ALL the Alpacas

Well, I decided to call this pattern alpaca since they are just cuter than llamas.  Llama IS more fun to say though, I think.  Here are the 4 I made not including the other pink one that sold.

And specifically the new minty one!

In my shop!

I am happy with the head reduction I did for the mint one, but I am going to further reduce the barrel body in roundness but add all but one of the fur rows back.  I like how it came out but the body is a touch too compact and it doesn’t balance the head as I would like.  I took the body stitch count from 60 down to 50 and now down to 45 on the one I’m making my youngest son.

Which, by the way, it coming along nicely.  I made a cheingora cake of samoyed fur today and using that for the alpaca.

Pink One

SOLD on Etsy.

Finished another pink one! I shortened the body by 2 fur rows and I am happy with the result.  Last time I finished one my oldest son had commented that the body seemed a bit long and I agreed.  I want it to look more baby-like or ‘chibi’ really.  It is geared towards babies as it is.

Funny pattern though, I’m ok all the way through the body but once I do a single leg I am so mad at this thing.  Something about making four legs makes me wish I had never started, then I finish up and go ‘oh it’s so cute, Imma do another’.

Besides that I’ve had a very crafty weekend.  Besides crocheting, I also sew, a little bit.  I was going to make one of my kids a no-sew blanket, but I bought 4 yards of fleece and that would have been the size of a twin sized blanket.  No-sew implies less work but, cutting out strips all the way around and then tying or braiding them takes AGES.  I decided to YES SEW it.

The pink one took off!

I’ve made several llamas as of today, but 4 with my revised pattern.  I posted the white and beige one on reddit and, they didn’t get very much attention.  But damn, the pink one TOOK OFF!  I hit 1# on /r/rcrochet the day I posted it and ended up with over 1,800 upvotes! I couldn’t believe it! I made the pink one because I had yarn I bought some time ago for a coat I was never going to finish and thought at a minimum people would find it outlandish.  Instead, it sold nearly the same day I posted it thanks to that thread, by someone commenting in that thread that if I had an Etsy show, they would buy it!  And they did!

So amazing, I still can hardly believe it!

I have another pink one nearly finished today and I’m done with the head and neck of the ones I’m making for my youngest son, using Coda’s fur.

Caron One Pound

So!  I was saying before that I love Loops and Threads Impeccable, the feel, the stitch texture, colors, etc. BUT!!!  I bought a Caron One Pound recently at Michaels and it feels JUST LIKE Impeccable but comes in 16oz skeins! Love it!

As far as I can tell, it looks and feels exactly the same.  Only Impeccable runs around 3.50 a skein at 277 yards/4.5 oz, and Caron One Pound runs in at 10 bucks for 812 yards/16oz.

So that means Impeccable comes in at around 0.12 a yard and One Pound at ….0.12.  And a pound is clearly more yards.  Hm. This should be perfect for my cocoon sweaters.

I’m well onto my way to making my herd of llamas!

with the addition of a PINK (Plum wine!) llama!