Quadley the Quadasquidapus

Meet my new friend Quadley! Quadley is a Quadasquidapus, the only one of his kind.

Quadley came from the Pentapus army.

<- Over here is Quadley's cousin, Pently.

During the war against the fire nation, two of Quadley's tentacles were burned off in an attack by a fire nation soldier. His fourth tentacle is growing back, but there is no hope of his fifth tentacle growing back.  In a lucky coincidence, Quadley is named after the number four and he has four tentacles now.

The real story behind Quadley is actually a little less tragic. I was originally going to make Quadley a pentapus, but I ran out of room to put tentacles. Due to my slight laziness, I did not cut the tentacles off. It would just be easier to make up a cute story about Quadley.

I need to work on gauge, one of Quadley's tentacles is a lot smaller than the others and he isn't circular shaped like he should be. I don't truly understand gauge and will need to read a lot for next week.

------------- Becca

1. " Single crochet two together (sc2tog) - Glossary - Crochet Me." Crochet Me. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://www.crochetme.com/glossary/single-crochet-two-together-sc2tog.aspx>. 
2. Lion Brand Yarn. "Abbreviations : What does the abbreviation 'sctog' mean? sc2tog = single crochet 2 together : Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ) about Knitting and Crochet : Lion Brand Yarn." Lion Brand Yarn. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. <http://www.lionbrand.com/faq/217.html>.
3. Mulrooney, Marie. "How to Crochet a Sc2tog | eHow.com." eHow | How to Videos, Articles & More - Discover the expert in you. | eHow.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. <http://www.ehow.com/how_8630310_crochet-sc2tog.html>.
   
   I have commented on Jessica Sweeney's blog, Ashley Ok's blog, and Sun Min Kim's.

Weekend yarn rampage

I've been working quite a bit so far this weekend.

After having success with a chain stitch. (The base stitch for any crochet project) As soon as I got that, stuff got a lot easier. I sat on a bus for an hour crocheting with just the single crochet stitch. (Why was I on that bus? Well if you really want to know I'll put it at the bottom.) I like to think that I'm pretty well versed in the art of the single crochet.

 (Excuse my bad photography skills. My project is crochet, not photography.)

That's a single crochet.

Sunday (today) I picked up this long thing-y (it was not intended to be a scarf, or long enough) and some red yarn and tried to do a color-change. 

 Not bad if I do say so myself. I started trying some new stitches towards the end and I have to say that it wasn't so hard.

Once I finished that thing-y, I started on something else! (Oh wow, I really need to get a life.) A circle! I can officially say I hate circles because they are just really tedious and bothersome because you have to constantly increase. You don't have to do that in knitting. I guess this means I've learned how to increase too (yay!). 

 (Look at that fancy kitchen table backdrop!)

 (some horrible close-ups)

Pardon my terrible picture taking skills. I just wanted to get all this onto a blog post so all my lovely followers can look at my progress.

To sum all this nonsense up; I've learned to do a chain stitch, a single crochet, a half-double crochet, a double crochet, basic finishing, and a circle. 

Does this mean I'm done my project and I can get an A+? 

No. I haven't tried a triple stitch or a double triple stitch (which just looks monstrous and terrifying). Most importantly, I haven't applied it into a pattern yet. Oh no!

You know what that means for the next step!

A pattern!

For my first ever pattern (in crochet). I am embarking on an adventure to make...

An octopus! 

Isn't he adorable?

Stay tuned for updates on how reading a pattern is going. (Maybe it'll even count for my reading time!) Let's see how cute I can get my octopus to be!

----- Becca

Reading sources (there are a lot this time and it hasn't even been that long since my last post)

1. Arts, Inc. Beginner's guide crochet stitches & easy projects. Little Rock, Ark.: Leisure Arts, 1999. Print. 
2. Brittain, Susan. "Crocheting in Circles - For Dummies ." How-To Help and Videos - For Dummies . N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2013. <http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/crocheting-in-circles.html>. 
3. "Free Crochet Pattern: Amigurumi Octopus." Lion Brand Yarn. LIon Brand Yarn, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2013. <cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/70588AD.html>. 
4. Kurtzman, Edna. "Single Crochet - Learn the Single Crochet Stitch Video." How-to Videos: How-to and DIY Videos - About.com Videos. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2013. <http://video.about.com/crochet/Single-Crochet.htm>. 
5. Kurtzman, Edna. "Crochet Chain - Starting Crochet Chain Stitch Video." How-to Videos: How-to and DIY Videos - About.com Videos. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2013. <http://video.about.com/crochet/Crochet-Chain-Stitch.htm>. 
6. Marshall, Sandi. "How to Make a Crochet Starting Chain." About.com. About.com, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2013. <crochet.about.com/od/learnbasics/ss/stchain_8.htm >. 
7. Solova, Amy. "How to Change Colors in Crochet." Crochet -- All About Crocheting -- Free Patterns and Instructions. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://crochet.about.com/od/skillstechniques/tp/Changing_Colors_SC.htm>. 
8. Solovay, Amy. "Working Single Crochet in Rows - Tip for Beginners." Crochet -- All About Crocheting -- Free Patterns and Instructions. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2013. <http://crochet.about.com/od/learntocrochet/ss/Single_Crochet_6.htm>. 
9. WikiHow. "How to Crochet in the Round: 8 steps - wikiHow." wikiHow - How to do anything. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2013. <http://www.wikihow.com/Crochet-in-the-Round>.

Humble introduction post

Hey everybody it's a me, Mario! Kidding, I'm actually Becca. As a high school knitter, I've decided to switch to the dark side... Crochet.
Since some people have no idea what crochet is, and no idea how to pronounce it. Crochet is using yarn and a hook to make chains and connect them with each other with yarn. It's pronounced cro-shay not cra-ch-et. It's a lot like knitting, but different (and more confusing to me).

Here's an example of my skill so far:

(excuse my face, it's difficult to take pictures on a webcam and use all my non-existent crochet skills)

And here's what I hope to accomplish:

Wish me luck! I'm really going to need it...

You can check back here regularly for pictures of the various sub-projects I'm going to try on my 

I spent some time looking up how to do the most basic stitch, a chain stitch. I got very confused (even more so when I watched videos). To anyone out here who crochets, can somebody help me? I'm lost and confused like a puppy that is sitting on the side of the road all alone. I'm going to keep looking up tutorials, video and non-video and hope to be able to come to my next blog post with at least a chain stitch done!
--------------------
Becca

Sources of the week:

1. A blogger, Sarah. "Repeat Crafter Me: Crochet Owl Hat Pattern in Newborn-Adult Sizes." Repeat Crafter Me. N.p., 22 Sept. 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2013. <http://www.repeatcrafterme.com/2012/09/crochet-owl-hat-pattern-in-newborn.html>. 
2. Petals to Picots. "Crochet Lesson 2." Petals to Picots. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2013. <www.petalstopicots.com/2012/01/learn-to-crochet-lesson-2-getting.html >.