HOW TO: Crochet a Top Hat

Sometimes amigurumi critters need top hats.  I have reached one of those times, although I can’t show you the whole thing right now.  But, I can help you make your own top hat.  I made this pattern up pretty late last night, so if there are mistakes in it, please let me know!!

Materials
- size E hook
- Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Charcoal

R1: sc 6 in magic ring (6)
R2: inc around (12)
R3: inc around (24)
R4: sc in back loops only (24)
R5: sc around (24)
R6: sc 5, dec* repeat from * until 3 stitches left, sc 3 (21)
R7: sc 5, dec* repeat from * until end (18)
R8: sc4, dec* repeat from * until end (15)
R9: sc3, dec* repeat from * until end (12)
R10: sc around (12)
R11: inc into front loops (24)
R12: sc, inc around (36)
fasten off, weaving in ends.

Working in only the front or back loops helps a lot with the shaping, so that the sides go down and then the bottom comes out.

Once you have your top hat made, you can go around placing it on random things, like your amigurumi sumo wrestler.  (No, this is not the top hat’s final destination – the sumo wrestler was just handy.  I do think the top hat would look cute on the turtle of a while back though!)

Sumo Throwdown

I finally made a second sumo wrestler to go with the first!  (For a pattern, go here!)  This one looks a little bit more evil to me, although it might just be because he is wearing black.  I also made a velcro sumo mat, so that the two sumo wrestlers can fight each other.  This is a project for Handmade Christmas, and if you’re keeping track, this makes 2 gifts done so far!

The mat is made from a circle of cardboard with strips of beige velcro glued on top (the fuzzy side, not the prickly side).  The two white lines are just little pieces of yarn that I glued down.  (I got the idea of what a sumo ring looked like from wikipedia.)  I ran out of velcro a little bit, that’s why there are spaces in between, but since the cardboard and the velcro are basically the same color, I think it actually looks pretty cool.

I covered the underside of the cardboard mat with some sticky-backed closed cell foam.  I did this for a few reasons.  First, it gave it a little more weight.  Second, it helps it not slide around as much on a smooth surface.  And third, it covered up the stuff that was printed on the other side of the cardboard, which was originally a box I stole from work.

On the bottom of each sumo wrestler, I sewed a tiny square of prickly side velcro so that they will stand on the mat wherever you put them!  Sometimes I feel so smart!

So, now the only question left is…. who will win?

Pasta Time

I have been meaning to make this for a while now, but I just haven’t had the chance.  This is a pretty simple pasta dish, but it’s so delicious.  To start, I sauteed some big chunks of onion and garlic in a little bit of olive oil, and then added in and browned some ground turkey.  I added crushed tomatoes and green pepper along with a melee of spices.  To top it off, some parmesan cheese – the whole thing was delicious, and ended up tasting something like my mom would have made us, which only makes it better!

Pom-Pom Socks Are Done!

During some marathon knitting I managed to complete the pom-pom socks while I was on vacation in Texas.  I love knitting on the plane – people look at you a little strange though, especially when using double pointed needles!

I love the way they turned out, with the pink toes and the multicolored pom-poms.  They are so soft!  I used Lion Brand Microspun yarn.  I kept touching it in the store and eventually I just bought it.  They don’t feel completely amazing while in your hands, but when I slipped one on my foot it was heavenly!  Plus, those pom-poms are so darn cute!  Score one for handmade Christmas!

Wordle Fun

I’ve been on vacation in Texas visiting my little brother these past few days, so I don’t have anything crafty to share at the moment.   Well, I do have a thing or two, but my memory card for my camera was full of vacation pictures, so I couldn’t take any craft pictures.

I did find this fun little thing on the internets today though.  (Although I could be behind the times again – sometimes that happens to me.)  I made a Wordle cloud for the blog – like a tag cloud, but with all of the words of all of your posts.  I’m wondering though if more recent posts get more weight, because it seems a little off to me.  But funny!  I love how procrastination and working ended up right next to each other!

OTN – Pom-Pom Socks

These pom-pom socks are from a wonderful pattern from The Purl Bee.

I’ve had a hard time getting going with these socks.  They are the first pair of socks that I’ve ever attempted.  The pattern calls for size 2 dpn.  I had a really hard time finding this size for some reason, so I decided to be lazy and use size 3.  I quickly checked my gauge half heartily and it seemed close enough, so off I went.

Yeah, no.  I got halfway through the first sock and I could see that it was going to be gigantic.  As in Micheal Phelps could wear that sock gigantic.  So, I ripped it all out and started over, finding some size 2 dpn.  It looks so much better now, as you can see!  I’ve just gotten to the point where I need to start decreasing for the toe, and I think that I’m going to switch back to the pink to make them look even more silly and cute. This first sock should be done pretty soon, hopefully I won’t procrastinate too much on the second one!

This project also starts the beggining of Hand Made Christmas.  (Insert regal trumpet noises here.)  I have a goal (since I’m a pretty broke graduate student) of making everything handmade for Christmas this year.  Who knows if I’ll make it, we’ll see.  Unfortunately, I’m going to have to leave a lot of stuff off of the blog until after Christmas so that certain people won’t see their gifts before hand.  But, since I have a lot of family, and not all of them know about the blog, I should still have plenty of stuff to share!

Meow…

This was supposed to be a kitty, although It does look a bit like a bear since the ears aren’t too pointy.  I love the way that the eyes turned out, I think that the blue really goes nice against the reddish/pink color of the yarn.  Plus, who doesn’t love whiskers???

This Cake Has Chemistry

I made this cake for my friend Stephanie who defended her PhD thesis yesterday.  Of course, she passed with flying colors! 

This is just a yellow cake with an orange flavored butter frosting.  It was scrumptious!  Orange flavored frosting is actually pretty easy to do – I just replaced the milk in the recipe with OJ and it was good to go!

And yes, that is chemistry on the top of the cake.  Just six days before her defense, Stephanie finished the synthesis of that molecule.  Congratulations Stephanie!!!!

In the Kitchen…

I had a very productive weekend in the kitchen – here are the highlights.

First, I planted some basil a few days ago and it’s beginning to sprout.  I have a great skylight in my new kitchen so it gets plenty of sun all day. It will be so nice to be able to reach fresh basil without having to move far from the stove!

Secondly, I started a batch of vanilla extract.  It took me forever to find some bottles that I actually liked, but I finally lucked out in the Christmas Tree Shop.  I started this on Saturday, it already has a tinge of brown to it, so my first attempt at this seems to be working.

Last, I was given a very large zucchini from the garden of Tim and I decided to make zucchini bread – a double batch of zucchini bread, to be exact.  I wish I had thought to make pictures while I was mixing up the batter – I used my largest bowl, which is pretty huge, and it was full to the brim of batter!  I made 6 loaves of bread – two big and four small.  Each big loaf is a little over 3 cups of batter, while the smaller ones took about 1 1/2 cups of batter each.  I think we’ll be eating zucchini bread for a while!

Polka Dot Madness

I got this idea at all buttoned up, and I thought that it was such a cute way to brighten up a shirt that you felt ho-hum about.  I changed out the wax paper for a piece of file folder because my hole punch didn’t want to cut all the way through the wax paper.  The file folder worked just fine though.  I used a stencil brush to apply the paint by repeated dabbing – I went over each hole a couple of times to make the paint really cover, especially because I was using a black shirt.  I think it looks super cute, and more fun than just a plain black T-shirt!  I only did the front because I was too impatient to let it dry and then do the back – I just wanted to wear it once it was dry!

Hedgehog Hugs

I made this cute little hedgehog for my sister; she requested cute little buddy friends to sit at her desk with her while she worked.  I think I’ll also make her a turtle since I finally bought some more green yarn.  I think he looks like a Hugo – what do you think?  (Have you notice that I like to name things?)

HOW TO: Craftily Organize Your Purses on the Cheap

I promised that today would be awesome, and it is!  Now that I’m moved into the World’s Tiniest Apartment ™, I realized that I somehow have amassed far to many purses.  I had absolutely no way to organize them.  I made something up, and it looks a little something like this:

Ignoring for a moment the rest of the clutter in that photo, here is how you can also have a supremely awesome purse organizational system.

Step 1: Get a few over the door hooks.  These used to hold my ironing board, but I’ve found a different place for it now.

Step 2: Dig through your fabric stash for extra fabric that has a decent length to it.  I picked a pink flowery fabric that I don’t know why I have.  Cut two long strips (door length, in fact) about 3 inches wide.  As you’ll see from the picture, I didn’t try to hard to cut in a straight line.  I did use pinking shears though, since I wasn’t in the mood to hem these.  (You could hem them – that would probably make them a more permanent solution, but I only need these for a few months.)  Tie these onto the door hooks.

Step 3: About every 5-6 inches cut two slits parallel to eachother, about 1 inch long each.  They should end up looking like this:

Step 4: Cut some smaller fabric strips, about 14 inches long – cut enough to correspond to all the slits you just made.

Step 5: Tie each of these strips around the center of the slits you cut in step 3.

The overall effect will look like this – see why I didn’t worry about cutting in a straight line all that much?

Step 6: Tie each strip around the handles of a purse – don’t knot it too tight, or you’ll never get it off!

Step 7: Repeat with all subsequent purses.  Enjoy your newfound organization and wonder how long it will last.  If you decide to make something similar, please share it in the comments!

Note: I’ve desinged this as a temporary solution while living in the Wold’s Tiniest Apartment ™, but for a longer term solution, canvas might work well, with zig-zag stitching around each slit, comparable to a large buttonhole.

I’m Still Here…. Lost In Piles of Boxes!

All of my craft supplies are unpacked – I have some new projects to show off, but I just don’t have any pictures yet.  Stay tuned though, because tomorrow I will post something awesome, I promise!  In the mean time, here is a picture of some yummy potatoes I made while camping in Maine last month (pre-cooking).  Food cooked on fire – yum!