My first doll!

Hello there!  My amigurumi activity has until now been solely devoted to toy animals (and a robot) and until now I'd never made a doll. For many years I dreamed about sewing a rag doll but nothing ever came of it, so when I found this pattern I decided to give it a try. The pattern calls for quite a heavy yarn which, going from some of the comments, makes rather a large doll. So I decided to use Debbie Bliss eco baby yarn (sports weight, somewhere between 4ply and DK) and a 3mm hook, and my doll is 26cm or 10 inches tall. I'm not extremely happy with her hair, but never mind. 

Here she is in her underwear! Her legs are really the same length, even though they don't look it in this photo. 

I made the dress from my own pattern, and I'm making some shoes for her too. I remember how much fun it is to dress your dolly. Made from organic cotton, she will be for sale at the organic market at the end of May.

I also finished this keyring at the weekend:

It's a small version of my very own owl pattern. I used some left over Catania yarn and a 2.5 mm hook to make this 8cm/3 inch cutie. I love the result you can obtain from this yarn/hook combination, but it's a bit hard on the fingers and takes a lot longer to make than you'd imagine. Worth every minute, though. 

Marcel, Elly and bunny doudou

Hello there! Well what a terrible, terrible blogger I am. I hang my head in shame. Not only have I not blogged for way too long, but the number of followers has passed the 100 mark and I haven't yet organised anything special to celebrate. Oh dear.

But I have been very busy. That's my excuse. Honestly, life at home and at work has been rather... challenging for the last week or two (or three). I'm sure that some of you can sympathise. But hey ho, there's nothing like a spot of crochet to keep one sane. So I've been making. Up there you can see Marcel the mallard (a very good friend of the last post's Ducky). Marcel is awaiting the organic market at the end of May, hoping to find a new home there.

A pattern for Marcel and Ducky is in the pipeline, but still in the experimental phase. I'll need to make another one or two before it's publishable.

Then we have Elly. Here she is in her egg cup.

Elly is tiny and I think she may well end up as a key ring. Once she manages to escape from the egg cup. The inspiration for Elly came from Dawn Toussaint's Padma, but I made a lot of changes to the pattern and Elly really is quite unique. 

Lastly we have a brand new doudou. This time it's a bunny.

Bunny doudou is made with Debbie Bliss aran eco cotton yarn, and will also be on sale at the organic market. The pattern is very similar to my teddy doudou pattern, but bunny has a hidden secret - she is also a puppet. 

Well I'm afraid that's it for today. You'll have to wait a little while longer for our litle celebration, but I did want to say I love that the number of followers has reached and gone beyond one hundred. I love reading your comments, and I hope that you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy sharing it with you. 

This little ducky went to market

Meet my latest creation - a cute little duck! He hasn't gone to market yet, in a few months he probably will. I have just learned that the next edition of our town's organic market that's held twice a year will happen at the end of May. Here was I thinking that I wouldn't have time to build up any sort of stock, but hopefully by then I will have enough to sell. I'll be showing you some more of my items for sale as they roll off the production line. It would be great to know what you think of them because I don't really know what kinds of things will sell. I'll mostly be selling toys and baby accessories (baby shoes and hats). When I was in England a couple of weeks ago, my sister had bought me some more lovely Debbie Bliss organic cotton aran yarn that will go towards some more owls and whatever else inspires me.

Yes, I have been to the UK! That's also why I've not been blogging much recently. It was a very short visit but I did manage to fit in a lot of things. I went to see my lovely cyber-friend Clare and her little boy and husband - it was great to see them "in the flesh". I'd taken Clare a slouchy hat and cowl in lovely soft yarn but I forgot to take a photo... I did also make a lovely orange and brown owl for her little boy, and managed to take a pic of that before leaving. Unfortunately the battery on my camera's died so I can't paste it up right now. Oh dear. But I will as soon as poss, promise.

I also went to see my sister and we went through some of the old ornaments and china that belonged to my Mum and aunt, and I put my name of a few things. I did bring back a vase and two lovely little bowls that belonged to my aunt. The plan is that each time I go I can bring back one or two items. I just have to find somewhere to put them. I've seen a nice display cabinet in Ikea that might just find its way to our living room one of these days...

I'm going to keep today's post short... and I almost forgot!  My blog has 99 followers! I'm really pleased to have you all following my little blog and I hope it keeps you amused and maybe even inspires you. When the 100th follower comes along, maybe I'll organise a little something. Watch this space :-)

Croissants again!

Hmmm I'd not made croissants for a long, long time. But new flat, new kitchen, new oven. I just had to try them all out. And what better recipe than my old favourite? So on Sunday morning I got up bright and early and set to. Flour, butter, yeast, salt, milk... I had all the ingredients for some buttery, flaky decadance.

And just look how they came out! Absolutely deelish.

Bon appetit!

Some of the things I made in 2011

Made in 2011 , a set on Flickr.

Hello there!
I hope the year has started well for you. Lots of things changed for me in 2011, mostly because of my move. Luckily, nothing drastic. But I know that some people who are close to me had difficult years, so I would like to dedicate this little post to them.
I put together this little set of things I made in 2011 and lots of them have a story behind them. Most of them were gifts. Charlie my great-nephew received the robot. My friend's baby got the little rabbit rattle. I offered the hearts to Nelly when she was diagnosed with cancer. The llama worm was sent to my son's friend Simon as a funny surprise.The sitting-up llama was a farewell gift for my friend Maria when she went back to Norway.  Some of the baby shoes were gifts for friends' new babies. The carrot and stripy lip balm holders were presents for my sister Liz. The two little bags were gifts for Rio and Charlotte. And the granny pouffes and armrests are here beside me in my living room.
I'm now sitting here and pondering on the coming year, and what I'd like to make. My daughter has asked for a blanket. I'm hoping to sell some product at our local organic market. But apart from that, I guess we'll just have to see what life brings.
I hope that you'll all be healthy (the most important of all), happy, and I wish you lots of crafty goodness in 2012!

A free pattern for 2012

Another year is coming to an end, and I want to thank all of you for following me and encouraging me to keep up my blog. When I started it almost two years ago, I never imagined I would still be crocheting and writing new patterns today. I wish you all a very happy and successful 2012.

I know there are already lots of owl amigurumi patterns available, but I like to think that this one is a little different. Its oval bottom gives it a nice cushiony shape, great for cuddling. And the crocheted eyes cannot be pulled off. It's made from the bottom up and the wings are crocheted in as you go. I tried several yarns for this pattern, but the best result by far comes by using a 4mm hook and aran yarn (the owl on the right). I particularly love the Debbie Bliss eco aran yarn and will be buying some more of it to make lots more owls that I hope to sell at our local organic market

Organic yarn and the fact that this pattern does not use any buttons or beads makes this a suitable toy for babies and young children. I always line my amigurmis to stop any stuffing from escaping, and the organic owls have a lining made from a recycled cotton sheet.

Are you ready? Here's the pattern:

Stitches used:

sc single crochet
ss slip stitch
dc double crochet


I recommend Debbie Bliss 100% organic cotton eco aran fair trade yarn and I used a 4 mm crochet hook for the main body. For the eyes and beak I used Debbie Bliss ecobaby 100% cotton fairtrade yarn and a 3mm hook.

You can can use one, two, three or several colours for your owl. Just remember to make the wings before starting on the rows in the body of the owl using the same colour so that you don't need to cut off and start over again! I'd even suggest you make the wings first, so that's what I'll begin this pattern with.


Wings (make 2) (using aran yarn)

Rnd 1 - ch 14, join to first ch with a ss to make a ring.

Rnd 2 - 2ch, 1 dc in each chain to end , join to the top of 2 ch (14 dc)

Rnd 3 - 1 sc in each st (14 sc)

Rnd 4 - [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 5 st] twice (12 sc)

Rnd 5 - [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 4 st] twice (10 sc)

Rnd 6 - sc around

Rnd 7 - sc2tog 5 times.

Finish off leaving a tail of yarn, weave the yarn through the last 5 sts, pull tight to close.  Weave in ends.


Eyes (make 2) (using baby yarn)

Rnd 1 - With dark colour, sc 6 into a magic circle, don't join with a slipstitch

Rnd 2 - Join light colour and slst into first sc of the magic circle, then work 2 sc into each st  (12 sc)

Rnd 3 - *2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next st, rep from * to end. Fasten off, leaving a long tail of yarn to sew the eyes on to the owl's face.

Pull the ends tight so that the "pupil" looks OK.


Beak (using baby yarn)

Rnd 1 - make a magic circle,  ch 3 and then work 5 dc into the magic circle, join with a slst to the top of the 3 ch

Rnd 2 - * 1 dc in next st, 2 dc in next st, rep from * to end  (9 sts)

Rnd 3 -  1 sc in each st around  (9 sc)

Fasten off, leaving a long tail of yarn to sew the beak on to the owl's face.



Body (worked from the bottom up)

Rnd 1 - ch 10. 1 sc in 3rd chain from hook (and mark this st), 1 sc in each of next 6 ch. 3sc in next ch, then work down the other side of the length of ch, with 1sc in each of the next 7 ch and 3 sc in the space made by the 2 missed ch you started with. (20 sts)

Rnd 2 - * 1 sc in each of next 7 sts, 2sc in each of next 3 sts, rep from * once again (26 sts)

Rnd 3 - * 1 sc in each of next 7 sts, [2sc in next st, 1 sc in next st] 3 times, rep from * once again (32 sts)

Rnd 4 - * 1 sc in each of next 7 sts, [1 sc in each of next 2sts, 2sc in next st] 3 times, rep from * once again (38 sts)

Rnd 5-16 - sc around, changing colours at rnd 14 and 16 (optional)

Rnd 17 - sc 14, join the first wing with 7sc, working through the two layers of the wing and the layer of the body, sc 12, join the second wing with 7sc (the 5th , 6th and 7th sc are the first three sts of the next rnd). Make sure the 1st st of the rnd is still marked.

Flatten the body to make sure that the wings are symmetrical (there are more stitches at the front, for the owl's tummy, than at the back, this is normal).  If it's not symmetrical you might have to add or remove a sc before of after starting the 2nd wing.

Rnd 18-22 - sc around

Rnd 23 - * 1 sc in each of next 5 sts, sc2tog, continue from * to end

Rnd 24 - sc around

Sew on the eyes and the beak now.

Flatten your owl to make sure that when you join it at the top it will look right. If necessary, sc 1 or 2 extra stitches.

Line (optional) and stuff your owl.

Rnd 25 - (working through both layers of the top of the owl) ch 2, 1 dc in next 2 sts, sc to last 3 sts, 1 dc in each of last 3 sts, fasten off and weave in ends.

Please let me know if you have any questions or if I have made any mistakes. I always read all comments so don't hesitate!

And I would very much like to see photos of your owls!

Here are some more of mine:

Robins and an award and a new pattern preview

Now that the little robins have been received by their new owners, I can at last blog about them :)

I made them using this easy pattern from ravelry:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/robin-and-penguin-christmas-decorations 

Except that I made the wings differently. But then I found the wings were a bit too big and bulky, so you might be better sticking to the designer's original wing pattern too. I sewed on the beak instead of gluing it, and also sewed on some lovely goggly eyes.

If you want to get to the pattern, you'll need to have an account on Ravelry. And I oh so much advise anyone who is a crochet fiend like me to do so!  There are zillions of patterns, including more than 24,000 free crochet patterns.  Yes, over TWENTY-FOUR THOUSAND. That's a lot of free patterns. Go on over there and join! It's free and really well worth the time it takes to create your account.

I also want to say a huge thank you to Barbina at Little Things Made with Love who has awarded me the Liebster Blog award! Thank you so much Barbina, it's my first ever award and I am so happy to receive it!

The award goes to lovely blogs with less than 200 followers, the rules are:
1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks for the award and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people in the blogsphere - other bloggers.
5. And, best of all – have fun and spread the Karma.


I would therefore like to pass the award on to the following bloggers:


Madison from Madison Makes
Joy from The Craft Frog
Christelle from A voir, etc.
Kathmeymac from Petites créations aux fils des temps

Kristin from Brysselpyssel


Wishing you all great fun in your future blogging! 


One last thing before I go... I've been very busy the last few days preparing a new pattern to share with you all. I'm not quite ready to post it yet, but here's a little preview.  

Be back soon!