Owlishly

Which way?

So, I prefer the look and feel of the backside of the fabric when making dolls, and when I first bought other people's patterns they never specified and I was pretty new to reading crochet and relearning stitches from a book, so I just chose a side that I liked. 

No one writing in English ever specified in their patterns which side was the right side (and I don't read Japanese, so I was out of luck there too).  Everyone just said to make sure that all of the pieces were turned the same way out.  So I did. 

Apparently it seems that I chose the wrong way.  I prefer it though.  I've tried the other way, it just is too bumpy and nubby and I don't like the way embroidery looks on it... though I think it looks great when other people make their amigurumi that way.

I have absolutely no problems with anyone who wants to make a toy/doll with the fabric turned the opposite way from how I like them, but my objective is to make dolls that look the best to me, otherwise, why make them? Seriously, make them the way you like them, just make sure that each piece is turned whichever way you choose. I think my biggest issue is that I try to make every stitch uniform and tight, to me that seems more important, you know?

I also try to use directions and instructions in my patterns that allow for making the dolls with the fabric facing either way, and hopefully that isn't too confusing for anyone.  It hasn't seemed to be the case from the questions I get anyway. I am just noticing more and more, and wondering if I should turn them the other way out, for standards sake. I don't know.  I don't know if I'd feel less inspired, translating into less dolls made because I'm just not into the way they look.

Which way do you make them? What do you think?

Bess pattern winners...

and

Thanks to everyone who let me in on some of their favorite names, it was really fun reading all the names and why you love them so much.  I guess I should let you in on some of my favorites too!  I have a little notebook that I've had forever and it has lists of names that I like at any given moment.  Off the top of my head, I really like Asher and Ryan for boys and Rebekah, Kate and Liza for girls.  It's interesting how many names from your favorites are in my notebook though!

So, again, thanks for entering everyone, and Josefin & Alissia check your email for the pattern!

Bess the cow girl amigurumi pattern available & a giveaway!

First things first.  Wow. I was really touched by everyone who commented on the last post or sent emails, I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of your kind words.  We're still trying to figure things out on this end, and there will probably end up being some type of upheaval soon, but hopefully nothing too drastic.

Well, the cow girl pattern is now available.  I've finally finished it, and the kinks have all been ironed out.  I was waiting on someone to agree to let me use her name for the pattern, but unfortunately I never heard back, so instead I named her after my grandpa's sister Bess.  It seems like a very cow-ish name to me.

I was going to include templates for the spots, but have decided that it's really a rather personal choice, I gave instruction, but every time I made templates for the spots I just didn't like them.  There are templates for the ears and the udder, and for this one you should probably be familiar with a couple of embroidery stitches- the blanket stitch, and the detached chain stitch (click on the little magnifying glass next to each stitch to see illustrations of the stitch).

The pattern ended up being 7 pages long, with 14 images and 2 illustrations.  To make this little girl, you'll need:
C/2.5mm and E/3.5mm crochet hooks
Worsted weight yarn in a flesh color, white and black
Locking stitch markers
Yarn & Embroidery needles
DMC Embroidery floss in 310, 777, and 152
DMC perle cotton in tan
Black & pink felt
6mm craft eyes
polyfil/wool roving to stuff the cow girl!

ETA, I forgot to add that the pattern is available at both Etsy & Ravelry for those interested :)

A couple of other random things before getting down to the giveaway part...

I have a couple of dolls that I think I'm going to start working on soon, before I can get to them I have to make a couple of dolls for the Plush You! show up at Schmancy this fall. They're due next month and I'm not 100% certain which dolls I'm going to make.

Additionally, I just wanted to kind of purge a bit more and get off my chest that another reason I've been silent of late is that while most of the time I have awesome interactions with customers, there were a couple of VERY problematic ones last month that drug on and on that just sort of left me feeling burnt out.  Hopefully by mentioning it, it'll stop lingering and let me just move on.

So, with that in mind, let's discuss the giveaway :)

To enter the contest, all you have to do to enter to win a free Bess pattern is leave a comment and tell me- What is your favorite name? And if you want to tell me why, that's always even more fun. Only one comment counts per person, and no comments will be entered after noon PST Wednesday.

In a funk

Hi all, sorry about not being around here very much.  It feels like every time I get good and ready to blast out gobs of posts, something happens that saps the will out of me.  Lately it's just been because we've been so dang busy with summer time stuff, and work being done to our house.

 Also, typically I try to keep real life things to a minimum (though not always as well as I'd like), but my husband was laid off and since we're pretty much a single income family, it's had a profound impact on the way things are done around our home.  It's probably a time I should be cranking out patterns, but all inspiration and the will to crochet of late has been sucked out of me. 

I'm not too worried, my faith is pretty personal but I have confidence that God will provide, and worrying saps too much energy that's better spent elsewhere.  Or so I keep reminding myself :) 

Anyhoo, I'm assuming that's why I've been fairly silent of late, and I know I'll get back on the horse, it's just going to happen whenever it does.  I can't force it.

Also, I have my cow pattern completely finished now except the templates were a little funky so I'm going to have to rework those; and I'm hesitating on a name so I need to choose one, but it should be soon.  I feel a bit silly about saying that because I feel like I've been saying soon over and over again, but I'm trying again :)

So, hopefully the next post will include the pattern release information, otherwise, I hope you all had great Fourth of July celebrations (those of you who do celebrate it), and I'll talk to you soon!