SMOL SNAILSSS

I am so excited to share my newest pattern with you! SMALL SNAILS!! It comes with TWO Body pattern styles! TWO antennae styles! AND TWO snail shell styles!! You can mix and match to make your very own perfect little desk buddy!

You can find the pattern here on Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/small-snails

Or here on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/891966992/small-snail-amigurumi-crochet-pattern-by

© 2020 Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™. All rights reserved. This pattern is FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. The pattern (or parts of it) may not be reproduced, distributed or resold, translated, published, altered, shared or posted (for sale or free) over the internet or offline. You can sell items made from this pattern, provided they are handmade by yourself in a limited number and you give credit to the designer. Please add the following lines to your item description and any item you are selling: “This item is handmade by (your name) from a design and pattern by Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™”.

Wyrms, Wyverns and Dragons, Oh My!!

This new pattern features three ways to make a flying Dragon creature! You can make one with no limbs (Wyrm), with only rear legs (Wyvern), or with front legs and rear legs (Dragon)! It is made as all one piece, the only separately crocheted bit that is attached by sewing are the wings! The wings do have (Optional) wire in them so that you can pose them to be open and look like they are mid-flight!

The new Pattern is available here on Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/miniature-wyrm-wyvern-dragon

Or Here on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/757289984/miniature-wyrm-wyvern-dragon-crochet

© 2020 Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™. All rights reserved. This pattern is FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. The pattern (or parts of it) may not be reproduced, distributed or resold, translated, published, altered, shared or posted (for sale or free) over the internet or offline. You can sell items made from this pattern, provided they are handmade by yourself in a limited number and you give credit to the designer. Please add the following lines to your item description and any item you are selling: “This item is handmade by (your name) from a design and pattern by Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™”.

Yarn Review!: Red Heart Unforgettable

Red Heart Unforgettable yarn holds a special place in my heart as it is the yarn I used to make one of my first Dragons. This particular dragon went viral and is the reason I figured out what I want to be when I grow up.

Red Heart Unforgettable has some great qualities and some draw backs. Here’s the skinny.

Pro: It comes in absolutely stunning colors. I can’t recommend it enough for this reason. Colors are often most important to me as they capture what I want to convey - poor colors, means it’ll have a poor reception. Red Heart unforgettable always satisfies this way (I can’t recommend “Stained Glass” or “Gossamer” enough).

Con: It lies about its weight. It says it is a medium weight yarn, but it is not. It is a light weight yarn. Size down on your hook or double the yarn up. It is not terrible about yarn weight consistency, but it is not perfect this way. I have had more issues with other yarns, but this can be an issue for this one too sometimes, depending on the skein you’re using.

Pro: It is single ply! I love single ply! Something about that smooth single twist of yarn is sexy and silky and awesome. It’s my favorite and it’s what drew me to Red Heart Unforgettable in the first place.

Con: It is single ply! This means it can pull apart as you sew with it leaving you to cry hot tears of fury as you try to figure out how to thread your needle with 3 inches of yarn tail left to sew an entire dragon limb to your precious dragon and CURSE THE GODS FOR THEIR CRUELTY. Always remember to twist your yarn as you sew with it and you should be fine, but this is definitely an annoyance.

Pro: It’s cheap and easily available!

Con: It’s IMPOSSIBLE to frog. It felts itself as you crochet with it, so if you make a mistake and need to go back, it’s going to give you a real hard time. How to fix that? Don’t make a mistake.

All in all, I would still recommend it! I really like using it and I’m so glad to have it in nearly every color it’s available in.

The Etsies!

I did something scary and exciting! I entered my Dragon pattern in the Etsies! The Etsy Design Awards!! This is the first competition that Etsy is hosting! I can’t wait to see what everyone puts out there for this! I can’t figure out whether I’m foolish for having a very real hope of being chosen as a finalist for this! Eee! Exciting!

#TheEtsies

Supplies: What's the skinny on Polyfil?

Out of all the supplies you use to make amigurumi, polyfil is one of the super important ones that we care least about. It goes on the inside of the amigurumi and gives your work shape and body.

I strongly prefer generic polyfil - the kind of polyfil that feels more like cotton gives my sensory issues the heebie jeebies. So I prefer the stuff that feels like acrylic clouds. Also, I told my daughter they’re called “Clouds” and she will often ask to play with my “clouds”.

There are more options and tricks for stuffing your amigurumi. You know all those yarn tails you get after weaving in your ends? If you save them, you can use them to stuff your next amigurumi!

Also, when you make an all black amigurumi - like a black unicorn, and you’d like to stuff it, it can be a little odd looking to stuff it with white polyfil as the white will peek through all of the holes of the crochet work. If you don’t like the look of the white peeking through, there are ways around it! You can take a nylon stocking, and fill THAT with polyfil as you stuff it inside the amigurumi. The nylon stocking will contain and mask the bright white and you won’t notice inside your work. Your second option would be to pick up some very cheap black yarn and use that to stuff your work. You can find cheap black (or any color) yarn at thrift stores and in the clearance section of your local big box craft stores. Stuffing amigurumi with yarn means that your amigurumi will be much heavier than if you stuffed it with polyfil, but you will not see the inner stuffing through your crochet work AT ALL.

I hope this helped!!

Dragon Update!!

There is a BRAND NEW UPDATE available to the Dragon pattern! IF you purchased the pattern on Ravelry, it should automatically be available for you to download. If you purchased it on Etsy, I sent you a manual update to your email address. If you did not receive that email update, please message me on Etsy and I will make sure you get your updated copy!

Enjoy!

© 2019 Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™. All rights reserved. This pattern is FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. The pattern (or parts of it) may not be reproduced, distributed or resold, translated, published, altered, shared or posted (for sale or free) over the internet or offline. You can sell items made from this pattern, provided they are handmade by yourself in a limited number and you give credit to the designer. Please add the following lines to your item description and any item you are selling: “This item is handmade by (your name) from a design and pattern by Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™”.

Griffin or Gryphon?

Whatever you call it, I wrote a new pattern for it!

You can find it here on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/694045116/griffin-crochet-amigurumi-pattern

Or here on Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/griffin-3

© 2019 Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™. All rights reserved. This pattern is FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. The pattern (or parts of it) may not be reproduced, distributed or resold, translated, published, altered, shared or posted (for sale or free) over the internet or offline. You can sell items made from this pattern, provided they are handmade by yourself in a limited number and you give credit to the designer. Please add the following lines to your item description and any item you are selling: “This item is handmade by (your name) from a design and pattern by Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™”.

Seahorses are for Lovers

New Seahorse pattern is now available!!

You can find it here on Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/seahorse-32

Or here on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/681598581/seahorse-crochet-amigurumi-pattern

© 2019 Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™. All rights reserved. This pattern is FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. The pattern (or parts of it) may not be reproduced, distributed or resold, translated, published, altered, shared or posted (for sale or free) over the internet or offline. You can sell items made from this pattern, provided they are handmade by yourself in a limited number and you give credit to the designer. Please add the following lines to your item description and any item you are selling: “This item is handmade by (your name) from a design and pattern by Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™”.

Featured Pattern: Mickey Mouse Baby Hat

[Free] Pattern by Olivia Kent
(Not a Crafty Intentions Pattern)
Available here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mickey-mouse-inspired-baby-hat

This was easy to make, and certainly a crowd pleaser at a Disney-Enthusiast's Baby Shower. I would certainly recommend this pattern!

Featured Pattern: Girl Dolls in Berets

Pattern by Desislava Dimitrova
(Not a Crafty Intentions Pattern)
Available Here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/aria-crochet-doll

This makes a larger doll than I expected, but it was fun to be able to make all the different bits in different coordinating colors.  I chose to sew trim to the bottom of the inside of the skirt.  I also sewed on all the accessories to make sure that they are secure as a toy for a small child. I would certainly recommend this pattern!

Featured Pattern: Seahorse

Seahorse made by Me! Crafty Intentions
Pattern by Terry Finer.
Available Here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/post-modern-post-stitch-seahorse

This pattern builds this seahorse in an ingenious 3-dimensional way so that you do not need stuffing.  It is built in such a way that it fills itself out!  It's amazing!  I made a ton of them and it was tremendous fun.  It was certainly a challenging pattern, I would say intermediate or above.  But I would definitely recommend it!

Monster Pattern: Explained

This Monster Pattern is available on Ravely: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/choose-your-own-adventure-monster

© 2018 Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™. All rights reserved. This pattern is FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. The pattern (or parts of it) may not be reproduced, distributed or resold, translated, published, altered, shared or posted (for sale or free) over the internet or offline. You can sell items made from this pattern, provided they are handmade by yourself in a limited number and you give credit to the designer. Please add the following lines to your item description and any item you are selling: “This item is handmade by (your name) from a design and pattern by Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™”.

This pattern is for an Amigurumi-Style Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Adorable Monster. These Monsters have many interchangeable or combinable options to create over 64 different end-creations!! You can truly customize exactly what you want to make. There are Monsters with overbites or underbites, Monsters with legs and Monsters without legs, Monsters with dangly feet and Monsters with flat feet, Monsters with long or short arms, Monsters with horns or ears (or both!), Monsters with mohawks or spikes down their back, Monsters with eyebrows and/or claws, Monsters with as many teeth as you want in one of three styles!

Each step is photo-illustrated. Yarn amounts are extremely variable depending on what options you use. This project is an excellent stash buster for all sorts of smaller amounts of yarn you have on hand for all the different contrasting decorative bits you might choose to make.

Confessions in Winging it: Sorting Hat

This is another one where I did the thing, and ideally would like to be able to do it again.  So Why? Whyy?? Whyyy did I not write down what I did as I did it??

I think the real reason is that I always believe the first version is going to be terrible, so what's the point of writing it down.  And it doesn't always come out great, but it often comes out pretty-good but because of that nagging negative voice, I don't write anything down and then I always curse myself afterwards.

Pegasus Pattern Published!!

The Crafty Intentions Pegasus Crochet Amigurumi Pattern is now available! You can find it here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pegasus-5

Or Here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/635597418/digital-pegasus-crochet-amigurumi

© 2018 Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™. All rights reserved. This pattern is FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. The pattern (or parts of it) may not be reproduced, distributed or resold, translated, published, altered, shared or posted (for sale or free) over the internet or offline. You can sell items made from this pattern, provided they are handmade by yourself in a limited number and you give credit to the designer. Please add the following lines to your item description and any item you are selling: “This item is handmade by (your name) from a design and pattern by Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™”.

Featured Pattern: Yoda hat

Photo by Danielle Foster Creations: https://www.facebook.com/DanielleFosterCreations/
Hat made by me!
[Free] Pattern for the hat: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/crochet-yoda-hat

This went well!  I enjoyed making this hat for this little new one.   It would be the perfect addition to a cute little onesie for a newborn's first Halloween! 

Featured pattern: Koi Fish

This Rainbow Fish made by Me! Crafty Intentions.
Pattern by: Terry Finer
Pattern Link: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/whomsoevers-koi-fish

A few pieces and parts of this fish can be tricky, and it is definitely a large fish!! But the finished product is so satisfyingly gorgeous that I have to recommend the pattern.
 

Question: Fox pattern, Yes or No??

Fox pattern! Now, I didn't just wing this. I did write it down.  But... Is it good enough to publish it?  Would you want to make one like this? I'm undecided about whether or not it's worth actually typing up, testing, and publishing. Hmm...

Confessions in Winging it: Jake and Lady Rainicorn

I have a bad habit, every once in a while, of making a thing, and not writing down what I did so that I can make the thing a second time.  This is one of those times.

After binge watching most of Adventure Time, I decided to make a Jake and Lady Rainicorn hat for some loved ones.  They do not watch Adventure Time.  Make note: Attempt to make gifts referencing pop culture only for people who are familiar with said pop culture.   I'm very proud of how they came out, and I would happily share the pattern with you but...

I winged it.

Featured Pattern: Flumplebees!

This is a pattern by EssHaych!
You can find it here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-flumplebees

It's worth a couple of dollars for sure!  It's a short simple pattern, easily made, beginner level, very cute, and it creates an adorable, very imaginative creature!  I can use just about any imaginably solid or variegated yarn for this one. At my last craft market, I sold out of these little guys.  Every single person who asked about them was delighted by the name "Flumplebee" and insisted on taking one (or three) Home!

Now, I made a few alterations to my construction.  I add a wire in the body that reaches all the way from the nose to the butt so that you can re-position the head and neck.  I also add some glass gems at the bottom of the butt to weigh it down and make it sit securely (but both of these things can be completely left out to make the thing 100% toddler safe).  I like sizing up the eyes a little bigger than what they recommend in the pattern, but that's just personal preference. I also sometimes piece in a mane of yarn and it makes them look like wayward fuzzy flowers to me! 

Autism and Crafting

So, my now (today!!) 8 year old son is Autistic.  He has a significant communication delay and has difficulty with verbal interaction.  He has had early intervention since he was 2, has been in ABA preschool from 3-5, and special education classrooms from 5 years old onward.  He has a PCA (an adult with him at all times in school to keep him safe, and focused on his work).  Specifically he's what's called "Hyperlexic" which means he's been able to read since he was 2, but he has difficulty with spontaneous verbal communication.  He's been obsessed with letters and numbers from a very, very early age.

He is a lot of work, but I also feel quite lucky.  I know everybody says something like that, but I'm not trying to be all rainbows and sunshine.  He is quite affectionate and sweet.  His heart breaks when kids get upset nearby him -  he can't tolerate tears or sadness.  He's gentle with animals and smart as a whip.  He's enthusiastic about playing and fun, and absolutely loves music (he has Hamilton memorized).   There are moments, even days or weeks, when it is difficult to connect with him... but for the most part, that's easy.

When I make gifts for him, I try especially hard to make sure it's going to be something that really makes him light up. 

Here's the pattern I used for this one: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/babys-abcs-afghan

It worked great!  He was finally able to literally wrap himself up in the alphabet, and roll around on top of it.  He traced those letters all day and gave me a big hug for this one.  This was a total success!!