Kitty Cat {Work-In-Progress}

Hello All!

Sorry, I haven't shared anything this week. I haven't had time to finish any orders because my weekend, which is usually filled with lots of crochet and relaxing, was instead spent on the road so my husband and I could see each other for a long weekend. His job transferred him to Minnesota, and here I am in Georgia finishing out the school year teaching dance (which I do love, but I'm telling you, I did not get married to live a 2 days' drive from my husband!) 

So I decided this week that I would share a WIP with you, and share the final product later. 

This is an adorable cat, designed by Sue Pendleton (pattern available at Ravelry.com) Rebecca, my precious student who asked me to make this for her, requested a hot pink dress, rather than the light pink one pictured below: 

photo credit: Sue Pendleton, found on Ravelry.com

Tabitha, a Toy Cat

So this is what a kitty face starts out looking like. I figured I'd better show  you the one with ears and a face first, so you wouldn't question my sanity/crochet skills :) Sometimes when you are at the beginning or in the middle of a project, it can be hard to see how on EARTH it will turn out looking like the picture...yet we persevere...

I know, this just looks like a random bumpy shape and a tangle of yarn. But then...

 ...add eyes, a nose, and mouth, and instantly we have personality! Once I added the face, it was a lot easier to see the adorable kitty cat that would come into being through my crochet hook! Adding the stuffing helps a lot to see the shape of the head and nose, as well. 

However, I thought it still looked kind of bald and weird until I added the ears: 

Ah, there we go! 

I have also finished the arms and 1 1/2 of the legs, but they look kind of strange and you can't really tell what they are supposed to be, so I decided to spare y'all the awkward photographs (I could just see you turning your head sideways and saying, Is it supposed to look like that? And the answer is yes, but once again, when you're in the middle of a project sometimes it is hard to see the end result). 

A Dapper Dinosaur

I'm thinking about calling this collection of yarn animals the "Loopy Zoo Collection." Here is the latest installment, a super cute dinosaur with a dapper bow tie and top hat!

The basis for this pattern came from a free pattern available on Ravelry.com by Nicki Sandoval.  You can find it here. However, I made quite a few adaptations, including redesigning the head so that his nose (snout? What does one call that part of a dinosaur's face?) was a little larger. In the original pattern, the nose was not very differentiated from his face. 

I also redesigned his feet so that they had more of a foot shape, instead of being simply round. I did the little chap's left foot first, just sort of making it up as I went along. When I tried to recreate it for the right foot, it came out quite a bit larger, as you can see, and I'm not sure why. I'll work on it a bit more and give you guys the pattern later, once I have the bugs worked out. 

I decided to give him a bow tie because when I sewed the head and neck together, there was a rather obvious seam, and I wanted something cute to cover it up. Because this dinosaur is a boy, and is a gift for a little boy, I decided on a bow tie. 

And then I thought he was looking a little bald, and I figured a top hat would go quite well with the bow tie. And he was starting to look so dapper, I loved it!

Then my mom suggested giving him spikes down his back. For the spikes, I tried my hand at steam blocking for the first time, and I don't know if I didn't let it sit long enough and get completely dry or what, but I was not that impressed because the spikes never did get quite as pointy as I wanted them to. 

I'll post my patterns for the dinosaur's bow tie and top hat, and if you want more details about the way I adapted the dinosaur pattern from Nicki's original pattern, let me know. 

I realize this is not even remotely accurate to any sort of real dinosaur...for one thing, I don't think dinosaurs even sat on their bottoms like this, much less wore bow ties and top hats, but we're just gonna roll with it...and I think he turned out very handsome. Hope you enjoyed!

Love, 

Emily

The Unicorn Reunion Tour!

Like I said in my first post, my crochet unicorns are my most popular items. I have made over a dozen custom orders for my students and others (using this pattern from Eden Dintsikos, found at Ravelry.com). This post will show a small sampling of the various possible color combinations, although there are endless possibilities!

Madelyn's unicorn shows the most popular color combination: white and hot pink. 

The unicorn on the left is Isabella's, and the one on the right is Brooke's. 

I love how they added their own accessories to personalize their unicorns and showcase their personalities! This photo shows how you can easily adapt the size of the unicorn by using different thicknesses of yarn and different sizes of crochet hooks. 

Brooke's unicorn was one of the first I made, in light and dark purples. I love how Brooke added her own accessories--a pink fuzzy headband/crown, and a cute little pink dress!

Isabella's unicorn (which she named Clara) is made with hot pink and peach yarn, and she added a tutu and legwarmers that came with her American Girl doll, which happen to be the perfect size!

Here's a better picture of the legwarmers, and the cute little braided tails!

A little seal friend for Grace

One of my students, Grace, asked me to make her a panda and a seal (this may or may not have happened last November...ahem). I am just now finishing up her seal, and I have to say, I think it has turned out adorable. When I first started working on it, I was afraid it would turn out looking like an earthworm.

As you can see, it totally doesn't, it has such cute little tail fins! It also helped a lot once I added the nose. It made him seem much cuter and friendlier (if he's a him...he might be a she...I guess that's up to Grace). 

But as you can see, our little seal friend is still blind. I created the eyes below based on the instructions of the designer of the pattern (Valentina Oglezneva, I purchased it here at Ravelry.com), but I really struggled with painting on the yarn. I don't know if I didn't have the right paint or the right paintbrush (the only one I could find was pretty wide, so I was trying to paint all this with the corner of the brush), and it also seemed like the yarn was really fuzzy and made it hard to paint the circles well. You can see the weird fuzzies I'm talking about, right? 

Plus, the eyes seemed REALLY big for our poor little seal's face. So I decided to show them to Grace before I finished sewing them on. She wants button  eyes instead, so back to Hobby Lobby I go! I will post an update when our little seal can see!

A New Venture (and Adventure)

I am starting this blog as the first brave attempt at growing my little baby craft business.

I like to crochet toys (the technique is known as amigurumi) for my family, friends, dance students, acquaintances...anyone who will enjoy them and needs their day to be brightened a little!

Picture from Yarn Yard

My most popular item thus far has been this crochet unicorn from Yarn Yard (the link will take you to the free download page at Ravelry.com). Here is a similar one from Little Yarn Friends. I will post pictures of my creations (in all the different fun colors, and two with wings added also!) soon, but photography is not my strongest skill, so please be patient!

I have also made toys by request: two giraffes, an elephant, a jellyfish, a wolf, a seal, a panda, and currently I am working on an adorable puppy dog (among other things)

And then there are the usual projects in crochet: scarves, dishrags, baby blankets, other various size rectangles...pictures soon to follow!

I need all the advice I can get on crochet, crafting in general, starting a handmade business, and being a successful entrepreneur. I know this blog and the business will start slowly, so for right now I am treating it like an important hobby/semi-part-time job. I am going to start looking into getting the proper business licensing and really growing though, because when I move to Minnesota in May, I want to be able to rely on this as an extra source of income and a way to keep me occupied while I look for another job in my other area of expertise: dance (particularly ballet, modern, and musical theater). AAAHHH! Lots of terrifying (but exciting!) changes are in my future.

Will you come along on this new venture/adventure with me?

Questions: 

1. How did you start your handmade business? Did you let it take off slowly, or did you jump in with both feet? 
2. What has been the biggest thing that has helped your business to grow? A blog, going to craft fairs, setting up an online store? 
3. Are there any resources you would recommend (crochet/craft, business/entrepreneurial, or other)? I have Kari Chapin's books, The Handmade Marketplace (which I read and was extremely helpful) and Growing Your Handmade Business. Any other books, tutorials, blogs, etc. that you found helpful?