The funny little Octopus craze

I was posted the same picture, by three different friends, living in three very different parts of the world the other day,

This was the picture, it's very cute, (the pattern can be found at: Pattern...http://www.1dogwoof.com/2016/05/crochet-jellyfish.html ) I couldn't get the idea that it was more a jelly fish than an Octopus, but I think that was half my problem when making it - I couldn't differentiate between the two (you'll see why in a moment. )

Anyway, I set to, crocheting this little cutie, I was worried I wasn't up to the challenge, because I'm really not good at following patterns, but somehow, this is a fantastic pattern, I found it incredibly easy to follow before too long, I'd the top and a few tentacles completed, I finished there for the night, I wanted to add a few more tentacles in the morning, and just complete it (I'd forgotten at this stage what it was, and I had visions of different coloured tentacles)

Morning came and I set too to complete my project, I decided the beautiful teal green I'd got in my stash from Aldies not so long ago would be the perfect colour to add to the lilac I'd done the main body in. Continued with the tentacles - which I was finding quite therapeutic to do.

Face embroidered on - just about the one thing I do not have in my stash are safety eyes. Googly - yes, safety - no! Tied all the tentacles together and shoved them through the main hole in the centre of the underbelly, tied them off, filled the body with toy stuffing, and single crochet (UK double) around the edge. I did take a photo of it as it was in it's finished state, but I was a bit too flippant with the editing and found I'd deleted the photos I wanted.
Continuing on, I thought it would look nice with a frilly edging , just to make it look a little more authentic - at this point,I was thinking it looked more like a jelly fish than an octopus, infact, I'd completely forgotten I had started making an octopus! So I went around the entire body section making a little wavy pattern all around the edge - and VOILA! A Jelly fish!

At that exact point, I remembered I was making an Octopus and mine had 9 tentacles, so I had to cut one off! And Voila!! an Octopus! <3
I posted the pictures of my efforts onto a crochet page on FB only to find, EVERYONE had been sent the same photos that I had, and that everyone was making them. Amazing really, to think how these funny little crazes happen. However, on a happy note, the world is now full of funny, furry, and beautiful Octopusi :) 

Woolly Nutella

I've been getting some stick recently for being just about the only person in the world that hasn't tried Nutella - I can't say it's one of those things that has appealed to me - ever! Anyway, I decided to get a jar and add my own twist.

I decided to Knit my own jar of Nutella so people can stop feeling like I'm missing out all the time :p
Officially, the jar belongs to a friend of mine, and it will be dutifully returned to her (she, incidentally thought I'd crocheted around the jar of Nutella in it's entirety, she wasn't impressed until I showed her the real Nutella jar in all it's unopened glory!)

I crocheted around the jar using UK double stitch (US single) changing colours as I saw appropriate, once I'd decided the white was enough around the main body of the jar, I then did the top (mainly because I was still using the white) I kept increasing until I thought it looked about right. Once I was happy with the fit around the top of the lid, I then crocheted one round through the back of the loop, thereby giving the lid a clear cut "fold" down, then I continued down the side of the lid without increasing until I got to the edge, I then did a round of decrease stitches to give the jar that separated lid look. 

Picking up on the base again, I did another couple of rounds of white, then finished it off with about 4 lines of brown, again decreasing on the last row to about the same number of stitches as the lid. 

I cut out cardboard for the side and a circle for the lid to give the "jar" a stable look, then filled it with toy stuffing until it was firm. 

The fun part was all the embroidery for the label, I crochet embroidered the writing on but used a needle for the knife (which unfortunately doesn't look at all authentic, but was the best I could do given the space confines) The bread was a challenge, I had no bread coloured wool, so had to improvise with two different colours of yellow, ok, so it ended up looking a little like a sunflower, I think, in the main, it was ok. I did a few squirly bits to try to make the chocolate spread on the bread look a little more authentic, then moved onto the flower which I did separately and then sewed on. The hazel nuts were crochet embroidered on, and the leaves done separately and, again, sewed on. 

I then sewed the lid onto the base with a simple running stitch that was hidden in the lid. 

All in all, I'm quite pleased with it, it's not as authentic as I had hoped, but, considering I've never done this kind of thing before, and I am still a novice at crochet, AND, as usual, I'd no pattern to go buy, I just did my "thing" and kept going until I was happy with it. I think it turned out ok really :) 

Cutting costs on a Birthday card and present.

It was my friend's birthday yesterday (Sunday) I've known her nigh on 30 years, which is quite incredible, as I've known her longer than I've known my husband, and he's been in my life since FOREVER!
I'm incredibly short of cash at the moment so I was struggling with ideas of what I should do. I desperately wanted to send a card, but I don't "do" cards, so I was uncertain of where to start.
In the end, I just got out my pens and some stamps and stamped out a butterfly and roses. I played around colouring the butterfly in, and then went over many of the lines in silver, and then did the same with the roses.

 This was the basic design I came up with, but it looked a little bland, I wanted a bit more - but didn't know what. My trusty FB friends came to my rescue and suggested a little glitter and some wording. I was always going to add the Happy Birthday on the front anyway, but wasn't sure about the rest.

 In the end, I came up with this, I think it's quite cute, especially for a non card crafter :p

 I hope she liked it too, the whole lost cost me no more than a first class stamp, I certainly appreciate the value of the whole project <3

I "kinder" like this little Amigurumi milarky

I apologise for my little play on words - I was trying to think of something to do with owls - I found out that the Latin for Owl is BUBONEM - don't say I don't teach you something new :p Talking of something new - I did something different yesterday, I came across some lovely little Amigurumi crochet "beings" on Pintrest (yes, sorry - back on there again!) they were crochet around the Kinder Surprise toy pods - they Yolk part of the egg. I instantly fell in love with them and (of course) I just HAD to have a go :p

I'm so pleased with the result, I wished I'd done some kind of tutorial/pattern to remind me of what I did - but I've now set all my friends on Kinder Egg eating excercise (you know that prayer? "Please God, if you can't make me skinny, then please make my friends fat" - I think someone might have been listening because I'm still not skinny, and the opportunity to make my friends fat has arisen)
Anyway, I started with a magic circle and just kept going round increasing the stitches until I'd got to a suitable size that would enable me to start circling around the sides. From then on, I just kept checking the crochet fit the egg. When I came to the top of the bottom piece, I crochet backwards (Crab stitch) until I got to the last 4 stitches, for which I resumed ordinary crochet I then continued going round, decreasing until I was left with one stitch.
I then crochet a circle for the stomach and one for each eye. At this point, Neil laughed and said it was rubbish and didn't look much like anything - so I scrapped the stomach and used felt for the wings and tail, the eyes and beak were still crochet. A small square for the top of the head and ears completed my owl for the night.

the following morning I'd set my heart on giving it some character, so I continued to play around and fiddle until I was happy enough to glue the crochet on to the "yolk"

Tadaa! The end result.

I love him, can't for the life of me think of a name, but he's gorgeous, and I'm pretty pleased with my efforts. 

I'm Inspired!

I have so many friends who tell me I'm so artistic and creative - I'd like to agree, but usually I'm stuck with making the same things that everyone else makes - well, with the difference that I can't actually follow patterns - I'm much better with pictures. So everything I make is, generally speaking, marginally different to what was intended - ah but hey ho, life would be boring if everything looked the same, so what if mine's a bit crooked and wonky, it all adds spice to life.
This morning, as I was doing my usual heavy duty peruse through Pintrest,  I was inspired by these little cat book marks, they're so cute, and perfect for me to make and build up supplies for my car-boot table (ANYTHING to build up funds until I find a job)

Aren't they just SOO cute? I'd love to receive one as a gift, however, usual problem - I can't, for the life of me, follow the darn pattern, so (as usual) I've done my own thing.

I don't quite know what went wrong, but it's still kinda cute. I'll have to figure out a longer tail, I thought 50 stitches would be long enough, but then I decided to be clever and ended up with a curly tail. It still looks FELINE which is the main idea, so I'm quite happy with it :) Ah well, onwards and upwards as they say <3 

A Change of Name

I fancied a change of name this morning. My old name was far too long. I LOVE my crafts, and I think I'm quite an amenable character (in the main) so I thought it was quite fitting. Besides, I opened up an online shop in Etsy last week, in a mad dash hope to set myself up as a crafter, my shop name is AmenableCrafts so I've linked the two together (mainly because I prefer Amenably Crafty as a name, but thought about it a bit too late :p ) I also have my items on my Facebook selling page - Amenable Crafts.

I have decided I'm too old and decrepit to continue with Maternity Nursing, I've been so poorly recently on jobs, I did take myself to the GP (practically unheard of) and had an all singing all dancing blood test - turns out my Vit D is absolutely rock bottom and I'm possibly on the cusp of Diabetes 2 - certainly it would explain why I was always so poorly after a few weeks in the job - I'd just work myself into a frazzle and my body would react by forcing me to stop.

So the decision has kind of been forced on me as well, certainly, I can't take it up again until I'm back to full health, so in the meantime, I'm looking for some work that will give me some pennies, that will still enable me to pick myself up as a serious crafter. 

Now, typically for me (being Dipsy and all that) I cannot possibly stick to just one craft, that would be just too darn easy!!!! No! I have to try all and sundry, my craft room (was playroom, and previous bedroom) is stocked up to the hilt with beads, wool, material, sewing machines, embroidery machines, glue, wire, pliers, scissors - you name it - I've probably got it stashed somewhere! 

I hope to start blogging about my crafting experiences, some will be successful, and probably several won't, but that isn't going to stop me - at least you'll know where I went wrong and you won't be making the same mistake as me!