ooo de-la-li

Boy o boy have I been busy!

The last thing I posted was the barefoot sandals.  Those have kept me busy!  I've had orders for women and babies.  I did a white set of those below and I have an order for 6 more in Earth tones but those aren't due to go out for another year.  I did 3 sets of sandals for a newborn and two new hats, an owl and a fox.

Then the big one.  As you can see from my new banner, I also worked on a custom ordered Puu and Koenma from Yu Yu Hakusho.  These little cuties are at DragonCon in Atlanta this week!  They took a considerable amount of time.  Puu was easy peasie as I just redid the pattern for him but Koenma was a tough little cookie.  I chose to find a pattern for dolls similar.  Eventually I decided on Pocoyo Pattern by Upa! Mi Gurrumin, a paid pattern.  The final product measured about a foot tall!  The hat I made wider and though it appears shorter, it's not.  I folded it up and went that way with it to match Koenma.  Arms and legs were loosely tied on and through to the other side so they can be somewhat movable and sit on a shoulder.  I used black crochet thread for the lines, ears and red Caron Simply Soft for the sash.  Though I wish I had a little darker yarn for his flesh color, I think I really like the dark purple and lighter pink.  The hands and feet were adorable!

When everything was ready to be tied off I just fed the yarn down under the skirt and tied it off there to hide the seams!

The only things I would have done differently:

• It never said the face was done in the round and not ended, began again.  I do wish I'd have known that.
• I wish I'd had more time to do his eyes rather than just stitching simple lines.
• mayyyyybe I'd have made the hat bigger as well

All in all I was really proud of how it turned out.

Now I'm working on Shark Booties, also a paid pattern.  I'm not happy.  My hands are killing me from the tiny stitching.  The "mark" and "mark" there are confusing.  When you put it all together it doesn't connect exactly right and there are not enough images to show you how to do the heel.  The toe on mine doesn't go down and around like theirs does.  However, all that being said, it will still turn out to be a super cute set of booties.  If I don't get mad at them and throw them and their hook. :p  

My wonderful sister decided to send me vast amounts of Sashay yarn many moons ago so I'm trying to think up new ways to use them.  Perhaps in a bracelet?

Also I've updated My Shop to sell 2 more Dr Who Necklaces and one KeyRing.  Get them while they're hot. ;)

Barefoot Sandals...Free Pattern

I was looking for some simple barefoot sandals for a friend.  It seems like an easy task.  Moogly, who I ADORE, has tons of free patterns but none were really what I was looking for.  I don't have a lot of experience with barefoot sandals.  The one experience I've had was horrifying but I can't let that distract me from them.  They're beautiful and they sell.  And I like money.  :p

I did purchase the Seahorse Barefoot Sandal Pattern and complete them.  The stitches were hard and I chose to use a sparkly thread which was a disaster as it kept bunching up and twisting or the shiny part would break.  I pulled apart and redid it a dozen times and it took me weeks, not hours.  I can not be defeated by some damned seahorses.

In my search for a pattern I found DachuksB beautiful Ivory Sandals.  Actually, I found them on AliExpress.  If you've not heard of them, they steal your photos from your Etsy shop, they tell people the pattern belongs to them and they sell it and make the money.  In this case, Dace is from Latvia and the AliExpress says they're made and sold by someone in China.  Even if they do sell only what they make from the pattern they purchased, they still stole photos from the original owner.  As a general rule, just don't buy from AliExpress.  I messaged Dace and let her know and turns out most of her work is on their site. :(

Anyway, her Ivory Sandals gave me an idea for a pair of sandals.  Dual small flowers with a larger flower in the back.  I got to work and after a couple of days came up with this.  You are welcome to sell whatever you make from this.  I'd love for you to point folks back here but it's not necessary.  I don't have to worry about anyone stealing the image, it sucks.  I took it in my bathroom where there was poor lighting but this was the pair I made for my friend.  I hope the pattern makes sense.  If you have problems, comment and I'll get ya fixed up. :)

Color 1 was a white crochet thread
Color 2 was a teal crochet thread
Color 3 was a light minty green crochet thread

D hook

THINGS TO KNOW:

on each flower and the beginning toe loop be sure you leave a long tail to tie together/weave in at the end

picot - chain 3, slip stitch to first chain

Small Flower (color1)

--ch3, loop

--chain 3, sc (5x)

--sl st in 3 ch loop, chain 2, dc, tr, ch1, tr, dc, ch2, sl st in same st

do one for each 3 ch loop.

(two for each foot for a total of 4 small flowers)

sl st and tie off leaving a tail to attach to other flower and chain.

Large Flower (color2)

--chain 3, ml

--chain 1, 10 sc in ring

--ch1, in first st (sc, ch5, sc, ch1), skip next stitch and repeat () 5x

--ch 1, in first st (sc, hdc, 2dc, 2tr, Picot, 2tr, 2dc, hdc, sc), sl st in the next st and repeat () in the next ch 5 spaces

sl st and tie off leaving a tail to attach to other flower and chain.

(you'll need two large flowers)

Using long string of the small flower and your needle, pull the small and large flowers together and either stitch a couple of times to tighten or pull string through and tie flowers together. Put aside.

Toe Loop  (color3)

Chain 26, sl st into a ring

Chain 2, sl st on the reverse side of the flower (anywhere around the center will do, one on the top and bottom of the circle, just to secure it to the chain)

Chain 14, as with the small flower, sl st onto the bottom of the flower combo (do this between two petals so that the top of the flower will be a point of on petal)...stitch from bottom to top of the flower with sl st or cut a long tail and stitch toward the top

Tie off, leave a long string.

Again starting with a long tail on one of the two top side petals,  sl st and then 2sc in 2nd or 3rd stitcch from the end Picot and chain 136 (the long tail you can weave back to the center for tying off with the others and weaving/trimming)

Do the same on the other side

With the sides done you can knot them and leave them alone or you can pull the last loop out, wrap string around your finger and last loop 3+ times then sc around for a fancy ring similar to those on Dace's link above. Leave a tail long enough to weave all the way around the ring and trim off. Wrap once around the ankle and tie in the back like a shoelace.

1Hr ½ or so to make the pair