ISP Presentation

For my ISP presentation, I wanted to start off by splitting the class into three or four teams and having them try to figure out their way through the human knot (to simulate the struggle of untangling yarn).

I plan on crocheting a bunch of small prizes and giving each member of the winning team a prize. 

I also want to lay out a bunch of pieces of yarn and try to teach everyone how to finger crochet (since teaching how to crochet with a hook takes a lot of time, individual attention, and crochet hooks).

I would like to bring some kind of food as well, but haven't yet thought of anything that connects well with crochet. I could possibly bring cookies shaped like crochet hooks (basically candy canes) or make a cake that somehow connects. My presentation is May 25th, however, so I still have some time to work out the details.

Dumpling Kitty

The newest addition to my crochet repertoire is the Dumpling Kitty, pattern designed by Sarah Sloyer and posted onto her Ravelry (an online website for crochet patterns) store.

When I first glanced over the pattern, I had assumed it would be fairly easy to quickly crochet. However, things got rough within ten minutes. The pattern actually was a little more complicated than I expected, and called for the chaining of the two ears together to form a unified row:

I messed up at one point and lost a few stitches, so my stitch count was off for the rest of the piece. 

I kind of just ignored the fact that my stitch count did not correspond exactly with that of the pattern, and just improvised when I needed too.

The next problem came from all the color changing due to the striped pattern. I learned it wasn't the best idea to not cut each strand of yarn after each color change, no matter how lazy I was feeling. Leaving the strands of yarn attached to each piece resulted in kind of a bridge-like structure on the inside of the piece:

Once I stuffed the cat, however, I was able to hide a lot of the imperfections. I embroidered on a nose and smile and attached the front paws and tail at the end.

Totoro Amigurumi

Today I decided to take on the task of crocheting one of the most beloved animated characters of all time: My Neighbor Totoro. I used this pattern designed by the crochet blog 53stitches.

The pattern was fairly straightforward, though it did use up a lot of yarn. Crocheting this Totoro consisted of stitching together seven different parts: two ears, two arms, one tail, the stomach, and the main body.

One unusual thing about this pattern, however, was the call for a border around the eyes. I ended up punching a hole through two pieces of white felt and pushing the safety eyes through the holes.

Before I post this as a listing on my Etsy page, I plan to embroider some details, such as a nose, whiskers, and the chevron pattern on Totoro's stomach. Generally, well-known characters such as this one sell well on Etsy, so I'm excited to add this one to my shop.