One of my goals this year is to document more of what I do and not just create things and throw them into a box and store it in the back of a closet.  I had one of those “life has no practice mode” moments and figured I needed to think less and do more.

So this post is my first attempt at doing more from here on out.

I have been playing Pokemon Ultra Moon – it’s not great, it’s not bad, really just more of an expansion to Pokemon Moon and I don’t know why it was a full price game.  Either way, I’m obsessive and :cough: a little :cough: crazy, so that means I have tasked myself with 100%ing the pokedex from the game.  I’m getting really close, but there are a few hold outs that are getting on my nerves; Castform being one of them.

I decided that if I can’t get him to pop up in the game I will have to catch him otherwise.  So…..I made one.  I’m still trying to figure out how to shove him into the DS so he’ll show up in the game.

The moral of the story is that I created my own Castform who has just been hanging out on my desk.  I got a little love for him on Facebook and people liked him.  I thought maybe someone else would want to make their own little friend; so here ya go, my pattern for him (if you share please link back to this post or the pattern post specifically, not just copy paste it places – original artists need love too).

Large Castform

Materials I used:

• Clover Amour G (4.00 mm) hook
• Caron Simply Soft yarn in Grey Heather
• White embroidery floss
• Black embroidery floss
• White acrylic felt
• Black acrylic felt

The finished product ended up being approximately 2″ x 2.5″ x 4″

Head:

•  1.  mr 6 (6)
•  2.  inc 6 evenly (12)
•  3.  inc 6 evenly (18)
•  4.  inc 6 evenly (24)
•  5.  inc 6 evenly (30)
•  6.  inc 6 evenly (36)
•  7.  inc 6 evenly (42)
•  8.-14.  sc around (42)
• 15.  dec 6 evenly (36)
• 16.  dec 6 evenly (30)
• 17.  dec 6 evenly (24)
• 18.  dec 6 evenly (18)
• 19.  dec 6 evenly (12)
• 20.  dec 4 (8), f.o.

Feet/Hands/Grabby Things? x 2:

•  1.  mr 6 (6)
•  2.  inc 6 evenly (12)
•  3.  inc 6 evenly (18)
•  4.  sc around (18)
•  5.  sc around (18)
•  6.  dec 6 evenly (12)
•  7.  dec 4 (8), f.o.

Butt/Tail:

•  1.  mr 6 (6)
•  2.  inc 6 evenly (12)
•  3.  inc 6 evenly (18)
•  4.  dec 6 evenly (12)
•  5.  sc flo (12)
•  6.  dec 4 together, sc 4 (8)
•  7.  sl st 4 loosely, sc 4 (8)
•  8.  sl st dec 2 loosely, sc 4 (6)
•  9.  dec 2, sc 2 (4), f.o.

Horn/Head Bobbley Bit:

•  1.  ch 8, join with sl st
•  2.  sc 8 (8)
•  3.  sc 8 (8)
•  4.  sl st 4, sc 4 (8)
•  5.  sl st 4, sc 4 (8)
•  6.  sl st dec 2, sc (6)
•  7.  sl st dec 2, sc 2 (4)
•  8.  dec 1, sc 2, (3), f.o.

For the eyes I first cut out a piece of white felt.  Next, I cut out two small black circles of felt and attached them to the white felt by stitching around the black in black embroidery thread.  They could also easily be glued on if you didn’t want to sew.

Attach all the pieces in your preferred manner and there ya go! You have a new little desk buddy.

Happy Hooking!

 

Who knows what I’m supposed to write here?  I don’t!  Anywho, I really need to start getting a move on this blog thing and write stuff down and do things and stuff, I don’t know.  I just finished a few projects for orders and now I don’t know what to do with my life! AHHHHH!

This be one of them, he’s an adorable little capybara! He wants to be your friend!!!

I’ve been trying to brainstorm, but that hasn’t been working.  I realized that I have no idea how to brainstorm and I should probably refer to the internet to figure this out.

I don’t think I have anything else to write at the moment.  Maybe the next time I write something it will have actual substance and make sense to someone that isn’t me

I almost forgot to add planner info! I never found a perfect planner, but I have made a few different ones and think I have finally found a version that works gloriously for me!  I really need a lot of reminders and room for planning out a lot of details so I designed one with a monthly, weekly, and daily spread!  I know, that’s a lot going on in one planner, but I swear, I use all the parts lol.  For right now I’m only making them in 3 month stretches, maybe the next one I’ll try six months, but I don’t want it to be too bulky, so we will have to see.

For some reason I do not like the idea of new years resolutions, instead I choose to label them as having a set of goals for the year.  One of those goals this time around is to improve my organization; including organizing my stuff and my time better.  So far we’re off to a pretty good start, this last weekend we got my new shelves all up and ready to go.  I spent part of yesterday labeling my boxes and everything is starting to look so much more in place!

I have also been searching for the perfect planner, but have yet to find one that really suits my needs.  All in all I have come to the conclusion that in order to get exactly what I need I will need to create it myself.  So part of my night is going to be spent yelling at my computer about why it isn’t letting me put a table exactly where I want it to be – in the end I think I will prevail 🙂

Lastly, I wanted to include a few of the things I have been working on lately.  These are my latest finished objects.  I have gotten a couple stroller/lap blankets done;  one is garden inspired and the other is my “Wreck it Ralph” inspired blanket.  Also I made a little flower pot, one that I can’t kill! (flowers and I do not always get along the best).

I finally finished up taking apart the projects I did not want to finish, cleaning, and organizing.  It took entirely too long, but I am done!!!!

I am really happy I chose to do it now for two reasons: 1. It was driving me insane that everything was a mess and projects would sit and whisper to me in the night “Why don’t you love me!?!” “Finish meeeee” and because 2. I found the scarves I made for the Foster Care to Success charity that I thought I mailed out, but in actuality did not.

So this week I am off to mail those scarves and have been working on the hearts for the Peyton Heart Projects Rainbow Hearts event.  I don’t have much else to say right now, so short post it is!

Sometimes you make a plan and then reality comes in and tells you your plan was silly.  All in all my goal of getting all my projects finished up in one week did not work out.  Though I kept plugging away and got the majority of them taken care of within two weeks.  There are a couple things that did not get finished – though one of them I’m waiting on, I cannot decide if I want to take it apart and forget about it or continue on with it and finish.

All in all this week I finished a knit baby blanket that I started forever ago – I think in the future I’m going to put a liner on it, but for now I am calling it done.  I liked the idea a lot more than I liked the finished product.  Next up I finished a katamari ball (including magnets) – this one I love! One of the unfinished projects I have left is a mini katamari.  Then I made two puzzle balls.  I will be making more of these, but the next time with a little less stuffing – the fabric was pulling more than I liked in the end.  And lastly the minion.  The minion is the devil.  Took me a lot longer to finish than I should have because I kept second guessing the way I was doing things and ended up trying a few variations to get it the way I liked it; in the end, I really like him, but will probably forgo the yellow accent stitching and replace it with a blue if I make another.

For anyone interested in creating their own, below are the patterns I used as a base for all of the projects (I generally tweak things as I go):

Amish Puzzle Ball and Star Puzzle Ball

Katamari

Minion

Heart Blanket

I am remembering why I don’t make a lot of blankets.  Soooooo many tails to weave in.  Keep going back and forth from it being slightly calming to completely infuriating with no end in sight.

But….I’m getting stuff done and boxes are slowly becoming empty.  I have 3 days left to finish 4 more projects; the blanket should be done today.  Took a little break to type some words here, but now….back to work!

This post is the first step on a new journey.  I have been hemming and hawing over how to get started for a while now.  Today I decided to just start and see where it takes me.  This site is still very much under construction and I hope to add a great deal to it in the coming weeks.  Today I was able to add to the Charities page and I would love if you all could give it a look and see if you would be able to help out.

In all my thinking and worrying over what to post I did come to the conclusion that I need to start this blog with a clean slate.  So I am here declaring now that this week is my week of finishing projects that have been sitting in boxes for weeks unfinished.  I am really guilty of starting things and really loving them, getting close to finishing, but then getting distracted by a new shiny idea.  The poor unfinished projects sit in their little Rubbermaid caskets in project purgatory.  I do not know if I will be able to get them all finished in a week, but I am going to put forth my best effort.  I will update and post the finished objects as I can (most of them are gifts and I will have to wait for them to get to people before I reveal them here).

I invite everyone that has similar situations to take some time in the next week to do the same.  Get those old projects done!  If you lost interest with them and finishing them is an idea that fills you with dread, don’t be afraid to scrap the project and move on; don’t let a work in progress haunt you! Crochet and creating should bring you joy not terror.

❤