Before we dive into Day 2 of Crocheted Bear Awareness Week I want to show a quick follow-up to Fulfilled Promises Week.

I asked Martina to get a shot of her friends with their animals, and they pulled her into the shot as well.

 

 

Aww. That makes it worth it. Apparently Panda girl and Horse girl caused no end of trouble with the animals in class.

But back to bears.

Today’s bear is the same pattern as yesterday but with a completely different yarn. Esther had a long strand of corking she made with super chunky rainbow variegated wool a year or two ago. She’s mostly used it to hang stuff off the balcony. However, she was ready to part with the rope, especially after I promised to convert it into a bear.

Since the yarn is so thick I crocheted with a 5mm hook. By skipping one row in his midsection I had just enough yarn to finish the bear and a tiny scrap over for a jaunty bow.

 

 

He towers over yesterday’s bear.

 

 

I think he’s groovy.

 

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €199.62

 

Jim: Question. What kind of bear is best?
Dwight: That’s a ridiculous question.
Jim: False. Black bear.
Dwight: That’s debatable. There are basically two schools of thought–
Jim: Fact. Bears eat beets. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.
Dwight: Bears don’t… What is going on? What are you doing?!

 

May 19 – 23 was Bear Awareness Week and I completely missed it, but I have a plan to make up for it. I hereby declare this Crocheted Bear Awareness Week.

We will start with the common brown bear.

 

 

 

Because yesterday’s horse had so many pieces I was left with lots of longish brown scraps. I knotted them together and used them for today’s Little Teddy.

 

 

 

I made it halfway through the head before my scraps ran out and I had to start crocheting from the big ball.

 

 

It’s quite a nuisance to crochet around all those knots but I get a certain satisfaction from using the scraps. I used the too-small pieces for stuffing. This is a frugal brown bear.

 

 

 

Cheap and less threatening than your average bear.

 

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €199.62

 

 

It is with great joy and relief that I proudly announce the arrival of the long-awaited horse. Thing 173 is a promise fulfilled and a total-pain-in-the-neck completed.

 

 

The pattern, in case anyone is not deterred by my anti-crochet-horse bias, is here. It’s free, it’s cute and it’s made up of nine pieces plus mane and tail. And that’s without the saddle, bridle and reins. You have been warned.

 

 

I used a 3.5mm hook and worsted weight acrylic. The mane and the tail are made with the last of some flecked off-white yarn in my stash.

 

 

I packaged up the promises, hot-glued a ribbon on each, and Martina will take them to school tomorrow.

 

 

She has been given careful instructions. If anyone asks for a horse or a panda she is to say no, not in this lifetime. A sheep? Well, maybe.

 

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €199.62

 

Esther had swimming lessons this morning and I took along the panda and his last limb bits, determined to finish this project while she swam.

 

 

Due to yarn shortages I couldn’t exactly follow the pattern. His head is by the book, but I ran out of cream-coloured yarn and had to make the body quite a bit smaller. I improvised arms and legs to be more in scale.

 

 

Nevertheless, I like how the panda turned out. It was way too much work and I hope to never make one again, but if you want a crocheted panda it’s the cutest free pattern out there.

 

 

And hey, another promise fulfilled. Now I just need to finish the horse…

 

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €199.62 (Yay! Made it to the end of the month without hitting €200.)

 

 

 

I abandoned yesterday’s panda and started a new one today, this time using the same cream-coloured wool as the owl. I was confident I had enough wool left. I was wrong. Now Partial Panda #2 has been abandoned until I figure out how to finish a panda with the supplies I have.

This afternoon I was taking care of my friend’s four-year-old daughter. Justine saw Partial Panda #2 on the coffee table and immediately asked if I could make her one. I love this child and there are many things I would do for her. Making a panda is not one of them. I told her to choose another animal. She said horse. I cringed. No, not a horse either.

My favourite crochet blog has a couple of new tiny projects: a teddy bear and a bunny. I suggested one of those. She suggested horse again. I countered with teddy bear or bunny. She said bunny. I said yes, and thankfully Sophie, her mother, arrived before I caved and agreed to another horse.

So there I was, in the middle of Promises Fulfilled Week, with another promise to fulfil. Since it wasn’t a horse or a panda I got right on it.

I used a 2.5mm hook and the apricot wool from the yarn samples.

 

 

Check out the fluffy cotton tail!

 

 

I love these little patterns. They’re all one piece — even the tail — so there’s none of the dreaded assembly. Plus they’re quick to make; I can usually finish one in about an hour.

 

 

Today I learned that I should promise more bunnies. It’s a promise I can keep.

 

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €199.62

 

Today is Day 2 of Promises Fulfilled Week.

This morning I started a panda and realized about a quarter of the way in that I don’t have enough black yarn. What to do? I abandoned ship and started a new project. My living room is littered with the carcasses of unfinished animals.

I had to pick something quick so I decided on an owl Esther requested during my last crochet binge.

 

 

I’m not sure about this owl. I didn’t have the right eyes so I used black ones framed with some green cotton. I also tried to give him little pointy ears to make him a bit more owl-y but it didn’t really work.

 

 

Esther liked him but wanted him to have some wings. She stitched some on and tied a scrap of blue yarn around his neck.

 

 

And since she is a child of the selfie generation, she took this photo with her new friend, Pigwidgeon.

 

 

 

Promise 2: Fulfilled

 

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €199.62

 

This week is Fulfilled Promises Week. The week in which I look back to all the crafty promises I made and actually fulfil them.

This means I need to make the amigurumi animals I promised Martina’s friends back in February. Let me just say, the weather is too good for crochet. I can sew the whole year round but yarn crafts belong to the months with an r. Unfortunately, I promised to have the animals done before the end of the school year.

It would have made sense to finish the horse that I started a couple of weeks ago. However, I’m not enjoying that horse and wasn’t sure I’d be able to get it all done today, which would have left me irritated and without a Thing to post about.

So I made a sheep.

I found a super cute pattern on Etsy, but at €2.64 it was out of my budget. I’m trying to keep under €200 until the end of the month and I couldn’t find any patterns for under 38 cents. Then I found this free pattern that came close to what I was looking for.

 

 

Black doesn’t photograph well so the picture does not do justice to the cuteness of his face. I followed the pattern except for the feet. The pattern calls for stringy little feet but I wanted solid ones.

 

 

Baaaaaa. Next up, horse or panda. Which is the lesser of two evils? I can’t decide.

 

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €199.62

 

 

Koningsdag! Lang leve de koning!

Today’s Things are three more crowns, so all my adult guests are appropriately attired. (The kids have plenty of orange in their wardrobes.)

Our local shopping area was full of celebrations. The vrijmarkt (lots of kids selling their old toys) was bustling this year. The beautiful weather helped — the sellers could spread out. Last year they all crammed into the covered areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Martina and her friend, Annika, played violin and flute. They raked in the cash with their duets, ranging from Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring  to Wrecking Ball to the Dutch national anthem. Wilhelmus van Nassouwe, ben ik van Duitse bloed…

 

 

 

Esther and her friends, Catherine and Linnea, sold cupcakes. Duncan Hines was a big hit here in Holland.

 

 

 

And we all wore crowns, beautiful crowns…

 

 

But now the activities are done, and it’s time to fire up the barbecue.

Happy Koningsdag!

 

Cost of these Things: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €163.12

The next two days are going to be very orange. And not subtle, subdued orange.

Which brings me to my bright orange yarn. I never did find my 5mm crochet hook but my yarn lady at the shop around the corner (De Briekorf) very kindly lent me one. A courtesy hook, if you will.

As a thank you to my yarn lady, I crocheted a tiny crown for Lily, her chihuahua that hangs out at the shop. I embellished it with a round Dutch flag. 

 

 

 

(I’m not counting this as a Thing because this is actually Thing 4 reworked to be smaller. Lily is one wee dog. And my apologies to Moxy, the Californian cat, who will no longer be receiving a bright orange cat crown. Meow.)

 

Your majesty…

 

Things 106 & 107 are Koningsdag crowns for two loyal subjects, Martina and Esther. (Never mind they’re not actually Dutch citizens.)

 

 

Esther requested a crocheted ruby at the centre point of her crown and Martina went for pure orange.

————–

I referred to the original crown pattern, but have since edited it quite heavily to suit my purposes.

Using very chunky yarn and a 5mm or 5.5mm hook:

• Chain 72, join with slip stitch to make a loop, chain 1.
• Single crochet around, join with slip stitch to chain 1. (72)
• Skip 3 stitches, double crochet 3 times in 4th stitch, chain 1, double crochet 3 more in same stitch, skip 3 stitches, slip stitch in 4th stitch. Repeat around. (9 points to the crown)
• Slip stitch all the way around, except at each crown point do the following into the chain 1: slip stitch, chain 2, modified puff stitch (see below), chain 2, slip stitch in same chain.

Modified puff stitch: Yarn over, put hook in stitch, yarn over, pull through, yarn over, pull through one loop, yarn over, put hook in stitch, yarn over, pull through, yarn over, pull through all five loops. (This makes something simple sound complicated.)

 

With this version I can get 5 crowns out of a ball of chunky yarn instead of two. The crowns are also more comfortable to wear — it’s a thinner band of sweaty acrylic around the head.

————–

Cost of these Things: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €163.12