First ever rug

Finished my first ever granny square rug yesterday.... Or so I thought. I gave it as a present today and had forgotten to sew in one of the threads. So technically I gave someone an unfinished present. Not very thorough. :( sadly only realised as they opened it in front of me!

But I was happy with how it turned out and knew the person I was giving it to would appreciate it more than a store bought toy for their gorgeous baby.

I however underestimated the amount of yarn I would need and ran out of the purple colour. So my rug was a row or two smaller than I had wanted but figured it was still suitable for pram outings and the like.

I like the colours I chose and how it lay flat after I stitched the squares together. Just still kicking myself that I forgot to sew in the thread!

I got the granny square pattern here granny square pattern

It had pictures and explained everything nicely for a crochet newbie like me. A good granny square to start with.

joining granny squares is the page I looked at to decide how to join them.

Crown addition

I added elastic to the pattern I made in the previous princess crown post and it works great!
I even have had someone ask me to make them one!
I just didn't join the crown as I worked and just turned it so it was one big strip and then I added in folded elastic so that it could fit many sizes and stretch further.
I'm very happy with the result. I'm going to give one as a present now.

Baby rattle

I remembered seeing something similar to this somewhere so this was my second attempt at making something up.
I made the head first then made a tube for the handle. I put a bell in the handle then did crisscross around the bell to make sure there was no chance of it moving.
I wanted fatter ears so that the baby could grab them. I think if I did another one I would taper in the ears a bit more.
I'm actually surprised I could make up characters now with such limited experience. I know my two attempts are not raging perfect successes but I really like them and hope the baby destined to play with this will like it.

First made up amigurumi - no pattern!

I decided to have a go at making an amigurumi without a pattern. I just made this up as I went along.
I wanted to give it as a present but I think the legs are too fat and out of proportion so don't want to give it as it doesn't look perfect.
It sits up nicely though which was my aim. I only stuffed the ends of the legs so that the upper leg would go flat when the toy sat up. I had made the legs a bit fatter to try and compensate for this but maybe I didn't need to.
Overall I was happy with it but still need to make improvements.

Princess crown

I learnt a new stitch making this! The puff stitch. I love how easy YouTube makes learning things.

The pattern for this can be found here Stitch11-princess crown

I also followed Stitch11 on Facebook as they have some cute patterns. This pattern is for babies all the way through to children. So cute! It didn't take too long either.

I wonder if it is possible to make with an elastic piece at the back so that when their head grows it stretches nicely.

Rabbit and sleeping bag

Today marks 6 weeks since I first did my first crochet stitch making my monkey amigurumi!

My latest creation though is this bunny. I found the pattern for the bunny on Sharon Ojala's blog amigurumi to go

My bunny looks a little cross compared to Sharon's cute bunny.

This was the first time I used safety eyes as I hadn't wanted to before because I was nervous my baby would bite them off. Needless to say this one isn't going to be played with for a little while.

I changed the pattern slightly which wasn't necessarily a good thing or an improvement but I wanted to see if what I thought would happen would, they did but didn't improve it but hopefully good experience for if I ever make my own character.

I also made a sleeping bag for the toys I've made. It is just a little pouch with a pillow attached at the back. My child is taking things to bed now so made it so that the toys can go to bed too.

I didn't have a pattern for it. I just made a pouch then a long patch doubled over and stuffed to make the pillow.

Have not decided what my next attempt will be. I have a friend who has just had a baby girl so will look for a present I can make. Any suggestions?

Thongs or flip flops for those out of Australia

I found these on pinterest and wanted to make them.
I had to learn some new stitches to do so and they are not wonderful if you look closely but the wonderful thing is, feet cover them!
I have also made a pair as a present.
Pattern from crochet dreamz flip flop or thongs pattern

Echidna or hedgehog

From the book that it looks like book depository doesn't stock anymore.
Was a little tricky doing the spikes as it was two strings to crochet and the spiky string loops didn't stand out so well.
I thought this was so cute I have made 2 more as presents.
Update: picture of book posted below.

Football jumper

Took my gorgeous child to the football and wanted a jumper for them to wear but didn't fancy forking out a fortune for an official one so just made one up as I went along. No pattern - as you can tell. But it fit and felt special to think I made their first footy jumper!

Franklin turtle

This was from a Sharon Ojala pattern on her blog arigurumi to go - turtle
Just fell in love with this pattern through googling. I think it looks like Franklin the turtle from the books.
I mucked up the head but still love it to bits. It is still my most favourite creation.
Handy fact: Sharon is on twitter and shares lots of patterns and has great advice. @sharonojala

Second creation - penguin

I thought this pattern was super cute but I mucked up the beak. My gorgeous child still likes it though.

The pattern was from the crochet critters book.

First ever creation - monkey

My first ever creation. I got the pattern from one of the books I bought from book depository (pic below).
I now know that I slightly over stuffed this little monkey so you can see the stuffing in places but I was so pleased that I was able to follow the pattern and it look similar to the picture on the back of the book.

First blog post

Late last year I had my gorgeous child and took maternity leave to care for said gorgeous child.
One thing I had not counted on was the brain fade I had for not challenging my brain in the same way as when I was working. (not to suggest looking after a baby is easy, the challenges are just very different)
So I decided I would teach myself a new skill. My mother made us many things when we were little so I decided I wanted to make my child a toy so decided to learn crochet.
I used you tube to learn through tutorials like Crochet tutorial and googled crochet toys.
My googling taught me that crochet critters have a name, amigurumi, and that there are some SUPER talented people out there.
I was inspired so went to The Book Depository and purchased some books.
East crochet critters
Crobots

Then had a crack at it. I really enjoy it and enjoy reading others' blogs so decided to create one to show my attempts at crochet and to link to patterns I have used.

While I'm still enjoying the challenge, I'll keep creating.

Crochet is the current solution to challenge myself.