Jake, the crocheted dog

Today I decided to make an Adventure Time key ring for my fiance. It is disproportionate and poorly made, as I lost patience with the little sucker towards the end, but it's made with heaps of love :P
I will definitely make another one at some point, and adjust the work a little. And breathe more steadily ;)

First, I made four chain stitches, which I then connected into a loop:

Then I made 8 single stitches in the loop. After that I increased continuously a few rounds, making two single stitches in every other stitch in the previous round, until I felt like the bottom/top of Jake's body was big enough. To make a sylinder shape, I just made one stitch in every stitch, until the body was long enough.

Bottom is big enough now.

One single stitch in every previous stitch to make it go upwards. This is with the inside out, which automatically happens when doing this technique. 

 Flipped right side out.

The body is long enough.

Stuff the cylinder with wadding, before closing it up. To close, do the opposite as in the beginning: skip making stitches in every other previous stitch.

Now this is what killed it for me- finding out how to do all the small parts. As I improvise everything, experimenting can take a lot of time. But, I ended up with limbs and whatnot anyway:

Sewing them on(and eyes, mouth and ears) late in the evening when you should have eaten something a long time ago is nothing I would recommend. This is where my patience with Jake, and the universe in general, flew out the window. But, I got through that too, stubborn as I am. Last thing to to was to attach the key ring itself through Jake's head, and I could finally present it to a very happy guy :)

Now, late night snack!

The end.

Holiday crafts

This summer my fiance and I went to Greece, going to different islands. I didn't bring any crafts with me other than pencils and sketching paper. Problem was, I haven't been in drawing mode for years, so I was constantly looking for a crafts shop. There were a lot of shops with crafts in them, but not much supplies. Until we got to Naxos, there I found a shop called Beads, which had a very small selection of beads and cords etc, but it was super expensive and choices were limited. But, it was enough to soothe my crafts itch for a while. Then, a few days later, we walked past a yarn shop! So of course I bought some yarn! I tried explaining to the Greek lady that spoke no English, what a tatting needle was, but I gave up and just got a regular crochet needle.

At Beads I found relatively good cords, but the beads I will probably donate to a kindergarten(I bought a bulk bag for 3 euros, which was the best deal I could find there).

 Some typical holiday bracelets, top one has a turquoise on it.

A few days after that, in a random supermarket one night, I found a package of needles, where one was long and thin enough to use as a tatting needle. Also found safety pins, so that bracelet making would be easier.

The yarn I bought. These would cost me 6 euros a piece here in Norway, there i got them for 2,5 euros.

The project I ended up spending most time on is this. It will be a back piece for a top. Hope it works out the way I want it to, as I am, like with everything, winging it :P