Sasha's Kitten

I know it's been a while, but with school and everything I've been pretty busy. I've crocheted some stuff, but really nothing to post about. This is a kitten I made for my cousin Sasha upon request. The link to the pattern is here



I sort of had trouble sewing the eyes, I don't have any buttons here (I'm in Moscow for the summer) and while I'm sure I can buy some somewhere, I've been trying to get better at sewing. Over all it was a pretty easy pattern, I recommend it.

Cabled Ear Flap Hat -> aka I have the flu

I have crocheted hats for like a billion people but couldn't for the life of me crochet myself a hat... or scarf for that matter. I'm too picky, I get caught in these existentialist struggles concerning my identity and how it will be reflected by the hat/scarf I choose to make for myself. I know thats absolutely ridiculous yet I find it SO much easier to make stuff for other people. Finally though I stumbled across Rheatheylia's free pattern for a cabled hat on her blog and was totally inspired to make my own. I used Caron Simply Soft in silver for the hat, and it came out really nice, like the yarn wasn't too heavy, it was soft and stretchy... basically perfect. I lined it with black fleece because the hat was a bit drafty due to the cabling. I was hoping to have it finished in time to ward off the flu thats been going around... alas I was too late. I finished the hat last night while watching lectures and this morning I went to the health center and was diagnosed with the flu. Dammit!


I guess I have time to make an accompanying scarf... though I'm really having trouble picking out a pattern. I'm experimenting with some of my own original ideas... I think I want the scarf to have a braided rope-y look, reminiscent of the braided cords on the ear flaps. What do you think?

Georges Dragon

Yes I think its pretty much official that my little brother is dragon obsessed. I made this over a month ago, but I haven't had a chance to post it up because life has been very hectic lately. I used a modified version of THIS dragon pattern. Once I realized it was all a matter of increasing and decreasing in certain areas I started winging it. Which may explain why my dragon looks slightly like a seahorse.


I would also recommend NOT asking picky six-year old boys their opinion or input. Right away they demand something impossible like "Can you make it breath actual fire?". Um. No. DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT! I wish I could. Jeez. Also George wanted me to attach the wings in a way that I didn't really understand so I just attached them the normal way and when he saw the dragon he burst into tears and asked me why I messed up the wings. Hmph. This was after I had spent like two days working on it with him looking over my shoulder and being all like "Why isn't it done yet? Why are you eating instead of working on my dragon? Where are you going, you need to stay home and work on my dragon!". SHEESH. I threatened to take the dragon and then he was all like "NO! This is the best dragon ever! Thank you my wonderful sister, you are beautiful as well as talented...". Well I wish he said that. No but he did thank me and about five minutes later demanded a companion for his new friend.



I also left the embroidering of the eyes and so on to my mother, so this really isn't the finished dragon, but now that I am back at school I do not know when I'll have new photos of it. So here it is.

Little Brothers Slippers

My little bro got jealous of my super awesome thick slipper socks so I made him some. They match his pjs and sort of look like smurf shoes. Thus, they are awesome. They also make his feet look a whole lot bigger then they actually are but I think its the camera angle. The only problem is, is they are sort of slippery on our hardwood floor. Well its only a problem for my mother and I, as George thinks this is great. He actually managed to get enough speed to slide across our living room, crash into a chair and break off one of its legs. Since he was unhurt he thought this was super cool. My mother did not. So maybe I'll find something at the craft store later this week to attach to the bottoms of the slippers to stop him from sliding so much.




Currently I am crocheting him a dragon. So I can't wait till thats done to post it up. Other then that I've been having a pretty mellow vacation. I've gotten into sewing though I'm not that great at it yet. I made and apron and a tea bag holder, which you can check out on my craft page. Also I have devoured all the Harry Potters, and a ton of other books from the library which I think are now all overdo and for which I believe my mother is going to kill me for when she finds out (I used her card).


I hope everyone has been having as nice of a vacation as I have (or just a nice January). I am going to Mexico on a family vacation on the 20th, but I'll try to post as many things as I can up. I apologize for the blurriness of the photos, I didn't realize they all came out like that. Damn my camera for being bought about 8 years ago.

Ned the Naughty Narwhal

When I first started crocheting my guy friend D asked me to crochet him a bag for his bong. Since that was not what I wanted to be crocheting, I wanted to be crocheting beautiful wraps and scarves and blankets, not a bag that would probably take a while to make and then get lost in someones house. That also couldn't be whipped out to show off, like a scarf could be. "Here mom, look at this great bag Masha made for my bong!" was not a cry I think I would hear. Ever. So basically I never did it, but this vacation I hung out with him again and was telling him about all my crafty activities when he brought up that bag. Oh the guilt. I had been telling him about how I made a hat for my boyfriends sister, and meanwhile I had neglected to make anything for D, and I had known him for about 5 years! That was basically the guilt trip he used on me. Or something like that.


Instead of asking for a bag for his bong, instead he requested one for a newly acquired bowl of his. He even sent me the measurements and everything, and asked to make it super padded because his stuff goes through a lot. I had been surfing Craftster and was specifically looking at a shirt embroidered with Narwhals when his data came through. It was like a light bulb went off in my head. AHA! I would crochet him a hollow Narwhal I could put a bag in. Discreet, fun AND handy! Thus Ned the Naughty Narwhal was born. He only took about a day to whip up, and actually making the bag to put inside him was much harder. I sewed two tubes with an open and closed end on each, and basically put one inside the other. Then I stuffed scraps of fleece in between them to make the bag super padded. After that I sewed an elastic onto the open end.


Let me tell you about sewing the elastic. First of all, it didn't really work out since I totally didn't think about how the fleece would be way too thick to fold too much, so as of now the elastic is stuck in this half way expanded position. Second of all, to sew the elastic in, I fitted the fleece tube over a water bottle, then fitted the elastic over the open end, then folded the fleece over on top of it and sewed it shut. Let me tell you, hand sewing through four layers of fleece is very very hard. Especially on your hands. I have actual calluses! I look like a lady pirate. Well my hands look like the hands of a lady pirate. Especially since I painted those dragons wings and the red watercolor paint is still sort of all over my hands. Red like blood! Arrghhh Matey! Ok back to the point. It took an ass long time to sew the elastic band in, to no real satisfaction since it didn't end up working really at all. Then I sewed on the eyes and mouth, and it was done! I also made the bag removable so that he could just through it in the washing machine when it gets too smelly. Genius huh.


Except for the super rad photo session with my little brother. Like my waves? He did the sun. I'm very sorry if I offended anyone with all my references to drug paraphernalia. I hope you like Ned though, no matter what your stance on certain issues is. I also hope you will all agree that my little brother is perhaps the most adorable kid in the whole wide world.

Crochet Hook Case

I made one. It is far from perfect. I wrote more about it on my craft blog since technically it isn't crochet. :) Be nice. Sewing Machines are scary.