thrilling yarns, redux*

i was sorting through photos on my phone the other day, when i realized i had a bunch of un-blogged yarn projects. which led me to wonder if i had at least printed out pics to put in my little amigurumi playing card book? nope. and since i spent the time cropping and printing the pics, finding the names of the patterns, and making atc-sized pages for each one, i'm at least getting a post out of this, lol! also, it's much easier for me to go back and find a specific photo/project thru blogger's searchable index than it is on my phone, where i just have to scroll for all eternity. so feel free to skip this and come back tomorrow when i'll have another christmas critter card for ya!

a big smooshy cupcake for our grand-niece maddy's second birthday. made with bernat's chunky chenille yarn and an M hook, from a pattern intended to be a tiny amigurumi. (this is what's great about yarn... for the same number of stitches you can make something adorably tiny OR huge and awesome, using the same pattern, just by changing yarn and needle combinations)

nearly all the niece and nephew gifts are collaborations between the kid and myself. i like for them to choose the project, and then we decide between us what kind of yarn, colors, etc should be used. riley fell in love with "the smooshy yarn" i had used for something else, and decided on a small blanket with a chevron pattern. i found this zig zag afghan pattern by bernat on ravelry. since the chenille doesn't come in quite as many colors as some yarns do, we had to finagle a little bit to find a great combo, but we got there in the end! (obviously it made my day when my SIL sent this pic of riley snuggling under the present in question, lol!)

this uber-large BB8 was made for matthew's 9th birthday, last september, from a pattern my sister found on pinterest. it's meant to be approximately the size of the one in the movie, which is about 15" tall or so. i started working on it with one strand of chenille, and somehow decided, based on the gauge, that it was going to be too small. so i plussed up to two  strands and a Q hook. it's flippin' HUUUUGE as you can see, and needed nearly three bags of fiberfill stuffing. matthew didn't complain, tho... ;)

flash forward to my september 2017 vacation in nyc with stephanie. i'd started working on a chunky afghan for lindsay that was already too big to be a take along. despite gentle nudging thru the summer, matthew hadn't chosen a pattern yet. so i "helped" him, lol. but really, who could fail to love this amazingly realistic cheeseburger by joyce overheul?! 

this crocheted mandala is called sophie's garden and it's been my interim project all year long. i love that it's challenging without being actually difficult. it's definitely cool to change up with something where every round is different, in between highly repetitive projects like ami's and afghans. 

lindsay marie picked this strawberry milkshake pattern by super cute design last fall for her birthday, and asked me to "supersize" it!

the emoji pillow i made for maddie's 12th birthday is one of the very very few crochet projects on which i winged it. for the record, i don't love to innovate with yarn. it's my relaxation craft, so having really good instructions (with pics!) is totally awesome. believe it or not, getting the basic size and shape-- a flat circle rather than an orb, in a vaguely throw pillow type of size-- was the hardest part.

a few years ago i made matthew a minion using this pattern by pops de milk. last year, my niece jessica saw it and was pretty crazy about him. so i made another.

once i had all the photos printed, the dates remembered, the names of patterns and types of yarn at my fingertips, i added each of the projects above to my little ami book, which is not so little any more, actually:

the pages of the book are ATC-sized (3.5 x 2.5") and built on top of old playing cards. on the front of each card is a photo of the project:

on the back is the date, the pattern source, the type of yarn and hook or needle size and any other relevant information i want to remember about the project.

if you make a lot of gifts, i highly recommend having a place where you note down all of these things, even if it's just a storebought photo album or a little spiral-bound notebook. because if you're anything like me, there are a couple of things i can totally guarantee: one is that you think you'll remember the details... but you won't. and the other is that you will ♥LOVE♥ looking back through all of the presents you've made and remembering the people for whom you made them. 

♥♥♥

*sorry if this is a "re-run" post! i accidentally scheduled it for october 2nd instead of november 2nd and didn't notice it until 24 hours later when it didn't show up in my schedule. so of course anyone who uses a reader has seen this already, but i'm putting it back where i had intended it to go anyhow. because *I* am the boss of mr. blogger, dang it, lol!