Time for a check in! How are you doing? Did you get any new patterns or books? I finally got Megan Lapp's book Crocheted Creatures of Myth&Legend among others in the last month. hat are some of your favorite patterns or book? Do you have a go-to when you need a gift or just busy work? I usually end up making hats for donation when I need busy work or I'm in a crochet slump.
One of my other loves is Sumikko Gurashi. I love Tonkatsu! There's an Uwajimaya grocery store with a Kinokuniya book store inside in my town. I like to go and look at the crochet books, they have some in both Japanese and English. I do get the Japanese ones every now and then because they use graphs and numbers most of the time. This is one of my favorite books to make useful household items from.It's in Japanese but it has charts to follow so it's really easy. Next to the book is a cup washer I made from it. What's your favorite "useful items" book? What have you made from it that you use the most? Share!
Supplies! We as crafters need supplies. Lots of them. Sometimes it's hard to find what we want. I've noticed safety eyes over 30MM are hard to find. I did find a person on Etsy who sells 40+MM eyes though. The account is GurumiSupplies and they have tons of eyes and even eye tools in different sizes.
I'm still trying to find super chunky and blanket yarn in a wider variety of solid colors. I'm not sure why they don't make as many sold colors in larger yarn but it's annoying. I don't really like ordering yarn online cause I can't see the colors for real and make sure it's the same dye lot. I have quite a few yarn shops in my area but they have the nicer stuff. I usually use softer acrylics cause I make mostly toys and utilitarian things. You can easily spot clean acrylic or even toss it in the wash machine which makes it great for toys and useful things.
What is your favorite type of yarn to use? What do you usually make? Do you have problems finding the supplies you need or want?
I made a Plague Doctor backpack from BeautifulArtsnCrafts on Etsy. I used blanket yarn (jumbo) instead of the chunky yarn suggested cause I wanted an actual usable size. It did not disappoint! And the best part was it only took me about 9 hours. Aside from waiting for the 40MM safety eyes to get here. I'm going to make one iin doubled chunky yarn and one strand chunky like the pattern calls for.
This is the backpack add on but she has a pattern for just an adorable plushie too. Definitely check her out!
Ever get in a crochet funk? Just nothing appeals even though crocheting is the number one non-human thing you love? I do. When that happens I go back to my "crochet roots" for the things that made me love it in the first place.
For me that's amigurumi. I love making toys. I also love learning new stitches and patterns. It's always good to have skills to draw on in a craft, especially when you make something you've never tried before. If you've lost your crojo, try learning a new stitch or pattern of stitches. It usually opens the floodgates for creativity as you think of all the things you could make with the newly learned skill.
Have you learned any new stitches or patterns during Covid? Please share!
