Just keep swimming…

I finished work on the big minion that was requested by a friend of mine a couple days ago and now I’ve already finished the goldfish! I’m pretty glad that it turned out to be a quick project, even despite the slightly difficult pattern. I really needed something that didn’t take me a couple weeks to finish. (Even though work on the minion didn’t take nearly as long as the last time)

I think maybe the eyes came out a little too big, but I still really like this fish. Especially the fins and scales have been brilliantly thought up!

I’ve got quite a couple projects going on, more in my head than in real life, since I have been able to keep myself from starting too many things at once. I kind of feel like I’m starting to drown in my own work and that can’t be a good thing. But then again, I can’t seem to be able to stop crocheting >_<”

Right now, I’m working on the penguin from All About Ami and tonight I’m going to another Hook-In at Echtstudio, where I can get the yarn I need to get started on the afghan I want to make during my vacation.

Actually, I’m pretty excited about tonight, since DenDennis will be there. He has created some very cute crochet patterns and I’m pretty curious as to what he will be making in the future. If you like anything from Mario to Star Wars to original designs, go check out his blog! I’ve still to buy one of his patterns, but I think I will do that either tonight or after my vacation ^_^

In the meantime, while I haven’t been sitting still, neither has my blog. I guess someone mentioned me on Facebook, since a lot of people got directed here in the past few days. I haven’t been able to find out where they came from, but I want to take this opportunity to thank whoever linked here and everyone who liked it enough to take a look!

Well, I guess it’s back to the grindstone. Have a great everybody!

Cheers, Lydia

I’m melting, melllltiiiinggg…

Summer has finally come to the Netherlands and man, when it hits, it hits hard! The past few days have been pretty hot (around and above 30 degrees Celsius, which is pretty darn high for Dutch standards)

When I’m at work it isn’t that bad, air conditioning and keeping busy helps a great deal. But now I have a few days off and it’s already killing me. It’s too hot to crochet even! My hands get all sweaty and sticky and the yarn starts to hurt my fingers…

So I did what any sensible “crocheteer” would do and took to the internet. Googled around quite a bit today and put three new projects on my to-do list -_-” two patterns by All-About-Ami: a penguin and a little dragon, and one from a French crochet-blogger called Semperly: it’s an awesome crochet goldfish.

Just look how gorgeous it is! The pattern looks to be a challenge as well ^_^’

So what I really need now is for the weather to cool down so I can get cracking on my projects again!

What do you do with your time when circumstances prevent you from practising you hobbies?

Cheers, Lydia

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil

My fifteen minutes of fame have come and gone and now it’s back to everyday life.

This week, I finished the three monkeys I’d been working on. They were loads of fun to make and actually came out pretty cute (if I may say so myself) but I don’t think I will recreate them anytime soon for myself. I’m never very fond of having to make the same thing multiple times and this time, I had to make everything three times. Sometimes even six, like with the legs, arms, ears and whatnot.

So, what do you need for one of these monkeys, you might ask. Well, here’s your shopping list in one easy picture:

All this makes one monkey

For the full set you need three skeins of taupe and three different colours for the bows.

And here’s a picture of all the parts:

Every loose piece that has to be sewn on

The body is crocheted directly onto the head

And when you finally finish putting all the parts together, here’s what you end up with:

See no evil

Speak no evil

Hear no evil

All together 🙂

I didn’t want to make every monkey exactly the same, so I gave them all a slightly different curl in their tails (“kringelschwanz” in German! I don’t usually like the German language, but this is such a fun word 😛 )

If you want to make your own set of monkeys, the pattern is from Mala Designs and can be found here. It is entirely in German, but thankfully, it has loads of pictures and the way it’s written is pretty much the same as any pattern I’ve used so far.

Well, time to get crackin’ on my next piece of art! 😉

Cheers, Lydia

Projects, projects everywhere!

These past few days have been quite eventful for me. I’ve been working on the monkey project, which is getting there steadily. Just one more monkey to go and most of its parts are done.

This September, my boyfriend and I will be going to Greece for ten days. I’m pretty excited, but also bumped into a slight problem: I don’t want to bring all the stuff I need for amigurimis with me (stuffing, eyes, needles and whatnot), but I think I might go crazy if I don’t bring a project with me to work on in the evenings or lazy afternoons! So I’ve decided that I will make an afghan while on our little trip. I fell in love with a pattern, but I’m not really sure if I will be able to pull it off. So far, every project that is not an ami ended up in my bog box of unfinished projects and junk… But I will certainly give it a try!

But that is something for the future, a bit closer is a request from a friend: another big minion! So today, I finally sat myself at the computer to type out the pattern. It will be easier to work from than my notes, which always tend to end up really messy -_-”
I have send the typed out pattern to All About Ami and asked her if it’s ok if I post it here. Since she wrote the pattern I based mine on, I believe it is only decent to ask her opinion first. I hope she doesn’t mind, cause this minion has been getting a lot of attention!

What really made my week was that Ana Paula Rimoli liked the big minion enough to share the link to this little blog on her facebook page. And man, did it ever create a buzz! This place had never seen so many visitors and I would like to thank everyone who liked it enough to take a look around! I feel very honored to be recognized by someone who is one of my idols when it comes to crocheting. (If you don’t know who Ana Paula is, she has four crochet pattern books published and is working on the fifth one.)

And this week I finally got to see Despicable Me2! I completely fell head over heels for the ‘evil’ purple minions, so now I really feel the need to crochet some of those as well!

So in short, it’s been a busy week and I’ll probably be busy for a few more!

Stay tuned for pictures of the complete monkey set!

Cheers, Lydia

Find Ana Paula on facebook here!

Lions and Tigers and.. Daleks?! Oh my!

A while back I was making crochet animal cupcakes like crazy and ended up with one very lonely elephant. I decided, with a little help from commenters, to make a full zoo set. And here it is:

The cupcake stand is a little too small, but I still think they look really cute on this 🙂

They are now on their way to a friend of mine in America, who offered to take the lonely elephant in right away when I posted the last batch of cupcakes.

A loooong time ago, I made a Dalek (could also have been a few months, but it feels really long ago). He is on his way to the USA as well, since my friends husband really liked it. I really wanted to make one, but wasn’t sure what to do with it once it was finished. It was a bit of a hassle to get the whole group in the box together, since, as you might know, Daleks can be pretty.. Agressive. (They come from the series Doctor Who and have the tendancy to “exterminate” everything that moves)

Attack of the Dalek!

There are two Takochu in this picture as well, because my friend also requested those. I just love to make these little guys! They make great keychains or little danglers for on your handbag. And probably the biggest plus is that they are really easy and quick to make! I can get one done in less than an hour, so it’s really no sweat to whip them up. I am glad however, that I switched from safety eyes to little half pearls that I glue on. The Takochu are just too small to really work well with the safety backings, making their eyes bulge out a bit. Plus, they are too small either way to be given to little children, so child-proofing them isn’t really an issue (I think).

Chuuuu~

Together with this, some random Dutch stuff went in the package and I really hope my friend likes it.

The pattern for the Dalek can be found here.
The pattern for the Takochu can be found here.
The patterns for the animal cupcakes came from a Dutch pattern book.

Cheers, Lydia

Build-A-Bear!

Last thursday and friday, I’ve been to Germany with my boyfriend and some friends of mine. We visited Movie Park Germany, which was lots of fun! On thursday, we ate at ‘the largest shopping mall in Europe’, where they also happened to have a Build-A-Bear Workshop. I’d heard of the concept, but there aren’t any stores in the Netherlands, so I decided to pester my boyfriend until he let me build a bear 😉

Meet ‘Slaapie’ (Sleepy or Snoozy, I guess, in English):

Next to his little house ^_^

I really liked how the process worked, plus, the lady helping me was really nice ^_^
I’m not sure if he can count as crafty, since you don’t really make anything yourself. You just pick what kind of stuffed animal you want, fill it up and pick out clothes, but I just HAD to share 🙂

What have you been up to this weekend?

Cheers, Lydia

Monkey business

So, a big project coming up: three monkeys. I guess they are depicting ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’.

My cousin sent me a picture asking if I could make them for her. A bit of googling later and I had found the pattern for the monkeys. It’s going to be a bit of a challenge, because the pattern is in German. But I think I’ll be alright.

Also, this will be my first time working with plastic granules to weigh the amigurumis down a bit. Hope it will work! Does anyone reading this have any experience with working with granules?

Cheers, Lydia