Pumpkin or Orange?

Happy Halloween!
again, there's no Halloween here :(
basically I spend my Halloween at home, watching DVDs and crocheting.

Today, I made a Pumpkin boy, at least it was meant to be a pumpkin, but it ended up as an orange boy.

Hey, Des, stop watching DVDs, let's do trick or treats!

Maybe I used the wrong tone of orange, cause I don't remember how the real pumpkins are :p
Now I get it why there's no Halloween!
because there's not enough pumpkin to carved.
it just not a common food here.

 well there's no Halloween, but I could play some tricks here >:)

Orangutanku #9: Budi

If you learn to write and read in Bahasa, the first sentences you'll learn would be:
ini Budi
ini ibu Budi
(translation: this is Budi, This is Budi's Mom)

ini Ya Budi

Budi is a common name in Indonesia, at least 10-20 years ago.
Now, Budi is a rare (antique) name, since Indonesian parents love to give unique names, mostly western name with wrong spelling.
since there is basically no rules on giving family name, you could name your kids whatever you like.
You like Star Wars, you could name your kid Darth Vader, seriously.

accidentally, this month themes beside Dad's birthday and Halloween there is also yellow theme.
I made yellow chicken, yellow orangutan, and a yellow....

Ya Budi suka pisang

...Banana.
the banana was made using a pattern from a book.
it's weird working using someone's pattern, it less fun than free styling :p

Oh, almost forgotten,
Budi is available for adoption for 90000 IDR :)
as usual 10% gained from the adoption would be saved for the Orangutanku Project.

The banana and the shipment cost not included
the special offers is still available ;)

just in case you are curious, Budi suka pisang means Budi likes Banana.

UPDATE October 27 2010 : Budi is sold (wait a minute it sounded bad, but yes He is sold)

Knitting a bear (pattern or guide or just some clues)

As promised, here's a pattern or something for the knitted bear
thanks, anonymous, for reminding me about this :)

 

 

warning: English is not my native language, and I'm a newbie on knitting. there would be some missing guidances on this pattern because I have some trouble in descripting the process (even my real Language won't help much).

Any kind of help or suggestion on completing the missing part would be greatly appreciated.

tools:
a set of 4 double pointed needles (size 2mm)
or a circular pointed needle (same size)
1 extra double pointed needle (just in case you'll need it)
brown and gray fingering yarn (or your favorite choice of colors)
black beads for the eyes
black sewing yarn (and sewing needle).

the pattern

Foot (make 2):

begin with 6sts in a round
rnd1:[Kfb]6 times (12sts)
rnd2:[Kfb,K1] 6 times (18sts)
rnd3-11: knit around (18sts every row)
add some stuffing

Join the foots together (really I don't know how to explain this part, please help me)

How?
divide stiches in every foot into 2 needles. You got 2 foot and 4 needles so you have 9 sts in every needles. (this is when you need an extra needle to knit)

continue as if the foots are one big round part.

rnd12: knit around (18 sts every foot, so you'll get 36 sts after joining both foots)
rnd13:[Kfb,K5] 6 times (42sts)
rnd14:[Kfb,K6] 6 times (48sts)
rnd15:[Kfb,K7] 6 times (54sts)
rnd16:[Kfb,K8] 6 times (60sts)
rnd17:[Kfb,K9] 6 times (66sts)
rnd18:[Kfb,K10] 6 times (72sts)
rnd19-25 :knit around (72sts)
rnd 26:[k2tog,k10] 6 times (66sts)
rnd 27-29: knit around (66sts)
rnd 30:[k2tog,k9] 6 times (60sts)
rnd 31-33: knit around (60sts)
rnd 34:[k2tog,k8] 6 times (54sts)
rnd 35-37: knit around (54sts)
rnd 38:[k2tog,k7] 6 times (48sts)
rnd 39-41: knit around (48sts)
rnd 42:[k2tog,k6] 6 times (42sts)
rnd 42-44: knit around (42sts)
add some stuffing for the big stomach
rnd 45:[k2tog,k5] 6 times (36sts)
rnd 45-51: knit around (36sts)
rnd 52:[k2tog,k4] 6 times (30sts)
rnd 53:[k2tog,k3] 6 times (24sts)
rnd 54:[k2tog,k2] 6 times (18sts)
rnd 55:[k2tog,k] 6 times (12sts)
add some stuffing for the head part
rnd 56:[k2tog] 6 times (6sts)
finish off

Nose:

rnd 1:begin with 18 sts in a round
rnd 2-5: knit around [18sts]
rnd 6:[k2tog,k] 6 times (12sts)
rnd 7:[k2tog] 6 times (6sts)
finish off and add some stuffing before sewing the nose to the head

Ears (make 2):

rnd 1: begin with 9 sts in a round
rnd 2:[Kfb,K2] 3 times (12sts)
rnd 3: knit around (12sts)
rnd 4:[k2tog] 6 times (6sts)
finish off, no need to add some stuffing inside

Hands (make 2):

rnd 1: begin with 12 sts in a round
rnd 2-7:knit around (12sts)
rnd 8:[k2tog] 6 times (6sts)
finish off, add some stuffing before sewing the hands to the body.

Finishing:

sew parts together.
add some embroidery on the nose part as you like
add some beads for the eyes, but if it was for younger children, please consider using safety eyes or embroidered eyes.

You may add a tail on the back, using the ears pattern.
(do real bears have tails?)
 

Last thing, don't forget to share the picture of your knitted bear :) 

 

* I made this pattern at the early morning, when I haven't wash my face.. so there might be so mistake :p

to the ranch!

recently I started to play SPP Ranch!
anybody played this game? add me as your neighbor :)
as I begin to love the cute characters, I tried to make a fan craft for this game.

Yup.. it's another Ayam (chick/hen/rooster) for this October :p
the chicken on the game is wayyy cuter than this knitted chicken.
somehow, I think my chicken is look more like a human face (with large nose and ears)
what do you think?

SPP Ranch is copyrighted by Slide.inc
I have no right to sell the doll at all, I only made the doll as a fan art things :p

petit cadeau pour mon papa poule

it's my dad birthday again!
Thankfully, he is well and happy on his 59th birthday.
He did an "hiking" trip with his students on his birthday.
this year I made an Ayamanda stamp for him, so he could mark his book collections.
I made the stamp using the instant stamp maker service, so it was an easy task.
I only need the stamp design, my own design  :)

I want to make it extra special, so I crocheted a stamp cover.
Since the last Ayamanda key chain doll now covered with ink, this year I made black rooster instead of the red one.
as always, I'm not good in making things beside dolls, but I did my best

so that you can't see how "cute" this stamp cover, I only took 1 picture of it :P

Yo Yo Dieting Cats from the Mischief Champions

Have you ever read the Mischief Champions? (check it out, believe me, you'll like it)
there are a lot of odd drawings to make you happy , as it said for the site's tag line.
it's one of my must-see-weekly web, and sometimes I read it 3 times a week :p
Months ago, Katrin Hagen, the head behind the Mischief, commissioned me to transform one of her drawings into crocheted toy.
as you see, her realistic drawing style is totally different than mine (I never really made a realistic drawings!)
She kindly chose the Yo-yo dieting , which is the most simple drawing, to be transformed to crocheted toy.

there was some sketching and prototyping process, and finally it's done :)

of course, the umbrellas were only used for the photo session, the sun here was very strong :p
it was a really fun work, maybe next time I will make another toy based on her drawings too as a fan craft.

so, do you want to have your own customized crocheted toys too?
just send me e-mail :)

Frankenstein

October means Halloween!
the bad news is, there's no Halloween in Indonesia
well there are some places having private Halloween Party but there's no trick or treat in the neighborhood.
So, I made this frankenstein as a Halloween decor at my desk.

the sitting pose was based on Bali sitting statue, same like the purple ninja
I always wanted to make something gore but cute.
So prepare your guts :P

don't worry, parents, I'll keep this blog rated as PG

Pink Nurita

Octopus in Bahasa Indonesia is Gurita
My friend who asked me to make the blue octopus is Nurita
so let's call the knitted octopus as Nurita collection.

Since I was in the mood for knitting, I made another Nurita in pink.

Cute isn't it?

And you may have your own Nurita in your favorite colors for Rp30.000,00 (shipping cost not included)
I would need a week to make one octopus, and every octopus size is about 4-5cm

Mau?