Elephmints

One of my earliest embroidery floss crochet projects was Roman Sock’s instant crochetification elephant. You can see my first elephant in my family photo. It is now in the keeping of one of my cousins. After learning a friend’s younger brother had pronounced it “elephmints” as a child, I decided to make some elephmints. I thought it would be good practice for color work. And it was, though I delayed making them so long that I’d gotten other practice for color beforehand. Anyway, here they are!

elephmints from the side

Starlight Elephmint was started in January and completed last weekend. I had to change the pattern because originally the initial rounds are multiples of seven stitches, which wasn’t going to work well for a starlight mint pattern. There was a lot of color changing and the floss skeins were thoroughly twisted together when I finished. The trunk and legs are not made by color changing, but by adding one color in the middle of a round and then working alternately with each, stitching as far around as possible with one before switching to the next, as in the last of my mother’s potholders. I also changed the ears to magic rings with ch 2, 8 dc in ring, ch 2 and sl st into ring; join new yarn to ring and ch 3, sc across (which somehow became only 7 sc?), ch 3 and sl st to ring; tighten ring. They aren’t as big as they could be; I’d probably do some sc inc across if I did it over. His tail is a chain stitch with one strand of each color, slip stitched on and with an overhand knot at the end.

Starlight Elephmint

The one I think came out much better, Elephmint Chocolate Chip, was completed in December. My multipacks of cheap floss included a good mint ice cream green, but I bought the dark chocolate brown specially. There were no changes to the pattern here (except I did the ears as magic rings with ch 3 on each end of the triples, since when I try to do them as ch 7s they get all pulled out of shape; this may be entirely the fault of working with embroidery floss). I simply threw in an isolated brown stitch every once in a while. It came out better than I could have planned – the effect is remarkably reminiscent of the little flat chips, square or sometimes shaped like half a log, that you find in mint chocolate chip ice cream. His tail is two strands of brown, threaded through his behind so they end up doubled, and overhand knotted at the base and the end.

Elephmint Chocolate Chip

from the front

SF in stitches

This is my entry to the Feelin’ Stitchy “Covered in Stitches” embroidery contest. I love the covers of 60s and 70s (and even some 50s and 80s) science fiction books – all lurid colors and crazy images. This was the only one on my shelf I felt I had any chance of doing justice to, though:

SF embroidery

I am so pleased with how it came out.

SF embroidery

I just stitched without any grand plan, and couldn’t have foreseen how well his hand would come together.

SF embroidery

My other favorite detail is his left shoulder; I love how the threads blended and it looks like abstract art.

SF embroidery

Of course, I have since discovered that the colors on my copy were not as vivid as they had been originally and in particular some formerly different colors had become indistinguishable from each other. However, it still looks good to me.

To make this, I first made three or so blown-up color copies on my home printer. Then I just pinned one to my fabric and started cutting out sections. Here’s a shot near the beginning:

SF embroidery

And here’s a shot of when I finally started thinking, “maybe this will actually work.”

SF embroidery

And it did!

SF embroidery

Embroidery floss crochet

I began crocheting in November of 2010, during a bout of insomnia, and made piles of hearts and goldfish. However, reading about crochet done with plarn (“yarn” made from plastic bags), old cassette and video tape, and strips of t-shirts made me think yarn was boring. Ribbon was promising, but I had no projects I wanted to make with it. Futuregirl wrote about crocheting with ordinary sewing thread, and I began roaming around my sewing room. Ultimately, I picked up my box of off-brand embroidery floss and the largest of my steel hooks (1/2.75mm).

I began ambitiously with Roman Sock’s pocket elephant. Legs of three obviously different diameters and Neanderthal brow ridges caused by upside-down safety eye backings give him character. Since then I have rarely been without an embroidery floss work in progress. Recently I got all my little guys together for a family photo. Click for a larger version; patterns linked below.

embroidery floss amigurumi

Top to bottom, left to right:
mighty & ferocious dragon, penguin ornament (feet freehanded by me), tiny whale, pocket elephant, Lion Brand fortune cookie (pink; registration required), Alicia Kachmar fortune cookie (beige), fishhead (freehanded by me), mini turtle, Falwyn’s little fox.

I had to increase the size of the turtle body to match the shell, though I had no such mismatch in yarn. Contradictorily, my fox is a fat little sausage. Stitch proportion tests will be made and reported on.