Lovely new yarn storage

Until recently I've never had anywhere good to store my yarn - we don't have any spare rooms and so I've kept my stash in large plastic storage bags stuffed into my understairs cupboard. This meant that every time I wanted to choose some yarn for a new project I had to pull out all the other things in the cupboard - vacuum cleaner, walking boots, spare plastic bags, etc - then pull out several storage bags until I found the right colours (they were mostly sorted by colour). Then I carried the bags into another room so I look through all the yarn. This was all very frustrating, so I was very happy when we decided to get a new outbuilding constructed, replacing our old, leaky garage and shed, as it meant I would have some space for some decent, clean storage for my yarn.

The building was finished in March, then we had to decorate (very simple white paint throughout) and go on a couple of trips to Ikea to kit it out. I hadn't been to Ikea for years, so I had a wonderful time finding all sorts of bits and bobs, both for the Spare Oom (named after Mr Tumnus' confusion about where Lucy comes from in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) and the rest of our house. I wasn't really sure how much storage I would need, but the building is multipurpose, so I couldn't fill it wall to wall with wool! In the end I bought the largest Kallax shelving unit, and twenty-five fabric storage boxes to fill it up, which was just enough to get all my yarn in.

I spent a happy afternoon sorting all my yarn into the various boxes. The top two rows are all my acrylic dk that I mostly use for amigurumi, sorted by colour. Then I have a couple of boxes with wool and alpaca mix yarns that I've started to use more recently. The rest of the boxes are filled with different types and weights of yarn - cotton, mohair style, eyelash, chunky and 4 ply. This is the stuff that I don't use for my amigurumi patterns, so it had ended up at the back of the cupboard, almost impossible to access, so it was a treat to see it all again! Now, whatever yarn I'm looking for, I can just pull out the appropriate box and sift through it to find what I want. So I can tell what is in each box, I've crocheted little circles of the appropriate colours or type of yarn and pinned them on the front.

All this lovely organisation makes planning a new pattern so much easier, and I'm trying new projects with different yarns that I've never done before. I bought some plants from Ikea to put on the windowsills, and I used my newly discovered cotton yarn to make brightly coloured doilies for them to sit on - the very first doilies I've ever made - using this pattern. I've also selected lots of different colours of dk yarn to practice Tunisian crochet, making a cushion cover for the little sofa in the Spare Oom - more on that in a future post when it's finished.

On top of the shelves I've got three plastic boxes full of all my completed amigurumi. These used to be up in the attic, so they were a real hassle to get to if I needed to check something. As well as the Kallax shelving I bought a Billy bookcase in case I needed more storage. I don't need it for yarn (at the moment), but it's great to store all my crochet magazines and books. Now I can just sit there and browse through them when I'm looking for inspiration. At the moment I've filled the spare space with all my bags that I keep current projects in, and arranged a few of my amigurumi on a shelf to cheer me up. I also just bought a cool Hobbit-themed storage box - not sure what I'm going to store in it yet, but it was too much fun not to buy!

As you can probably see from the photos, the colour scheme is a white background with lots of bright colours in contrast, like the button design rug I chose from Ikea. We haven't quite finished in there yet, there's still a magnetic noticeboard to put up, that I can fill with inspirational pictures, and a couple of bits of Star Wars wall art. I think this room will end up with all the quirky things in it - we have a clock made from a squashed beer bottle to hang up yet, and a friendly Mountie that was a gift from our Canadian relatives waves at people through the front window. But for now, I'm just relishing being able to find whatever yarn I want, when I want it!

 

 

Fantasy Amigurumi - Elves

You may have seen from my previous post that I'm working on a series of Fantasy amigurumi characters. I've already designed a pattern to make Halflings, and now my pattern to make Elves is finished. Elves originally came from European mythology and folklore and have now become part of modern fantasy books, films and games.

I've made four different Elves, two male and two female, to give a selection of options for people who want to make their own Elves.

Elf Warrior: He has long blond hair, pulled back into a braid, and a green tunic. He also has a separate hooded cloak and a sword.

 

 

 Elf Archer: He has dark, mid-length hair and a tunic with wrist guards. I made him a cloak and a bow with a quiver full of arrows.

Elf Princess: She has long dark hair with a silver head-dress, and a long blue dress.

Elf Sorceress: She is wearing a short top, a long skirt with splits, arm protectors and shoulder armour. She has pale mid-length hair and long pointed ears, and she carries a staff with a magical orb at the top.

 

 

All the Elves are about 6.5" tall, compared to the Halflings that are 5.5" tall. I'm now working on a Dwarf pattern, but I'm not sure whether to make a female Dwarf. As a Discworld fan, I always think female Dwarfs should look the same as male ones, but I don't think this is the case in various games, or in The Hobbit from the glimpses we saw of Dale at the start of An Unexpected Journey. I'd really appreciate hearing people's views on this.

The Elf pattern is available to download from my Etsy shop.

Fantasy Amigurumi - Halfling

For quite a while now I've been wanting to design some patterns for various fantasy characters; peoples and creatures that appear in all sorts of folklore, books, films and games. I decided they needed to be a bit bigger than my Star Wars characters (about 3.5" tall) so they would have a bit more detail, but it's taken a bit of experimentation to come up with the right body shape.

 

I made myself a little Frodo some time ago (see him in this post) and so the first pattern I started work on was for a Halfling. This is a generic name for the 'little folk' that appear in folklore, that often keep themselves hidden and can either be helpful or mischievous towards humans. In modern fantasy stories and games these little people often live alongside other fantasy races and have a variety of names and customs. Usually they are good-natured, not too war-like, and enjoy their food and home comforts. They are often portrayed with curly hair and wearing slightly more modern clothes - waistcoats and jackets rather than tunics - than other fantasy races. I think this comes from the fact that belief in hobs, brownies and similar creatures was still around relatively recently, so they are imagined in clothes from the 17th and 18th Century rather than the more medieval costumes favoured by Elves and Dwarfs. I've noticed that Halflings in games often appear as engineer or rogue-type characters; due to their size they're not obviously great warriors but they are quick and good with their hands so those sorts of professions suit them better.

 

My Halfling pattern, available now in my Etsy shop contains all the information needed to make a male or female Halfling, about 5.5" tall, with a choice of clothing. You can make a male Halfling with or without a waistcoat, and with a separate jacket, hat or cloak.

The female Halfling comes with the option of the traditional look with a bodice and skirt, or you can go for the engineer/steampunk look and make a Halfling with spiky hair and goggles.

 

 

I'm now working on a pattern to make Elves, again with a selection of looks, and then I will probably work on a pattern for Dwarfs. After that I welcome any suggestions, though I'd like to do orcs/goblins, perhaps some classical creatures such as minotaurs and fauns, and some human warriors, maybe with a few historical ones (Roman, Viking) mixed in with the fantasy.