Crochet Eyelids for safety eyes

Ok I've had some questions about how I made the eyelids for the eyes I use for my toys. So here's the exact pattern used for the eyelids for the frog.

The basic construction is the same for anything. You just vary the stitches you use from slip stitch to single crochet to trebles depending on how big the eyes are and your yarn in relation to them. For big eyes and thin yarn use taller stitches. Depending on how prominent you want the eyelids to look you can also add a third round. I recommend decreasing another stitch or two if you add another round to keep the eyelids snug against the eyes.

Eyelids for frog
dc =double crochet
trbl = treble crochet
dc/trbl-inc = dc or trbl as noted twice into the same stitch to increase one stitch.
dc x2 just means dc in the next two stitches

Pull magic loop closed after the first round but not completely, you want to leave room for the shank of the eye.
Repeat instructions inside the ( ) as many times as noted

Start with a Magic loop
Round 1. dc in loop 14 times, slip stitch to join into round.
Round 2. ch 3, (trbl, trbl-inc) three times, dc x2, dc-inc, dc x2, dc-inc, dc x2 slip stitch to join.

Cut yarn leaving a long tail, thread through eyelid and when you attach the eyes take it through the head of the frog and sew the thread down. You don’t need to sew the eyelid to the head the washer and eye will hold it on pretty tightly, but you can if you want.

And that’s it. This will give you a slightly more prominent eyelid on one side, when you attach the eyes put that bit at the top of the eye.

Mold

Mold Sprite
Originally uploaded by the loireag

I've been busy with several non craft things lately but I have finished one fun thing.

His name is Squilch the mold sprite.
Squilch is the faerie in charge of making sure that things mold and rot properly. A very important task. He’s the one that ensures the all that food in your fridge gets used. Because if it’s sitting in there for too long then obviously you aren’t using it and it shouldn’t go to waste. Fungus and molds spring up everywhere he touches. He loves to leave fuzzy footprints around your shower or bathtub when you haven’t scrubbed in a while. And he likes to touch fruit that has been left sitting out for days to see if it’s still tasty. Unfortunately there is no way to keep Squilch away completely but he wants everyone to understand that he is helping. If he weren’t here you wouldn’t pay attention to all the good stuff you’ve got. He’s a reminder to enjoy things, because they don’t last forever.

Mold Sprite
Originally uploaded by the loireag

I had lots of fun with the mold designs and I'm really tempted to make lots more moldy items. Preferably things that aren't fuzzy already since the hairs of the green yarn made it tough to embroider nicely.
I think a line of fruits and vegetables that have started to go bad would be a lot of fun. Maybe later.

Various things

I've stalled on the Doozer pattern till I can get a boot that I like the look of.
I've got an idea for something that will need a small cage as part of the design. I haven't been able to find anything that will work with my concept so I think I'll be making a small bent wood cage soon. A few other things have been finished since I disappeared to work on the dragon.
I made a frog from a new Hansigurumi pattern. I really enjoy her work they are so much fun to make and come out so nicely.
It was done with Koigu sock yarn and 18mm hand painted safety eyes. With my crochet eyelids mod I've used on many other things.

There is also a very small fish that I haven't gotten a photo of yet. And a few other bits and bobs.

Dragon

Dragon
Originally uploaded by the loireag

The Fantasy Creatures swap is done and now I get to post about what I made.
Dragons seemed like the most fun of the choices my partner listed of her favorite creatures. And a nice change from the person shaped stuff I had done in the last two swaps. I only crocheted one thing this time. Everything else was done in other mediums.
It came out pretty cute. I had to do a lot of odd shaping to get what I wanted so I didn't even keep notes on anything but the legs.

I really don't feel like posting anything while I'm working on swap stuff. Having to keep things secret tend to make me go quiet on everything rather than beat around the bush to avoid giving anything away. Hopefully now that this swap is done I'll post more. I'm going to stick to my resolution not to join any swaps for the rest of the year at a minimum.

I do have some fun new things planned and I've got some items in the works that I can get back to now.

Muppets

I signed up recently for another swap. This time it's Fantasy Creatures. Lots of fun options there. And I've already made fair progress. It's the last one for a good long while no more till next year at least. I'm missing out on one I really wanted to do. A Jim Henson/Muppet themed swap. But it's kind of a good thing, I think I would have had a harder time than usual letting go of a creation with that one. As a consolation I'm making up a doozer. It's simple enough that I can work on it in between the fantasy swap stuff without feeling like I'm shirking my responsibilities.

And I'm hoping that I can get a pattern made up since I think it won't have some of the impossible to explain elements a lot of my work seems to include.

Patience

Patience
Originally uploaded by the loireag

This guy evolved out of a conversation about patience. A trait I do not happen to possess. So obviously I needed to make some. And Patience must be a rare and elusive creature and not an attitude. So I went in search of Patience. I found this fellow sitting on a monument, quite quietly it's no surprise most people overlook him. You'll notice that he has no arms. The reason is very simple. He doesn't need them, for all things come to those who wait.

Embroidery experiments

Embroidery
Originally uploaded by the loireag

Along with knitting and crochet I've been playing around with embroidery for a while. I've thought embroidery was pretty but uninteresting for years. For some reason it never occurred to me that it didn't require a pattern. Yes I am that dim. But in my defense most of the things I had seen were made from the old iron-on patterns. And following a design by someone else just wasn't very interesting so I never gave it any further thought. I finally caught up to reality about a year ago when I wandered into the Embroidery section on Craftster and saw all sorts of amazing original work posted there. I immediately had to give it a try. And I'm so glad I did. For something that might seem tedious from the outside it is a lot of fun.

Embroidery
Originally uploaded by the loireag

I've not produced very many things that could be considered "finished" at this point (I have a tendency to get distracted) but I am rather pleased with these two. Both based on sketches I'd done a while ago. Happy monster and his balloon have shown up in a few other things I've made but he is at his cutest here. As for vine mouth, honestly I'm not sure what he was meant to be, I think when I first drew him I had been watching Mirrormask. So probably nothing more than a random oddness. I do like how the vine came out though.