PlanetJune Blog: Latest News, Patterns and Tutorials

I really am back in action! Fuzzy Penguin needed a friend, so I’ve made a baby fuzzy seal:

They are fast friends already, as you can see:

Maui decided the photoshoot couldn’t proceed without at least one shot including his handsome face 🙂

This pattern is (I hope) going to be a true original – I’ve never seen anything even remotely like it before! The entire head and body is made in one piece.

The Fuzzy Seal pattern should be finished within a week. Sign up for the mailing list if you’d like to be notified when it’s available.

UPDATE: Looking for the patterns? You can find the Fuzzy Penguin crochet pattern and Fuzzy Seal crochet pattern in my shop.

life update

Some of you already know that I have been really suffering with the carpal tunnel in my right wrist for the past 3 weeks. I haven’t been able to crochet or do any crafts and it’s been driving me mad. It got to the stage where I couldn’t type with my right hand, or even grip a piece of paper, without pain.

Last week, the doctor gave me some horribly strong anti-inflammatory medicine, and the good news is, it seems to be working! I’m trying to take it slowly and not do too much too soon, but I’ve been so desperate to get crafting again, it’s going to be difficult to restrain myself…

I’ve just started work on my next crochet pattern, so I hope to have a new fuzzy friend to show you in the next week or so, but it could take longer if my wrist doesn’t cooperate.

blog update

The server that hosts my blog, my pattern store, and some other parts of my website has been a bit flaky lately. I’ve noticed it playing up 4 times in the past week. So, if you get a WordPress error page when you try to access my blog, come back in an hour or two and *fingers crossed* it’ll be back up.

Obviously this is not a satisfactory solution, and unless my webhosts get their act together, I will be shopping around for an alternative host very very soon…

It seems to be a commonly held belief that it’s difficult/impossible to crochet with fuzzy/eyelash/fun fur yarn. As you may have noticed, I’ve been working with fuzzy yarns a lot recently, so I thought I should share some advice on how to crochet fuzzy amigurumi toys.

I’ve created a main page – Fuzzy Yarn Tips – which is linked in the sidebar on the right. I have 2 pages of info in there right now – General Tips, and Starting Amigurumi with Eyelash Yarn. I’m hoping to add more pages as I have time and think of more tips!

Please let me know if you find this useful, or if you have any questions or suggestions for tutorials 🙂

The Mini Fuzzies Woodland Creatures pattern is now available! You can order it directly from PlanetJune.com and the pdf will be e-mailed to you.

This pattern includes full instructions to make a mini Fuzzy Squirrel, Hedgehog and Mole. Mini fuzzies work up quickly and are fun to make – this pattern would make an excellent introduction to amigurumi and to working with fuzzy yarn.

I saw this post on Craftzine yesterday about the new Japanese fashion of wearing colourful haramaki aka ‘belly warmers’. I think this is the best idea I’ve seen in a long time! Ever since the advent of low-rise jeans, women have been stuck with a little cold gap between the bottom of our shirts and the top of our jeans. This is a cool way to cover that gap, and why import one from Japan when we can all make our own?

I whipped this one up this morning as a prototype, so I left it plain, but just imagine how amazing it could look if you freezer paper stencilled a funky design on the fabric before sewing it…

When it was finished, I tried it on and was surprised by how warm I felt – it really does work, even when it’s just made from 2 layers of t-shirt fabric.

To make your own haramaki:

You can use any fabric with some stretch, so you can pull your haramaki on and off. I used a knit jersey (i.e. t-shirt fabric).

You will also need a sewing machine with a stretch stitch (pictured below).

1. Work out the dimensions you need. The height is up to you – I decided to go for an 8″ tall haramaki but you could make it longer if you want. The length of the haramaki depends on the size of your tummy..! Of course it would be easier to estimate for a skinny straight up-and-down Japanese model than for a regular curvy lady. I decided to make mine 30″ around (without giving too much away, that’s halfway between the measurements for my waist and my hips). If you want to wear it high up, make it a bit shorter than your halfway measurement, and if you want it to cover your hips, you may need to make it a little longer, depending on how stretchy your fabric is.

   To get the fabric dimensions, the length is 1″ over the length you decided (mine is 30″ + 1″ = 31″) and the width is double the height plus 1″ (mine is 2×8″ + 1″ = 17″). Cut your fabric to these dimensions and lay out as shown (right side up):
   

2. Fold your fabric in half so the top meets the bottom, as shown below:
   
3. Pin the 2 long sides together, all the way along. It’s better to space the pins more closely than you normally would, as the stretch fabric can get out of alignment more easily than a regular fabric:
   
4. Sew along the line you’ve pinned. You have 1/2″ seam allowance, but that 1/2″ includes the full width of the zig-zag stitch, so you may need to practice on scrap fabric first to see which guide line to follow on your sewing machine. Trim the extra seam allowance after sewing:
   
5. You have just made a long tube. Stick your arm through the tube and grab onto the far edge of the tube:
   
6. Pull your arm back out of the tube, bringing that far edge of the tube back through the middle of the tube. Stop when the raw edges meet up, and align the edges:
   
7. Pin the inner and outer layers together, all around the raw edge:
   
8. To clarify, you should now have a tube that is half as long as before, made from 2 thicknesses of fabric. The pins should not close off the end of the tube:
   
9. Sew around the pinned edge (again, 1/2″ seam allowance), leaving a gap of about 3″. Turn the harimaki right side out through this gap:
   
10. Fold the edges of the gap under, and hand-sew the opening shut. That’s it! All finished!
    

I’ve been wearing mine all day and it’s warm and comfy and like having a hug all day long 🙂
Please leave me a comment if you like this idea or if you make one!

Look what I got in the mail today! A lovely package of kimono fabric scraps from Eloise in Japan, so I can finally make some of the lovely projects from my chirimen Japanese craft book.

There are 23 pieces in all, in a huge variety of colours, textures and prints. They are all so lovely! Some of the pieces are tiny, so I’m going to have to plan carefully to make the best use out of them. What fun! This will take my mind off my poor hurting wrist.

Eloise… thank you, thank you, thank you!

The Fuzzy Penguin pattern is now available! You can order it directly from PlanetJune.com and the pdf will be e-mailed to you.

Look out for the Mini Fuzzies Woodland Creatures pattern in the next few days too.

I thought it might be a nice idea to make some themed series of smaller toys, so here’s my first set, Woodland Creatures (click pic for larger version):

Squirrel, Mole and Hedgehog crocheted Mini Fuzzies.

The mole is a different kind of fuzzy… I used chenille yarn so he feels very velvety and mole-ish.

UPDATE: Looking for the pattern? You can find the Mini Fuzzies Woodland Creatures crochet pattern in my shop.