The Roxycraft Blog

Save 50% Until the End of the Month!

To Celebrate the CRAFT Crochet-Along I am having a 50% off Sale until the end of the month of September! 

And make sure to join for chances to win a copy of my book, free yarn and more!!!

ENTER CODE "CAL2009" when you check out at Roxycraft.com to get 50% you purchase!!!

CRAFT Fuzzy Panda Amigurumi Crochet Along

I know you want the free pattern for this large fuzzy panda doll!

 

Join in for weekly lessons with me, plus flickr groups and giveaways!!! Join Join Join!

Lunch :: Spicy Peanut Noodles

Lunch :: Spicy Peanut Noodles
Originally uploaded by Tamie Snow *Roxycraft*

Today is Day 1 of my Vegetarian Challenge! This was my first meat-free lunch. It was meant to be a salad today, but the lettuce wasn't very yummy looking...
So I had some whole wheat pasta instead.
If you'd like to hear about the why's and where's of my journey...I've started a blog
Tamie's Vegetarian Misadventures
Check it out!

Sorry no bloggy

I've been MIA lately and I'm sorry. :(
Be back blogging regularly soon. Enjoying my vacay!

Nor Cal Ocean...
Originally uploaded by Tamie Snow *Roxycraft*

I Made it! :: Pom Pom Flower Bouquet

Remember a couple posts back when I showed you these pom pom flowers...well I told you I HAD to make them. And I did!

I made different sizes by alternating the number of fingers I used to wrap the yarn around. Some 2, some 3 and some with my whole palm. I got covered in fuzz (wool yarn) but it was worth it.

<3

Tutorial :: Making Brushed Amigurumi

For amigurumi, I usually don't use natural fibers, acrylic has so many benefits for making dolls like durability, washability, and shape resiliance that using natural fibers seemed like a waste of time and effort. But I recently came into a stash of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky. It's an awesome yarn with a wool/mohair blend and I couldn't let it just sit on the shelf.

I had seen around the web some dolls that were brushed and thought I might give it a shot. Since I hadn't seen a tutorial for amigurumi specifically, my first attempt ended in me killing some doll eyes by scratching them silly...so I thought I might run you through the process so you can avoid some of the pitfalls.

Materials:
Any spun Natural fiber yarn (except cotton)
A dog slicker brush (mine has a soft brush on the flip side which I found came in handy at the end)

Close-up of what the bristles of the slicker brush look like: (click any picture for a larger version)

In this tutorial, my doll has a head and that's what I'm brushing up for you today. Make your piece until you only have a few round left to go. In my case, I stopped before I got to the decrease rounds.

Take out your stitch marker and avoid brushing your working yarn. (ignore that I have forgotten to do this in the next photo...lol)

When you use a dog slicker, one direction with smooth and the other direction will have resistance as it is grabbing fibers. Brush in the direction with resistance (you should feel tugging) in short even strokes. Go in the same direction for several strokes and you will begin to see fur forming.

Now turn your work and with the same grabbing side, brush sideways over spot you have just brushed.

 

Doing this back and forth method will produce the fur much faster than if you worked in the same direction. Continue working back and forth until your get the desired results.

Once you have a result you are happy with, add your doll eyes. Finish crocheting your piece and stuff it. Then take your dog slicker and finish brushing the bottom of your piece being very careful to avoid the eyes.

If your dog slicker has a soft brush side (you can also use a soft bristle brush of your own) brush the fur in the direction you like until smoothed out.

Use this technique on all the parts of your doll individually and before assembly!

Here is what became of that head!

I want to make these like...right now! :: Pom Pom Flowers

Make these Pom Pom flowers with instructions here. [via whip-up]

Etsy Love :: Vinyl Decals!!

So, I have been pondering things to stick on my walls. Most of them are still pretty bare because I am super picky about what goes up. I'd rather have nothing than something I don't like.

I have been contemplating decals for a while. I have no headboard in my bedroom, good place for a decal, I have an almost empty hallways, good place for a decal.

Well, I decided to get my feet wet with one that I'll probably put up in my office or bathroom...maybe even the car.

So me, right? I typically end my emails with it, so yeah!

Bought from etsy seller TastySuite for $6.00

New Doll :: Fuzzy Panda

I have been experimenting with some new techniques for amigrurmi and this week I've been playing with a brushing technique involving a dog slick brush and wool yarn.

I have made three dolls involving this and the first one I'm sharing with you is my favorite so far...Fuzzy Panda.

I haven't written up the pattern yet, but I plan to do a photo tutorial on the technique soon.

I hate doing the same dolls multiple times, so I am trying to make different dolls to bring to Renegade in July. So I hope to have lots of new dolls to show you in the coming weeks.

Craft Show Wrap Up :: Bazaar Bizaare at Maker Faire 2009

I was going to post about my experiences on each day, but covered the demo end and now I'll cover my experience vending at Bazaar Bizarre which was at Maker Faire.

Sorry I've been MIA since my last post. A bad cold had my energy sapped and my brain fried and I've had barely enough energy to watch movies much less type and think.

In short, my experience at Baz Biz this year was super awesome! The crowds were insane in a good way...I can only think that if you didn't do well as a vendor, you should look at yourself, because people were there and they were buying! Everyone around me seemed to be doing very well and it was so crowded most of each day that it was difficult to walk down our aisle.

I sold tons...above is a picture of my booth at the start of Day 1 and let me tell ya, it was stark by the end of Day 2...stark. I said goodbye to all my mushrooms, the Hippo and Rhino, Tough Love, Chilly, all my Flamies and Buties, the Yellow Bear, all my copies of Tiny Yarn Animals, most of the Booklets and Kits went too. The Flamies were very popular.

My neighbors were great too! To my left was Kelso Doesn't Dance who had the coolest wallets made from old maps and books. (very popular too) On my right was Petals and PineBlossoms who had some of the most well made bags I've seen at a craft fair...not to mention they had super cute owl and fawn motifs. (also extremely popular with customers) Behind my was Claire from Absolutely Small and she's always fun to be around. Billy and I fell in love with Roger the Pom-Pom dog and brought him home to live with us!

I also got around and did some shopping. We bought a card from Dutch Door Press, an apron from PenguinBot.com, some amazing prints and a  screen printed wood piece from Tiny Sparks Designs.

But Maker Faire was chock full of amazing designers! I wish I had a million dollars because I would have spent them all there!