help save handmade & vintage for "kids"

Please read the article, vote as appropriate and please pass along,
this is not just about toys but ALL items for and that might possibly appeal to
children under 12.

This is particularly harmful to small companies, and artists making clothing, toys and
other items for children, or might appeal to children. It's particularly harmful to the
small companies that make educational, scientific equipment for schools, as well as
the small companies that make specialized equipment and toys for disabled children.

It includes vintage and antique childrens' items collected by adults, it includes used things in resale shops, yarn sales, church bazaars... it includes items already on store shelves and in warehouses...


Dec 31 deadline for level 1 voting, please help.

www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

and vote again in the first 2 weeks of January for level 2.

Thank you.

Busy, busy, busy

I've been busy with school, work (I help out with a local band) and such that I haven't been doing much crocheting lately until today. Anyway here is a post of something I'm making for my sister.

http://yarntalk.blogspot.com/2008/09/for-love.html

One of my kitties is sick!

I haven't been posting much anywhere except my blog ( http://www.trinlayk.blogspot.com ) lately as I'm being a nurse for my 5 yr old cat (the one from my avatar).

A couple weeks ago she yakked up a hairball from heck, and generally wasn't feeling well or eating well. She is gradually doing better, but I'm waiting on some tests from the vet, after running up quite a vet bill on OTHER tests. (see my blog for more information, and updates.)

Why, you may ask, spend so much on medical care for "just a cat"?

Megumi is a bit more than "just a cat" she's my support animal too, and even saved my life when she was a bit more than a year old. Currently, she mostly tells me to "sit down NOW" when I really need to sit down now... but back then I took a new medication for the first time, and ended up passed out with my BP rising to very scary levels. Megumi revived me by washing my face and meowing desperately, when I came to, I realized just how sick I was, and was able to call for help... I ended up in the ER, where they took care of me right away. If Megumi hadn't been able to rouse me, the next chance for me to be rescued would have been 2 HOURS later when my then teenaged daughter got home from school.

She's the best darn cat in the Universe.

My Godson's Blanket

Okay here is the blanket I made my godson for his b-day which is the same day as mine. It is made with scrap greeens. It is 61 inches from point to point and I used a J hook.
Here he is sitting next to his blanket to kind of show the size.
This one he is making a silly face at his mom. As you can see he is sitting on one of the points that just how big it is.
Here he is laying on it to show size again.
And finally he wanted to be a green ghost lol. Oh and he turned 4 on our birthday this year.

Amigurumi Critter

This is the Amigurumi Critter that I made for my swap partner at Crochetville for the Summer Secret Pal Swap. It turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. :-)

panda!

Ping Panda is 4.5 inches tall. crochet from a soy wool blend, with safety eyes, and full of polyfil and Love.

Ping likes eating bamboo, playing with kitties, eating bamboo, eating ice cream, watching sunsets and sunrises, gardening and eating bamboo.

More pandas coming soon!

Todd the Kappa

Todd is a creature from Japanese lore/cryptozoology called a Kappa.


I made him as a gift for a friend into boating,
who also is the center of a "kappa (greek letter k) phenomenon"
a sort of a Chaos field where perfectly functional machinery will get goofy,
apparently, due to the presence of my friend.

Shirley the pink silk bunny amigurumi

Shirley is crochet from silk yarn and was a sweater in a past life.
Give her some time to chat or a book deal, and she'll tell you all about it!

3.25 inches tall

I really love working in silk, and finding it recycled and ready for upcycling,
helps prevent a finished item that breaks the budget.

My first Doily

My very first Doily I did for a swap....everyone keeps telling me I have to keep my first one......but I don't want to have to do another one........I am really getting into thread......I thought I never would!

Halter Top

I haven't post on Crochet Chicks in awhile so here is one of my latest.:)


I made my daughter Nellie a halter top.

So here goes.



Front
Started May 28, 2008
Finished May 29, 2008
Took a little brake from here and there
Yarn, Caron Simply and Soft, Blue Country
H hook
Single, Double stitches




Close up on front top stitches




Close up on front bottom stitches




Back, it lacy down and ties up at the bottom. It also ties up at the top around her neck.




Close up on back stitches

See aint it so pretty. Nellie totally loves it she didn't want to take it off. It's not hot enough for her to wear this yet but, shoot who says, I can't get all her summer clothes crocheted or sewn up now.

Thanks for looking.

Godzilla!

One of three commissioned stuffies... This lil' Godzilla is so charming and cute at 5 inches tall.

He's crochet from alpaca...

There are several other new items in my shop as well.
I've also been busy making critters to send to Duckon.

amigurumi adventures

I had a busy week, I'm still posting photos to my flickr as I nearly 200 photos on a day trip with a couple of my amigurumi along.

The grey kitty hawk is Monty who was made for a friend of mine, and Mothra-bun seems to be my adventurous avitar/alter ego on these field trips. So I met up with the friend who was to become Monty's Mum, and we took her and her little girl on a day trip to Racine to see the zoo there, and to eat at Kewpie burger.

AND THEN, we went a bit further to Kenosha to ride the trolley and see their new museum.

I found that Mothra having adventures makes for a fun photo collection.
enjoy!

My freeform baby blanket

I am 34 weeks pregnant, so I'm very happy to be finished this blanket for my baby Penelope. All of the pieces are free form (scrumbled) pieces that I crocheted together. My original goal was to make it a flat square blanket. There is no way that I could figure out to piece the pieces together in an actual square, so the resulting shape is a more organic form. There are puffy spots and flat spots, there are many different textures all through out the blanket. Penelope should have fun just feeling the blanket. In the end, I did a round of black HDC and a few DC to create a nice border around all of the pieces. Then I made a pink shell edge (5 HDC in a ch then 2 SC in the following 2 chains) to give it a pretty girly ruffle. Pink and black are just so awesome together. Doing this blanket has inspired me to try something new. If I have the energy, I will be making some clothes :)

Rainbow Dagon

Huggable elder god. Rainbow Dagon has sweet yellow eyes, and fins.

So cute you don't mind going insane. Perfect for the SF or H.P Lovecraft fans.
This chibi Dagon is searching for a home, and souls to live with him forever in the seas.
(Some mutations may be involved, but really, it's not so bad.)

Dagon is 6.5 inches tall, would love to have everyone come live in the sea as a sort of human-fishy creature thing... and eventually eat your soul.

Here I am

My latest projects a cute tank top for my daughter and a hair rap:)



Front, I know it looks more like a dress I think I went overboard on those shell stitches lol but, I did want it to be long.



Close up on front



Back



Close up on back



Close up on stitches




Aint it oh so cute. I know that Gold didn't think she inspire me but, Gold you did. I like to see a lot of what everyone else is doing it keeps me on my toes. Plus this also helps me to get away from crocheting purses lol. :)


Now ok with this pretty sky blue hair rap.


Didn't take long at all to finish this.



Side view



Front view

Thanks for looking:) Take care:)

Savannah the Stem Cell

One of my on line friends is recovering from a few years of chemo and bone marrow transplant from her brother for leukemia...

I made this for her:



Savannah arrived at WallCandy's house today!
Here's her blog entry:

http://baldylocks.blogspot.com/2008/04/brighter-days.html

Looking for Designers

Well I'm just about ready to start putting together the first issue of Crochet for Fun (Although the name will be changing). But I would like to get the designs together ASAP. Here is the link to the blog and website.

Blog:
http://crochetforfunblog.blogspot.com/

Website:
http://freewebs.com/crochetforfun

Aslan the Alliterative Amigurumi Avitar

On one of my non-craft fora, a fella with the screen name Aslan has an avitar of a white lion. He commissioned me to make a stuffie avitar for him.

So here is Aslan the alliterative amigurumi avitar:

its been forever

sorry i havent posted in forever. i havent been crocheting much. but i did finish this laphan yesterday. i saw a picture on photobucket and loved it so i tried to copy it. the photobucket one looks much better but i still like it though.

Crazy for Cashmere

I've gone a bit crazy for cashmere...

Meredith the bunny
&

Mizu the water sprite





both in my shop w/ many others.

Scrumbling a baby blanket

I am 6 months pregnant with a baby girl, so I am making her a blanket. I decided to do it in small pieces and crochet them together. I have seen other people do scrumbles and have always wanted to try it. It's pretty fun just to do free form instead of following a pattern. Once I make up a square of tiny pieces, I'll do a border around the edge to finish it off. I put more pictures up on my blog if you'd like to check it out http://www.amytriesblogging.blogspot.com/ :)

Timmy playing in the snow

New Hoodie for my God son

Okay here is the hoodie I made my god son. I always make his sisters things and the last time I came over to thier house he put his hand to his chest and said, "Where's mine?, where's Bernies?" so I broke down and made this for him. It's a size 3T and I got the pattern from www.crochetgarden.com under the pattern section called "Nordic River Hoodie". That is the front of the hoodie.
Here is the back of the hoodie.
Here is the little man happily in his hoodie. He was so excited when I said I had soemthing for him and not his sister's.
Here he is with his hands in his pockets.
And finally here he is with the hood down showing off his cute curls. I love his curls, I told his mom not to get his curls cut anymore. I used for the hoodie a I hook, and Red Heart Camo and Black and once again it s a size 3T.

Carnation the silk amigurumi bunny! I'm almost done with a gold color silk bunny, and an orchid cashmir bunny....

I also did a bunch of these guys for Ophelia Chong

I'm proud to announce...

That I have started an online crochet magazine called Crochet For Fun. The first issue will be out in September and site is still going under a little bit of construction but I'm accepting submissions right now. Here it is:
http://www;freewebs.com/crochetforfun

If there is any problem is the url please let me know.

Silk amigurumi!

Goldie is a friendly little kitty hawk.
She likes to travel and see new things and meet new people and have her photo taken with them.

Goldie is 4 in tall with a 3 in wingspan!
She is crochet from silk, so probably NOT appropriate for small children.
She has safety eyes, and is filled with polyfill and LOVE.

She has been shown in the Art Show at Capricon '08!

www.flickr.com/photos/trinlayk/2279851742/in/set-72157594...

Goldie is eagerly awaiting adoption in my shop.

Small Update

My update will be a short one........have been busy making crochet pokemon characters for AJ, and two other kids want some too...........I tell you I get very bored crocheting the same thing over and over.......so I had planned on crocheting one at a time.......then going back and doing the second set.........but I might have to take a break from pokemon......I already have pokemon books shoved in my face daily with kids asking me, "can you make me this" LOL Anyway these two things above are what I did the other day.......actually over the weekend I think......

Made For Ms. Nellie

Made this crochet shirt for my little daughter Nellie.:)




Front



Back

Thanks for looking.:)