Emma Crafts Vlog 1 – A new adventure and a lot of finished projects

Hello crochet (and knitting) friends!

I have been wanting to do this for a long time, but I finally took the plunge! I am starting a craft vlog! I used to blog very regularly about all my craft projects (some of you might remember my time blogging on emmacraftprojects.wordpress.com) but between my couple of kiddies and work, I am rather time poor these days and I often don’t have the energy to take pictures and write about my craft every few days. I thought that instead, I might show you, once a month, all the projects that I’ve managed to finish, a few of my works in progress and give you some exclusive on the new amigurumi designs I’m working on. You can find the video where I show you all of this here on YouTube. You’ll find the show notes with all the patterns I talk about in the vlog below (as well as a few pictures from the vlog in a gallery at the end if you don’t have time to go and watch it ^_^). Enjoy!

Finished Objects

I have a few recently finished objects as I gave myself a challenge for the end of August, to finish as many WIPs as possible! I had lots of amigurumi with parts waiting in drawers and I thought this was what I needed to finally get those done. Most of them were my own patterns that I had to redo to take pictures for tutorials.

• Percy the Pelican (by EmmaCraftsDesign)– I wanted a slightly bigger amigurumi so I used USA style aran yarn with a 5mm hook for this guy. The eyes were inspired by @Kakotille.
• Tina the Turtle (by EmmaCraftsDesign)– I wanted to see what she looked like if I doubled a cotton yarn, so I’ve made her using doubled cotton and a 5mm hook.
• Bilbo the Bilby (by EmmaCraftsDesign)– I used cotton yarn in 8ply to make this guy, with a 4mm hook. I crochet pretty tightly so this is usually my go-to but I’ve started using a 3.5mm hook to crochet in 8ply and I’ve gotten used to it.
• Moose Nog (by Crafty Gibbon)– I had started this guy in December (!) for the Holly Jolly Christmas CAL and never got around to sewing it together. I used 8ply cotton with a 4mm hook. I really enjoyed making this guy, and he was definitely a lot bigger than I first thought he would be. I love all the little details, I think it turned out super cute! I added some extra wire through the candy cane to make it hold better on top of the drink.
• Kikwi (by Crochuki)– I am a huge fan of the Legend of Zelda so I absolutely had to make this little guy. I was very lucky to be chosen to test the pattern and it was great! I loved the construction of the tail and it was really fun to add felt to make the front of the body. The pattern is well explained and free on Instagram.
• Nudibranch Dragon (by The Geeky Octopus)– This guy is not for the novice crocheter! I was chosen as a tester for it and there were a couple of tricky parts. The body is crocheted as one, and the bends are integrated by crocheting back and forth. There was also quite a bit of sewing for the different parts (as the back and the belly were added separately). Overall, I would not recommend it if you are a complete novice, but I really love the final look and I am glad I made mine!

Works in Progress (WIPs)

I want to continue on my stride and get a few more of my amigurumi in drawers finished in September. I also have quite a few long-standing WIPs but I only talked about a couple of those.

• Lord of the Rings blanket (by EmmaCraftsDesign)– This is my longest standing WIP (I started it in March 2016!), it even moved down from Brisbane to Melbourne with us! It’s a graphghan, which is the portmanteau for ‘graph’ and ‘afghan’, pretty much any blanket made using a charted graph. I have created the graphs to make a few of the LOTR characters and you could really use any stitch you want with those. I did not make life easy for myself and decided to make it using the bobble stitch. It looks amazing in my opinion but it is also so time consuming! I am now on my last square and I really hope I will have time to finish it soon!
• Mitered Square Afghan (by Petals to Picots)– This is a long term WIP too but I’m not in a rush with it. I started it because I wanted to get rid of my acrylic yarn (as I now prefer to use cotton to make amigurumi). It’s quite scrappy, but I love how cheerful it is and I think it still looks quite nice. I can tell you that it is definitely going to be nice and warm to cuddle under. You can find the pattern for free on Petals to Picots website.
• Banjo the Bunny and Benedict the Bear (by EmmaCraftsDesign)– These two have been sitting in my drawer of WIPs since I released their pattern! Banjo is mostly finished but Benedict will need a whole body, and I’ve decided to make him happy and bright in yellows and oranges.
• Jennïfer the Ballerina Elf (by Ohana Hook)– I am pattern testing Jennïfer for the lovely Claudie. I’ve had a lot of fun and I can tell she is going to look so cute! I’m not a doll designer at all (I find them really hard!) but I have to say that Claudie’s pattern is super clear and I’ve had no issue with making her so far, I’ve even added a wire frame to make her completely pose-able!

Design in Progress

• Sabrina the Spooky Tree– I love Halloween, this will be my third Halloween design (you can check out Terry the Turnip and Gwen the Gourd, they are my patterns from the last two years and are free!). I wanted to do something a little different this year and I love how my little tree turned out! What do you think, is she sufficiently spooky? I will release the pattern for Sabrina early October and I will also be hosting a giveaway for the pattern!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and that (if you had time to watch it) you also liked the video! I would love to get some feedback, you can leave a comment here or on YouTube! Until next time 😊