I’ve been crocheting really slowly the past few weeks.  I split my down time/quiet time between reading and crocheting, and recently reading has won. I renewed my library card and have been catching up on my long list of books including Love Is A Mix Tape (A), Blindness (B-), and The Alchemist (A-).

So rather than my own projects, I wanted to share some crochet projects from others.

Crochet Coral Reef

Image via Margaret Wertheim Flickr

“The Institute For Figuring is crocheting a coral reef: a woolly celebration of the intersection of higher geometry and feminine handicraft, and a testimony to the disappearing wonders of the marine world.” – IFF

Started in 2005 by sisters Margaret and Christine Wertheim, this project has become a worldwide movement to bring attention to the Great Barrier Reef and the effects of pollution and global warming.  Crocheters from around the world have contributed their work.  Click here for an exhibition schedule and more information.

Crochetdermy

Photos by Scene Photography 2009

Shauna Richardson creates these true-to-life “taxidermied” animals. Slightly less creepy than actual taxidermied animals, way more impressive. Read an interview with the artist here.

Yarnbombing

Yarnbombing by WooWork

Yarnbombing or Graffiti Knitting is a type of street/installation art made by knitters and crocheters.  The amigurumi sample above of  was made by WooWork. If you can’t tell from the photo, its a bunch of raindrops with cat and dog heads attached. These were hung in Vancouver during the winter olympics.  Click here for more info and adorable pictures.

Meet Lorelei
(this picture is hanging in my bathroom)

The official mascot of Molly Knight Crafts, Lorelei is a sweet little girl who loves fashion, beauty products, and modeling.  Her favorite TV show is Project Runway, followed closely by The Rachel Zoe Project (which is O.O.C.)

Pink is the new black.

Her skin and leggings are made with various nylon/acryllics and her dress is made from Berroco Suede.  Her hair is made from some funky yarn I found in the clearance bin.  I forget what its called exactly but it looks like Berroco Zap.

I got some better photos of the ladybug I made last weekend.

Lorelei just loved her.

Top down view.

I’m pretty pleased with how she came out.  Made with Berroco Comfort and Caron Simply Soft

Maybe there will be a giveaway here sometime during this celebratory month. Just sayin…

In the name of NCM, lets chat.  I get really excited whenever I have a comment to moderate on here.

Do you crochet? How long have you been crocheting? How will you be celebrating this exciting month?

1. Toasty

My sister requested a crocheted piece of toast as her treat for donating to Haiti relief.

Toasty and his drink of choice (also for size comparison)

Toasties are $5

2. I got an order for four birds, with colors to match the customer’s “real life” birds:

Birds are $7 each, any color (different wing colors are an option as well).  I have a blue and teal bird ready to ship but I keep forgetting to take pictures of them.

3. Then got an order for a pink lady bug. Only one picture of her for now, I tried to take some more but its really grey and yucky out (gettin REALLY sick of the weather in Boston lately!) so the lighting isn’t good.

Ladybugs are $15

I seem to get orders in waves.  I won’t have any custom orders for a few weeks, then boom, three in a row. Not that I’m complaining

Right now I’m working on a family of birds – the colors match those of the customer’s real life not-crocheted birds! I can’t wait to see pictures of them together. Next up is a lady bug, a monkey, a bunny and a bear. Busy couple weeks ahead!

And check out their other videos here.

Basically, its an amigurumi bunny and bear who play music thanks to stop motion animation and it is TOO CUTE. (I should count the number of times I’ve used “cute” on this blog.)

203gow is a Japanese crochet blog that I so wish I could actually read.  Check out these amazing crocheted 3D glasses and ami “3D” figures!!

I have no idea what they’re saying but the pictures in their posts are AMAZING.

My nephew, Sebastian, loooves monkeys. He has a monkey that he sleeps and cuddles with and he was a monkey for Halloween.  So when I found this pattern, I knew what a certain someone would be getting for Christmas!

I finished making it at work and showed it off to coworkers since it was just so cute. They loved it, and my boss requested one (along with a giraffe) for her twin nieces.

I changed the pattern a little bit, making everything a little smaller, with more of a tummy and smaller feet and hands.

You can’t really tell in this photo but the tail sticks straight out and makes a loop at the end.

Anyway, my buddy Aaron asked me if I would be able to make a horse and I said sure, why the heck not. I looked for some patterns online but they weren’t all that fantastic.  I found one that looked decent, tried it out…it looked nothing like a horse. I don’t know what the author was thinking. So I just made this up as I went along and I’m really, really pleased with how it turned out.

It stands about 5″ tall and 4.75″ long. Made with an alpaca/wool blend (Berocco Ultra Alpaca in “Winter Squash Mix”) and an acryllic mane (Caron Simply Soft in “Bone”).  The colors were chosen to be close to a Palomino.  I know nothing about horses, I hope I’ve done it justice.

This was a hard little guy to say goodbye to! I’m thinkin’ he’ll be loved a whole bunch in his new home, though.

(Ponies are $20 plus shipping. Unicorns may be available as well.)

Daaaaaw

I made 13 of these little guys. Making so many of one thing is rough – you get it down to a science so you can do them quickly, but eventually you just do not want to make another one.

Now, on to the birds…

For anyone just starting out with amigirumi, I’d definitely recommend starting with a simple bird pattern (for anyone wondering – yes, I WILL get the amigurumi tutorial up at some point. Promise.)  I started with this one from Bitter Sweet.  Here’s the very first amigurumi I made:

Her name is Chicken.

Next was a going away bird that I forgot to take pictures of named Conrad (Bye Bye Birdie….get it??)

Then came this handsome guy, Patrickswayze Michaeljackson who now lives on my friend Beth’s desk at work.  I fiddled with the original pattern a little, changed the wing shape.

Beth’s coworker was so charmed by Patrickswayze Michaeljackson that she asked if I could make a whole bunch of birds (what do you call a group of birds? flock?) for her to give out as Christmas gifts.

Beth told me that Ps Mj needed a lovebird, so along came Farrahfawcet.

These birds are now my go-to small gifts.  They’re quick to make and are super cute.  Friends have suggested making some as cat toys by adding catnip. These birds are available in pretty much any color/color combination imaginable and are $5 plus shipping (usually about $3).

A few months ago I saw this book with a pattern for a mobile.  I decided to make it for my niece (who was just born on January 18! Welcome, Anona! I’ll teach you to crochet one day!).

The mobile called for a different type of bird:

And the finished product:
It’s difficult to take a picture of a mobile!

I then got a special request for an owl. Made a few modifications to the bird pattern and came up with this:

Hoot Hoot!