PlanetJune Blog: Latest News, Patterns and Tutorials

When we were young, my sister and I got a baby guinea pig each as our first pets. Our guinea pigs were very special. Fluffy developed really cool long fur as she grew up, and Cinnamon developed a big fat tummy, which quickly turned into three more baby guinea pigs! So we ended up with a family of five:

L-R: Brown and Fluffy (back) Cinnamon, Panda and Maxine (front)

I’ve always wanted to make something as a tribute to them, so I’ve been stealing moments (in between packing and organising for the move) to design my own crocheted guinea pig:

Up next, a longer-furred companion for this one, and then I’ll publish the Fuzzy Guinea Pig pattern. Or actually, next I should probably concentrate on moving house, and then I can start thinking about the second guinea pig!

UPDATE: Looking for the pattern? You can find the Fuzzy Guinea Pig crochet pattern in my shop.

It was a challenge trying to whip this Dalek up in secret as a surprise for Dave’s birthday, but I just managed to get it finished in time. For the uninitiated (there may still be some of you out there?), Daleks are the scary villains from Doctor Who.

Click for larger version

I based it on amdowns’ Dalek Crochet Pattern, but I made a few modifications with the base and the eye and plunger attachments. I’d have made more modifications if I had time – I really wish the texture of the body was more distinct, and I’d probably redo the whole thing using 2 colours. It also looks a bit too plump and cuddly, but I’m happy with the attachments (they are wired inside so they are poseable) and I put an old CD inside the base to keep the bottom flat – it just happened to be exactly the right size. Now I just have to hope hubby likes it.

EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!!

I haven’t had much crafting time lately – we are in the middle of buying our first house, and the process is exciting and scary and fun and frustrating and amazing and exhausting and, most of all, time-consuming. I am really missing my crafting time these days; I feel like I’m skipping the part of the day where I get to decompress and relax and quietly enjoy myself.

Yesterday we went to meet our lawyer and sign all the papers and hand over our money. On our way home, my lovely husband volunteered a detour to Herrschners yarn and craft store. I can’t believe I will have such a fantastic local yarn store! Dave found me the perfect yarn, with the added bonus of a sale price of over 80% off! This is Gedifra Tecno Hair and it’s beautifully soft and light and fluffy:

Now what could I make with a yarn like this? Hmmm, I wonder…

On an unrelated note, did I mention that I am a big orang utan fan?

We are going to be pretty busy for a while! There’ll be rooms to paint and curtains to sew and IKEA furniture to assemble – does any of that count as crafting? Let’s say yes, and then I can show you our progress. And, eventually, I will have my own craft room to show off and my world will be a better place.

I just finished testing this turtle pattern for Peggy. I stuck to the pattern and only modified the colours. Lots of detail in this one!

I bought this top because I loved the colour and the print, and the 60% off price tag didn’t hurt either. But when I tried it on, it just looked wrong to me. The dark brown fabric was too prominent and the ribbons that go under the bust and tie at the back just didn’t look good on me.

I figured there had to be a simple way to modify it so it wouldn’t look so strange. A quick bit of refashioning was in order…

After unpicking the seam between the brown neckline piece and the ribbon at each side, I looped the two ribbons over each other at the front for a gathered knot effect and then fed them through the unpicked areas to the wrong side of the top. I re-sewed the seam, sewing through the ribbons as well to keep them in place, then trimmed the excess ribbon from the inside. Finally, I snipped off the belt loop from each side and here’s my finished result:

Not bad for half an hour’s work!

There are some more modifications I considered (shortening the length slightly and/or adding some beading over the brown neck area), but sometimes the hardest part is knowing when to stop, and I like it the way it is now, so I will call this project done.

AmiDogs Set 1 is here! Now you can make your own amigurumi doggies:

• a shiba inu with a cute white nose and white paws
• a yellow labrador, a chocolate labrador or even a black labrador
• call it a wiener dog, weiner dog or sausage dog, it’s still a dachshund

The Shiba Inu, Labrador and Dachshund patterns are available individually, or buy the complete set for a special price.

Order your patterns directly from PlanetJune.com and the pdfs will be e-mailed to you.

To whet your appetite for my upcoming AmiDogs crochet patterns, I’ve just published the latest in my occasional series of crochet tutorials (Missed the earlier one? See my Fuzzy Yarn Tips).

To find out how to make a smooth neat join between pieces when finishing your amigurumi, take a look at my new tutorial: Joining Amigurumi.

Thanks to those of you who voted in my poll! As 78% of respondents said they would be interested in one or more doggy crochet patterns, I’ve been busy designing and now I’m ready to reveal my latest project: AmiDogs!

Press Release

AmiDogs by PlanetJune is a new range of amigurumi dog crochet patterns from the designer of the Fuzzy Friends collection. Each AmiDogs pattern is designed to capture a different breed of dog.

The patterns will be available individually and as value-priced sets of three. The initial release will include the first set of three patterns: Labrador, Dachshund and Shiba Inu. Suggestions and requests for future AmiDogs patterns are welcome!

L-R: Dachshund, Shiba Inu, Labrador – click picture for larger version

AmiDogs Set 1 will be available to purchase within the next few weeks – sign up for the mailing list to be notified when they are released.

UPDATE: Looking for the pattern? You can find the AmiDogs Set 1 crochet patterns in my shop.