Elegantly Random

Let the games begin!

I am not that into sports. But I absolutely love the Olympic games.

I look forward to them every two years and was thrilled when they stopped doing both winter & summer in the same year, every four years - that's way too long to wait! I love the drama of it all - especially the way each country comes together to display their pride and patriotism in an atmosphere of peace and unity (well, sometimes...) The stories of athletes from impoverished nations, overcoming adversity to achieve their life goal of competing in the Olympics get me sobbing every time. The tears! The cheers! The heartaches! The triumphs! It's also a life-long goal of mine to attend the Olympic games (preferably winter) in my lifetime - and I'm really hounding Jay to take me to Vancouver in 2010. What an awesome excuse to go kill two birds with one stone, as Vancouver is apparently a kick-ass place worthy of a visit.

This year, I won't just be watching from the sidelines as the athletes take all the glory. My favorite site for all things yarn, Ravelry, is hosting the first-ever Ravelympics! *drumroll please*

I'm participating as part of Team Charlotte Yarn, and I couldn't be more excited! The rules are simple - create as many objects as possible during the Olympic Games. You can't start till the Opening Ceremonies begin on Friday the 8th, and you have to be finished by the time the flame goes out during the Closing Ceremonies on August 24. You enter in various categories and compete for your team. Go ahead, laugh it up - but this has been a great way to meet people because we connect online via Ravelry and our shared interest of knitting and crochet, but then have the opportunity to meet in person easily at the yarn shop. I am meeting all kinds of neat people who share my interest!

I'm participating in three events. First, I'll try and finish a couple of things I have currently underway as part of WIPs (Work in Progress) Wrestling. One is a crocheted baby gift (which I can't picture right now, sorry! Don't want to give the mom a sneak peek!) and the other is a camisole I'm about 1/4 finished with. When completed, it'll look like this - only red. Progress photos are up on Flickr.

Razor Cami

For one of my new projects, I'm competing in the Scarf Stroke, planning to make this beautiful scarf from start to finish during the games...I'm so excited to cast on for this project! I'm using Sublime Soya Cotton yarn, which I've been dying to work with, in a dark blue - a little darker than in this example.

Lace Ribbon Scarf

I'm also competing in Sockput - even if I just finish one sock, that will be a huge accomplishment. Maybe I'm exaggerating the difficulty of sock making in my mind, but the fact that you need anywhere from three to five double-pointed needles to get the job done is really daunting to me. However, homemade socks greatly appeal to me and I desperately want to learn how to make them. So I'm making it my business to learn during Ravelympics. I'm going to do a pattern/tutorial that should give me an end result something like this, only dark blue...

Silver's Sock Class

You can follow along with my progress by watching my Flickr site for photos and of course checking back here for updates! If you're a crafter, you should think about participating, even if you're not signed up with Ravelry - heck, no matter what your hobby, just pick a project to complete during the Olympics and play along! Maybe you have a scrapbook you've been meaning to make, or you could set a photography challenge. Maybe you really just want to finish planting that herb garden or painting your bedroom. MAYBE you really want to defeat that evil overlord and advance to the next realm in Warcraft (shut up, I don't know the terminology, but I tried!)

The sky's the limit, so let the games begin!

Turtle power!

Today I had a much-needed sick day (details to come) and I finally got to work on some projects that had fallen by the wayside. Case in point: this delightful little guy who I've affectionately named Mortimer P. Turtle. He's actually a now-belated (muuuch belated) birthday gift for my friend, though, so I'll acquiesce to her preference when it comes to a name.

This turtle was not difficult to make, but it took a bit longer than some of the other toys I've made. He's made up of six granny squares, four legs, one head and one underbelly. The mouth is lined on the inside with red felt. There's an option for the body to be constructed with some materials to make it more poseable, but I decided against it. If I were making it again, I would probably do that, because he doesn't really stand up. Also, I think I'd have used a slightly less obnoxious shade of green. But nonetheless, he's real cute and I hope he'll find a happy home in Kristin's office!

Don't let my trunk fool you...

...I'm actually a die-hard Democrat!

I found the pattern for this teeny tiny elephant via Bittersweet (oh, how I aspire to make amigurumi toys as adorable as Hannah Kaminsky's!) and I couldn't resist giving it a try - especially seeing as one of the young collegiates I know from work had requested a mini-elephant to love and treasure. I was home sick today with a nasty touch of the flu, but whipping this little guy together took less than three hours and made me feel just a little bit better.

Weekend Tote

I've been making these bags for several people on my gift list - it's a simple crocheted tote that can be finished in a few nights. All you need is a good worsted weight yarn and someone to help you hammer the grommets (I'm simply not able, it seems, but Jay comes in mighty handy for this task). It's a great bag, totally washable, oversized, both fashionable and eco-friendly. Use it for a grocery bag, or a beach tote - whatevah! This particular bag made a birthday gift for my friend.

She looks innocent, but...

This baby monkey clearly needs a parental figure in her life - she's trying to steal my cookies!

Incidentally, orders are starting to come in for ami friends. If you want one, just let me know and I'll add you to my list. I'm getting to the point where I can get away from patterns and kind of invent custom animals too, so ideas are welcome.

Whoo's your daddy?

This is Papa Owl. Soon, he'll have a little tyke at his side. I'm making a set of parents and babies as a gift for a friend's daughter - it'll be her 1th birthday and I think a basket of cuddly toys will be right up her alley. Plus, she test-drove one of my creations during a visit and judging by the amount of drool that she deposited on that toy's precious little head, I think it's safe to say that a 1-year-old should get a lot of enjoyment out of these little friends.

Konnichiwa, Ami!

Meet Am-Bear, my first completed ami. Isn't she cute? This little lady only took me a couple of hours to make. Pretty much the entire toy is single crochet, so it's uber-simple. You only need tiny amounts of yarn to make these. As I said earlier, the eyes are the toughest thing to procure but you can get them in bulk. I really enjoyed making this little friend - it's a birthday gift for my intern. I'm thinking of making assortments of the toys and giving them as gifts in bundles for kids - you know, like fill a little basket with various creatures to play with. Adorable, and a lot faster than clothing or a blanket.

Big heads, itty bitty bodies...

So...I'm working on my very first amigurumi friend - "ami" if you like. For those of you who don't know, amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting little stuffed animals and creatures. I know - sounds weird - but they're completely cute. I kept seeing them on the blogs and websites of other crafters (like Bittersweet, listed over there to your right - hers are just about the best) and I kinda fell in love with them.

I ordered this fabulous book, which has lots of great patterns but also sort of explains the building blocks so that you could feasibly make a few and then go off and create some of your own. If you're thinking about buying a book, this is the best one I found. The stitches are really easy - mostly single crochet and some decreases - and the hardest part is the assembly, which gets easier the more you do it.

You'll need the following supplies:

• Various crochet hooks (mostly E, F and G)
• Worsted weight yarn (just about any inexpensive variety will do)
• Felt for some animals
• Embroidery needles & colored floss
• Plastic tapestry needle for sewing body parts together
• Safety eyes
• Scissors
• Washable polyester fiberfill stuffing

The trickiest part is finding the safety eyes - most craft stores only carry them in larger sizes, but for this you'll likely want 6mm or 8mm eyes. I found them here for a very low price, and they arrived in less than two weeks (search for 6mm eyes or 8mm eyes). Make sure the eyes you choose have a back - otherwise, if you're making toys for little children, the eyes could come off and choke them and then you'd have a lawsuit on your hands. And you can see how lawsuits hardly fit into the fun of Japanese crafting.

Another great reason to make amis (as if you needed one!)? They're fast. You can crank one of these out in one sitting.

This little bear is in progress (still needs arms, legs and a skirt!) but you can see how adorable she's shaping up to be (and how tiny!)