DIY: Amigurumi Tangerine

Hello people! This is my first post in 2012, I hope you had a nice celebration, made (or not) some New Year Resolutions to yourself and are happy to start a new year, new opportunity to try something new and improve yourself! ~~

I decided to make a new DIY tutorial since I made a cute Amigurumi tangerine today. >w< The thought about making a tangerine went from the hate my boyfriend has against tangerines. XD So I decided to troll him a bit and make one. ＼(o￣∇￣o)/

EDIT: I gave him this tangerine yesterday and he was so surprised! He kept giggling about the fact that I made it because he hates them…hahaha. XD

Tangerine

Use a so called ‘snail crochet’, meaning that you shouldn’t connect rounds with slip stitches.

Abbreviations:
sc – single crochet
st – stitch
ch – chain
hdc – half double crochet
dc – double crochet

Make a magic ring and crochet 6 scs.
Round 1: Make 2scs in each st. [12sts]
Round 2: Make 2scs in every second st. [18sts]
Round 3: Work with sc in each st. [18sts]
Round 4: Make 2scs in every third st. [24sts]
Round 5: Work with sc in each st. [24sts]
Round 6: Make 2scs in every fourth st. [30sts]
Round 7: Work with sc in each st. [30sts]
Round 8: Make 2scs in every fifth st. [36sts]
Round 9: Work with sc in each st. [36sts]
Round 10: Make 2scs in every sixth st. [42sts]
Round 11: Work with sc in each st. [42sts]
Round 12: Make 2scs in every sixth (again) st. [48sts]
Round 13-15: Work with sc in each st. [48sts]
Round 16-28: Do everything backwards.
Don’t forget to stuff it. But don’t stuff too hard!! Because you want to make a little fold like this:

Fasten off when there’s 6sts left.

Leaf

Chain 16.
Sc in third chain from hook. Sc in next chain, hdc in next 2 chains, dc in next 4 chains, hdc in next 2 chains, sc in next 4 chains, 3sc in last chain.
Opposite side. Sc in next 4 chains, hdc in next 2 chains, dc in next 4 chains, hdc in next 2 chains, sc in next chain, slip stitch in last chain.

Credits for: FreeCraftUnlimited 

Make a cute smiling face (preferred a Japanese one), attach a leaf and enjoy your cutie amigurumi tangerine!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Spreading inspiration, Rinatsu ☆＾▽＾☆ | My Twitter

DIY: Slouchy Winter Hat (very warm)

Another DIY blog post for all you crocheting lovers! ヾ(＾∇＾)

After I finished my new not-yet-shown-to-you-all warm cardigan I decided to take a break from crocheting or anything since I’m quite busy nowadays..buuuuuut..my boyfriend gave me an idea to make a winter hat. I, once again, gained inspiration and got so enthusiastic that I started searching for a pattern right away. I actually found a really nice slouchy hat pattern online here: http://www.caron.com/vickiehowell/patterns/urban_jungle/urban_jungle.html But once I started crocheting it, I saw that it’s really..not winter hat at all. .-. It’s full of holes and it’s more like an accessory or a spring/autumn hat, not for keeping warmth.. (｡･_･｡)σ

I kept searching and searching but it was so useless that I ran out of patience. (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ So I opened my oldie book and searched for a good pattern myself! So this is what I got. You can actually say that it’s my first work that I made just from my own head and inspiration! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Slouchy Winter Hat side view

(oh yeah, you can notice difference in this photo, I’m not blonde anymore, I’m actually a redhead now but flash makes my hair kinda brown. (>ω<＊)ﾉﾉ)

Here’s a pattern for this hat:

Pattern

I also thought about those girls (or maybe boys? haha) who don’t understand these kind of patterns so here are some explanations:

Pattern instructions

For the very start I just knitted a simple stripe about 53cm long and connected it. After that I started making pattern above.
I kept repeating everything till the hat were about 28cm long.
For the ending I used advices from Vickie Howell’s slouchy hat pattern.
Also, if you aren’t sure how to make those puffs, please visit Vickie’s pattern too. The only difference is that you need to make puffs from single crochets all around (as it is shown), not just from one single crochet. ☆ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉ

Winter Slouchy Hat back view

Winter Slouchy Hat pattern close up

This hat is soooo warm!! It took me few minutes to take these photos while me wearing it but it made me sweat right away haha. ( ﾟ▽ﾟ)
Well, it took me about 4 days to make it and I’m really happy with my finished work. I think it looks perfect, so my boyfriend does. (ﾉ´∀｀*)ﾉ

Happy and warm winter! (─‿‿─)

~Rinatsu~ | My Twitter

P.S.: If you are having trouble seeing squares instead of cute emoticons, then please visit my older post and download Japanese fonts. Since most of the symbols I used are supported by them. ^-^

Home made Pocky!

As a non Japanese or non Asian person being crazy about East Asian culture and living in Europe I have quite a lot of difficulties trying Asian dishes or buying Asian stuff (especially when I don’t use online shopping stuff). But I’m really happy that Japanese food is getting more popular in my country so I can eat sushi whenever I want. ^-^

But sadly there aren’t any opportunities to get food made not in restaurants but just sold in shops. So one day I tried searching something that I can make myself at home! I’m not really into cooking so I though this will be kind of challenge to me. So I accidentally stumbled into this Lithuanian website. Believe it or not but I tried making Pockies and it went really good!! I can’t really say if it is a lot different from real Pockies since I only ate them once and I know that there are a lot of different tastes. Buuuut here’s a photo of my Pockies! ^^

And here’s a recipe!

You will need:

105 g wheat flour (1st class one, used to bake bread);
80 g usual flour;
3/4 table spoon salt;
13 g powdered sugar;
6 g dry yeast;
65 ml warm milk;
16 g tahini (you can buy it at any healthy food shop or make some yourself HERE);
25 g honey;
1/2 tangerine husk or 3/4 orange husk (optional);
25 g room temperature butter.

(Yeah, I know, numbers given a really weird and I also don’t have any scales to weigh such little food so I just guessed while making. XD)

Mix yeast with warm milk.
In other bowl (big one) mix salt, flour, powdered sugar and husk.
In 3rd bowl mix tahini with milk.
Put everything in main big bowl with flour and mix everything well.
Add 60 ml of water also butter and mix (you can use hands) everything.
Dough must be elastic.
If it is too wet (dry) add water (flour).
Roll dough in a transparent film used for food and place it in fridge for at least a hour.
Use a rolling pin on your dough and slice in narrow pieces.
Bake in oven heated to 180°C for about 10-15 minutes till they get golden colour.

And that’s it! ^^ The way you decorate, etc. is your choice so it’s totally up to you. I just melted some chocolate and added those cute beads for cake decoration. ^w^

 My experience: This was my first time making this kind of thing and I really did a lot of mistakes. XD

1. While making tahini, I forgot to roast sesame seeds so I just grind raw seeds. Oops…
2. I used normal flour for everything. I didn’t find a point buying a 2kg of bread flour just for 105grams. /le facepalm…
3. I used margarine instead of butter since I accidentally bought butter with herbs… O_o

I guess because of these changes my dough wasn’t actually elastic but…really ropey. XD And I bet it shouldn’t be like that. /le facepalm
Also I found out that tangerine gives a really weird smell to dough. Like a carrot or something. But it disappeared when it was baked. ^^
All in all, I can say that my Pockies went out REALLY good. And I was really happy. People who tasted them were happy too. >w<

Me is going to post another picture of pockies since me is so proud. Here you go (with a flash!! *o* XD):

They’re so beautiful ~(*o*)~

Stay creative and write/post/comment your experiences. Me is really interested. ^-^

See ya!~ ( ^-^ ) /

~Rinatsu | My Twitter | My DeviantART

4 Day Vacations

Guess who had the most awesome vacations ever? ^^

This week, on Tuesday my boyfriend and I went to the sea. Planned 2 days of vacations became 3 and finally 4… XD

What is the most amazing that I spent all the time with person I love. Whole 4 days. :3 And I got few awesome photos!~ ^-^

Get ready!

We left city about 8.30am. I was sleepy almost all the way. x.x But managed to catch some nice photos like these cute windmills on the way there. ^^

Road with a good music.~ (>w<)\m/ 

Sea shore with bunch of birds sitting there and chilling. XD

Awesome breakfast at amazing restaurant ‘de Cuba‘ with gorgeous exterior and garden on the 3rd day. ^-^ ♥

Spaghetti and Latte Macchiato coffee. :3 ♥ NOMNOMNOM~~

Because I love. ^-^ ♥

Marine Terminal

Dog’s statue on the dock with written words: ‘Love…Believe..and Wait‘ :}

Boy’s statue. Waving for leaving ships. ^^

Me and my boyfriend. :3 Doing nonsenses. :’D

View from the love’s shoulder… ^-^ ♥

After 4 awesome days at the sea we had to leave… T^T It was so sad but it’s okay because all memories will stay in my head and in my heart… :3 ♥

You can also find these photos on my deviantART: http://rinatsuchan.deviantart.com/gallery/31989030

Enjoy, favourite and comment!~ I would really appreciate that. ^^

Stay happy guys.

~Rinatsu~ | My Twitter | My deviantART

How more beautiful can you be?

Recent days gave me a lot of excitement but they also were REALLY tiring haha. So I was really glad I could stay at home after 4 days going here and there. Tired, with muscles aching I felt no inspiration at all but when I looked outside the window I saw beautiful scenery that camera would never show it’s beautifulness the way I see.

What can be more beautiful than flowers…

…and than all the soft grass brushed by rain and wind like the most precious hair…

Mesmerized by the beautifulness of nature I kept looking through the window and breathing fresh air coming from the forest. ^-^

And yes, I’m wearing no make up here. Natural, like I came to this world. ^^

Love. See. Smell. Feel.

~Rinatsu~ | Twitter 

DIY: Fancy Scarf

***SPANISH, FRENCH, ENGLISH, GERMAN AND DUTCH INSTRUCTIONS BELOW!!!***

After an accident with my dress (I gave it to needlewoman to fix it and she damaged my dress), I received 2 balls of very interesting yarn (as an apology, oh and she also fixed my dress again, for free). The thread looked a little bit like net when I unfold it. And it was this brand:

I was kinda confused since I saw these kind of threads for the first time. But that needlewoman said that you can make a very beautiful scarf from it. I got interested and went to a specialized shop. All about handmade stuff. And then I saw a little example of scarf knitted laying here and also a paper with instructions for this scarf.

Here was the example photo on the paper:

And here were the instructions in…Spanish:

…French:

…English:

…German:

…Dutch:

Step ONE:

Step TWO:

Step THREE:

Step FOUR and FIVE:

And here’s the finished result that I made!!~

I really enjoyed making this. :3 ♥ And I hope that you will enjoy it too and be happy with amazing result!~

[EDIT: 2011.11.19]

After wearing this scarf for whole autumn I noticed that it became more narrow and longer due to often usage. But I also bought new yarn of this kind called Katia Ondas (click to visit their website) and knitted a scarf for mom:

We both love long scarfs so I made it using 2 balls. I compared those two brands and can recommend to use Katia brand for this scarf. ALWAYS. It has a lot more ruffles and it is way more warmer than the first one. Well, at least that first brand I got was for free so I don’t regret… But always take your time to get to know yarn you will be using, guys. Quality is the most important! :3

Good luck~

~Rinatsu~ | Follow me on Twitter