Paw Patrol Hats

"No job is too big, no pup is too small!"

My niece and two nephews are in love with the Paw Patrol show. They talk about it often. My sister asked me if I would crochet each of them a paw patrol hat for the cool autumn weather and I said if she could find a pattern, I would give it a shot. She found this pattern by Briana K Crochet.

I am making a pink one for my niece, and a blue and a red hat for the boys. I still need to pick up the red yarn as it was the only one not currently on sale at Michaels. One hat takes about an hour and a half to work up. In the photo on Pinterest, it shows felt paw "badges" on the hats which I will attempt to make. That part might be the trickiest as they would need to be sewn on. I enjoy the challenges I face while crocheting though, so I'm excited to see how it will all work out and look in the end. For now, here are a couple pictures of what I've completed so far.

~Em

Toothless Amigurumi

Toothless, that lovable black dragon from How to Train Your Dragon, makes a great companion on and off screen.

I spend a lot of time on Pinterest pinning patterns and crochet inspiration. When I pinned this Toothless pattern, a friend commented saying she would pay for me to crochet him for her. I told her I would and she asked for him in either purple or blue. As she has a little girl, I chose to make him in purple.

It was my first time crocheting amigurumi and I enjoyed figuring it out. Thankfully, I had also found a visual tutorial to help when putting him together. He turned out well, though when I finished I knew there were things I would do differently if I were to make it again. More stuffing in the head and use a smaller hook so the stitches would be smaller and tighter. I also sewed the felt eyes on instead of using fabric glue. They sit closer to the head than they would have if I had used the fabric glue.

Well, I did end up making another Toothless. My nephew saw the photo above as I had sent it to my sister. He immediately wanted asked for a Toothless of his own. Every time I saw him, he would climb into my arms and say "You make me a Toofless?" so I promised him a Toothless for his birthday (half a year away).

I used the smaller hook and he turned out better than the purple one. The stitches were tighter and he wasn't as large. I also stuffed each piece with more fiber fill than I did the first one and he was less flimsy.

He took less time to make due to already having worked the pattern once. I finished him over a month before my nephew's birthday and it was so hard not to bring it to him right away. I held out though and when he opened the bag on his birthday, he didn't react as I had imagined. I thought there'd be excitement and he'd say "It's my Toofless!" But he didn't. He did, however, say "no" when my 11-year-old brother asked to see it. He had just had too much birthday excitement. Once his guests had left, he took Toothless to the table and was playing with him quietly. He still would not let others touch or play with him. I think it's safe to say he likes his Toothless.

~Em

Little Veggie Mobile

My sister-in-law also had a baby this year. She had bought a pattern for a baby mobile along with the materials and asked me if I would crochet it for her. I said I'd give it a shot and took the materials home.

There were five pieces to crochet. 

Ethel the Eggplant.

Ruby the Radish.

Piper & Pete the Petite Peas.




Carl the Carrot.




Roux the Rabbit.

All in all, they were pretty easy to make. I didn't stuff Ruby enough so she was a little flimsy. The peas were tricky because the greens were two different types of yarn, causing the peas to be smaller than they should have been for the pod. When assembling the mobile, they weren't heavy enough to counter the weight of Ethel. I had to stuff some of the fiber fill behind them in the pod and to add more weight, I put an extra crochet hook I had in the back of the pod. It worked beautifully! The hook added the weight needed and gave a firmness to the pod as well. 

Carl was the easiest to crochet. He worked up quickly and I had finally figured out how to sew the eyes.

Putting it together was tricky. The pattern said to hang the mobile from a hook so as to get the proper weight distribution between all the veggies. The only problem was I did not have a hook on which to hang it. So I did the best I could holding it up every time I attached a new piece. When they were all attached, I needed both my hands to adjust and so I employed my husband's help. Like a champ he held it up for me as I moved it around and once it was perfect, he held it so I could get a picture of it.

I would make it again if I were asked, but would buy all the same type of yarn to avoid size and weight differences.

~Em

Shades of Grey Baby Blanket

Shades of Grey was the first commission blanket. The mother wanted different greys in the blanket and sent me a photo to use as an example.

I followed the colour scheme in photo, but I had to figure out how many rows of dark grey to rows of light grey and how many rows total I would need based on the gauge to make it long enough. The blanket worked up quickly and was fun to make. I'd love to make this pattern again with colours.

~Em

Coral Reef Baby Blanket

This blanket was one of the commission blankets. The mother asked for chevrons and so I used this pattern for the stitch style. The colours she chose were coral, yellow, grey, and a bit of teal. I wasn't sure the order in which they would go. I pulled out my pencil colours and sketch book and drew out what I pictured in my head. This was the result.

I sent it to the mom and we added another portion of teal between the coral and grey.

As I worked the blanket, I still wasn't sure I liked the yarn I had picked out, but I kept going. My husband came up behind me at one point and I held it up for him to see. When I asked him what he thought, he said it was a very neat and reminded him of a coral reef. I was so caught up in making the blanket and making it so the mother liked it, that I had difficulty liking it myself. Once I got a second opinion from someone not involved I was able to see it differently.

It turned out quite beautiful. I can't wait to meet the baby girl who will be wrapped in the blanket.

   

   

~Em

Introductions

Hello!

I am excited to begin this blog. I love to crochet and this site is where I will share project progress and photos. Snuggles by Em was inspired by how much one of my nephews loves the blankie I made for him when he was born. Babies like to be warm and what better way to do that than wrapped in a blanket snuggled close in his or her mother's arms. My 5-week-old already likes his blankie.

My hope for Snuggles by Em is that as I gain more experience I can take commissions and eventually become a small business. I've already completed two commission works for a couple friends expecting this autumn and winter. I enjoyed figuring out templates and coordinating colour schemes and look forward to making more.

That's it for now. Stay tuned for the next post!

~Em