Meet Ms Bun-Bun, my first attempt at softie making from one of my cute new Japanese craft books:

The fabric isn’t photographing very well – it’s a deep burgundy colour with a nice fuzzy feel to it. I bought it as a remnant, so I don’t know what the fabric really is.

To make the bunny, I traced the pattern pieces from the book onto freezer paper, cut them out and then ironed them onto the reverse side of the fabric, which made cutting out the fabric pieces really easy. Is this an established technique, or did I just invent it? I don’t know, but I highly recommend it! The freezer paper templates can be ironed on and peeled off several times, so you can even reuse them to make more toys.

The diagrams in the book were all so clear that I had no problem following the instructions, even though all the text was in Japanese. I didn’t have any plastic pellets to weigh down the bottom of the bunny, so I improvised with a handful of small buttons.

Apparently Japanese bunnies don’t have tails (I may fix this later):

Ms Bun-Bun’s favourite activities are sunbathing and picking fresh flowers:

I crocheted the flowers with a 2.35mm hook. I used black crochet cotton for the centres, and beautiful hand-dyed lambswool from Renaissance Dyeing for the petals. It’s actually Crewel embroidery wool – I bought it years ago and completely forgot I had it until I was looking for something to make Ms Bun-Bun an accessory with – what a nice surprise 🙂

I love those flowers! They are under 3/4″ diameter. Now what else can I do with them… crocheted jewellery, hair accessories, maybe even clothing embellishments…?

I’ve been designing again… meet the Fuzzy Kittens!
Click pictures for larger versions

The black and white kittens are crocheted from Patons Carmen, which made the kittens super-soft and furry but it’s a little difficult to see their shape. The grey kittens are crocheted from Berroco Furz, which made for a less fuzzy, more defined kitten.

The kittens are lifesize teeny tiny babies, at only 6 inches long (plus tail).

I’ll be writing up the pattern soon to join the other Fuzzy Friends patterns. If you’d like to be notified when it’s available, sign up for my mailing list.

I’m thinking the kittens may be in need of a mother, so I have an idea for a Fuzzy Cat in the works!

UPDATE: Looking for the pattern? You can find the Fuzzy Kitten crochet pattern in my shop.

Drumroll please… You’ve waited all this time, and now, finally, the Fuzzy Monkeys pattern is available! You can order it directly from PlanetJune.com and the pdf will be e-mailed to you.

Now you can make your own amigurumi monkeys! The pattern includes full instructions to make three different types of monkey:

1. Adult Monkey with poseable wired legs and tail
2. Baby Monkey with poseable wired legs and tail
3. Adult Monkey with wire-free (child-safe) dangling legs

PS – Would you like to see PlanetJune amigurumi dog patterns? Please vote in my poll and let me know!

It seems that my amigurumi Shiba Inu is popular! I only made Ginger Jr as a one-of-a-kind gift, but all your comments are making me think about making a slightly simplified shiba and producing a pattern for it… It wouldn’t be immediate – I have several other projects I have to complete first (especially the long-awaited monkey pattern which should be complete in the next week).

So, my question to you is, would you be interested in buying an amigurumi dog pattern from me? If you’re interested, please vote, and I will do it if there is enough interest. If you’d like to see other breeds done in the same kind of style, please vote and also leave a comment saying which breeds are your favourite!

UPDATE: Thanks to all who voted… the first set of AmiDogs patterns are now available in my store!

Kari and I had a great time in Chicago. Kari made this lovely soft fleece tree scarf for me, accessorized with a Crafty Ginger tsumami kanzashi flower snap – yay! She also gave me some gorgeous grey fuzzy yarn, which I know I’ll be able to make good use of 😉

We went to the Sanseido bookstore in the Mitsuwa Japanese marketplace . If you’re in Chicago I highly recommend you check it out if you love Japanese craft books (and who doesn’t?) – they had a wide selection and the prices were very reasonable. I managed to restrict myself to buying three:

ISBN 9784529039017 (cute stuffed toy patterns)

ISBN 4277490239 (crochet motifs)

ISBN 9784277490405 (pretty patchwork)

Beautiful, inspirational books! And all 3 for only $20 🙂

How’s that for a Japanese post title! I can finally reveal the present I made for Kari (Crafty Ginger). As I know she doesn’t crochet, in honour of her lovely Shiba Inu dog, may I present Ginger (Jr):

I made up the pattern for this amigurumi as I went, although I was influenced by the photos of Soragumi‘s crocheted dogs. The finishing touches to personalise it: a spool-knitted collar in Kari’s favourite colour, with a tiny rubber-stamped shrink plastic dog tag hanging from it.

Happy Blogiversary to me! Craftybits @ PlanetJune.com is one year old today. To celebrate, I’ve made a new header (if you’re reading this through a feed reader, please click through to my site to see it). Bye-bye to the text-only header, and hello to some of the favourite things I’ve made. I’ve saved my template so I can switch in different photos whenever I feel like it. What do you think?

a look back

Wow, I’ve been blogging for a whole year… I feel like the year has flown by, but when I look back at what I’ve accomplished in the past year I can’t believe how far I’ve come in one year! Over the past year, I have:

• participated in 7 Whiplash challenges and 3 OneHourCraft challenges
  
• increased the traffic to my site every month (numbers removed because I’m not competing with anyone – it’s only the trend that interests me):
  
• published 7 original crochet patterns with more on the way, and the free Fuzzballs pattern
• written several tutorials to help out other crafters
• and made lots of new friends in the craft blog community!

…and forward

I don’t know how I’m going to top all that, but I have so many new ideas I’m going to have a good try! I think lack of time will be my main problem. But this isn’t a race or a competition – I do this (crafting and blogging) because I love to do it. Whatever happens next year, if I enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed the past year, that will be enough for me 🙂

ps… monkeys

I’m suffering from a yucky cold right now so I still haven’t finished the monkey pattern 🙁 But I’m determined to beat it soon – I’m meeting up with the lovely Kari of Crafty Ginger this weekend, so I will not be sick for that. Can’t wait to see you, Kari!

To everyone who is still waiting for the Fuzzy Monkeys crochet pattern:

I haven’t forgotten you! Life has been hectic for the past couple of weeks. I have some big personal things going on: we’ll be moving house soon; my sister just visited; and I finally got to see the hand doctor.

So, while the pattern itself has been finished for a while, I want to add some more instructions, hints and tips, and helpful graphics, so you’ll be able to make the best monkeys around 🙂

The pattern will be available very soon… Watch this space!