for both of these beanies, as well as amigurumi. Although in beanies you find more variety in stitch type, whereas in amigurumi proper it is the single crochet across the board. For both beanies and amigurumi you can achieve working in the round two different ways:
1) Continuous Rounds       or
2) Joining Rounds

To determine whether you'd rather work in continuous rounds or joining rounds it is helpful to know the pros and cons:

CONTINUOUS ROUNDS: Continuous rounds simply means you circle up on top of each round without breaking (imagine a soft serve ice cream swirl).When working continuous rounds, you need to pay closer attention to stitch count since the start of each row will look no different from the middle of the row. This "burden" can be eased by using a row marker. Whether you purchase plastic ones from the store, or simply use a piece of contrasting color yarn at the start of the row it's purpose is the same: to serve as a visible marker for each row's beginning so you don't have to count.

Plastic markers or a contrasting yarn color help "mark" each row

If you are using different colors in a single pattern a continuous round will produce a "jump" as seen in the blue and tan hat.

I consider this to be the back of the hat and it doesn't bother me

In general, continuous rows have a very fluid look to them with no ridges or gaps, which I find to be a "pro" that outweighs the "con" of the color change issue.

JOINING ROUNDS: When working with joining rounds, each round is its own concentric circle (think of stacking rings on top of each other, like the children's toy). The round ends with a slip st into the first st of the round and then 1 or more chains are made to add height to start the next round, depending on which stitch you are using. I find the biggest "con" for joining rounds is a slight gap between rounds that goes out in a diagonal from top to bottom.

The "pro" to this is that counting rows isn't necessary as the gap created makes it easy to see when to end the round.

As I shared earlier, I personally prefer working in continuous rounds in spite of what some may think is a pattern flaw. And certainly when working with one color it's not an issue at all.

I hope that helps clarify your options for working in the round. If you encounter a pattern that does continuous rows and you prefer joining, you can easily adapt it by joining the last st with a sl st into the first st and starting the next concentric circle with as many chains as matches the height of the stitch you are using (1 ch for a sc, 2 ch for a hdc, 3 ch for a dc, etc).  If you prefer continuous rounds and the pattern suggests joining, simply skip the sl st and any additional chains and continue working on top each round.

I love the braids off the ear flaps!

Chain Chomp Hat

I had a brilliant idea to crochet something Super Mario Bros related for each of my children this Christmas. There are some GREAT patterns and inspiration out there but I was still fairly green at this crochet thing and the amazing patterns like wolfdreamer's Mario and Luigi  seemed a bit out of my league. So after much deliberation I settled on the Chain Chomp Hat for my eldest. I figured it could get double use as a toy and keep his ears warm through the winter.

My inspiration for this project was based entirely on fashiondiva's creation at Cut Out + Keep found here. I dug around for cute & easy crocheted beanie and decided to follow this pattern but kept the rounds going amigurumi style instead of joining as suggested.

*4 dc into one st, sk, sl st, sk* repeat for scalloping

To the beanie pattern I added a scallop edging in white for teeth front and back. I fastened white sc chains made into loops as eyes.

back of hat has teeth, too

Grey sc chains made into loops attached at the tippy top are his chain (gotta have one broken chain at the end to show that he's OFF HIS CHAIN - WATCH OUT!)












It turned out a bit big for a 9-year-old head but did get some use and perhaps his brains will grow into it in the coming years.






 Thanks to my ☺adorable☺ model you can see just how large it turned out with a G hook and WW yarn.

I'll post the my other Nintendo Super Mario Bros crocheted projects soon!