Seeing Stripes...

Making a crochet zebra look authentic is quite a challenge.  Lucky for me that my characters are not supposed to look authentic!  They just need to look cute and be easily identified as the animal they are meant to represent.   The fun thing about 'Giggles' is that they are intended to look goofy, silly, colorful and happy.  I invite anyone making these little critters to let your imagination run wild and make something unique!

While I intended the arms to be striped, they turned out to look more checkered.  Interesting.  I did single rows of single crochet on the arms and used 2 rows together on the stripes of the body.  I must remember this in the future.  That checkered effect may come in handy on a different project some day.

I love the googly eyes on this one!  He's a bit cross-eyed on purpose.  It just adds to the 'giggle' factor.

However, I'm just not quite satisfied with him.  Let's see if I can make him look better.  I'll shorten the ears and change the arms.

                    Hmmm,  still not exactly what I want.  Think, think, think!    Oh, I know!

There's just nothing like a big toothy grin to elicit a giggle from even the most somber being.  Leave a comment and let me know which one you like the best!

The pattern for this guy can be found here at Ravelry or at Craftsy.com

Gotta Love This Pretty Necklace!

I love working with good high quality fibers when I'm crocheting!  And some of the yarns are sooo pretty!  Like this:  

The picture does not really do this necklace justice.  It is just gorgeous in real life!  This is hand crocheted using the Solomon's Knot stitch and is approximately 10 yards long and done in one long piece.  The options for looping this around the neck are varied and endless.   The button tab on it can be  removed or embellished with a broach or flower.

I love this necklace!  I can't wait to try more colors with this pattern.

Thanks to Carolyn at Living Skies Crochet  for this lovely pattern.