A Successful Chibication

Well friends, another successful Chibication has come to a close.  I had a lovely visit with Chibi and moM (they came to visit me this time), and as per last year’s Chibication, I thought I’d make a list of the things I learned…

1. My darling Chibi is a talented little thing!  Look what she made for me!

 

pretty!

She didn’t want to have to travel with the frame, so we ironed it all out & framed it once she got here.  She says the wings were the hardest – full of sparkly back stitches – so I took an extra shot of that.  Thanks for the faerie, Chibi!  I love her!

2. Taking a break from the interwebs wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be.  My virtual fish went belly up.  My virtual crops died. My virtual Smurfs had nothing to eat for a week.

 

Hungry Smurf is... still hungry, actually.

My inbox piled up.  And you know what?  NOTHING BAD HAPPENED. None of my Facebook friends noticed that I didn’t “like” anything they’d said for a week.  No one sent me a scathing “how could you not have written back to me?” e-mail. The Smurfs didn’t make a peep.  Actually, now I think about it, Farmville sent me 10 free farmcash to get me to keep playing.  Hmm… I should take a break from the interwebs more often, I think.

3. I have absolutely no will power.  (Translation: I now own ALL the Sookie Stackhouse novels, which I bought to put on my new Nook, which I bought because moM and Chibi said I should, which I believed because I’m a total wimp when it comes to peer pressure).  I also rearranged my Netflix queue and am now expecting season 1 of TrueBlood to arrive any time.

 

YUM.

Yes, I realize this is mindless vampire fantasy romance drivel. Yes, I did read all ten novels in a week. Yes, the HBO series is basically…um… well, it’s HBO. You know what it is. And worst of all, YES, I really enjoyed it.  (Somewhere my literature profs are all cursing me and spitting, I’m pretty sure). At any rate, Nooks are good for the environment. It was a green thing to do; at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

 

Reading NookBooks = Good for the Environment. ...right?...

4. I can get my Chibi to agree to pretty much anything if I ply her with Indian food first.

Nomalicious!

 

Needless to say I didn’t get much hookery accomplished, but I did have a fabulous visit!  Hooray, Chibication!

 

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Free Pattern Friday: Pom Pom Flowers!

So, there’s not really much crochet in this pattern, but it’s quick, easy, and fun.

is it a flower? is it a faery wand? does it belong to Dr. Seuss?

Caution: If you are a perfectionist, give it up now.  This is not the project for you.

You’ll need:  two different colors of yarn, a 12 inch, 3mm pipe cleaner, and a G-sized crochet hook.

1. Wrap some yarn around three of your fingers about 65 times.

don't wrap too tightly or your fingers will turn blue.

2. Take the wrapped yarn off your fingers and cut another piece of yarn (in the same color) about 5 inches long.

it's warm, oh yes, but it's not fuzzy yet...

3. Tie the 5″ piece of string around the loops (in the center) as tightly as you can.

Aww, isn't it cute?

4. Cut all the loops.

...it's GROWING...

Aaah! It's the flying spaghetti monster! Halp!

5. Trim around your tiny spaghetti monster until he looks reasonably ball shaped. If you’re spending more than about 45 seconds on this step, you’re spending too much time.  Give up now or you’ll be micro-trimming for the next six hours.

PRO TIP: If you are using light yellow yarn, DON’T sit on a black comforter to do your trimming… Unless, of course, you feel like lint-rolling your entire bed.

6. Take the 12″ pipe cleaner and fold it in half.

this is what a folded in half pipe cleaner looks like.

 

7. With the second color of yarn and your crochet hook, chain 25 or so – just make sure your chain is the same length as your pipe cleaner.

 

8. With the bent edge closest to your hook, hold the pipe cleaner next to your chain and start a single crochet in the second ch.  When you’ve gone through the chain and are about to yarn over, put the pipe cleaner on your hook.

 

I switched to pink yarn so this would be easier to see...

 

9. Complete the single crochet as usual.

 

this is what the "front" will look like after a few stitches

 

10. Pinch the two sides of the pipe cleaner back together, and from now on treat them like one strand.  Continue to sc across, carrying the pipe cleaner along as you would a strand of yarn in a color change.

 

the back of your pipe cleanery friend

 

11. When you get to the end of the chain, stop. Cut a piece of yarn, about 5 inches again, with the same color you made the pom pom.  Thread it through the “top” of your stem (the end with the pointy bits of the pipe cleaner).

 

the finished pipe cleaner

 

threading color 1 through the top of the stem

12. Now thread the other end of your yarn through the needle so it looks like this:

13. Shove the needle up through the center of the pom pom (Sorry, I couldn’t think of a non-dirty way to say that…). Push the pointy ends of the pipe cleaner up into the pom pom a bit further – this will add some stability.

14. Tie the two long strands in a tight square knot and trim them to the same length as the rest of your pom pom, and…  VOILA!  FINISHED!

I’m actually going to be turning these little beauties into something other than flowers… You’ll have to stay tuned to see what they become!  Happy Hooking!  })i({

 

Free Pattern Friday: Granny Shrug

Well friends, I did it!  I completed my first ever crochet sweater!  Check it out!

How cool is that?!  I found this free pattern on Ravelry, and made the following changes:

 

1. Because I really, REALLY don’t understand short sleeved sweaters (it’s cold enough for a sweater but warm enough for short sleeves?  DOES. NOT. COMPUTE.), I added 15 granny rows to each arm, making them nice and long.

 

2. Because I had it, and because I thought it looked cool, I sewed on this funky vintage button at the top:

 

funkadelic.

Awww, look how the sun shimmers on this sweatery sweater!  So warm and fuzzy!

The sleeves form sort of a bell-shape!  Groovy, no?

Anyway, apparently there are tons of mad awesome fans of the granny shrug – there’s a whole Flickr group dedicated to them!

And, because I’m uber-proud of myself, here’s one more picture:

Hooray!  Happy hooking, everyone!  Have a most excellent weekend! })i({