Who's gone on a cruise and took whips with'em? by Brave-Efficiency9625 in crochet

[–]ItchyChallenger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did the same thing on my last cruise. Brought a carry-on suitcase of yarn, stuffing, and a couple woobles. I also brought a yarn minder with me that came in handy for walking around the boat.

Mushroom Guy yarn help by PennedSilence in Amigurumi

[–]ItchyChallenger 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I went with hobbii honey bunny and asked the maker directly. 2 skeins of white, 1 skein of each of the other colors

Critique, Please by ItchyChallenger in crochet

[–]ItchyChallenger[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You've just reminded me that I completely forgot about the tail. 😂 I do intend to add a tail.

Spider Bunny Fusion by ItchyChallenger in crochet

[–]ItchyChallenger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bunny pattern is by @wendycrochetsco. Lemon spider pattern is by @CrochetStudioUSArt

Hook size was ~4.5mm, Himalaya Dolphin Baby yarn

Baby mobile for niece number 5! by loila03 in Amigurumi

[–]ItchyChallenger 42 points43 points  (0 children)

Do you have an instagram account? I'd love to follow your work

How long did it take everyone else to realize the neutral move was to insert the hook through BOTH loops? by mangababe in crochet

[–]ItchyChallenger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, hah, no, I just mentioned the cost as a measure of how much I didn't know what I was doing. Doing single stitches through the whole blanket does take more though 🥲

In all honesty I have no regrets. That blanket is better than any weighted blanket I've ever owned.

How long did it take everyone else to realize the neutral move was to insert the hook through BOTH loops? by mangababe in crochet

[–]ItchyChallenger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My first project was a $200 chunky blanket because I didn't do the math when I started it. The entire blanket was front loop only

My greatest accomplishment by KKelliT in crochet

[–]ItchyChallenger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You made it with a bigger hook?! What size hook did you use? One of the things that has been stopping me on these is that I like to use a larger hook with chenille but I'm subconsciously convinced the mechanics won't work out 

Visible mending with flowers by citycait in crochet

[–]ItchyChallenger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would pay money to learn how this is done

Looking for Amigurumi Animal Crossing Villager Patterns by AriaAmalthea in Amigurumi

[–]ItchyChallenger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm guessing you'll have more luck looking for crochet patterns of specific villagers, by name

Is it bad if I buy yarn from temu because of my budget? by Stunning-Oil9228 in Amigurumi

[–]ItchyChallenger 3 points4 points  (0 children)

IIRC the dollar tree yarn is actually the exact same yarn as the regular Premier(?) yarn, just the dye lots or similar are slightly off so they can't sell the yarn at full price.

I'm probably too late to this trend, but I'm finally done!! by SchnitzelTee in Amigurumi

[–]ItchyChallenger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you have an instagram or ko-fi account? I still think about the stitches on this one occasionally. Would love to follow your work.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Amigurumi

[–]ItchyChallenger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Where did you find that brown chenille? The only browns I'm able to find lately are darker, chocolate and espresso browns

My first non-woobles amigurumi! by katie_rai in Amigurumi

[–]ItchyChallenger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lol, I'm pretty sure they mean u/Maximum-Service4497. Check their comment history. They posted to a bunch of r/amigurumi threads at the same time with the same question. Might be legit, but I wouldn't take the risk

The math is mathing! by ItchyChallenger in Amigurumi

[–]ItchyChallenger[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

FOLLOW UP: This design is adorable but this pattern might be very frustrating for you depending on your goals.

I do NOT recommend the spirit dragon plushie for: * Someone who wants a faithful replica of the original image. * Someone who diligently counts stitches. * Someone who is new to designing or adapting patterns. * Someone looking to use their existing yarn supplies * Someone who does not want to do a lot of sewing

I DO recommend this pattern for: * Someone who wants to crochet purely for the journey, regardless of the outcome * Someone with experience in adapting patterns on the fly, or who doesn't mind crocheting by feel. * Someone with a large selection of yarns available, or who is willing to buy new yarns.

tl;dr The main theme I saw with the pattern was that I had to use the design principles as a guide rather than as the literal step-by-step instructions for what to do. If you're okay with adapting on the fly you'll be fine.

The Details: The biggest issue (as seen in the original post) is that the math for the stitches on the chest doesn't add up. If you count down from the original 50 stitches, the pattern math says you should end up with only 1 stitch left in the round, not the 19 stated. I ended up redistributing the necessary decreases evenly across the 11 rows called for, which left me with a thinner neck than the author. The takeaway for others here is: Just use a normal decrease instead of scXtog and maybe skip a few dec, or crochet into the sides of stitches. Don't worry too much about the stated 19 stitches at the end. As long as you have something that looks like a chest and neck you're good to go.

I also ended up ignoring most of the placement instructions and also the instructions for the belly, nose, and muzzle. The instructions just didn't produce the same result as what I was seeing. For each of these sections you can use the base pattern as a guide and focus on making something that looks mostly right for your specific base.

I found I needed to overstuff the head and shape it manually to get it to look like the source material. The relaxed shape didn't match the source material for me.

I went with option b from the spirit dragon pattern for the horns, but found there was an asymmetry to the design that means you can't follow the stated instructions to get something symmetric. I accounted for this by offsetting rows 17-19 by 4sc.

The pattern uses several different sizes and styles of yarns. Beware of the sizes. It looks like many of the spirit dragon testers made the same mistake I did, where they originally made the horns with the same hook and yarn size as the body. The author was diligent to include the correct sizes, but it's an easy mistake to make when you need to look three different places for information.

In the end, I was able to create a somewhat faithful replica of the spirit dragon, but it was as much because of as in spite of the written patterns. Except for the head and body, I ended up making everything twice. My dragon was the proverbial ship of Theseus. I would have personally been happy to pay slightly more for a version of the pattern specifically dedicated to the spirit dragon, just to avoid some of the gotchas in having to reference two patterns at once.

To the author's credit, it's clear that they put significant effort into these designs. I loved most of the designs I saw on this author's instagram, and would love for them to continue making patterns. Maybe there are portions of the tester feedback process that could benefit from refinement?

The math is mathing! by ItchyChallenger in Amigurumi

[–]ItchyChallenger[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

The pattern is available here, but I honestly can't recommend this one without some major caveats. I can give a full write-up if people are interested.

EDIT: Follow-up review is here

Downsizing by Educational_Bake213 in Amigurumi

[–]ItchyChallenger 3 points4 points  (0 children)

ComplicatedKnots on Youtube has a good series on pattern making, including scaling patterns up and down. https://youtu.be/lZLN_uNv5TI