Teddy bear troubles

A cousin of mine asked if I could make a big teddy bear for his youngest son. It took a while to find the right pattern, but after a lot of searching online, I suddenly realised I had the perfect pattern all along. So I dove into my pattern folders and dug up a polar teddy pattern from a Dutch crafts magazine. The pattern is made by Christel Krukkert, one of my favourite Dutch crochet designers.

The pattern ended up needing a lot more yarn than I anticipated, so after making the head and an arm, I needed to look for more. Sadly though, the yarn I had used, didn’t have a band on it and since I got it from a friend, I didn’t know which brand it was. So I had to find a matching yarn in the right colour and thickness, which turned out to be much more of a challenge than I could’ve imagined. Eventually, I found a colour that came close enough and thanks to a tip from the shop lady, I realised it was probably the best idea to frog the arm I had already made, so that the difference wouldn’t be too noticeable.

I had finally made all the parts and was getting ready to put everything together. That’s when I saw that the arms seemed way too big for the body. It was as if this teddy spends all his time at the gym lifting. So I ended up frogging the arms again (well, one entirely and the other about halfway) and with some adjustments, they look a lot better to me. Now I just hope my cousin’s little boy likes this teddy as well 🙂

On the rigth: the arm as it was described in the pattern. On the left: the arm with my adjustments

How do you handle mistakes in patterns? Do you make your own adjustments, ask the creator, or give up on the pattern all together? I almost choose option three, I was pretty much done with the bear at that point ^_^’ but in the end, I’m glad I didn’t!

Cheers, Lydia

Second Fresh Stitches Kit club!

The next kit is already on its way, but I still haven’t shared the last one. I believe I haven’t even shared the results of the first kit! I did post about the kit here, but what I didn’t mention is that I forgot to check out the special kit club website and I found out after I was done with the pattern, I needed to felt my work in the washing machine. So I had to take it all apart, make some changes in the pattern and wash all the parts (some several times) to get them to felt. In the end it looks pretty cool, but it isn’t a technique I would quickly use or choose myself. I like my projects to really have that crocheted look, I guess ^_^”

Then again, the kit club is a great way to try some new techniques and patterns, so I’m not really complaining 🙂

The second kit was more down my alley: a cute little robot.

First off, I absolutely loved the pattern. Second, it has some great technique to really make great corners. I usually prefer round shapes, since squares don’t seem to come out right, but with this technique, it looks really good! Apart from that, the kit included red felt for the heart and tiny, shiny beads to make it extra special. We needed to do some beading!

The end result looks pretty cute if you ask me ^_^
I did something a little bit different while stuffing this little guy though. The pattern kept open the underside of the head and the top of the body in order to stuff and sew together. I stuffed and closed up the head, but kept the body empty and open. In the body, I put a small glass cube, so that I can now use the robot like a little jar ^_^

For now, it’s full of little lucky stars, but once we move, I will probably store my USB-sticks and such in it next to my laptop ❤

Can’t wait to see what the next kit club kit will bring!

If you want to make this little robot for yourself, I’m afraid you will have to wait a couple more months. The kits are club exclusives for six months and this pattern was especially constructed for the club! (I feel so special :3 ) But of course, you can join the club and get an awesome kit every other month!

Cheers, Lydia

My Apologies

I’m so sorry guys. I really feel kind of terrible for not posting anything for so very long.
For some reason, life really caught up with me and I just couldn’t find the time to blog. To be honest, I didn’t think there was an awful lot to blog about.

But now, I will take some time to let you guys know what I’ve been up to!

First off, as usual, I’ve been working a lot. Right now we’re smack in the middle of vacation season, so we’re missing co-workers and the ones that aren’t on holiday need to work a little bit more. So that’s pretty busy. Next to that, last month it was time for Animecon 2014, one of the biggest J-pop culture conventions in the Netherlands and I’m one of the lucky people who help to organise the whole thing. It was a blast, but also a very stressful time, which left me pretty much exhausted. Luckily, my duties are mostly during the convention only, so the rest of the year is more peaceful. But that one weekend a year can sure take a lot out of me.

Then, there’s some great news: Boyfriend and I bought a house! We will get the keys in a couple weeks, so I’ll be pretty busy packing up all our stuff and moving. It’s all very exciting and a little bit stressful, but I believe it’s amazing that we are able to take this huge step in life together ^_^ Sadly, it will cut into my crocheting and blogging time though, but it’s the best reason I can think of. Plus, I get my very own room to work in, so I’m trying to get lots of inspiration for decorating it.

More exciting news: I joined a Dutch crafts group called Tegendraads (Dutch site!). They sell different kinds of handmade goods and usually give workshops at different conventions in the Netherlands. This august will be the first time I will try to sell my work, so I’m trying to figure out what to bring and how to price the items. Thankfully, the girls are really helpful with giving loads of tips. But it will always be a surprise what will sell well and what I will have to bring back home with me. I’ll keep you updated.

I’ve gotten in touch with a new craft at Animecon as well. Needle felting! I find that it’s almost therapeutic to stick a needle into a bunch of felting wool until it gets the shape you want it to have. I bought a small starting kit at the convention and really enjoyed working on it. So when I ran into some kits at a local story, I just couldn’t resist. I’m working on trying to make some really small creatures. Not sure why, but for some reason it seems like more of a challenge to make things as tiny as possible, while still being recognisable. Here are the ones I’ve made so far:

Bunny made with the starter kit

Tiny piglet :3

And a teeny, tiny blue Totoro ❤

Next to that, I am still crocheting of course!
Right now, I’m working on a teddy bear for one of my little cousins and of course the items I would like to try and sell for Tegendraads.
Pics or it didn’t happen:

Hedgehog made using a pattern from Zoomigurumi 3 and a Stone Washed yarn

Another African Flower Owl, this one will stay with me (hopefully)

This one was a commission for a friend. It’s supposed to be the avatar from some YouTuber, but I wasn’t familiar with the little dude until my friend asked me to make her one ^_^”

Pokéballs! These are key-rings that I will try to sell 🙂 The ultra ball got cancelled by me though, it just wouldn’t come out the way I wanted it to

So yeah, busy times and I’m not taking the time I need to take to blog. But I will try to keep you all updated a bit more. As usual, if you happen to miss me for too long, check out my FaceBook page. It’s a lot easier to update, since I don’t feel the need to write long stories. I keep that one up to date with pictures of current projects!

So once again, my apologies for disappearing and hopefully I will be able to write to you guys a lot more in the future, with more original patterns to come!

Cheers, Lydia