Otter with a shell

A friend, who loves Otters, called me up with some brilliant news recently and I wanted to make them a present to celebrate the brilliant news so asked them to choose a pattern of an otter from Pinterest and I would buy the pattern and make them an Amigurumi otter.
The pattern they chose was from etsy Crochet Otter Pattern and it was in Japanese, in symbols (which I had never done before) and came with a sheet in English on how to read and translate the Japanese pattern.
So I diligently purchased the pattern and translated it into the written form of patterns I was used to and created the otter according to the pattern. (In blue and white)
I thought it was cute but didn't think it looked quite right as it wasn't the correct colourings, so I redid another otter. It this time I tried to make it based on a picture of an otter I found on google images.
The picture showed they had a lighter mask area that flowed down to their tummy and that they had long whiskers.
So I did some calculations on how to include the different colour into the pattern and had a go. I also used some cotton to make some whiskers.
I'm unsure whether it was cuter being more realistic or following the pattern to a tee but it was a nice little challenge to set myself and my friend thinks they are both great. (I gave them both of the otters)
Also the pattern included a shell as food for the otter. That pattern may come in handy in the future too!

Crochet plane

I needed a present quickly and found this free pattern Crochet Toy Airplane on Stitch11.com so got to making however I changed the pattern slightly so the rear of the plane tapered off the end at a sharper rate and then made the tail just flattened stitches.
I think it looks like a little Cessna plane and it quite cute. I'm going to keep playing around with the pattern for future presents.

My challenge - remake an earlier attempt

After my attempt at making a teddy bear up as I went along I wanted to see how much better my skills had gotten so issued myself a challenge.... To make one of the first ever creations I attempted.
My brother's girlfriend bought a knitted bird from New York that she loved so I decided to remake the penguin. As I talked about here second creation - penguin.
I recreated the penguin using the same yarn and hook size etc and was actually surprised at the difference.

The penguin on the left is my original attempt and the penguin on the right was my new attempt.
I can safely say I have improved my skills over time. I also made it much faster than when I first attempted it.
While I still have a lot of improvements and skills still to learn and don't always have the time to potter away with my little experiments and projects, crochet has fulfilled what I was hoping it would. It has kept my mind active and interested in something that is just me. It also provides me with an ability to make some presents for people that have a lot of though, time and effort invested in them.
I also love the online crochet community that shares their creations, tutorials, patterns, tips, etc. thank you if you are someone who shares these things.
Especially Sharon Ojala of Amigurumi to go(@sharonojala) and June Gilbank of Planet June (@PlanetJune)
I spend ages looking at their websites, Twitter feeds and perusing Pinterest for all things crochet.

Finished Teddy and No Pattern Teddy

I finished this teddy quite a while ago but hadn't found time to update.

So following on from my previous post, Something per than blankets and using the pattern Amigurumi teddy bear pattern, I finished the teddy.

I loved the pattern although had some trouble in the crotch of the teddy joining the legs together. However persevered and love the outcome!

I wanted to see if I could create a teddy without a pattern and just make it up as I went along..... So I had a crack!
This is the outcome.

I copied the ears from memory of the previous pattern but just made the rest up. The head was a little flatter and I gave the teddy some hips and more boot like feet.
I also used the small heart from Planet June to add to the teddy.
I made this one as a present for a treasured little friend of ours.

Overall I was pretty happy with how I did. I would improve it for next time however was happy to see how much better or confident I have become in my crocheting.

I wanted to see just how much better so issued myself a challenge....