Tiny Projects

Because the store where I work is a little understaffed at the moment, I’m going to be working a lot more than usual. It has been pretty busy already so I haven’t been able to do a lot of crochet work. I’ve mostly been working on little projects, but I do love the result ^_^

The first was a request made by a friend that I’d almost forgotten about until she reminded me a few weeks back.

It’s a little baby-Squirtle! The pattern is made by Aphid777 on Deviant Art can be found here. I fell in love with the pictures even before I got to work on my own. So before I got to crocheting, I saved all her other patterns for baby Pokémon on my to-do list! The main difference between my Squirtle and hers, is that I didn’t needle-felt the eyes, but made them with iron-on cloth and acrylic paint. Also, I couldn’t get the markings on his belly quite right, but then again, he’s supposed to lay on his tummy, so that shouldn’t matter too much ^_^”

The second was a project that has been on my to-do list for a while now. Luckily, in the big bag of yarn that I got from a friend a while back contained just the right colours. Now I can present you:

It’s an extremely cute little hedgehog! The pattern is by Ana Paula Rimoli and can be bought here.  The quills were a lot of work, but it is worth it. From the top he looks like a walking afro 🙂

The third one was something that I wanted to do a long time, but didn’t really look for until this week.

Atashi from Chobits ❤
The very first thing I bought at my very first anime convention was an Atashi keyring. I’d never even seen the anime or read the manga, but I the thing was just so adorable that I couldn’t leave it. Over time it got pretty beat up and now it’s sitting around somewhere in a drawer collecting dust. Thanks to this pattern by Djonesgirl 0n Craftsy.  I do regret making the eyes from felt, since the shape didn’t turn out the way I’d liked to. But then again, it’s still very lovely 🙂

So yeah, I’m going to be pretty busy the coming weeks. And the blog will be rather quiet as well 😦 But I will try to share my latest crochet creations whenever I can! I’ve already got a couple new patterns planned, but still need to find the time to work on them ^_^”

Bare with me please. Also, sorry for the crappy pictures, my phone did not want to work with me… Though I do love the one of the baby-Squirtle 🙂

Cheers, Lydia

Lovely day for a crafts fair

Welcome to KreaDoe

Yesterday was my first time ever visiting the ‘KreaDoe’, a huge crafts fair in the Netherlands, together with my friend Doretta (site in Dutch). I had no idea what to expect and I have to say, it really blew me away.

First of all: Saturday is not the best day for visiting this event. It was busy:

Yes, blurry pictures.. My phone isn’t the best when it comes to busy overview pictures and I didn’t feel like lugging my camera around all the time ^_^” but you get the idea!

Second: it was a lot of the same stuff. I must have seen at least a hundred stands with different kinds of paper for making cards. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating, but trust me when I say there were many!

Third: it was tons and tons of fun! So much to see and so much inspiration to be drawn from every corner! One thing I picked up was a DIY package for a little felt owl. If I like making it, I might order some more!

Winter Owl Decoration
It has all you need to make it, except for pins, scissors, glue and measuring tape ^_^

One of the stands that really stood out to me was that of Fantasy Atelier (site in Dutch!). They make the most amazing, tiny little castles and fairy-trees with mostly natural products. If you’ve ever been to the Efteling (a big themepark in the Netherlands) you can compare what they make with the ‘Droomvlucht’. Aw heck, you guys need a picture to know what I’m talking about:

Castle Globe

“Beanstalk”

All their products looked so amazing, I fell in love with them. They also sell DIY packages, I think I just need to put at least one of those on my Christmas Wishlist ❤

At the EchtStudio stand, you could have your picture taken with Joke, from AmigurumiPatterns.net, in order to get a 10% discount. The only catch was that you needed to bring a Zoomigurumi with you. I finished my Wasabi the Bunny way before the event, but bought the book last wednesday and couldn’t resist working on the Toucan. I finished work on it friday night, just in time to join me on my trip:

Me with Joke and Zico the Toucan

And a 10% discount was just what I needed, since I found out how much yarn is needed to make that African Flower Owl I love so much. Which brings me to my purchases of the day:

All the skeins I (believe I) will need for the African Flower Owl

Other stuff I got: present labels, the felt owl, a new crochet hook (4mm), colour changing yarn and some felt-wool (wool-felt? no idea what the stuff is called ^_^”)

All together!

After all that shopping, we enjoyed a nice cup of hot cocoa (me) and coffee (Doretta) at a café in Utrecht and then went on our way home. I was exhausted after the trip and was glad to see my trusty couch and later on my bed. A headache attack kept me from going to the birthday party that was on the agenda for the evening, but in the end, I think it’s a good thing I didn’t go, as I might have fallen asleep right in between the other guests…

And what did I spend my sunday on? Finished work on my shy little unicorn for the CAL:

Isn’t she a cutie? I think I need to make her a big brother to watch over her!

How was your weekend?

Cheers, Lydia

Crochet Dates, Crochet-Alongs and Hook-ins. The tale of a busy week

Well, to be honest, I kind of combined them all together ^_^”

Last wednesday, I visited my friend Jaqueline from EenMooiMomentje/Threading Along for a crochet date. We had planned the perfect date, since on wednesdays EchtStudio holds their weekly Hook-ins. It’s a pretty long drive for me, but because I could spend the afternoon at my friends house, it was definitely worth it.

We drank loads of tea, chatted and all the while worked on our most current projects. She’s knitting a hat, which I believe is pretty amazing, since I can’t knit. I started working on a smaller project than I thought it would be: a unicorn for the latest Ana Paula Rimoli Crochet-Along. I’m really starting to love CALs, especially when they’re based around one or two patterns. It’s so much fun to see what everyone comes up with to really make a pattern their own.

After dinner, we went over to EchtStudio for the Hook-in. Which was way more fun than last time! I have to admit, being back in my comfort zone with making amigurumi helped a lot. Last time, I was so annoyed by my own confusion about wanting to make a blanket, I just couldn’t seem to enjoy myself. Also, last time it was really, really busy, while this week, only two tables were taken (must have had something to do with that giant crafts fair that’s going on…)

I spent the evening working on the unicorn and just wandering around the shop. But like I said, my unicorn is turning out a bit smaller than expected, so it’s almost done already. Inevitably, I came to the point where I didn’t bring the yarn to make the manes and horn, so I had to stop working. Right on time as well, as the evening was drawing to a close. This is as far as I’ve come that day:

Tiny little unicorn

One last walk around the shop and I stumbled on something I’d been looking for for a while now: the first Zoomigurumi book, in English! It’s been impossible to get and even though I do still plan on joining the Design Contest where you can win both the books, I couldn’t resist inquiring what the price was. And since it was their last one, they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse ^_^ Needless to say, it was a very enjoyable day for me.

I also came across two projects I really want to do in the future, if I ever find the pattern for them:

African Flower Hippo

African Flower Owl

I have to say, I think I love everything about them: their enormous size, their vibrant colours (you can’t really see on these pictures), their squishiness ^_____^

Tomorrow, I will visit the giant crafts fair I mentioned earlier: Kreadoe. It’s my first time there, so I’m pretty excited and have no idea what to expect! But I’m sure it will be loads of fun and a great way to get tons of inspiration for upcoming projects.

What are your plans for the weekend? And don’t forget, today is the first friday of the month, which means: BYATWF!

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!

Welcome into the world!

My cousin and his girlfriend had a wonderful little baby boy last weekend. Normally, I have a little stash of baby-gifts laying around, but I have to admit that this time, I wasn’t prepared. Lucky for me, I have quite the collection of pattern books by now and as usual Ana Paula Rimoli helped me out.

I really love how this pattern came out, the colours give me a little bit of a retro-feel and the tiny bear is just too cute! I added a scarf for him, so he won’t catch a cold up there in the sky (like I did last Queens Day -_-” my throat still hurts…)

Taking his balloon for a test-drive inside, safety first!

Going out into the real world, safe travels little one!

Don’t worry, he was safely hooked onto my balcony. I just realised a bit too late that I’d have to take him down from there as well. A bit of acrobatics later and we’re both safe and sound back inside. But I just couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to make such an awesome picture (if I may say so myself…)

Cheers, Lydia

PS: This also became an entry for the Martingale Crochet-A-Long.

One is the loneliest number…

So I made my Amigurumi Smooshy a friend: Amigurumi Wisky!

 

Incidentally, this will also be my entry for the Martingale Crochet-A-Long. Here’s hoping others like it as much as I do ^_^

And since we didn’t want Wisky to be alone for too long, we got a new kitty already.

His name is Japie and he’s a six year old roaming rebel who was taken to a local animal shelter. Nobody came to claim him, so he was put up for adoption. We went to ‘just look at some cats’ about a week and a half ago, and I just fell in love with his cute face. He also has giant bearpaws and can look quite fierce, but he’s just a huge cuddle cat. We picked him up last saturday. He’s really sweet and it took just about three days for him and Wisky to get along. Sometimes I think he’s in love with her, the way he just sits right in front of her and stares deeply into her eyes… And then have her hiss and growl at him like he’s the scariest thing she’s ever seen. *sigh* can’t blame the poor little thing for getting a bit nervous about that ^_^’

Cheers, Lydia

Crocheting is a way to cope…

Lately, I’ve been pretty sad. Last week, my kitty past away. She had been sick for a while now and last sunday, she actually gave up. We had to rush her to the vet, who then discovered that her kidneys had pretty much stopped working. I guess there was a tumor or something on them that spread unnoticed. It was something that I could’ve seen coming, but it was still a difficult decision to make.

I’d been having trouble with crocheters-block for a while already. I’d finished some projects I’d been working on, but didn’t seem to really enjoy them. On Facebook, I saw that Martingale was hosting a Crochet-a-Long with patterns from the books of Ana Paula Rimoli. I just knew I had to join in, but I couldn’t decide which pattern to use. But last sunday it suddenly hit me. I would make an amigurumi in Smooshy’s honor. So I set out on making a tiny white kitty with a blue bed. And here’s the result:

There’s still a lot of room in the bed, so I think I will make a red kitty as well, to represent Wisky, our other cat.

I will certainly miss Smooshy very much. We only had her for a little over two years. She came from an animal shelter and had problems with her health from the start. We gave her lots of love and care and did the best we could. In return, we got lots of love and laughs from her. Sometimes, when I’m working on my crochet, I reach down to pet her, only to realise she’s not sleeping on my lap anymore. But I try not to be too sad and remember all the fun I had with her. She’ll live on in our hearts and memories and in the many, many pictures I took of her. Here are some of them, with her enjoying my craftmanship ^_~

This was actually one of my first projects, it’s perfect to use as a cat toy (especially with some catnip scent sprayed on it ^_^)

It doesn’t show, but about two seconds before this picture was taken, she was having loads of fun with the string

It was pretty easy to get her to pose with my works, she slept through pretty much everything 😛

Goodbye sweet little Smoosh, sleep well ❤

I’ll be back to posting normally this week, I’ve got plenty of projects to share with you guys!

Cheers, Lydia

Jurassic Park

A while back I read that Steven Spielberg will be making a fourth movie in the Jurassic Park series. The first three movies have sentimental value for me, since I watched them first when I was still a kid. I’ve seen them all quite a few times since then and still love to watch them. Especially when I know a scary part is coming up and I start to brace myself in order not to get scared and thus get more scared when it actually happens 😛

Also, a new second-cousin is coming soon, so it was time for me to start work on a baby-present. It’s going to be a boy and I knew just what to make: a bunch of dinosaurs!

The pattern is from Ana Paula Rimoli, who seems to be able to make anything look extremely cute. Here’s a link to her Etsy shop! Give it a visit if you want to make these cute guys yourself.

First, I started on the Triceratops. I love these dinosaurs, with their fierce looking horns and gentle behavior (as far as I know that is…)
I used two shades of green for his body and a nice contrasting white for the horns.

He does tend to make headstands when I try to let him stand on all fours, so I need to press him down a bit. Looks like he’s too heavy for his little back legs, doesn’t it ^_~

Then it was time for a Brontosaurus, which are awesome because of their long necks and tails. The “Veggie-saurus” as it is called in the first movie, gotta love those kids.
I used light greyish browns for this one, because it needs to be able to camouflage itself. It doesn’t have the sharp spikes to defend itself with after all.

She lets her head droop a bit to the side, but then again, doesn’t that make her look even more friendly?

But, no ecosystem is complete without a predator and so, it was time to make the star of the Jurassic Park movies: a T-Rex! This one looks as though he is a vegetarian as well, though, so he was welcomed into the group without hesitation. A bold combination of blue and grey seemed perfect for him.

All together they make a lovely little group and I’m pretty sure any little boy would love to have them ^_^

Cheers, Lydia