Thursday, March 7, 2013

Lollo: day 6

I ended up getting much less done with Lollo than I originally thought I would, as DH surprised me with coming home early and taking me out to celebrate our anniversary so Lollo had to wait! But when we came back home and watched a movie, I picked Lollo back up and finished piecing together her head.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the head is MUCH easier to do than the body. I thought it would be harder, as you have to shape it and there's more dimensions to it but it really comes together quite naturally. I found that half way through I barely needed the instructions anymore because you could just see where the shapes needed to be filled in.

I love Lollo's ears. They're just adorable! They were pretty while making them and they so naturally form into ear shapes. Sewing them on seamlessly to an opened motif was interesting but not too difficult.

The pattern gives no say about how to attach the head to the body, so I did it my way. For some reason, in the pattern her attachments lay flat but mine poke out. As I very carefully followed every instruction, I'm not sure where I went wrong and I'm wondering if maybe it's the thicker yarn with the tiny hooks that are causing it to pucker. However, I don't mind the look and it came in handy at this part. I took the bottom pentagon at the base of the skull and the top pentagon on the body and matched them together. Since the seams pucker out, I just connected them through the seams. That way it's connected really well and it looks quite seamless. It makes the puckered look like it was on purpose as the two mesh well together. I'm sure it would have been much more difficult to securely attach the head without straining the motifs without the puckered lining.

This bear is a bit bigger than the normal pattern, but I adore the size. It's bigger than a standard teddy and gives lots of room to cuddle. I believe I'll stick with this size instead of trying to be more true to the pattern and using smaller ones.

Today, Day 7, I'll be working on the arms. I haven't gotten to start on them, or even read through the pattern yet, but I'm hoping I'll be able to finish at least one today if not both.

Here's Lollo last night:

(the lack of eyes still is because I decided to wait until the end to add the detailed bits. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to use for them.)




8 comments:

  1. Thought for Elizabeth's bear - it looks like the joins should have been made on the wrong side instead of right side (then turn right side out before closing). that puckered look would then be hidden. that's how I join my grannies, and the wrong side is always a little puckered like that. :) It's coming along great!! I'm thinking since its technically a our-color pattern I'm going to do caron soft in cream, country blue, rose, and lilac. I have most of the colors, so I'm just going to do up a swatch of different combos and see if I like it. It'll definitely take me longer than you though, since I can really only crochet after she's in bed and I work nights :/

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  2. That's what I thought, but in the pattern she repeatedly says to only work on the right side, not the wrong side. So that's what I did, and then it puckers up. It shapes the perfect way that she describes and everything always fits perfectly, so I'm not sure how everything else could be working so well but it puckers. For Elizabeth's bear, I'm just going to make the entire hexagons and pentagons and then just sew them together. A lot of reviews I read told me to do that but I was being stubborn and wanting to stick to the pattern. Next time I'll know better! I think it'll go a lot faster that way as well with less complications.

    Love the colors you're planning on! I hope you start soon, I'd love to see it. What type of yarn are you going to use? The pattern calls for fingerling, but I decided on regular. But then you have to modify all the hooks, and I'm still trying to make sure with each body part that hopefully it'll work out, especially as I just made do with two of the sizes because it's what I had on hand (one day I'll stop losing all my hooks!) So far though, the head and body match perfectly, and I do love the size of this bear instead of the smaller size of the pattern bear. Though I may switch next time, it may be better to have a smaller size for Elizabeth's instead of this cuddly giant.

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  3. Carbon simply soft if I can get it to work. It's technically a worsted weight bc of the number of threads, but in wraps per inch it comes out to a sport weight. I also have some fingering weight in a rainbow of colors I wanna try it in to use it up. I just hate using the smaller hooks. I saw an ergonomic handle at Walmart for regular hooks that I want to try. I just don't know if I can.justify $6 for a handle I may or may not use.

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  4. I hate the really super small hooks too. When doing the hats for charity, I thought the 3.75mm hook was so terribly small. Now I see that they're quite big and the really small hooks are impossible to work with unless at a slow pace. The last 6 days with making Lollo I've actually gotten crochet sores on my fingers, they make dry spots that keep peeling. Usually don't have these issues with normal hooks.

    I really want to get the glow crochet hooks and deep throat hooks for the small ones. The walmart ones keep bending and the throats are too small to hold much.

    Where did you find the fingering weight rainbow yarn? For the next baby I'm going to do a bear in rainbow colors, but nothing is quite right yet. I want softer colors in the rainbow, nothing dark, which is what I have now. The only light colored rainbow yarn I can find though is WW.

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  5. Yru has a rainbow array of bright cotton yarn. it's in the bins near the register, or at least it was last time it was there.

    I finally caved and got the handle thing. it works, but you have to go soooo slow wit it or its all loose and wonky.

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  6. I've been searching Amazon for some fun crochet stuff, but can't find anything good. I'm not even sure what I'm looking for, but I haven't found it yet!

    I can't stand going slow, it would drive me crazy. If I'm not speeding through, I get bored quickly. I saw what I think you're talking about and debated on trying it, but I won't if it does that.

    I'll have to make another trip to YRU then and check it out. Not that I need it right now, Lollo#1 is taking long enough let alone finishing it up and moving onto Elizabeth's before buying materials for #3! I love planning ahead though.

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  7. Soif you want to.try mine for a bit before you decide I'll drop it off with the next craft fairy installment. Aimee decided on light pink, grey, and cream for hers. I let her pick from the yarns I was thinking of n those are what she grabbed :) I only have three he's done though, as I have a stack of sewing I'm trying to work through. Mainly diapers, but there are a couple pillowcase dresses for her and for a few newborns at work :)

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  8. Love the sound of that. I contemplated doing a light grey in place of the green like the one Lollo bear I had pictured, but then decided to do more of a flower blooming with green leaves type thing instead. But I'm definitely interested in seeing how that works out as it came in a very close second to my final colors.

    I keep wanting to make Katie some summer dresses and skirts but put it off for my overwhelmingly huge pile of crochet items I want to do. It's a crafting emergency and not enough time! lol

    Can't wait for the next craft fairy installment...they always brighten my week! There's nothing quite so exciting as having new materials to work on.

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