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

Happy the African flower happypotamus

I don’t have much time to blog, but I really want to share this little cutie with you guys:

Happy  the happypotamus, from a pattern by Heidi Bears :3
He was a lot of work: crocheting 44 different African flowers and then having to sew them all together… but the end result is definitely worth all the time (and stuffing!) it took ^_^

Have some work-in-progress pictures!

A lot of African flowers were needed

Unstuffed Happy, he ate almost all the stuffing I had!

I really like the ‘African flower’ animals, especially because they take up a lot less yarn than you’d expect. Since I bought a boatload to make the owl last year, I’ve got plenty left over to make lots of different animals ^_^

You can find some inspiration over at Heidi Bears or Jo’s Crocheteria. Which would you like to make?

Cheers, Lydia

Maggie the African flower owl – finished!

Some of you may have followed the work in progress on FaceBook and now, I’m proud to present the finished item!

This was a big project. It didn’t take up as much time as I thought it would and didn’t come out as big as I wanted, but it still was a lot of work! And in the end, it was definitely worth it.

The entire owl is built up out of 34 ‘african flowers’, two circles for the eyes, and one cone for the beak. Making all the parts isn’t that hard, once you get the hang of working on the flowers. It’s putting it all together that got to me. I usually shy away from projects with loads of parts, but this one just had a way of captivating me. It seemed like I just couldn’t stop working on it ^_^”

So, after a lot of crocheting parts together, I got this result:

Inside out after attaching all the flowers together

And finally, almost an entire bag of stuffing and some finishing touches later, the completed project!

I’m still on the fence on whether to keep this one myself, or combine it with another upcoming project: the baby gift for my brothers friend.

I have got plenty of yarn left over to work on another one. I ended up only using a little over half a grey skein, less than half a white skein and just over one blue skein. So maybe I will try making a bigger one by doubling the tread and using a bigger needle. But first I will make some hats for The Big Knit and a friend of mine asked me to help him out by doing a little commission for him.
So I know I won’t get bored any time soon 🙂

Have a great weekend and don’t forget that starting tomorrow, you can vote for my Dr. Bearnard and nurse Octopus design in the AmigurumiPatterns.net design contest! (The prices are awesome and if I win something, I just need to do a giveaway ^_~)

Cheers, Lydia