Saturday, November 27, 2010

Cats On Parade, At Last!!!




Here are the infamous Maneki Neko Cats I finished Tuesday night. Oh holy moly this was a big order BUT they are done and I am celebrating a job well done.

These very lucky cats were ordered by my friend M.G. last month. I broadcast on my Facebook business page that I had room for two custom orders before Christmas. M.G. did not waste any time booking those two spots plus one. She asked me if I had heard of Maneki Neko cats. I had not, so I looked up some images. I pulled 8 images that I liked. I made some sketches and M.G. purchased a custom order listing through my etsy shop.

The listing and sale can be viewed by clicking here...
M.G.'s Maneki Neko listing and sale

The two cat's images that she picked were quite spherical, which is a good thing for designing an amigurumi pattern. It took me a month + 1 day to complete the design & pattern for my Lucky Cats. This includes crocheting all the parts and construction. I also have most of one more doll's parts made. I am relatively quick knitter and crocheter, but I have 4 busy sons that I homeschool. My boys are 13, 11, 8 and 2.5 yrs old. I don't have much continuous time to work...but I will have more time in the future. I didn't even give M.G. a deadline for when her dolls would be done because my life is nuts right now. So a month and a day is pretty good for accomplishing these little beauties...especially when I do most of my work here at home.

So here are my Cats On Parade... enjoy. I will be creating a listing for the 4th doll and making a pattern by chance in the future. Please let me know how you like these :o)



All my amigurumi have heart...these gals have theirs hiding under their medallions.



Two of the little gals...you can see their facial details are embroidery. I had to learn to back stitch in a hurry. Hurry is not a word I like to mix with crafting, EVER!!!


I am learning to carve outs time during my day to knit or crochet. I am going to be sewing some clothes soon, which stops life around here.
I won't be able to clean or think about anything else.



The lucky cats are doing a super hero thingy with their super cool upright hands.



MEOOOOW x3



My baby talking to the cats and trying not to touch them.
He really did well...and did touch them.



Lucky medallion...hopefully I didn't mess up the Japanese lettering...



A little packing shot. I am still loving my yellow yarn, most passionately.



We've got tags and we're complete !!!!!

Three sweet cats with their tags. I cannot wait for these little gals
to get to their new home and get out of the box.

Thx M.G. for the special custom order.
These guys were so theraputic for me to complete.
Stay tuned for the 4th doll to be on sale in my shop.

I cannot keep my eyes open any longer...will check for typos tomorrow.
xoxoxox
shan

p.s. Update 11/29 via MG via knit shan knit on Facebook
'The Cats have landed' plenty of time before Christmas where they will
be given as gifts... What a fun thing to be a present...

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Will Knit For Pugs


Heylo...I am stealing a few moments to write and share photos this evening.

WOW, it's been a crazy 5 months here.
Celebrating 15 years of marriage, remodeling, organizing after 10 years being in our house...summer, kid's birthdays...kids, kids, kids.......

This summer had some family fun, sleep overs, and one great trip to Oregon to see our amazing cousins. Our 11 year old also went on his first camp for 5 days. That was a growing time for me as a mommy for sure. He had the time of his life!

Now, fall is here...sigh. My favorite season of all...a time to retreat.


In puppy related news...
Earlier this summer I was looking for a pug breeder who had the brindle colored pugs. Fortunately, I found my puppy sooner rather than later. All the sudden I needed a good handful of money to get her home. All of the sudden doesn't work too well with a one income family.
I did a lot of ebaying/Craigslisting/Facebooking to procure the funds.
I knew I wouldn't be able to sell crafts for her total purchase price.
I thought it would be cool though to sell one item to go towards her purchase.


I finished a pug amigurumi that had been in my basket for some time. I wasn't totally into the bright colors but I thought I would push my palette a little and add some bright colors in with my usual love and staple, gray.

Phoebe Pug Amigurumi was finished promptly and listed. She sold just 8 days after I listed her in my etsy shop. I was so happy.



All my amigurumi have heart...


A month after contacting the pug breeder I was able to take Phoebe home. We love our little gal and Li-jo is a serious pug fanatic.


Phoebe is quite attached to me...she fell asleep on my feet while I was cooking soup one day.
Doesn't her natural dog slop and cottage cheese look delicious, ew! She is well fed for sure.



There is a photo in The Opinionated Knitter by Elizabeth Zimmerman of Elizabeth by a car that she bought completely with money from knitting. That was so inspiring to me. One of my main goals is to pay for the rest of my arm tattoo with knitting money. I am already paying for half a yarn crawl called Yarn Train that I CANNNNNOT wait for in January. January will be here before we know it...12+ hrs of Portland Yarn and city goodness.

The tattoo will happen. Hopefully before my kids are grown.

knit shan knit!!!

Fortunately, this isn't the end...stay tuned...

Friday, April 9, 2010

Baby Amigurumi For Bella Bonita...

I am not quite sure how I am finishing ANYTHING these days, but I did finish my sweet niece's dolly, Dolly Lama 2 (named by my darling brother, Ron) Dolly Lama 1 is already at their house and was blogged about a loooooooong time ago.

Dolly turned out really sweet and snuggly, 15 inches tall...Dolly Lama 1 is about 8 inches tall...

This pic of Dolly's heart is washed out because I persist in trying to use my iPhone camera for all my pictures. I do have an actual camera, BUT, there is a part of me that thinks that my iPhone can do it all ALL the time. This isn't the case. I did manage to get my real camera back from our sons...they are youtube film makers. HILARIOUS!
Here's the little lady...I think she looks like the old fisher price little people I use to play with. I wasn't trying to infringe on their brand, it just emerged :o)
Dolly is soy/wool for her head, hands, and feet/legs and an alpaca/acrylic blend for her body. She is stuffed with shredded organic cotton batting (a pain in the rear to make) I am buying a couple new fleeces for stuffing soon...until I get a different source for non-plastic fill for my toys. I dosed my jumbo pug amigurumi with lavender essential oil and I hope that keeps the moths away.
Here she is again, ready to be wrapped! I think she looks friendly and hug-able.
I loooooooove making amigurumi....I love making toys for people.
My amis get lots of smiles and I sort of miss the ones I've made...like adopting out critters :o)
And alas here is my sweet niece Bella Bonita opening up her Dolly.
She loved it and my bro and sis in law were touched.
sort of anti-climatic, my bowl of organic cotton shreds.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Look Mom!!! Lookie What I Did!

So, here as promised, the jumbo pug amigurumi pix

My dreams have come true,
Bigger IS better
You CAN have it all...........in amigurumi land.

Mr. Pug is amazing and was lovingly received at my friend's 3rd birthday. He was the perfect gift. I dosed him up with lavender essential oil and a bit of patchouli. He was gift wrapped in a handy basket with my fave yellow tissue paper.


We liked hanging out with Mr. Humungous Pug after I finished him. My menfolk thought he was cool and wanted to keep him.



My pug amigurumi design came from my love of the breed. I am in love with pugs. I think pug owners have to be so well acquainted with all of your dog's nooks and crannies it made for good model making. I could make the nose wrinkle a little deeper under the nose for old time's sake. My pug dolls are available for custom order, I make three sizes. Please email me if you would like more information. knitshanknit at comcast dot net


So here is pug kicking it on the photo op couch.......he's loving life!!!


He has a humongous heart!!!



This is a great pic to show you Mr. Pug's girth, a whopping 20 inches tall....don't even get me started on the circumferences of limbs and head! Actually if you would like all of the measurements I can get those to you.

The tail end :o)



Mr Pug watching over the neighborhood...

knitshanknit at comcast dot net

Hmmm....I wonder what this is !?!?!?


my first thru 4th attempts...

email me your guesses knitshanknit @ comcast dot net





Wee Bebe Kimono

This is one of my favorite sweaters to knit. It is knit in one piece then folded and sewn. So easy and adorable. I made this one from brown fishermen's wool for my sweet friend's baby. He's due any day.
I am learning to make my own buttons...so for now I am making crochet or braided ties. Safe for little ones, no choking hazard. The almost spring sunshine made lovely natural light for my photo shoot.

knit for peace...

My new friend Katie has a knitting for peace group. I finally got to join them, after my husband's work schedule changed. I actually couldn't believe I was at last driving to an evening knitting get-to-gether...

A few months ago Katie gave me some of her personal handspun yarn
(click here for Katie's etsy shop) I decided I would knit two adult or youth hats for Take the Next Step Ministry.

When I got to the group, Katie had two big bins of yarn she offered up for charity knitting projects. She had received a grant and had spent it wisely!!! I found an alpaca blend and a red superwash merino for a couple projects. The project I decided I would start that night was a hat for a chinese orphan. It had to have a little acrylic in it to make it easily washable. I passed up a ton of sweet fibers.
This particular orphanage has requested little sweaters for the babies. If you would like to knit along with us lemme know... Katie and her husband are taking the knit goods to the orphanage when they go there to pick up their new daughter in May!!!

The finished alpaca blend hat...cabled and tassled...oh and baby YaYa's orange ball...
Very soft and warm!