My sister's trip to Japan

My sister visited Japan for the first time shortly after the tsunami/ earthquake earlier this year, although she didn't visit areas directly affected by the tsunami. The disasters in Japan were especially meaningful to people in Hawai`i... so many of us have family and friends who are Japanese and maintain their ties to Japan. While there was a palpable sadness and despite all that had happened, there was still a spirit of resilience and strength! I thought some of the pictures my sister took showed this really well.

Although it was a sad time to be in Japan, and she felt bad being there as a tourist, my sister really enjoyed herself and loved being in Japan; in spite of the tragedies the Japanese people my sister met were able to smile and were extremely nice. Knowing me and my love of kawaii, she brought me a really nice selection of Japanese goods :)



My favorites were these chirimen items... the chicken and cookies in a box is from the chirimen museum in Kyoto and the bag is also from Kyoto!

More ipod cozies... new designs!

I've made more ipod cozies! I have the usual bears (not pictured), but I also have a couple of new designs, including a takochu cozy, a cat cozy, chicken cozies and some rainbow cozies! These will be trickling into the shop slowly... hope you like them!


Also, if you LOVE takochu like I do, purveyors of cute Giantrobot is currently selling the clear ones for $2 a pop... hurry over before they run out! I got 10... O__o

Baby Cockatiel Amigurumi Pattern!

Huzzah! Those of you who guessed that the little yarn pill I had on a previous post was actually the head/body of a cockatiel... you were totally right (you must have a good eye/love birdies)! As a reward and to thank you all for the mad love I've received throughout the years I've made this a free amigurumi pattern so that you can make your own baby cockatiel. Note: This pattern uses the "magic ring technique" so if you haven't gotten it down yet, visit this site!

Feel free to make these for your friends and family, but if you are going to sell them I'd really appreciate credit for the design (and maybe even link to my blog!) Also please don't distribute the pattern. Thanks in advance guys!

Materials: yarn (1-2 colors), polyfil, felt (2 colors)
Tools: Tapestry/ yarn needle, scissors, crochet hook (E-F recommended)
Finished Size (using E needle): 3” or 8 cm

Abbreviation Guide:
R#= Row Number
sc= single crochet stitch
slip/st= slip stitch
dec= decrease
ch=chain
st= stitch
♥---♥= set of stitches to repeat while crocheting in the round
dc= double crochet stitch

Crochet Instructions:
Head: (yellow or white)
Magic Ring with 6 stitches [Alternately you could Ch 2, sc 6 in the second st from the hook; join ends with a slip/st in the first sc] (6 st)
R1: ♥2 sc in each stitch around♥, Repeat 6 times (12 st)
R2: ♥1 sc , then 2 sc in next st♥, Repeat 6 times (18 st)
R3: ♥2 sc, then 2 sc in next st♥, Repeat 6 times (24 st)
R4- R7: sc all the way around (24 st)

Body: (grey)
Magic Ring with 6 stitches (6 st)
R1: ♥2 sc in each stitch around♥, Repeat 6 times (12 st)
R2: ♥1 sc , then 2 sc in next st♥, Repeat 6 times (18 st)
R3: ♥2 sc, then 2 sc in next st♥, Repeat 6 times (24 st)
R4- R9: sc all the way around (24 st)

Assembly:
Partially stitch the head and body pieces together with yarn, leave a small hole for stuffing with polyfil. After stuffing, close body. Cut out two felt circles (approximately 9-10 mm in diameter) for cheeks and a small felt triangle for the beak. Glue on felt pieces and plastic eyes. Using a yarn needle, tie 2 pieces of yarn to the top of the head and trim as necessary.

Can you guess what this is going to be?

Weak sauce

Boy, has it been a difficult week! Work kinda sucked everyday. The worst was that I got my adviser's comments on the first draft of my thesis on Friday the 13th. Let me just say that it was appropriate that I got the bad news that I will have to do more research/ revising in the coming months on Friday the 13th (which is believed to be a very unlucky day in the US and other parts of the world). Waaaaaah! I know it's pretty typical for you to have to do more work after your first draft of anything, but I very RARELY have to do major edits on my work after I've done my "first" draft... I think it speaks to the perfectionist side of me (at least in terms of writing/ researching). So I was kinda bummed this weekend with thoughts of self-dumbness and all that :(

However, I've gotten over it, and I am moving forward! I sometimes just need a few days to process, adjust, and make my plans of attack! I WILL finish this thesis... it will NOT kill me! I will slay it like it is an evil dragon, just you wait and see.

Sorry for this post be kind of a downer (and boring), but I know there are a couple of people who read my blog who wonder about my thesis. On a brighter note, isn't this newish re-ment set A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E? It has Rilakkuma and strawberries... what is better than that? I already know this is one of my B-day presents (I forced that bit of information out of my sister through sneakery).

One of these things doesn't belong here!

just in case you can't find him amid all the bunnies :D

crabby pattie

Happy May Day... and also, oh noes! I bet you guys were thinking "Holly doesn't even make amigurumi anymore!" Seriously, I haven't posted anything on my blog amigurumi related since January... *gasp* I almost feel like I'm in a creative rut (no, not really... I just have so many other loose threads to finish tying up right now!) I promise you though, soon berrysprite will return to its former amigurumi glory. Actually, I have been working on some cute amigurumi, I just haven't photographed and posted about them yet. Knowing that I would need some blog fodder, however, I photo'd this little guy, who is one of the first designs from me that you guys have seen in a long long while... I call him crabby pattie! Hope you like; normally when I'm making amigurumi their bodies are pretty much one piece, but crabby pattie is actually 2 oval pieces (plus all his tiny legs and his claws). I think he came out really cute, and it feels nice to finally make something new :)