More Than Meets the Eye

As soon as I saw the Crobots book by Nelly Pailloux, I knew I had to have it. I loved the idea of little crochet robots, some of them using other materials, such as screws, bolts, and springs. When I bought the book, I wasn't very experienced, but I found my first Crobot very easy to make. It took me only a day (I don't remember when exactly I made this, but I'd say sometime around the beginning of June), and had a great time finding parts to add to it from my husband's tool box. I'm just now sharing it on the blog, because I didn't have another spring to add for his second arm until now. He is very small, as you can see in one of the pictures below.

Materials used:

3.50 (E) hook
Red Heart Design Sport (face-Pool), Red Heart Soft (head/body- Chocolate)
2 safety pins (for the ears)
2 buttons (for the eyes)
1 screw
2 springs from ballpoint pens (for the arms)
10 washers (for his legs/feet)
Poly Fluff stuffing
Yarn needle

To see all pictures of this crobot, please click here!

Flash Your Stash! An Ongoing Meme

I was talking to Alea from Pop Culture Junkie and we got the great idea to have an ongoing Flash Your Stash Mr. Linky. I thought today was as good as any day to start! Do you have pictures of your stash lying around that you would like to share with the world? Then you've come to the right place. Just like Work-in-Progress Wednesdays, just add the link to your post showing off your yarn/craft stash. You can share a new link every week/month/year, whatever works best for you! I think it would be awesome to collect a bunch of links, new and old showing how much our stashes have grown (or decreased, but when is THAT ever going to happen?). I will be keeping a link in the sidebar, so feel free to come by an share your link whenever you can!

I present to you, my VERY modest stash at the moment:

This is where I keep most of my yarn. Here is a picture with the lid open and all the yarn out of it.

And closed.

This is Milo, or at least his huge head. He's only a Corgi puppy (15 months old) so he's always very interested in my yarn, which is why I have most of it in this chest from Ikea! As you can see, he's a perfect height to open it and get into trouble.

This is most of my current stash. Not all of it fits in the Ikea chest, so some of it just sits in a cardboard box or a wood crate downstairs. Usually I keep my WIPs downstairs, because that's where I work on them the most. I make mostly amis, so I buy a lot of acrylic yarn, but there is also a few others in there.

Oops, these were downstairs when I took the big picture, so I didn't want to leave them out. They get their own photo!

This is some of the yarn put back. As you can see, I try to put the small stuff and a few others in bags. I find it easier (and cleaner) that way, as I have a dog and two cats. As I mentioned, not all of it fits in here, but I'd say 3/4 of it does.

Well, now that I've shared my stash as of today, please share yours!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 3

First off, I wanted to announce that I am going to have a Flash Your Stash post this Friday with a Mr. Linky so we can all show off our stash of yarn! It will be an ongoing post (hopefully) so I won't be closing the Mr. Linky and will be adding a link to it at the sidebar of the blog. Feel free to post a link to your Friday Flash Your Stash post and add an updated picture whenever you like. Who doesn't love to see everyone's piles of beautiful yarn!?

Now on to WIPW3! Wow, did last week fly by! Unfortunately, I was sick for most of it, so I didn't get too much crocheting done. It just felt weird handling yarn being so stuffy and feeling gross. The bad was of course being sick and not crocheting. The good was I had tons of time to think up fun new projects! Once I started to feel better, I cruised through the dinosaur I have been working on for a swap (almost finished!) and did a decent part of the afghan I showed in WIPW1.

Here are both projects, closer to completion!


As I mentioned, I have an old picture from our first WIPW. It may not look like a huge improvement, but believe me...it is! I'm using the afghan stitch which is taking forever, but I love the result. The blanket is turning out thick and lush with no holes. The next square is going to be cream with brown flecks, and then solid cream. In the next row over, I'm going to offset the colors. I hope it makes for a good pattern! I can't wait to get the second square finished and the 3rd started.



This is where I'm at with the dinosaur for my swap. I hope to finish it tonight (the legs and eyes/mouth) so I can send it out, along with other goodies tomorrow or Thursday. I'm pretty proud of it (despite the lumpy tail) since it is the first thing, besides the cupcake, without a pattern. Though I didn't write the pattern down completely as I went (since I winged it), I still hope to make another one and iron out the issues I had with this one. I hope my swap partner likes it! I'll be posting the swap I send to her once she gets it (just in case she comes here) and will also be posting the box I receive! It's a round-robin swap this month, so it will be from different partners.


To share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in yours to get the word out! The more the merrier!

Under the Sea with Razzy

As I previously mentioned, my first amigurumi book was Amigurumi World: Super Cute Crochet. Before realizing I could find free patterns on great sites like Ravelry and Crochet Pattern Central, I used Amigurumi World for my first several amis. The octopus was one of the patterns that made me swoon, eventually leading to the purchase of the book. I couldn't believe how cute he was! This was my 3rd ami ever made, and I'm really proud of it. To this day, it holds up to my most recent ones. The hardest part was to fit all 8 legs and make them look good. I named him Razzy. :)


Materials used:

3.75 (F) hook
Red Heart Super Saver (body and legs-Lavender )
Pink felt
9mm safety eyes
Poly Fluff stuffing
Yarn needle

I worked on him from April 17-25.

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 2

Welcome to WIPW 2! I hope everyone enjoyed last week. I know I did. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone progress on their projects and what new they've been working on.

This week, I'm only going to share one WIP. The blanket I shared last week hasn't progressed enough to show again and the other projects will be shared on the blog in a completed state!

Here is my newest amigurumi:



I started this just yesterday when I was with Sharon, from the website Ami Amour (Visit her site. She makes amazing amigurumi and has a lot of great patterns for free!). This is our second meet up and we had a great time talking and crocheting at Panera Bread. This is my first true ami that I've come up with myself (other than the cupcake) and so far I'm happy with it. I'm doing a swap on Ravelry (my very first one) and this month the theme is dinosaurs. When he's done, he'll be a Brontosaurus...or so I hope! LOL

To share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in yours to get the word out! The more the merrier!

Back to the Beginning

When I first found out about amigurumi, I went to my local bookstore in search for a good book to learn from (before I discovered Ravelry). There were so many great ones, I couldn't decide! I ended up with the one that looked the best for beginners, yet had adorable patterns, Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet. The book is great for someone like I was, who was honestly new to the crochet world as well as the ami world. I thought I would share with you my first two amis that I made from the book. When I first made these, I was SO proud of them, but now I see that they do have a few issues. In spite of that, or maybe because of it, I love these two.

Materials used:

Cupcake:
3.75 (F) hook
Red Heart Super Saver (frosting-Baby Pink, cake- Cafe )
Black Beads
Poly Fluff stuffing
Yarn needle

Cup of Coffee:
3.75 (F) hook
Red Heart Super Saver (coffee- Cafe), Caron Simply Soft (cup- Dark Sage)
Pink felt
Black Beads
Poly Fluff stuffing
Thread
Yarn needle

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 1

Welcome to the first WIPW (Work-in-Progress Wednesday)! I can't wait to see what everyone is working on this week. Just post a link to your blog post in the Mr. Linky widget below and it should save it so everyone can check it out.

I have a few projects going myself, in different stages of completion:


I started working on this hat this past Sunday and haven't been able to pick it up since. It seems it will be a little bigger than I originally intended, so it will probably end up a hat for my husband. I'm using Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn in Navy. Not to sound cliche, but I do love this yarn! It's reasonably priced and much softer than Red Heart Super Saver. The only problem is, I don't have a Hobby Lobby near me (or in California for that matter), so I have to order it without seeing the colors in person. Kind of a bummer, but I think I will be ordering more for sure!




My best friend in my school years just had a baby and I thought it would be great to make an amigurumi for her new son. His nursery doesn't have a theme, so I thought a yellow and blue giraffe would look cute in any baby's room! As you can see, I have most of the pieces finished (minus one horn) and just need to spend the time putting it all together and adding the face. I can't wait to see how he turns out! It is a free pattern from Red Heart.



Last but not least, you will be seeing this in the WIPW posts for a LONG time. About a month ago, I learned the afghan stitch and decided to start a wool blanket for the upcoming winter. I love how thick the stitch ends up, but it is slow going! I'm doing each square individually and then will connect them. The yarn is Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool yarn. I'll be using the brown with cream, solid brown and then cream with brown once the blanket is finished. I haven't worked on this in awhile, but it's a nice change from making amigurumi.


As I mentioned above, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in yours to get the word out! The more the merrier!

Simply Scrumptious

First off, I wanted to remind everyone tomorrow is WIPW! Don't forget to stop by and share your WIP in tomorrow's blog post!

On my writing blog, we had a challenge in the month of July to write 1,000 words in a day. At the end of each week, we gave away books. At the end of the month, we decided to give a huge prize pack to one of the participants. I thought it would be fun to include a little amigurumi along with the literary-themed items. Since I was doing the challenge on the Ravelry forum, Amigurumi Army this month (the theme is sweets), what a perfect opportunity to make a new cupcake! Everyone loves cupcakes, right?

Yesterday I made this cupcake. I usually use a pattern, but I decided to try my hand at making it my own. I wanted it to look like the fancy cupcakes you see now in the cupcake shops with the mile high frosting. It isn't exactly how I wanted it to turn out, but I still think it's pretty cute. The winner of the prize picked purple frosting, and since I had two different purples, I decided to use both to give it a little more characters.

Materials used:
3.50 (E) hook
Red Heart Super Saver (frosting-Amethyst, frosting- Lavender, cake- Cafe )
6mm safety eyes
Poly Fluff stuffing
Yarn needle

I worked on it from August 9 and completed same day.

To see all pictures of this cupcake, please click here!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday Meme!

I was thinking of different weekly posts for this blog and and I had a great idea (or I think it's great!). I want to start a Work-in-Progress Wednesdays (WIPW) meme. The idea behind it: Every Wednesday I post what I'm working on and/or how far I've progressed (if it's a project that stretches beyond one week). It will keep me crocheting and blogging, two things I love.

Here's what I'm most excited about. I would love if we could get a group of craft/crochet/amigurumi bloggers together to do the same. Anyone is welcome to participate, as long as your WIP is a craft project. It doesn't even have to be crochet! Using Mr Linky here on my blog, we can each post the links to our WIPW posts (it can be a description of your WIP, video or pictures). It will bring traffic to everyone's blogs and there will be a central place for all the links, so it's easy to check out all the projects. I love looking at what others are working on, it's a great source of inspiration and fun.

Who's up for trying it this coming Wednesday?

(I got the idea for a WIPW meme from two blogs that I read that host a weekly post similar to this. I want to give credit, where credit is due: Alea's blog, Pop Culture Junkie and Kristi's blog, The Story Siren, inspired this idea. Thanks girls!)

Turtle Time

After making the reindeer for my oldest niece, I figured I would do the same for my other niece who was turning one years old. Even if she wasn't going to play with it at a young age, I thought it would be fun for her to have it for when she gets old. I wanted to make something that wouldn't take me too long, but would be fun and more colorful than the reindeer. I looked through my Ravelry patterns in the queue, as well as books and magazines I had around the house.

Deciding on a cute tortoise pattern I had from the Crochet Today! May/June issue, I picked out soft but easy yarn to make amigurumi with. The pattern was for a mama and baby tortoise, but since I didn't have much time I decided to make the smaller of the two. I had this great yarn that I got because I loved the colors, but had no clue what I was going to make out of it. Seeing it again, I knew it was perfect for the project. I had a tight deadline and actually got it done hours before my niece's birthday party.

Below are a few pictures. At first I thought the eyes were a little big for how little he turned out, but now I like it!

Materials used:
3.75 (F) hook
Red Heart Soft Yarn (shell-Embers)
Caron Simply Soft (head/bottom of shell/legs-Lt Country Peach)
9mm safety eyes
Poly Fluff stuffing
Yarn needle

I worked on it from May 23-June 9, 2010.

To see all pictures of this turtle, please click here!

Reindeer in May! It's Never too Early

My niece's latest obsession are reindeer. When my sister mentioned her May birthday party was going to be reindeer-themed, I knew I just had to crochet one for her! I quickly went onto Ravelry and found a perfect (and free) pattern (you must be signed into Ravelry/Lion Brand to see it). Since it was the middle of the year, I figured I would make it with a brown nose and teal collar so that she could play with it throughout the year, instead of just during the holiday season.

Below are a few pictures of how the little guy turned out. I was actually pretty happy with it since it was one of my first larger amigurumi projects.

Materials used:
3.75 (F) hook
Red Heart Super Saver yarn (antlers/hooves/nose/tail-Coffee, body/legs/head- Cafe)
Red Heart Design Sport (collar-Pool)
9mm safety eyes
Poly Fluff stuffing
Yarn needle

I worked on it from May 2-23rd, 2010.

To see all pictures of this reindeer, please click here!

Welcome to Tami's Amis and Other Crochet!

Welcome to my crochet and amigurumi blog, Tami's Amis and Other Crochet! I started crocheting around December of 2009. It wasn't the first time I attempted to learn the craft. I was interested in crochet when my mom took it up around 2002, but there was one small problem...I'm left-handed and my mom is right-handed. Each time she tried to teach me, I could never figure it out.

This past winter, the craft itch held tight as I struggled with my first creative outlet, writing. I ran to Michaels, bought a skein of Red Heart Yarn and a cheap plastic crochet hook (size J). Sidling up to my computer, I searched youtube and found great videos for left-handed crocheters! I've been a crocheting fool ever since. I can't walk through a craft store-or for that matter any store that carries yarn-without running my hands along the skeins and usually I can't resist buying a few.

I decided to start this blog as a way to share my projects and gab about all things crochet. Please come back to see what fun things I'm cooking up as I learn how to design my own amigurumis, work on projects for friends and family and more! I'm a member of Twitter and Ravelry, so feel free to click the links in the left sidebar to follow me!

In the coming days, I will be posting recently finished amis I've worked on, including the patterns I used to make them. I hope you drop by again soon!