What’s New in Luvvies – 10/18/18

October 18, 2018Amigurumi, Conventions, Crochet Journey, Patterns, Works in ProgressAmiArtist, Amigurumi, Basics, Conventions, Crochet, CrochetBasics, Lil Luvvies, Lil Luvvies Amigurumi, Patterns, Rhode Island Comic Con, Shameless Self Promotion, Stuffed Animals, Toys, Work In Progress, Yarnlilluvvies Leave a comment

I make every effort to update the blog and to share in my crochet journey with you all, but somehow my best laid plans go astray.

Things have been busy. In September, I took some time off and went to a Supernatural convention with some friends in New Jersey. Also things at home have been crazy busy because my daughter started soccer, so we’ve been running to practices and games. And, to top everything off, my migraines have been acting up – so, I haven’t been as on top of my game as I would like to be.

Despite all the crazy that has been going on, I have been continuing to crochet and get ready for Rhode Island Comic Con (Nov. 2-4). I still don’t feel as prepared as I would like to be, but I still have two weeks to get there.

As I’ve been preparing for con, I’ve discovered that one of the things I absolutely love to make are these adorable little voodoo dolls (Pattern by BlueRabbitToys on Etsy). The funny thing is I think these little ones are so adorable, but my father is legitimately scared of them. Even though I’m soon to be 41, I still share pictures of everything with my father after I’m finished, and for some reason these voodoo dolls just creep him out. It’s a little strange that these would be the thing he has a hard time with, but I also think it’s hilarious.

He also wasn’t a fan of my newest creation, that I’m calling Dee the Nightmare Prevention monster (Pattern by OneandTwoCompany on Etsy). Although he wasn’t as downright creeped out by her as he was by the voodoo dolls, he still wasn’t a fan. Dee was a lot more work than I was expecting, but I am so happy with how she turned out. I love her to bits. Also, OneandTwoCompany is one of my favorite amigurumi designers, I think I have almost every one of her patterns – I haven’t had a chance to make them all, but I have a lot of them. I really do think one of my post-con resolutions is going to be to go through the list and make as many of her items as I can to try everything.

Also in preparation for Rhode Island, knowing that Jenna Coleman from Doctor Who is going to be there, I tried to make some Doctor Who friendly items – like a Weeping Angel and an Adipose. I’m not as happy with how these turned out as I would like to be….they aren’t terrible, but the patterns just were not quite right and led to inconsistent results.

One of my favorite newest creations has been this little chickadee (another awesome pattern by OneandTwoCompany on Etsy). This sweet little girl was so much fun to make. The funny thing is I started her several weeks ago, and then had to put her on hold as I completed orders for my Etsy store. However, once I got back to her, I was so happy I did – she is so sweet. I just want to squeeze her all up.

One other design from my fave at OneandTwoCompany was this adorable Logan the lion backpack. I probably could have made the straps a little longer, but Desi still seemed to like it, and was carrying around some of her reading books for the next couple of days. I still have some problems finishing pieces….like I look at this and I can see that my stitches weren’t quite straight. However, I guess when you look at it in the grand scheme, I’ve only been crocheting for a little over a year, so the fact that i was able to make something like this is pretty awesome – even if the perfectionist in me hates the mistakes.

These have been some of the highlights of recent times…there have been others that I’ve made, too, but are more repetitive. I love trying out new patterns, but I find myself going back to the old standbys more and more.

I’m hoping once I get back from Rhode Island that I’ll have some time to make a variety of different patterns and try to find some new favorites. Thanks for sticking with me!

Hugs and cuddles,

Elisha

Working on a new moose, eh? – WIP

September 20, 2018Amigurumi, Crochet Basics, Crochet Journey, Works in ProgressAmiArtist, Amigurumi, Baby Moose, Chibi, Crochet, CrochetBasics, Lil Luvvies, Lil Luvvies Amigurumi, Moose, Patterns, Shameless Self Promotion, Toys, Work In Progress, Yarnlilluvvies Leave a comment

I think I have mentioned before that I am a huge fan of the television show Supernatural. Because of that, the fandom has a particular love for moose. One of the first amigurumi I learned to crochet was a moose to represent the fandom. However, the further along I’ve gotten in my crochet journey, the more that pattern isn’t always my favorite. So, one of my dear friends suggested I try a moose chibi (or a baby moose).

What an interesting concept…

Jared Moose

The original moose pattern I started with

Sorry to inconvenience you…..or the People Pleaser’s Guide to Business 101

September 19, 2018Amigurumi, Crochet JourneyAmiArtist, Amigurumi, Basics, Crochet, CrochetBasics, Lil Luvvies, Lil Luvvies Amigurumi, Shameless Self Promotion, Toyslilluvvies Leave a comment

hello my name is sign with blank white copyspace for text message

The picture above is probably one of the most accurate representations of me that I have ever seen. I am a people-pleaser; always have been, probably always will be. I remember from an early age always being concerned if someone was upset with me, or wanting to do the best that I could to not disappoint people, especially those I cared about.

Over the years, those tendencies have caused me problems: I’ve agreed to things that I probably didn’t want to do just to make someone else happy. I spent a lot of years not showing my geeky/nerdy side because I didn’t want to be a disappointment to my parents. I’ve learned some from these quirks – but, even though I have made progress in some areas, this is a fundamental part of my being.

Photograph(s)

September 7, 2018Amigurumi, Crochet JourneyAmiArtist, Amigurumi, Basics, Crochet, CrochetBasics, Lil Luvvies, Lil Luvvies Amigurumi, Stuffed Animals, Toyslilluvvies Leave a comment

Growing up (long, long ago), I always loved to take pictures. A lot of that love was influenced by the fact that my older brother was a professional photographer and I was around pictures a good bit. As I got older, I think I convinced myself that I wasn’t artistic and I slowly moved away from a lot of creative outlets (other than writing, which was my job for a number of years).

When I started essentialEme (my failed essential oil Etsy endeavor), one of the reasons I always attributed its failure was that everything looked too homemade. Everything looked like I was making it out of my kitchen (which I was). The labels that I made were very basic looking, there was no real packaging effort, it was done the best I could, but with minimal effort. I think that was one of the reasons I resisted selling my Luvvies to begin with – let alone on Etsy.

When I finally decided to make my passion a business effort, I did think long and hard about how to present my product, and I knew that this would be something that would need to be highly visual.

So, this time around I didn’t leap into the frying pan…I took a look at what I wanted. What packaging did I want? What did I want my business cards to look like? And I think overall this time around I have been much more prepared. Instagram also has been a major help because I’m able to take sillier pictures and have a great forum to share. The problem is, I still don’t like how my pictures look: They are amateurish (and yes, I guess that is to be expected because I am an amateur), but sometimes I don’t feel they convey the true sense of the object.

My house is a weird house…the lighting is not good, and of course it looks one step away from hoarders because of all the junk we have, and the fact that we are practically never in the house – always running here or there. Because of the clutter, limited space, and poor lighting, it is difficult to find good places to take pictures.

When I look at some of the pictures on Etsy, I don’t know if it is the photos have been taken with a professional or higher grade camera, or if it just a good backdrop and good lighting. Do I have a professional grade camera? Yes. Do I want to drag it out every time I want to photograph my Luvvies? Absolutely not, mainly because it usually is midnight by the time I finish and I don’t want to be dragging out my camera and uploading pictures when I can just do it from my phone.

In the photo above, I was trying to go for something cute. I wanted to show what the interior and exterior packaging looked like for shipments, but again light was not in my favor.

Since the main source of light is in the living, right next to where I work, which is why most of my pictures are taken on the couch…I’m sure everyone can identify the chocolate brown of my sofa by now (lol).

Sometimes I’ll branch out and take pictures in other areas; but then everyone gets to see the mess that is the rest of my house – I love how you can see all my vitamins in the background.

Actually taking the pictures outside of my house has yielded some of the nicest images: The problem of course being (1) most of the time it is late at night when I want to take and post pictures; and (2) I have to be careful of weather conditions…I don’t want any of the Luvvies to get wet.

I’m still looking for ways to get the most out of my pictures so that everyone can truly experience the Luvvie cuteness. I guess as I keep saying with my stitching, I have to keep trying to find the best formula and keep practicing. Until then, the pictures will continue to look very homey and not quite right; but, I do hope that you enjoy them.

Hugs and cuddles,

Elisha

Here Pattern, Pattern

August 31, 2018Amigurumi, Crochet Basics, Crochet Journey, PatternsAmiArtist, Amigurumi, Basics, Crochet, CrochetBasics, Lil Luvvies, Lil Luvvies Amigurumi, Patterns, TipsandTricks, Yarnlilluvvies 2 Comments

One of the most important things I have learned so far on this crochet adventure of mine is that if you don’t have the ability to design your own projects, finding an awesome designer or project is critical.

new-crochet-pattern-im-going-on-an-adventure

I have designed one pattern in my time as a crocheter – my Captain America/Hello Kitty mashup. Other than that, I don’t have the creative spark and ability to be able to design projects. However, I have been very fortunate to have a great number of resources available to access quality patterns from sites such as Ravelry, Etsy, Love Crochet, and various sites across the Internet.

One critical thing that I learned the hard way recently is not all patterns are created equal. Not all designers go through the process of having friends or outside voices review and test their patterns prior to publication. Read More…