Graduation Teddy

Happy graduation to all ye fresh grads! It's graduation season now back in Singapore, and so I'm blogging about this now even though I made this graduation teddy a couple months back in May, before I left for Africa. 

So I adapted the pattern of the Valentine Teddy by All About Ami and made it into a graduation teddy for J. Stephanie (of All About Ami) has another pattern that she created specifically as a Graduation Teddy, but I decided I preferred the look of the Valentine Teddy and so adapted it. Such an adorable teddy! All credits to her for creating such a cute bear.

I had a hard time deciding between a black bowtie or a red one, but ended up going with the black because it seemed more formal (black tie geddit haha). I think a red one would have looked cute too.

As for the mortarboard, instead of crocheting it, I made it with felt and cardboard.

How to make the mortarboard:
2 square pieces of black felt (about 5.5cm x 5.5 cm)
1 square piece of cardboard (about 5cm x 5cm)
1 rectangular strip of black felt (about 8-9cm)
1 rectangular strip of cardboard (slightly smaller than the felt piece)
1 round piece of black felt (about 1cm in diameter)
1 round piece of cardboard (slightly smaller than the felt piece)

Basically I stuck the two square pieces of black felt and the square piece of cardboard together using glue, with the cardboard piece in the middle and sewed the sides together using the blanket stitch. The circular headpiece is made by glueing the rectangular strip of black felt and its corresponding cardboard piece then sewing the ends together to make it circular. Then I glued it to the square board piece. The tassel was made from embroidery thread, with help from All About Ami's tutorial here. Finally at the top I attached the round piece of black felt (with its corresponding smaller cardboard piece) to the square board, with the ends of the tassel in between. Then I glued completed mortarboard piece to the teddy's head.

Had such a fun time making this teddy, I hope J liked it. Didn't think he would appreciate a bouquet of flowers...

Also made a simple card using card stock and black paper. Got inspiration from Googling mortarboard vector images and this was what I came up with. 

Chibi Cats

For sale at a special price at Cat Cafe Neko no Niwa :3

I've been working part-time at the newly-opened cat cafe in town, Cat Cafe Neko no Niwa, earning some extra cash while waiting impatiently for my gap year travels to begin. It's so fun working in cat heaven, what with all the cute antics the cats get up to and getting to really know the cats' personalities. So I got inspired and decided to crochet chibi versions of the cats in the cafe and it's been very well-received, far exceeding my expectations. (Note: the dream catchers are not by me but by a talented colleague)

Initial versions of the cats

A comparison - looks quite a bit like Monkey doesn't it? (^_^) Monkey is one of the 13 adorable cats at the Cat Cafe Neko no Niwa

A lovely law school senior contacted me on Instagram and ordered two chibi cat keychains, in white and brown. This was a shot taken by her after she received it :3

Maneki neko (招き猫) is literally translated as beckoning cat (or 招财猫 in Chinese) and is a symbol of wealth and good fortune. You'll tend to spot one sitting at the cashier counter of shops and restaurants, in Singapore at least.

Also made some maneki neko keychains for sale during during the Lunar New Year. I must say that I got my inspiration from the free amigurumi pattern by Nimoe, Onni the Beckoning Cat. However I decided to create my own, 'cause I wanted it to be chibi (with a bigger head) like my chibi cats series, so this was how it turned out.

Maneki neko v2 - baby fortune cat

A childhood friend I hadn't spoken to in years contacted me on Instagram to order a maneki neko keychain, and after some chatting she said that she liked the shape of the chibi cat, but wanted a fortune cat. So I told her I could combine the two and make a chibi fortune cat. And this was how it turned out. I liked it so much I made another one for myself~

Wishing everyone a good year ahead~

Amigurumi critters!

Craft project this summer holidays was to learn how to make amigurumi! It started with sis needing to learn a craft for her NYAA project. I was bored and I had wool, so the two of us started hunting down all the free amigurumi and crochet patterns online, and began slowly amassing an amigurumi army...

Teru teru bozu! Aka 晴天娃娃 - traditional japanese amulet hung outside windows to bring sunshine and fair weather (^-^)

Random mug of coffee

Mr. Chic

Combined two amigurumi patterns for this critter. It suddenly popped into my mind that I wanted a bird with a moustache and a top hat, so after completing the bird I sourced around for a top hat pattern that could fit. The moustache was cut from felt and sewn on. The eyes were french-knotted (so complicated I had to watch the youtube tutorial several times).

Little pink flower fairy!

By far the most complicated; there were so many parts to her and I had to learn different kinds of crochet stitches to get her arms and legs right. The hair took quite a while too; I didn't want her to have any bald spots. My mum unkindly said that she looks a little retarded 'cause her eyes are too widely spaced apart and I have to agree. But she's still a darling.

Onigiri!

This was actually the first amigurumi I tried my hand at, but the poor onigiri actually turned out more round than triangular, and I had to try and mould it into shape with my hands (-_-")

Teru teru bozu and flower fairy say hi!