amagurumi and other crochet stuff

It looks likes it's missing some Infinity Stones.
Someone made that observation, too :) The original pattern was much daintier, but I used a heavier yarn and marginally larger hook because I was more interested in 1) being warm and 2) fitting my big man hands. Plus, I picked a rough and rustic looking yarn--and, well, my stitches are still a little rough.

Here's the pic from the original pattern at https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fingerless-gloves-218
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The most satisfying thing? This yarn was in a 1 pound skein, which was just too much and too unwieldy. So I wound off a smaller cake. At some point, I said "that's enough" and cut the cake off. This is what's left of that cake. So satisfying!

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big 7 oz skein for comparison. 1lbs is slightly more than double this size.
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Yarn wound into cakes with a yarn winder
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Ahh, if you had only started this thread a few years ago. My MIL closed her company December 2019, which was a high-end knitwear company. Funny enough, one of the items they sold was a glove similar to the one your making. Anyway, they had to get rid of SO. MUCH. YARN. So may colors, so many types. I could have shipped you skeins that you could have opened your own Etsy shop.
 
This one was a real challenge. It's not perfect, but considering that I used two different types of yarn from two different brands (red is acrylic, white is cotton) that were slightly different weights, I think it didn't turn out half bad. Part of the challenge was translating the pattern from Danish to English and hoping I didn't screw anything up.

New technique in this one: Blocking. This is where you pin pieces to a foam board and use water or steam to set the shape. Both the red and white bits wanted to curl something fierce, and there was no way I was going to be able to braid/assemble them without blocking. Luckily, I already had a clothes steamer from when I moved to TX and put all my stuff in luggage.

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Started Ralph the Reindeer on New Years' Eve but since Christmas was already over, I didn't feel any great rush to finish him up.

Since I'm between projects, I figured I'd finish up the snout and antlers and get 'er done.
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So, I figure, how can I learn to crochet if I don't learn granny squares? They're like, the bedrock of the craft. But before I get into that, I had a pattern for a "granny heart", which is made very similar to a granny square, but ends up as a heart shape. Plus, it had a new stitch for me to work on.

New technique for this: The treble crochet.
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I've been putting off making a cable scarf, because I'm not ready for it. All my test runs on scrap yarn are terrible. It requires a lot of front post and back post double crochet stitches to make the cable pattern, and I need practice. But you know what I'm ready for that also uses those stitches (on the decorative bottom rows)?

Yup, another beanie.

This one is in a bulky weight alpaca wool blend and it's super warm! It took me about 3 hours all told to make, so I'm getting better/faster at them.

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The angle of the photo makes it look like a hat one of my Strawberry Shortcake dolls would wear. I think it's the thickness of the band.
 
I had yarn left over, but not enough to make anything big. So I pulled out that old penguin pattern from the first page. The yarn weights were totally different. So, I had to use a different hook, and it ended up nearly an inch taller than the original penguin. So, because I was using smaller weight yarn for the belly and beak, I had to freehand extra rows and just use my experience to know when to increase stitches.

Since I was on a roll, I decided to add some more creative additions, freehand--the under-eye feathers help the eyes pop, I think. And I used a heavily modified version of the one-row heart pattern I made for my beanies, so that it made a clover shape instead of a heart shape, which worked great for feet. I'm so happy with how this turned out, and so proud of myself for being able to just one-the-fly make creative decisions that worked out .

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I got an email today with a new Woobles kit in it. And I looked at it and went "I think I already know how to make that!" So I did. No pattern, no kit mailed to me. I'm probably the first person in the world (besides the company owner/employees) who has made this thing because I didn't buy it and wait for the mail :) I'm awful proud of myself.

I did it in size 3 yarn I had lying around it the appropriate colors. These are usually done in size 4 yarn, so I'm including a pic comparing its size to the latest penguin I did in size 5 yarn. Their bodies are the exact same pattern to make the egg/potato shape.

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A good choice, considering the date!
That's why I made it :) The Woobles company sent out a "limited edition lunar new year tiger" kit email, but looking at the pic in the email I said to myself "I'm pretty sure that I can make this already just from looking at the picture. I don't need their kit" :D Every design element on the tiger, I've already done from one or another of their kits. It was just a matter of going "ok, ears like the fox, cheeks like the lion, tail like the cat" etc
 
Little pink lovebird for Valentine's day. As an experiment, I used 2mm paracord for the pink, to see if it was easier to work with than yarn. I figured the woven cord wouldn't split like yarn can, but it came with a whole host of other problems--notably being extremely stiff. That made it super-hard to work with. My hands hurt something fierce, and I've already put the remainder of the paracord in the trash.

That said, I think it turned out pretty cute!

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Dipping my toe in to the "corner to corner crochet" waters. It's a way of making blankets/afghans from, you guessed it, corner to corner instead of row by row. Because this yarn is variegated, it makes the steaks of color pool up in the clusters that this form of crochet uses. This is going to be a baby blanket for a family friend.

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