Elephant Bookmark

I saw this pattern today on Ravelry, and just had to make it right away! I chose Lion Brand Pound of Love Pastel Green yarn and an F hook, but I'd also like to use Loops and Threads Snuggly Wuggly Big! in Denim, as it's a bit thinner yarn.

It only took me a few hours from start to finish, with many interruptions. The pattern was overall easy to understand, though it did use UK terminology so I had to keep myself in check. The only thing that tripped me up a few times was where to put the stitch where the rows start and stop, but that would have been easily remedied through the use of additional stitch markers. I wish there were fewer gaps where the legs are, and where the trunk is, but I think after some use it'll relax a bit. I used two small, white brads for the eyes.

The bookmark measures 4" wide at the ears, the body plus head are 6" long, and from tail to trunk it measures 11".

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More Tiny Chickens

I made some more tiny chickens for my Ingress group, this time using not only Vanna's Choice Oatmeal yarn but also Craft Smart Desert yarn. For the former I used an E hook and an F hook for the latter.

The Desert chickens turned out a bit larger than the Oatmeal, so I had to improvise the comb and beak a bit to make them more proportional.

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Vanilla Cream Ripple Afghan

My mom made this afghan for my brother's bed, to match his newly-painted room, which favors the same colors featured in this afghan. She chose Vanilla Cream Ripple as her pattern, from the book Reversible Ripple Afghans by Kim Guzman.
She did modify the pattern a bit to make the front posts thinner.

She used Caron Simply Soft Sunshine, Berry Blue, and Soft Blue with a K hook. She crochets much more tightly than I do, so her blanket turned out thicker (and arguably softer) than mine. The finished size is about 75" x 55".

One curious thing about it is that since all the front posts are parallel, it naturally accordions to just a fraction of its width.

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Chicken Tissue Box Cover Pattern

I was trying to think of more projects that could be chicken-themed for my Ingress group, and was considering making Mario themed tissue box holders. The ideas eventually combined into a chicken tissue box! I couldn't find a similar pattern online, so I decided to make my own.

My pattern fits a square tissue box 4.5" x 4.5" x 5.125".

Pattern

Materials
J hook
G hook
Worsted weight yarn - I used Loops and Threads Impeccable for the body and Red Heart Super Saver for the rest
Tapestry needle
Safety pins

Key
sc = single crochet
st = stitch
sl st = slip stitch
ch = chain
MR = magic ring tutorial

Note: body, face, and back pieces are worked all in front loop only. Beak and eyes are worked in both loops.

Body (make three)
Chain 16
R1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in each st across
R2-R15: ch 1, turn, sc in each sc across
Bind off

Face (make one)
Chain 16
R1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in each st across
R2-R5: ch 1, turn, sc in each sc across
R6: ch 1, turn, sc in next 5 sc, ch 5, skip 5 sc, sc in last 5 sc
R7-R13: ch 1, turn, sc in each sc across
Bind off

Back (make one)
Chain 16
R1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in each st across
R2-R13: ch 1, turn, sc in each sc across
Bind off

Feet (make two)
With J hook and brown yarn:
leg and toe 1: Ch 16, sl st in 2nd ch on hook, sl st in next 4 st
toe 2: ch 6, sl st in 2nd ch on hook, sl st in next 4 st
toe 3 and leg: ch 6, sl st in 2nd ch on hook, sl st to end of leg, bind off

Beak (make two)
With G hook and yellow yarn:
4 sc in a MR
R1: 2 sc in each sc
R2: (2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc) around
R3: sc around
R4: (2 sc in next sc, sc in next 5 sc) around
R5: sc around, leaving a long yarn tail

Eyes (make two)
With G hook and black yarn:
6 sc in a MR
sl st into first sc to join, pull ring closed, leaving long yarn tails on both ends.

Comb (make one)
With G hook and red yarn:
Ch 6, sl st in 2nd ch from hook, sl st to end, ch 6, sl st in 2nd ch from hook, sl st to end, turn and ch 6, sl st in 2nd ch from hook and to end.

Assembly
Using the safety pins, attach the face, back, and two body pieces together as desired, and either whip stitch or slip stitch to attach the pieces together. Make sure the mouth hole is on the lower half of the face.
Take the last body piece and attach using your preferred method to the four sides already assembled.

Attach the beak pieces to the face around the hole, using the long strands of yarn left on the pieces.
Using the tapestry needle and yarn ends, fix the eyes in place by "sewing" around the edges of the eye.
Weave the yarn ends onto the back of the seams on the body to attach feet in place.
Position the comb as desired and run the two ends of the yarn through the body, tieing them in a knot on the inside. Keep about one inch of yarn, in case the knot comes loose in the future.

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Tiny Power Star Plushie

After making my Super Mario Power Star Pillow I wanted to make a tiny version, so I made this one! It's based on Teena's pattern for stars.

Pattern

Materials
Small amount of worsted weight yarn (I used Caron Simply Soft Sunshine)
F hook
Tapestry needle
Small amount of black felt
Fabric glue

Key
Magic Ring = tutorial here
st = stitch
hdc = half double crochet
dc = double crochet
sl st = slip stitch

Star (make two)
9 dc in a Magic Ring, sl st into first dc and pull ring closed
ch 1, (*2 hdc, ch 2, 2 hdc* in next st, sl st into next st), repeat () around
Leave a long tail on one or both stars for stitching them together.

Weave both stars together using the whip stitch in the inside loops only (or your preferred join method). Begin stuffing when one arm of the star is left, finish weaving, continuing to stuff as needed. Fasten off yarn end and weave through the plushie to hide the end.

Cut eyes in the felt and attach with glue.

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Super Mario Power Star Pillow

Since I made my Legend of Zelda Triforce Pillow, I've wanted to make more geeky pillows. However, I couldn't think of one I wanted to make until I thought of doing a Super Mario star, but I couldn't find one out there, so I found April Dravin's "Twinkle Star" pattern and added some eyes.

I used an F hook with Caron Simply Soft Sunshine, so this might have turned out larger if I had used a larger hook or a thicker yarn.

I want to make another one with pointier tips. I'm not sure why mine turned out so rounded, but I think it makes it look almost cuter in a way. Or maybe it's just the eyes.

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Post Stitches Afghan

Since I started my 99 Post Stitches project, I wanted to make the squares into two afghans. For the first I collected together all the lighter-weight squares, and the heavier, thicker squares will go into the second afghan.

First I joined the squares into rows, and joined them with slip stitch. I picked a few colors and used those to attach all the squares touching those colors, then did the same for all the remaining colors. I slip stitched the rows together with white yarn, and tried to make the corners of each square line up. Once that was done, I finished the afghan off with a row of white single crochet around the outside for a simple edging.

The front looks very clean, as I only used the back loops for the joins.

I like the white lines on the back, and wonder if I should use white for all the joins on my next afghan, instead of matching colors.

The finished afghan measures 60" by 48" almost perfectly!