Hobbes: Crochet!

I am thrilled when I see my kids reading comic books. Perhaps some would gawk at this, but I embrace it. Of course, the comic of choice in our household is Calvin & Hobbes. If any comic could build a big vocabulary, that one would! I love that they laugh along side the famous duo even if they don't fully understand it. "What does 'nuances' mean?" "What's 'mayhem'?" "Why is Calvin's mom mad?" They then bring the comic to life as they reenact certain recurring events including G.R.O.S.S. meetings and Calvinball. But without a Hobbes, they have not been able to reenact the reunion of Calvin & Hobbes after a long day apart.

My oldest adores Hobbes. For Halloween we sprayed his hair yellow, found a red shirt with black stripes and he was Calvin. But he needed a Hobbes to complete the ensemble. However, Bill Watterson never allowed his characters to be licensed for plushies (or anything else for that matter) so finding a Hobbes look a like was a challenge. We were able to find a cute Hobbes substitute for the costume at a Goodwill that year, but ever since, my eyes have been scanning the web for crochet patterns. In my searching I came across several great Hobbes projects folks had crafted:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amigurumiphotos/4450655872/

http://www.cuteamigurumi.com/2009/06/29/hobbes-andno-calvin/


Of course Hobbes doesn't look like an active tiger all the time. To moms and dads he's just a stuffed animal:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=334522.0

http://www.amiamour.com/2010/08/hobbes-your-imaginary-friend/

http://sukigirl74.blogspot.com/2011/03/free-hobbes-crochet-pattern.html

I noticed that so much of what makes Hobbes great is in the details of his face, which each fiber artist interpets themselves. This gave me the idea to look at some generic toy tiger patterns that I could then adapt. I decided to start small and my first Hobbes was inspired by this Sugar n' Cream pattern:

http://www.sugarncream.com/pattern.php?PID=4772&cps=21191

I liked the full amigurumi style of this little guy, and the color scheme (doing brown & orange instead of black and orange) but he needed some major adjustments on body shape, tail length and facial features to really become Hobbes. The end result?

Calvin & Hobbes love the snow so much, you often see Hobbes wearing a scarf:

A quick work up of 5 hdc across to the proper scarf length gave Hobbes an accessory for the winter weather:

If enough folks are interested in the specific changes I made to the toy tiger pattern from Sugar n' Cream, I'll try to post it soon. For now enjoy a last C&H comic strip and come back this weekend for 

Hobbes & Hearts: The Valentine Version ^-^

Valentine's Day Bunting: Crochet!

Valentine's day was never my favorite holiday. Sure, as a kid, it's great to pass out valentine cards and any holiday that produced free candy was always welcome, but as an adult I never got into the "let's buy expensive gifts for one another" idea and over time my cynical views of consumerism and sappy Halmark commercials embedded itself so deeply that up till now as I tried to be a fun, creative mom to three kids, I shied away from the so called "holiday."

This year, however, my old calloused heart is softening to the spirit of Valentine's day. With the help of Pinterest I have found not only cute, reasonable priced (aka free) things to do around this heart-filled holiday, but also realized just how special it is when someone intentionally writes down, in their own hand, how special you are to them. I saw this great idea to have each member of your family hand write a "Valentine" to each other member of the family. Not just to sign your name on a preprinted "BE MINE" Valentine card, but actually take the time to think of the person, what they like about them, and then write it down in your own script. My kids need this. In a time when they are coming up against many hard decisions and difficult people, they need to know that their family, their brother and sister, their mom and dad think they are a wonderful and important part of their family.

With this on my heart, I thought some small decorations in the realm of hearts would be appropriate to set the mood.  But I couldn't just do any ol' heart thing. It had to be unique. I tried to do pink and red and white...but this just made me sit back and sigh. It just wasn't the look I wanted. If I was going to put forth effort in this endeavor, I was going to LIKE the color scheme. Here's what I came up with (thanks to Pinterest helping me discover this fun pattern from Julia Crossland):

mmmmmm....red & teal!

Lots of HEARTS!

Bunting Love

YAY! I'm beginning to like Valentine's Day!

I had such fun crocheting these as I watched our recorded Australian Open match between Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer (although it was hard to see Rog continue to hit it into the net!! ARG!). As I said, I tried to do pink and red and white, but I just needed my red and teal combo so I broke from the Valentine norm and made it my own. If you see the cute "LOVE IS" print from I Corinthians, you should head on over here to grab the free printable. 

I hope your hearts are softened to Valentine's Day as mine has been! And if you need a little softening, grab some soft yarn in your favorite colors and make a heart garland of your very own this year - it'll be sure to help!

Goodie Bag Giveaway Link!

Twinkie Chan is a crochet goddess. She inspired me from day one of my crocheting career when I was perusing amazon for crochet pattern books that did not include frail white doilies or chunky afghans. Once my eyes caught glimpse of her colorful wonderful food-iness, I was a goner.

Whether you know her awesome hooking skills or not, now's a great time to go visit because Twinkie Chan is having a fabulous give away right now! Go check it out TODAY as one lucky person will be randomly selected Jan 20th.

http://www.twinkiechan.com/blog/2012/01/13/lil-giveway

I want that cherry zipper pull SO BAD!

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

Replacing the Blades

I live in Vancouver, Washington just across the river from Portland, Oregon. I normally just say I'm from Portland because although people don't seem to confuse Portland, OR for Portland, Maine, they will assume I'm from Canada. Folks living in Vancouver, WA are blessed to live where the evergreen trees sink their roots into the soggy soils of the Pacific Northwest. The grass is almost always green. The Columbia River is full of rushing water. You see, it rains a lot.

Because we Vancouver-ites are well versed in rainy days, we are those who own several umbrellas, rain boots and buy Rain-X (although, we are also the most likely to be found in the rain without umbrellas because we learned long ago that unlike the Wicked Witch of the West we won't melt if caught in the rain).

This exposition brings me to my point: It was a rainy day in Vancouver yesterday. Not unlike other days, except that my wonderful husband and I were planning a drive to Portland and found ourselves in a car with horrible wiper blades. We stopped by Napa and picked up some replacement blades.

I was wary because I'd heard how difficult they can be to replace, but our need outweighed our lack of expertise and we bought them. Once the old blades were off and we were examining the directions to reattach the new blades, I saw something that boosted my confidence in this endeavor:

Oh, yeah, I got this one. 

W.I.P. (after Christmas version 1.0)

Christmas has come and gone. What a blur it was at times! I found myself fairly busy finishing up presents as well as keeping up with the Marcel requests through Etsy. You could hardly find me without a crochet hook in my hand! It was quite a learning experience and I do need time to process and reflect on how I dealt with the holiday rush. But when Christmas finally arrived, I was able to put away my crazy crochet filled head and enjoy celebrating Jesus' birthday with my friends and family. It was a wonderful 3 days of Christmas eve (also the day my first born celebrated his first double digit birthday), Christmas day, and Christmas day-off Monday ^-^ There was glorious food, way too many presents, and a viewing of The Christmas Story. Classic.

In the holiday rush, (and I kick myself as I realize this), I forgot to capture on digital camera my crocheted creations. I made 10 scarves (two of them from this cute v-stitch pattern), 2 cowls (based on this convertible cowl pattern I found), and an ipad cover in a glorious red with the red angry bird's face sewn on in felt pieces (based on this ipad cover pattern). I also made one Hobbes the tiger. He lives in our home, so his photos and story will go into its own post at a later date. In the midst of all this gifting I whipped up 6 Marcel the Shells as well!

But even with all I DID accomplish, I am still mid project for at least 4 things! So without further ado, here's my W.I.P Wednesday pictures! The project are all now patiently waiting for me in my large new tote I got for Christmas ^_^

A first attempt at a double yarn project!
Hoping the Oregon Duck's fan in our family will like it come his birthday ^_^

Isn't it just obnoxious when you run out of yarn?
And then don't you just *HATE* it when the store ran out of the color??!
This is a soft red yarn from Deborah Norville's Serenity line and is working
up great for this cowl, but I just one more skein!

I am nearly done with this open lace style scarf.
I based it on Mary Poppins' scarf, but in a peacock
blue instead of coral. It should be finished with fringe
if it ever gets done!

The awesome large tote that now holds my W.I.P.'s!
Thanks, Babe!

And last I want to leave you with one of my favorite gifts of the 2011 year: A bird feeder! Yes, this bird feeder is going to be put out this spring, but with a unique purpose: as bird nest fodder for all the young birdie families in our yard. I saw this adorable idea on pinterest from fiberfarm.com and got this cutest bird feeder to stuff my yarn scraps in. I just think it will be so much fun to have the birdies build their nests with soft, colorful threads! It's like yarn bombing in disguise!

My bird feeder full of yarn scraps to be put out on the first day of spring!

Happy New Year to all!

~kari

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!