Double Pom Pom Hat

I picked up some Loops & Threads Charisma from Michael's today since it was on sale for $2. I've been wanting to make a new hat as a prop for holiday photos and I wanted to use my pom pom maker for it.... So I made this double pom pom hat.

Pre-Pom Pom

Pardon my strange expressions!

Double Pom Pom Hat

Yarn: Super Bulky

Hook:  6.5mm/K
Size: Should fit an adult woman (obviously ;P) or a child 4+ (there's some stretch to it!). For adult men, I'd recommend a larger hook or adding 4-6 stitches to each row.

ch21

Rnd 1: 40 hdc around - 40 sts

Rnd 2 19 hdc, inc, rep - 42 sts

Rnd 3: 20 hdc, inc, rep - 44 sts

Rnds 4-16: hdc around - 44 sts

The pom poms were made with Clover's Large Pom Pom Maker using white Caron One Pound and the Red Charisma from the hat. I just put both strands from the prom pom and put them through the corners of the hat and tied them tightly.

I imagine that using worsted weight, a 5.5mm hook, and doing something like this would likely work as well:

ch34

Rnd 1: 68 hdc around - 68 sts

Rnd 2: 33 hdc, inc, rep - 70 sts

Rnd 3: 34 hdc, inc, rep - 72 sts

Rnds 4-24?: hdc around - 72 sts

Nerd Dollz

I don't normally do this, but I found this Etsy shop when I was browsing "Supernatural" things (talk about going down the rabbit hole... It all started because A Dog's Life Animal Rescue posted a Groupon, that charity coincidentally being one that Jared Padalecki endorses [I chose the charity as the one I wanted to donate some of my ebay proceeds to since it seemed cool and I <3 my dog... and then see that there is a random Supernatural connection to it, haha]).

I digress.

I found this shop, NerdDollz, on Etsy. Normally, I see something like this and am a bit "meh" about them, but not only are these dolls seemingly very well made and designed, but they are realistically priced. (I am NOT a fan of overpriced sh!t on Etsy... it, IMO, goes against the community feel). I am very tempted to buy myself an early present of these:

How awesome are those?! And they're just, like, $70 for all 3.

Also quite fabulous is this:

Yes, that is Ezio Auditore from Assassin's Creed. Cute, right?

Think of a nerdy character and this shop seems to have it! Star Wars, Harry Potter, Kick Ass, Avatar, Shrek... even Twilight. And I'd imagine the seller is open to suggestions as well.

I've seen other amigurumi (though not Sam, Dean & Cas) and am seriously inspired! I'm going to have to see if I can make anything nearly as cool (maybe as gifts, but also maybe just for me). And if & when I am unable to (whether it be skill or time lacking), I'm going to have to pay the awesome Shannon Nix from Shawnee, KS to make me some!

Speaking of fantastic crochet nerd amigurumi, I also wanted to plug PigCorner.com's ami patterns... She, too, has an Ezio that is awesome:

Pattern and video tutorial found here.

Creative and crafty nerds are so fun!

PATTERN: Stargazer Lily-esque Flower

Inspired by all the crochet flowers I've seen on Pinterest and wanting to make some flowers for a friend's daughter, I made some stargazer lily-esque flowers. :) I made this first one in purple because it's my friend's favorite color AND because I had both next to me after finishing another friend's purple owl hat.

Stargazer Lily
Center: 12 sc into magic circle (could also ch2, 12 sc into 2nd ch) Fasten off.
Inside of petals:
Attach yarn to 2nd st of circle, ch10. Fasten off.
Attach yarn to 4th st of circle, ch10. Fasten off.
Continue attaching yarn to every other st of circle, ch10. Fasten off.
Outside of petals:
Attach yarn to first st of magic circle.
2: Sl st into 2nd st (where your inner petal is), tr 3 times into ch, dc 2 times, hdc 3 times, sc into next, sl st into end, sc into next, hdc 3 times, dc 2 times, tr 3 times, sl st into base of petal, sc into magic circle.
Rep 2 for all petals, sl st to join.

I used a 4.5mm hook and worsted weight yarn (Red Heart Super Saver Yellow, Caron One Pound Iris, Lion Brand Pound of Love Lavender) and made a flower that is about 5" from petal tip to petal tip.

PATTERN: Install Ball Animal Orb

Install Ball:

Yarn: Worsted Weight. I used Caron Simply Soft Black yarn for the middle and White for the embroidery, and their Brites Lime for the rest.

Hook size: 5.5mm

With black, 12 hdc into magic circle
1: 1 hdc, 2hdc into each st - 18 sts
2: 1 hdc, 2hdc, rep - 24 sts
3: With green, 2 hdc, 2hdc, rep - 30 sts
4: 3 hdc, 2hdc, rep - 36 sts
5: 4 hdc, 2hdc, rep - 42 sts
6: 5 hdc, 2hdc, rep - 48 sts
7-11: hdc around - 48 sts
12: 4 hdc, hdc2tog, rep - 42 sts
13: 3 hdc, hdc2tog, rep - 36 sts
14: 2 hdc, hdc2tog, rep - 30 sts
Embroider white & start stuffing
15: 1 hdc, hdc2tog, rep - 24 sts
16-18: hdc2tog, rep - 12/6/3 sts


Obviously, the install ball is easy enough to do, haha. You could also use sc instead of hdc and just do a few more rows (1.5 more, I imagine!).

Been awhile!

Domo-Kun Hat
(note: I tried to list this on Etsy and was reported as having
violated copyright for Domo... Just FYI, the company who
owns the rights are nazis and not especially friendly people)

I have been crocheting, but I haven't been updating here for awhile! I've made quite a few Castle Crashers hats for fans on Etsy, as well as baby hats and starghans for friends and family. I also made a domo-kun hat with a bit of pseudo-intarsia.

And a dog sweater for my puppy (though he has since grown out of it, ha).

Right now, I'm working on play food again, this time for a different friend's daughter. I've been looking all over the internet again for inspiration and patterns and have, again, found several.

So far, I've made several more strawberries (what can I say? I like how they come out!), a few chocolate chip cookies (a different pattern than the one I did before smaller)

Christmas Tree Sugar Cookie (crappy cellphone photo - sorry!)

- a Christmas tree cookie: Created using Suzie's pattern for a tree here. My modifications:
For the bottom tree, I simply added another row to each section and adjusted the following rows accordingly (9hdc after row 3, 7hdc for row “4”, 11hdc after row 7, 9hdc for row “8”, 17hdc for the final row).
Then, I embroidered white lines to the front of the green tree and sewed the green tree to the bottom tree.


- A few fried eggs
- A donut
-Some sushi rolls:I intend to make some with red in the middle, some with red & green and maybe some with red, green & orange.

5sc into a magic ring with “filling” color(s)
ch1, 2sc into each sc with white, join w/sl st - 10 sts
ch1, 1 sc, 2sc all around, join w/sl st - 15 sts
ch1, Sc in fr loops only with brown, join w/sl st - 15 sts
5 - sc around - 15 sts
6 - ch1, sc in fr loops only with white - 15 sts
7 - ch1, sc, sc2tog - 10 sts
8 - ch1, sc2tog with “filling” color(s), finish off - 5 sts


I intend to also make another banana, probably another corn, some more cookies, maybe some pizza, toast, sandwich...

I also want to finish making some rattles for another friend's daughter (donut type with the heads of Hello Kitty, Minnie Mouse, Princess Leia and perhaps a 4th girl one).

Japanese Patterns - Chihuahua!

So I have a few crochet pattern books that are entirely in Japanese. I just realized I might have been able to ask my "cousin-in-law" (who knows the language) for help, but no need! I was intimidated by them for awhile, figuring I needed to know how to translate Japanese to English. It took me needed to make a Chihuahua amigurumi for a friend to finally look into how to read it - And I'm SO glad I finally did! It's way easier than I thought since they use a bunch of charts with symbols and numbers are universal. I was a bit weary when I looked up symbols and realized that the ones in the Ami Ami Dogs book I have were nowhere to be found, but it was pretty easy to figure out what /x\ meant.

I used large shank buttons for the eyes and embroidered his nose and mouth with black yarn. The bow collar is removable (it's "closure" is a hoop that loops around the bow).

I give you, Melanie's Chihuahua:

Rammy (Castle Crashers Animal Orb)

Crochet_Rammy02, originally uploaded by SykoSam.

Rammy is my favorite animal orb and so my first animal orb would of course be Rammy! :)

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Edited 02/01/2012: This pattern has been removed because some people don’t know how to respect others… If you leave a comment on my facebook page, I may send it to you, but I am otherwise making it unavailable.