Crocheting Again

Wow, it's been a long time since I've been here.  Hard to keep up sometimes.  Anyway, I've been crocheting again.  I would like to do it more consistently, along with sewing. 

I still consider myself a beginner at crocheting. 

Here are couple things I've been working on lately.

The first is my Blue Bird.  I have fallen in love with many of the amigurumi animals, especially these cute little birds.  I was a little chicken at first to give it a try (pardon the pun), but I finally just dove in and did it.

These are all supposed to be single crochet and crazy enough I had forgotten how to do that most basic stitch.  So, I googled it and watched the first video I found on it.  The funny thing is though, that without my realizing it, they had showed the wrong way to do the stitch.  So, I did the whole bird in this other stitch, half way between a single crochet and a half double crochet, (not sure if it's even a stitch) and I was thinking that my bird seemed a lot bigger than the one with the instructions.  Now I know why, ha!  Oh well, I still think it turned out okay.  I kind of made my own tail, since the instructions I had didn't explain how to sew it on.  And I didn't have any of those "safety eyes" so I just embroidered the eyes on along with the beak instead of using felt.  For my first one, I was happy with it.  It quickly became my daughter's and she named it Bernard, and my other kids all want one now. 

I didn't completely follow the instructions from any one website, otherwise I'd post it here.  But, here is a link for the one that comes the closest to it at Bitter Sweet.  Her birds are adorable, and she does lovely work on so many other items.

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Here is my other crochet project, which I just started and finished last night.  It's a winter hat with ear and front flaps.

The hat looks orange in these pictures, but it's actually red and black.  I used Vanna's Choice 100% acrylic yarn from Lion Brand.  The pattern is the Earflap Hat  also from the Lion Brand website.  I wasn't completely happy with the pattern and I had to adjust it quite a bit, which was a feat for me since I'm such a novice crocheter, but in the end it didn't turn out too bad.  I'm not sure I would use this pattern again.  I am definitely looking for another earflap hat pattern though, because my other two kids would really like to have me make them one. 

And this is the VERY first time in my whole life I have made a pom pom.  It was so much fun!  And SO easy!  I am now looking for things I can use these on because I just want to keep making more and more, ha!!