New projects!

It's been quite a busy time for me lately. I've made a small (12x16) pillow for a friend's daughter and 12 Sanrio characters. I'm also getting close to finishing the star afghan for my other friend's as-yet-unborn daughter. And I've been taking a cake decorating class at Michael's this month.

Oh, and I got old this month, too. I'm now nearly 26 and one month old and on my way out of my mid-20s!

My first Keroppi (I used the Tiny Hello Kitty pattern (Raverly link) as a base.

Mods:
I added an extra row of scs to the head (rows 6-10 go 6-11 instead and then start decreasing), obviously didn’t do the ears and did the arms a bit differently.
Eyes: (with white - the pupils are safety eyes)
magic circle, 6 sc
1: 2sc in each (12 sts)
2: sc around (12 sts)
3: 4 sc, sc2tog, 4 sc, sc2tog (10 sts)
4: 3 sc, sc2tog, 2 sc, sc2tog (8 sts)

Arms:
magic circle, 5
1: 2sc in each (10 sts)
2: sc around in BLO (10 sts)
3-4: sc around (10 sts)
5: * sc2tog, sc * 3 times, leave remaining unworked (6 sts)
Turn arms inside out

Oh, I also made his underwear white instead of blue, haha. ;)

“Blush”/Dimples/Cheeks:
ch2, 6 sc into 2nd st from hook
Fasten off. Trim excess and sew onto face.

My army!

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: