Amigurumi - Owl

The crochet hook is stuck on my hands. I crocheted this cute owl and made it into a key chain. This craft/art is called Amigurumi, which is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting stuffed animals or other creatures. Again, to be friendly to Mother Earth, I used my left over yarns since this tiny creature doesn't require lots of yarn. This is the first one I made by following Roxycraft's "Woody The Owl" pattern, (it's free, go and get it here!).

It is quite easy to follow but I found that the instructions aren't very complete. A novice Amigurumi practitioner like me had lots of question marks floating around my head at certain steps like the placement of the eyes, the nose, the wings and the feet. Since I experimented with it, I am able to give more detailed instruction. I made 2 of them to compare and I am going to tell you where the ideal location is :)

1. EYES - The stem at the back of the eye should poke through between row 10 and 11, 8 stitches apart. Glue it or screw it, depend which type of eyes you have. I used the glued one, it is cheaper than the screwed one.
2. NOSE - It says "stitch to face with top edge 1 row above the eyes", it means top edge of the eye.
3. WINGS - It didn't say should I use right side with the flap curl-out or wrong side with the flap curl-in, so I used both to test out and I like the wrong side with the flap curl-in (as shown below). Sew it on on the position between row 7 & 8 and 3 stitches counting from the stem of the eye. Remember to tilt the wings so that the tip is at a slight angle pointing to the front of the owl.
4. FEET / CLAWS - It didn't say anything about it in the pattern but it was there, so I am going to tell you where. Start sewing the centre claw at row 14 and 2 stitches counting from the tip of the nose. Sew it down vertically to row 16. Make another 2 diagonal left and right claws 1 stitch away from the center. Do the same to the other foot.

This is the second one I made after testing out the first one. Both of them look a bit different and it is because of the difference in those positionings I mentioned above.

Try it out, this owl is just too lovely to resist :) If you have any questions, feel free to ask me, I would love to explain to you.

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Crochetted Daisy Coin Purse

Just can't get enough of making this sweet daisies. The crochet hooks are like a magnet pulling my hands!!! I made this purse to match the tote bag but this time I used single strand yarn. By using single strand the daisy is smaller and about half the size of the one on the tote.

My mind is going to explode! I have the desire to write down the pattern of the basic purse. I have never done any pattern authoring before, this is my first trial. Please just be patient with me, I will need time to write, test to come up with a foolproof one to ensure that the pattern won't bring you to never, never-land :p

I am not going to write the daisy pattern at this point of time, it is too difficult for me to write as I am just a beginner. It is complicated because it needs extra yarn at the outline to form the petals. You can always replace it with something else, like brooch for example, any brooch you like, just hook it on :)

By the way, the ball clasp frame I used is 8.5cm wide black-gold plated, sewable type. I like sewable frames, they tend to be more lasting then those glue adhered ---- they can withstand hand wash when they get dirty. Not only this, you can reuse it to make into another purse for whatever reason; get bored with the original purse, purse torn beyond usage. All you need to do is just remove it from the existing purse and sew on a new one :) Another recycling exercise! You can refer to my tutorial on "sewing a frame clutch purse" on how to sew the frame, you will find it at the end of the post as sewing the frame is always the last procedure.

This purse measured : 10cm W x 9.5cm H, about the same size as my previous stripe coin purse. Enough to put a lipstick, a small mirror, some credit cards and some cash.

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Little Girl Vintage Crocheted Dress

My friend, Sumay went to her friend's house and found these to share. Below are the photos she snapped to show, two well preserved and nicely handicrafted crochet dress by her friend's mum 33 years ago.

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Hello this is Sumay here, Joanne's friend and a big fan of her blog. I was at my friend's house when I was telling her about Joanne's blog. Puan Rashidah took out her creations that she made for my friend, Effie, 33 years ago! Puan Rashidah at that time was a housewife residing in England so to kill time and of course dress up her cute daughter, she would crochet these wonderful little dresses that have withstood the test of time!!! From my observation, Puan Rashidah must have been the most patient crafter as I did not see any mistakes in them!!!

Thank you, Aunty for sharing this with us!!!

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Crocheted Stripe Coin Purse

Since I have some left over yarn from the daisy I made for my tote bag, I made a coin purse to go with it. This is my first trial in making a frame-clutch coin purse with crocheted yarn. Not bad huh!

I am going to make more of this as I find it not as difficult as I thought, except the sewing part to attach the metal frame clutch onto the purse.

Recently I was struggling with this issue: "should I make some crafts for sale?".... You know, economy is bad and my hobby has become a luxury expenditure in the household. I know I have to do something to get my hobby going without burdening the family. One thing I can think of is to sell some of my handmade creations and generate some income to fund my next project and so on.... But, it saddens me that I am commercialising my craftwork. What do you think, should I?

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Cool Blog To Share

Thought this one done by me right? I wish it could have been me but it is way too advanced for me to create without a pattern to follow!

Planet June is a professional amigurumi pattern designer residing in Ontario, Canada. She created this real-looking baby Orang Utan. From the detailing, you can see she has put her heart and soul into it. You should read her insight story on her painstaking process to what you see now, this cute little creature created.

Please do leave her a comment on what you think about her latest creation, tell her that Craftpassion showed it to you, yay!

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Fresh New Look Of My Tote Bag

Finally, after a week of hardwork on the face-lifting, my old tote bag has a fresh new look!!!!

Taa Daaaaa....

A "Daisy Tote"!!!!

This takes a lot more than my original plan and why it took me so long to finish it :p. I was thinking of just crocheting a flower*** which I learned from an "Irish Crochet-Lace Book", sew onto it and sew a piece of simple internal lining with a zipped pocket.

***Remark: If you notice my blog header, you will see a picture of a similar white flower over there, that is the test piece I did monthssss ago.

As I work on it, the internal lining get more and more elaborate. I want it to be my new born baby's daiper bag, the internal lining must look soft and comfortable, so I did some diagonal quilt sewings onto it with a piece of poly-fluffy....

Then, I need something to hold the milk bottle or thermoflask upright so that it won't accidentally lay horizontal and cause liquids to leak out. If you experienced the leakage before you will know how messy it gets. I attached two elastic bands at the side of it to hold the bottles.

It is still not enough to be a diaper bag. What about the diapers and wet tissue? I want them to be in a proper place so that I can access them easily. Again, another strip of elastic band across the bag. I put a magnet button instead of dead stitching it for the elastic to hold the diaper and wet tissue independantly. In future, I can choose to accommodate wider things like books and don't have to take the stitches out. Flexible and adaptable to whatever occasion huh~
This is how the internal looks like in flat before I sew them into the tote. Upper is my diaper bag arrangement and it can transform to other bag (bottom) one day when my baby grows up. I believe this tote can last for years :)

As usual, I put my beautiful lable on the zipped pocket - "Handmade by Craftpassion" :)
I brought it out this morning for my 6 month-old's vaccination jabs and got these reactions from the clinic assistants. Their eyes stared at my daisy tote the moment I walked in and their eyes were watching the tote where ever I walked. Before I left, one of the clinic assistants finally articulated her desire and asked me where I bought this tote and it is so beautiful.... haa haa haa I was so happy and felt like floating up to the sky and replied "Oh thanks, it is the only one in the world and it was made by me". Their eyes turned so big like they don't believe it and seconds later they asked if I am going to make another one and sell to them, I just gave them a smile and replied politely " I am afraid not! This is specially for my baby".... oh the gratification is undescribable!!!! Wonders of HANDMADE, no two pieces of works are identical and the admiration spurs me on to create more!

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