Patterns:
Star: A- http://littlewoollie.blogspot.ca/2013/05/crochet-star-making-tutorial.html?spref=fb
Cat: A
Alrighty. The star was easy, and fast. All I really had to do was construct several diamonds and sew them together. If you don’t intend on sewing them together and stuffing them, they buckle very badly if the diamonds aren’t absolutely perfect (and nothing I do at this stage is perfect).
I half stuffed mine and then put in on the top of our tree. I used to use a Santa hat, but it didn’t turn up in the decorations this year. Also, I used Martha Stewart glitter eyelash yarn around the edges for some sparkle. It’s not hugely impressive – the eyelash yarn doesn’t come through the stitching as well as I’d hoped – but it’s cute and I can always improve it a little next year. (It’s exam week, so my posts are late and fewer.)
However, the cat. The cat is, I admit, totally adorable. This is a Craftsy free pattern: http://tinyurl.com/mcolfpf
This was pretty simple and very well written, except for the tail. The tail was AWFUL. (as per usual, I have no idea what the beige is, as it’s hand-me-down yarn, but the orange is Brava Worsted weight yarn from Knitpicks. I’m really not a fan of the scratchy yarn that falls apart easily, and Brava is always my favorite.
Anyway, the tail. I made this tail probably eight times, and it always got so tiny that I couldn’t stuff it, unless I wanted top ull apart the stitches, and then I’d lose track of the stitches. I tried using a size G hook, all the way down to a D, just to see if smaller ones would make the stitches more distinctive, if I did them loosely. No dice. I did the best I could , and my three year old ran off with it in glee. You can already so evidence of the tail being pulled. *sigh* I guess I should be grateful he doesn’t pull the tail of real cats.
crochetpins 