Is it a toy

Marcel, Elly and bunny doudou

2012-02-20T08:05:00.000+01:00

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

2012-02-02T21:05:00.001+01:00

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!

2012-01-09T17:11:00.000+01:00

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

2012-01-03T11:28:00.002+01:00

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

2011-12-31T19:46:00.003+01:00

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

2011-12-28T23:03:00.002+01:00

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!

Thoughts about starting and finishing

2011-12-12T20:18:00.002+01:00

Hmmm... I just realised I had another photo of my beloved pouffes and armrest cover that I hadn't shown to you, and as I didn't really know how to illustrate this post, here they are.

Other than that, I've been having a thoughtful day today.

My favourite thing is starting wonderful new crochet projects. I love doing it so much that I start many, many, many new crochet projects. I get all excited about some new crochet pattern that I find, or an idea that I have.

Just today a friend talked about name labels to put on her childen's Christmas stockings, and as I walked home I was having lots of ideas about the different ways of making such labels, the best material to use, whether embroidering the letters would be best, or if it would be better to make them from felt. It did make the walk home enjoyable and quick, but I did decided I should give myself a talking to.

Much as I love to start things, my friend didn't even ask me to make any labels! We were just chatting about it. Luckily I didn't offer to make them either. But before I got home I did realise that I must, must, must try to finish things off before I start on something new!

This is easier said than done. Since we moved house I've started... at least four new projects. They are all sitting half-done in my Work in Progress bag. In that WIP bag there are:

One pair of gloves
One granny ripple blanket
One decorative curtain thingy
and two robin decorations

The robin decorations are nearly finished. They'll be going to a new home very soon. But the other things are moving v e r y s l o w l y .

To get some inspiration, I looked back again at this page where I wrote my last list of WIPs, and here it is again with some notes

the second pouffe cover (finished!)
lip balm holders (finished!)
a yet-to-be-named amigurumi (half-made and wherever did I put it?)
a snake finger puppet (not started)
a pastel drawstring bag (finished!)
a felt house door-stop (not started)
a felt bag keyring (three-quarters made and wherever did I put it?)

So I suppose there is progress. I did manage to finish three out of seven projects.

Please tell me I'm not the only one with such a list of unfinished projects. What do you have in your WIP bag?

Moving, moving... moved!

2011-12-04T22:34:00.003+01:00

Well hello there! Would you like some tea from my lovely new teapot?

It's been a long time, hasn't it? Almost three months since I wrote my last blog entry. Since then, lots of things have happened.

First of all, we've finally finished moving. Gosh was it hard work! Despite our early start, despite the large-scale decluttering, it was still hard work. But we managed! We managed to move everything ourselves in our car (with most of the seats removed). I even managed to loosen the strong emotional ties that tied me to my old bed and give it away. We managed to move all our belongings from a big flat to a smaller one (and a spare garage for storage, thank goodness).

Then about a week after moving, I had to go on a work trip to Tunisia, but I'll tell you more about that another day.

For now, I'm just going to tell you what hooky business I've been up to!

First news - I finished the second pouffe! So now I have a matching pair, except that I didn't want them to match exactly so they're not twins, just sisters.

And... I don't know if you noticed it on that first picture, but I've also made a matching armrest cover for our rather beige sofa. The sofa is getting a bit old and the armrests are a bit grubby, despite cleaning them with upholstery shampoo. So these armrest covers have the double role of hiding the dirt and making everything look a little bit brighter.

And lastly (for now) I've made a new little swirling bag, a bigger and more pastel version of this one. Cute, eh?

And I did want to all a HUGE WELCOME to my new followers, who followed despite me absence (Thank you!). I promise I'll be back sooner next time.

Carrots are good for your lips

2011-09-14T19:33:00.000+02:00

Sorry I've not been blogging for a while. The Move is taking up an awful lot of my time and energy. We've started to move our stuff over to the new flat, so there's lots of Dismantling Furniture and Putting Things in Boxes going on.

Our old flat is gradually getting emptier. I'm going to miss it.

On a brighter note, look at these!

While I was in England my sister asked me if I could make her two lip balm holders that were nice and bright so she wouldn't lose them easily, and with something to attach them to her bags.

I'm gradually making my way through the remains of my Catania yarn stash, and I had just enough orange left to make a bea-u-ti-ful carrot lipbalm holder. I reckoned that was already silly enough, so I made the other one a bit more conservative. I hope she'll like them.

You may have noticed a new little link up there on the top of the blog, to the right. I have given up on my online shop, to which there was no reaction, and instead I've started a blog in French, the language of the country I've lived in for more than half my life. It's still just in its early stages, with only two posts, but it's opening up a whole new world of French crafts and crochet. If any of you know any French speakers who may be interested, please do tell them about it. And if you know of any cool French crochet patterns, please let me know and I'll put a link up on the Crochetons! blog.

What a week!

2011-09-02T22:19:00.000+02:00

Well I've got quite a mixed bag of things to talk about as this week at last draws to an end!

We are still working hard on The Move, and yesterday we got the keys to the new flat. Yippee! I didn't think we would get them so soon. We're not yet ready to move in, but we're going to move our stuff over gradually. We also need to have a kitchen fitted and put shelves in the built-in wardrobes so it's a good job we have a few weeks to get it all done. There is an amazing number of administrative things to deal with too.

They do say moving is one of the most stressful things we do, coming just after death of a loved on and divorce in the list of stress-inducing situations. My problem now is what to do about the kitchen. Even though it is very small, my research on kitchen furniture leads to me to conclude that it's going to be quite an expensive investment.

On a more thrifty note, while continuing to tidy up today I came across a very soft, very big pillow that we don't use any more. It had been washed and kept in a plastic storage bag, but had a few stains so I decided to get rid. Just as I was packing it into a bag, I saw that the stuffing was 100% polyester, so a little voice inside my head said "maybe you should cut it open and see what state the polyester is, maybe you could use it". So off I went to get my scissors and snip, snip, cut it open and Oh Joy! The polyester filling was beautiful, in perfect condition and so soft! Just like the stuff I buy at three euros for a 250g bag. And there must have been at least 750g in that pillow. So now I have plenty of polyester stuffing, enough to keep me going for a while. And it didn't cost me a single centime.

To finish off, I just wanted to talk again about Ravelry. You know I really love it. But some things about it annoy me just a little bit. The way people charge ridiculous amounts of money for very simple patterns, for example. And then today I went to have a look at the patterns and there was one for amigurumi coloured crayons. Like little coloured pencils, in several different colours. My gut reaction was "what's the use of those?" I don't know about you, but a coloured pencil that you can't actually colour in with seems a bit silly to me. Am I being unfair or does anyone agree with me?

Tiny and bright bag

2011-08-31T07:25:00.004+02:00

Tiny swirling bag
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

Hi there to everyone who's reading this! I hope you're having a lovely day.

One thing I am determined to do before The Move is to finish off the zillions of small unfinished projects I have scattered around the place. These include (but the list is probably not exhaustive):

the second pouffe cover
lip balm holders
a yet-to-be-named amigurumi
a snake finger puppet
a pastel drawstring bag
a felt house door-stop
a felt bag keyring
...

Yesterday I did manage to finish this cute little drawstring bag/pouch/purse. It's a birthday present for a little friend of mine who is now seven years old. I hope she'll like it!

I found the pattern on Ravelry (yes!) but I adjusted it quite a lot. You can also get the pattern here. The bag in the pattern is really quite big, so I just reduced all the proportions and this is what it came out like - this one's just 8 cm or 3 inches from top to bottom. I also attached two of my doodle flowers to the ends of the drawstring. I think it's cute.

Now, what shall I do next?

Pincushion jar

2011-08-27T14:08:00.002+02:00

Pincushion jar
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

Hello there!

I wonder how many of you are members of Ravelry. It is my most-visited site, I think. I love to browse the patterns - every day there's something new and inspiring.

The other day I came across a pattern for a crocheted pincushion on the top of a jar. Of course I had to make one. I'm always losing my box of pins and so a big jar to keep them in sounded like a good idea.

I got the pattern from The Green Dragonfly. Like the best patterns, it's very simple. The only problem I had was sticking the crochet and stuffing onto the jar lid. As suggested, I used superglue but of course it stuck fast before I could get it straight all the way around, so it looked rather wonky. I searched my ribbon stash and found the perfect solution - a gorgeous fuschia pink ribbon that hides my clumsiness rather well, don't you think?

Now I just have to find my box of pins in order to put them in the jar. Has anybody seen them anywhere?

Actually I didn't tell you yet that we are moving! We'll still be in the same small French town, just a short walk from where we live now. We've been in the present flat for 17 years (yes, seventeen!) so The Move is going to be quite an event. We're going to be very busy over the next month or so and have already started decluttering and collecting cardboard boxes. I'm actually looking forward to it, there's nothing like The Move to put some order into our lives! And maybe I'll come across that box of pins.

Crochet doodle flowers free pattern

2011-08-19T14:52:00.004+02:00

It's interesting the way new patterns take form. For amigurumis, I usually start with an idea, that becomes a sketch, that becomes an amigurumi. But sometimes I just doodle with some yarn and a hook, and interesting things can happen.
Yesterday I was doodling with some Catania yarn and a 2.5 mm crochet hook, and I decided to have a go at designing a little flower. I wanted something quick and easy, and after just one unravelling I got it!
You can use any yarn and matching hook for this project, but I prefer to use a small hook and fine yarn. The flowers in the photo are just 4cm across and would be ideal for decorating a bag, or a hat, or an amigurumi... just use your imagination! I purposefully left long tails of yarn on the flowers so that they can sewn on easily.

Here's the pattern:

You need a very small amount of yarn, and a crochet hook that's suitable for the weight of the yarn.

Make a magic ring, leaving a long tail of yarn. (if you need to know how to make the magic ring, see this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLuSVyKvoUg)

Rnd 1 - Make 11 sc into the magic ring, pulling it closed enough for the scs to join, but not too tight that it would deform the circular centre of your flower. Join the last sc to the first sc with a slip stitch.

Rnd 2 - Turn, and make 4 ch. *Ss in next 2 sts, then 4 ch, repeat from * to the last st, ss. You should have six 4ch loops separated by ss.

Rnd 3 - Do not turn, but make 5 dc in the loop formed by the 4 ch, followed by a ss in the same loop. Repeat for the remaining loops until the end. Finish with a ss in the first dc of the first petal. Fasten off.

Wasn't that easy? If ever my explanations are not clear enough or if you need any more info, just leave a comment below :-)

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Once upon a time there was a pouffe...

2011-08-16T15:54:00.001+02:00

A few years ago I bought two orange pouffes to brighten up my living room. They were a perfect size for my children to sit on and very comfy. But years passed, and the poor little pouffes became faded and stained, though they were still just as comfy. Here's one of them, you'll notice that it's seen better days:

So, what did I do? I made it a new cover, of course!

Now I just have to make a cover for the remaining pouffe and then I'm sure we'll need some matching cushion covers too...

Treasures for free (almost)

2011-08-14T07:26:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone, hope you're doing well and enjoying this lovely month of August. I've at last got around to taking a pic of the second-hand goodies I found while I was on holiday in England:

I picked up this lovely vintage teapot from a very small car boot sale we went to on the first day of our holiday. Given the small number of sellers, we didn't think we'd find much, but then I spotted this and at pound I thought it was a good bargain. These days only my OH and I drink tea, and this is just right for two mugs. It is an unusual oval shape and made of delightful bone china. I wasn't so keen on the rose pattern at first, but it's grown on me.

Then the backdrop you can see in the photo is the BEAUTIFUL silk dress I bought from a charity shop for four pounds. It is really gorgeous, isn't it? It looks lovely in the photo, but it's even better in real life, wonderfully shiny and silky, and the colours are amazing.

So the items in the photo above cost the grand total of five quid! Quite a bargain, methinks.

That's the end of this quickie post. I'm very busy working on a new project that's taking me longer than I thought it would so my blog's a bit quiet at the mo. But as soon as I can I'll come back to show you what I've been up to.

Have a good week!

My late holiday post

2011-08-02T19:02:00.006+02:00

Hello there!

I've already been back home for a while after spending a very enjoyable two weeks in the UK. We travelled around a bit and did lots of things, caught up with family and friends and made some exciting purchases.

We went for a couple of days to the seaside because we hadn't seen the sea for ages and ages. It was wonderful. The school holidays hadn't yet begun, so the beach was empty and even though it was too cold to swim we did enjoy spending time on the beach.

The pebbles on the top part of the beach looked good enough to eat.

We also took a rather wonky-looking cable car to the top of the hill. It was a bit windy up there but in that part of the world they call it "bracing".

There were some spectacular views on the way up.

We were lucky with the weather and had blue sky during most of our seaside trip.

We went to another nearby town where there is a lovely castle and also the smallest house in Great Britain, together with a charming lady in the traditional Welsh costume.

From the castle itself we had a lovely view of the harbour.

We visited Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace, and saw the house he was born in. We ate a delicious cream tea - two huge scones each with a pot of jam and clotted cream, and a teapot of tea which contained three cups of tea. All for £4.95 each. Not bad, especially in a tourist town.

We also visited the butterfly centre in Stratford-upon-Avon where butterflies fly around in semi-liberty - there is a roof so they can't escape!

Over the following days we visited Alton Towers and Cadbury's chocolate world too, but I think I've said enough about our travels for now.

To be honest, with all that travelling and eating fish and chips, I didn't really have much time for a lot of hooky business, but I did do a bit:

Lime and beige flower coasters for M, made with this pattern:

Multi-coloured flower coasters for L, using the same pattern.

Pretty bunting to decorate P's bedroom.

And a little monster toy for A.

I also bought a crochet magazine and a couple of very good finds in the charity shop, but I'll save those for a future post.

It's nice to be back! I look forward to hearing about what you've been doing during the summer.

See you soon!

2011-07-09T08:02:00.000+02:00

Well, holiday time is here, and I'm off for a couple of weeks to the land of my birth: England!

We're expecting rain (of course!) so I'm going prepared with lots of unfinished projects in tow, and hoping to buy some lovely new yarn too. It's funny that just before leaving I found a supplier in France who stocks Debbie Bliss organic fairtrade cotton yarn, so I've ordered some of that and it will be delivered here while I'm away. It will be something to look forward to. They don't stock the aran weight yarn, so I'll be on the lookout for that in the UK.

Anyway this is a very quick post because I really MUST go and finish my packing, but before I leave here's a sneak preview of the work in progress that will be in my suitcase:

Bye for now, and hoping any of you that are also holidaying will have a wonderful time!

My new blog shop

2011-07-07T07:30:00.001+02:00

Remember a few posts ago when I talked about the lady in the shop who offered to sell my baby shoes?

Well I went to see her yesterday, and she said two things: firstly she would only take them in September when she gets the autumn stock in. Secondly she would charge the double of the price I'm asking for them!

So I'm not sure it would work... and I've decided, after encouragement from my family and friends, to set up a little shop here in blogland and see how that works out. I haven't yet set up anything exotic like a paypal account, but if I get enough sales I will do so. In the meantime I can accept payment by cheque in UK pounds or Euros.

For now I've only posted a couple of things, but please take a look at Is it a toy shop.

If you've seen things on this blog that you would like to buy, or if you would like me to make something from one of my patterns in a particular yarn or colour, contact me by email and I'll see what I can do.

Teddy doudou free pattern

2011-07-03T20:53:00.002+02:00

In France, every small child has its doudou. I've seen all sorts of doudou - anything from an old piece of blanket or pillowcase, to an elaborate multi-coloured velours soft-toy masterpiece.

A doudou is simply an easy French name for a comfort blanket. I had an idea to make a teddy comfort blanket, using my chubby teddy pattern for the head, and adding some little arms for baby to grab too. I made it out of lovely soft organic cotton, so safe for baby to suck and easy to wash by hand or machine. For extra safety, I lined the head before stuffing it, and embroidered the face with contrasting organic cotton yarn.

Here's the pattern:

I used one ball of organic cotton in pink and less than half a ball in cream. Of course you can choose the colour you wish, but in the pattern I mention pink and cream so you can follow it more easily.

I used a 3mm hook for the head and the arms, and a 4mm hook for the blanket part.

Head (the same as my chubby teddy pattern, but I'm repeating it here to make things easier for you)

Start with pink yarn and a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)

rnd 3 - [2 sc in next st, 1 sc] rep around (18 sts)

rnd 4 - [2 sc in next st, 2 sc] rep around (24 sts)

rnd 5 - [2 sc in next st, 3 sc] rep around (30 sts)

rnd 6-8 - sc around (30 sts)

rnd 9 - [2 sc in next st] three times, sc in next 12 sts, [2 sc in next st] 3 times, sc in next 12 sts (36 sts)

rnd 10 - sc around (36 sts)

rnd 11 - sc in each of next 3 sts, [2 sc in next st] three times, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, [2 sc in next st] three times, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, sc in next 3 sts, [sc2tog] twice (36 sts)

rnd 12 - sc around (36 sts)

Change to cream yarn

rnd 13-15 - sc around (36 sts)

rnd 16 - [1sc in next 4 sts, sc2tog] rep around (30 sts)

rnd 17 - sc around (30 sts)

Now is a good time to embroider the eyes, nose and mouth with contrasting yarn or embroidery thread.

rnd 18 - [1sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog] rep around (24 sts)

rnd 19 - sc around (24 sts)

rnd 20 - [1 sc in next 2 sts, sc2tog] rep around (18 sts)

rnd 21 - [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 2 sts] rep around (13 sts)

Stuff!

rnd 22 - [1 sc in next st, sc2tog] rep around (9 sts)

rnd 23 - [sc2tog] 4 times

Fasten off, leaving a long tail to sew the head to the blanket

Ears (make 2)

Start with pink yarn and a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)

rnd 3 - sc around (12 sts)

rnd 4 - [sc2tog], rep to end (6 sts)

rnd 5 - [sc2 tog] twice

Fasten off, leaving a long tail to sew the ears to the head.

Arms (make 2)

Start with cream yarn and a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)

rnd 3 - [1 sc in next 2sts, 2 sc in next st] rep around (16 sts)

rnd 4-5 - sc around (16 sts)

now join in the pink yarn and work 6 more rows of sc.

rnd 12 - 1 sc in each of next 7sts, then squeeze the arm flat and working through both thicknesses, sc into the next 7 sts until the end: Fasten off.

Blanket

For the blanket itself you can use any square pattern you like. It would be nice with a granny square or a simple trebles square. I had some problems with the joining of each round, but I'm sure you'll do better. The square should measure around 26 cm. You can find nice square patterns here:

http://yarnberry.wordpress.com/2007/11/18/first-principles-the-humble-crochet-square/

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Crochet-a-Granny-Square/

http://www.crochetspot.com/how-to-crochet-a-square/

Sewing together

Sew the ears to either side of the head, then sew the head to the middle of the blanket. Sew the arms on to the blanket, below and at either side of the head. Please follow the example of the top photo above for how to place the head and arms.

Have a lovely week!

Lemon and almond tart

2011-06-26T21:29:00.000+02:00

This recipe is very scrumptious and quite quick and easy too. It has a shortcrust pastry base and a nice tangy lemony topping. I usually add flaked almonds too, but I didn't have any in my cupboard this time and it was still just as delicious. I use only organic ingredients and local mineral water in my pastries.

For the pastry:

200g plain white flour
80g butter
a pinch of salt
very cold water

Pre-heat the oven to 190°C.

Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl and add the salt/
Cut the butter into small pieces and rub it into the flour/salt mix, until it's all rubbed in and you have a crumbly texture.
Add very cold water a small amount at a time, until you can roll the pastry into a ball and it leaves the sides of the mixing bowl clean.
Wrap the ball of pastry and leave it in the fridge for about 15 minutes, then roll it out and cook it "blind" for about 15 minutes, until it's a bit hard but not yet browned.

For the filling:

2 eggs
125g sugar
80g melted butter
zest and juice of 2 lemons
100g ground almonds
a few flaked almonds for decoration (optional)

Whisk together the eggs and sugar until you obtain a pale, creamy mixture.
Add the melted butter, lemon zest and juice and ground almonds.
Pour the mixture into the pre-cooked pastry case.
Sprinkle with flaked almonds.
Transfer carefully to the oven (it will be quite full and the lemon mixture is rather liquid at this stage).
Let it cook for about 20 minutes, until the top is risen and golden.

You can eat it warm or cold.

Squares and stripes

2011-06-26T14:56:00.000+02:00

As usual, I've got lots of projects on the go. Sometimes, however, I just feel like doing something new and actually finish it! That's what happened with this pink/purple square in granny stripes. I was looking through my stash and thought "hmm, these colours look nice together", and started a granny stripes square without really knowing where it was going to lead. I still don't really know what to do with it, but it's finished! It's 21 cms square and I just love it. Don't ask me why, maybe it's the colours or the texture, probably both. At the moment it's on my table being admired.

The other week I bought some lovely grey bobbly yarn in a sale, thinking I could make a cute amigurmi mouse out of it. But the sheer bobbliness of it made that impossible. It was very diffcult to use with a small hook, and any increasing or decreasing was practically invisible. So I got out my 4.5 mm hook and started to make simple sc squares. The texture of them makes a very effective washing up cloth, and with the ball of yarn I managed to make four. Yes, I know it sounds extremely boring, but this means we will spend less money on the expensive washing up sponges we've used until now. My little cloths are very kind to the crockery but they have enough friction in them to actually remove the dirt, and they're machine washable too.

That's the wonderful thing about crochet, you can very easily just rustle something up without any special material, and even without a pattern. Bye for now!

Free flower pattern!

2011-06-19T22:05:00.000+02:00

Hello there!

I've not been posting much recently, but I have been crocheting. As you can see above, I've made yet another pair of baby shoes, this time in a lovely yellow cotton/bamboo mix yarn that has been sitting in my stash box for a while, waiting for me to do something with it. You can't tell from the photo, but it is quite lovely and silky and soft. When I finished the shoes I had plenty left, so I decided to make a matching hat. A quick look through the many free patterns available on Ravelry, and I found the Josie Posy pattern and crocheted it in no time! Then I needed to make a flower to decorate it with, and I remembered a flower pattern I'd used for a pram blanket when my children were babies. That meant another search, this time through my own written-up patterns, and I found it! My mother had taken the time to type up the pattern on her old Remington typewriter, it must be around 25 years ago. She typed it on very thin "typing paper" (does anyone remember that?) so I'm amazed it was still in one piece. Anyway, I decided to reproduce the pattern here, so at least if the original does get ripped or lost, I'll be able to find it here on my computer.

You can use any size of yarn and hook as long as they correspond to each other. I mean if you use a thick yarn you'll need a big hook, and if you use a finer yarn you'll use a smaller hook, of course. It uses two colours of the same weight yarn.

This pattern uses the following stitches:

Ch = chain

ss = slip stitch

dc = double crochet (US terms) treble (UK terms)

trc = triple crochet (US) double treble (UK)

qrc = quadruple crochet (US) triple treble (UK)

With Colour A, make 7 ch and join in a ring with a ss.

Rnd 1: 3 ch, 19 dc into the ring, join with ss in top of 3 ch.

Rnd 2: * Miss next st (1 dc, 1 trc, 3 qrc, 1 trc, 1 dc) in back loop of next st and mark this st, miss next st, ss in back loop of next st, rep. from * to end but do not mark sts. Fasten off.

With Colour B, join yarn to front loop of marked st, and work as follows:

Rnd 3: * Miss next st, 7 dc in front loop of next st, miss next st, ss in front loop of next st, rep from * to end. Fasten off.

And the winner is...

2011-06-13T19:27:00.000+02:00

Thanks to the people who took part in my first giveaway. There were only five of you, so the chance of winning was actually rather high, but there can only be one winner:

Well done Jen! Please let me know which felt owl brooch you would like and send me your mailing address so I can send the goodies to you.

I was initially a bit disappointed at the lack of interest in the giveaway, but there again I write the blog mostly for myself and for lovely people like you! I will continue to write the blog regardless, albeit not very regularly, and will post my creations and patterns and some thoughts and recipes too for my faithful folllowers.

Anyway, this weekend I made some red baby shoes:

and I bought a lovely Longchamp bag at a car boot sale for 2 euros:

Have a lovely week.

Giveaway reminder

2011-06-05T16:00:00.000+02:00

This is the owl keychain that's up for grabs in my first blog anniversary giveaway. It comes with your choice of owl brooch and a few other goodies. See this post for details. There's only a week left so if you want to take part, please leave a comment before 12th June!

A walk around the château

2011-06-04T19:59:00.000+02:00

Today I went for a very pleasant walk around the Château de Voltaire. It's a lovely historic building where the philosopher Voltaire lived from 1758 until his death, and it's very close to where I live. This weekend the gardens were open to the public all day (there are usually quite restrictive opening times) and I went for a wander.

The garden isn't one of these fancy French gardens, full of sculpted bushes and fountains. It's still fairly "sauvage" and is partly surrounded by woods. The sculpted hedges I did see look rather overgrown...

and the fountain was full of weeds and looked as if it hadn't seen water for decades (centuries?). I rather liked the little statue standing in the once-was fountain.

but it was obvious that no water had been through that sprinkler for quite some time.

There were some very nice secluded parts,

and I loved this seat.

A wander down this path

Brought me to a surprise... bee hives and bee keepers!

They were busy finding the new queen in a hive in which the previous queen had left, or died, and I had a very interesting conversation with the bee-keeper. Once they had caught the new queen, they painted a white dot on her back so that she could be easily recognised. Here she is!

We are very lucky that there is not too much pollution, and the bees have easy access to the great variety of trees in the park, all of which grow naturally and with no pesticides or other chemicals.

While we're talking about plants and insects, I wanted to share a recent photo of my strawberries... since this picture was taken they've all been eaten, but we're usually lucky enough to get a second lot later in the summer. For now, admire these beauties:

Bye bye for now, and remember to take part in my giveaway!

Happy Blogversary to me - and my first giveaway!

2011-05-29T21:23:00.004+02:00

Today my blog is a year old!

When I started it on 29 May 2010, blogging was something new for me and I just thought I'd give it a try. I'd only learned about amigurumi a couple of months earlier and I'd not made anything out of felt since I was in primary school! And between you and me, it was rare that I keep anything going for more than a few weeks. However, with this blog, the novelty has not worn off.

One year later I'm on my 62nd post and I have written six original crochet patterns, not to mention my felt creations, and I've typed up five of my favourite recipes. The blog contains 113 comments, and to date I have 44 followers. The most popular page is the Chubby Teddy pattern, that has alone had almost 16,000 page views.

This special anniversary has prompted me to offer my first giveaway! The giveaway has an owl theme (just because I like owls). To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment below telling me how I can improve the blog. Would you like more free patterns? How about a felt creation tutorial? Or some more recipes? What do you think of the new free colouring pages? Would you like to buy anything on the blog? Should I think about opening a shop? Et si je bloguais en français?

You can leave a second comment if you're a follower, to increase your chances of winning. Please make sure I know how to contact you, either by including your email address in your comment or sending it to my email address (see my profile). The winner of the giveaway will be chosen randomly and will receive:

One felt owl brooch of your choice (remember to mention which one you would like if you win).

An owl keyholder (if you want to make your own, it's a free Ravelry download by Susanne Madsen)

An owl rubber stamp, and some free samples of my favourite French lotions and potions.

The giveaway is open until Sunday 12th June. Please share the news about it on your own blog so that everyone can join in. If this giveaway is a success, there will be more, I promise!

Free colouring pages, for a change

2011-05-21T14:42:00.004+02:00

Sorry I've not been blogging recently. The explanation, or rather the explanations, are two small humans, aged 5 and 3 who are spending two weeks on holiday here with us. As my youngest child is now 14 and way taller than me, I'm used to having "grown-up" conversations with him, and having to explain and keep an eye on the little ones during every single instant that they're awake is very different! I've had no time to blog and hardly any time to crochet.

Instead, I've rediscovered colouring in (great fun!) and rather than printing stuff out, I prefer to draw pictures myself for the children to colour in with pencil crayons or felt-tip pens. I managed to scan three of them before they were used so that I could make them available here on my blog, and readers can print them out for your own little ones to colour in. If you click on the images they'll open up in a new window and I think you should be able to print them on A4 paper (you might have to "save as..."). As well as the fish at the top of the page, I drew a mandala:

And some funny little birds:

We've also had fun cutting out, and painting, and making and modelling play dough. We also brought the big box of Duplo up from the basement and the wonderful Fisher Price garage that I've kept for all these years is in full swing, with its great lift and the little bell that rings each time they turn the handle. My collection of amigurumi toys is also very popular. They each have their favourites, and each evening we get them out and play with them during the "quiet time" just before bedtime. They each asked me to make they a toy to take home with them, so I'm crocheting when I have time - mostly when they're in bed in the evening, and I just have to make sure I finish before their daddy comes to get them.

Anyway I must get along now and prepare our next activity. Even though I'll miss them when they've gone back home, I must admit that part of me is looking forward to things getting back to normal soon!

Little shoes in little boxes

2011-04-30T09:11:00.001+02:00

More about these down below...

Well our weather has cooled down a bit this week - not a bad thing in my opinion. Of course everyone likes to have an early summer with deliciously warm temperatures, but it seems to have sprung from winter straight into summer without passing by spring. My strawberry plants are still thriving. There are some little green strawberries on them now, but with the cooler weather, I need to find a way to protect them from the damp soil. I remember my dad used to use straw, but I don't have any straw! I'm wondering if there's anything recyclable that would do the job. Any ideas? In the meantime I took this photo a couple of days ago when it was still very sunny - I think they look lovely from this angle. Tomorrow we're planning to buy some cherry tomato plants to put in some bigger pots on the balcony, despite the cooler weather.

Today I went into the chic shop I got past every day on my way to work and showed the shop owner my rainbow sandals. It was a bit late in the day so we didn't have time to talk for long, but she admired the little shoes and we've agreed that I should pass by another day and discuss what she can do for me. She's also going to advise me of the cost and has kind of offered to put them on display in her shop, and give people details of how to buy or order a pair directly from me. Wasn't that nice of her?

I have made another pair of these baby shoes - this time with organic cotton yarn. It's a bit thicker than my usual Catania yarn, so even though I used the same size hook, the finished shoes are a little bit bigger. They're for my friend's baby boy who is four months old.

Following a question in the comments, I've taken a few (not very good quality) photos of how I make the strap. I hope this will make it a bit clearer.

First of all, make 18 ch (and when you join the other colour, do it more carefully than I did!)

Then dc back up the chain, and onto the heel of the shoe, until the marker

When you get to the marked stitch, work another 18 ch

Then dc back towards the shoe and attach the yarn to the base of the dc remaining on the heel

Now you just need to weave in the ends and add buttons and hey, presto!

I have a very old stash of children's magazines in French that my middle daughter was subscribed to when she was about six. For a while now I've been wondering what I could do with them, and then early this morning I had a brainwave! My initial plan was to use them to cover boxes I would make with old cereal boxes. But that would mean lots of measuring and cutting out and gluing and it seemed far too much like hard work. This morning's brainwave was a single word - ORIGAMI! And look at what I came up with:

The origami pattern I found is so, so easy. Since I made the box in the photos I've made two more. It would be more accurate to say I've made six boxes, actually, as you need two boxes when you count the lid, each of which is made separately. The pattern is the same, you just make the lid a bit bigger by starting off with a bigger square. Here's the page I chose (the video is especially useful), but if you just type origami box in any search engine you'll get lots of examples. The ones I've make with my comic book pages is just the right size for the baby shoes, so I'll be able to send them to my friend in their very own box. Cost of box - nothing at all, and it's recyclable. Oh and I forgot to mention that my wrist is a lot better. Happy, happy, happy.

Back to crochet with a bunny rattle

2011-04-23T16:53:00.002+02:00

Bunny rattle
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

I have had the permission from my physiotherapist to do a little bit of crochet, as long as I don't experience any pain.
So, very slowly, I have been making this little rabbit. It's a rattle for my friend's baby.
This kind of project would usually take me one afternoon, but as I've been taking things very slowly it took me about four days to complete.
I had recuperated a rattle from the inside of another very old toy before throwing it away and it was a perfect fit for the bunny's head. I used some yarn from my stash - a slightly shiny, slightly stretchy yarn that made a nice soft finish. I embroidered the eyes and mouth so there's nothing dangerous for the baby, and I also lined the head and body so there's no chance of the stuffing coming out.
Oh I almost forgot, if you want to make a rabbit like this one, you can get the pattern here.

Baby rainbow sandals

2011-04-15T22:04:00.013+02:00

Baby rainbow sandals
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

I've called these baby rainbow sandals because of the yarn I've used to make the most recent pair (Catania Color). However you can make them in a plain colour or two colours. I've indicated where to make the colour changes if you want to make the two-colour version (for a two-colour version see this post).

These baby sandals are 10 cm/4 inches long so size 3 months approx. I have used Catania cotton yarn and a 3mm crochet hook and a tension of 6 sc and 6 rows of sc to an inch/2.5 cm. I did work the sole a bit looser, though. You can probably use the same pattern and thicker yarn for larger sizes but I haven't tested for them yet. If I do, I'll add the details later.

The sandals are worked in a single piece - the only things you need to sew on are the buttons. If you discover anything odd or any changes that would improve the pattern, please let me know.

I have used US terms for this pattern (even though I'm British) as most visitors to my blog seem to hail from the USA. The UK stitch name equivalents are:

US sc = UK dc
US dc = UK tr

Please do not sell this pattern or post it to any website. Please link directly to my blog instead. No file sharing of this pattern. If you use the pattern, I would love to see your creations!

So here we go:

Start with 15 ch.

rnd 1: 1 sc in third chain from hook, 1 sc in each of next 11 chs, 3 sc in next chain, then work 12 sc down the other side of the row of chs. (27 sts)

rnd 2: 2 sc in the next st (mark the first of these 2 sts, and continue to mark the first st of each rnd as you work)1 sc in each of next 12 sts, 2 sc in each of next 3 sts, 1 sc in each of next 12 sts to end. (32 sts)

rnd 3: 1 sc in next st, 3 sc in next st, 1 sc in each of next 12 sts. [1 sc in next st, 2 sc in next st] three times, 1sc in each of next 12 sts to end. (37 sts)

rnd 4: 1 sc, 2 sc in each of next 3 sts, 1 sc in each of next 12 sts. [2 sc in next st, 1 sc in each of next 2 sts] three times, 1 sc in each of next 12 sts to end. (43 sts)

rnd 5: 1 sc, [ 1 sc in next st, 2 sc in next st] three times, 1 sc in each of next 12 sts, [1 sc in each of next 3 sts, 2 sc in next st] three times, 1 sc in each of next 12 sts to end (49 sts)

rnd 6: 1 sc, [2 sc in next st, 1 sc in each of next 2 sts] three times, 1 st in each of next 12 sts, [ 1 sc in each of next 4 sts, 2 sc in next st] three times, 1 sc in each of next 12 sts to end. (55 sts)

rnd 7-10: working in back loop only, 1 sc around (55 sts)

If you're making two-colour shoes this is where you should change colour.

(I've made a small photo tutorial on how to crochet the strap on this post)

rnd 11: still working in the back loop only, 1 sc in each of next 26 sts, [sc2tog, 1 sc in each of next 6 sts] twice, sc2tog, 1 sc in each of next 11 sts to end (52 sts)

rnd 12: working in both loops, 1 sc in each of next 24 sts, [sc2tog, 1sc in next st] six times, 1sc in each of next 10 sts to end. (46 sts)

rnd 13: 1 sc in each of next 24 sts, [dc2tog] six times, 1 sc in each of next 10 sts to end. (40 sts)

rnd 14: sc around (40 sts)

rnd 15 and strap: 1 sc in each of next 16 sts (this is where to change colour if you're making the two-colour version), 18 ch. *1 dc in 3rd ch from hook, 1 dc in each chain**, then 1 dc in each of next 16 sts. 18 ch and rep from * to **. Fasten off, leaving a tail of yarn to attach to the base of the last dc worked on the body of the shoe. Sew two buttons on each shoe.

Pattern changes - please make sure you've got the latest version.
(I just corrected the last row - had got confused with my scs, dcs and trs, sorry!)
(I've included where to change colour for the strap on the two-colour version)
(I made a correction to row 2 where sc/dc confusion had struck again)
(I corrected the hook size - you should use a 3mm hook)

Three weeks!

2011-04-15T21:21:00.000+02:00

I went for some physiotherapy on my wrist today and the physio seemed to know a lot more about the possible damage done than my GP did. I suppose that's normal as the physio's a specialist in joints, bones, tendons, etc. Well to cut a long story short, she told me it could take three weeks for me to get normal painfree movement in my right wrist! I have decided to do everything I can to let it get better quickly, so no more crochet for another three weeks...

I am now quite good at one-handed typing so I can still post to my blog, and over the last few days I have been typing up my baby shoes patttern so I'll post that very soon, together with the cutest pair I've made yet (finished just before my wrist accident).

And I'm sure I'll find other bits and bobs to post about too. What's three weeks in a lifetime?

Feeling sorry for myself

2011-04-08T21:22:00.000+02:00

If I'm feeling sorry for myself, it's not because of the view from my kitchen window.

If I'm feeling sorry for myself, it's not because the strawberry plants on my balcony are bursting into flower.

It's not because of the view from the balcony either.

I'm feeling sorry for myself because I've injured my right wrist and I can't draw, write, sew or crochet. Typing is a slow, one-handed process and... it hurts!

Luckily the weather is glorious and the weekend is here. But no more crochet? Aaaarrrggghhhh!

Baby shoes blue/grey

2011-04-08T08:44:00.008+02:00

Baby shoes blue/grey
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

Here's my second attempt of the baby shoes. They are very small - 0-3 months, perfect for a summer baby! I have simplified and shortened the pattern but haven't had time to write it up yet, so you'll have to be patient for a little longer. I'm presuming that you do want this pattern, or are you willing to wait for mk III?

A weekend in orange and yellow

2011-04-03T16:32:00.002+02:00

Baby shoes
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

I have had (and am still having!) a lovely hooky weekend - and a long one too. I didn't work on Friday and I've had plenty of time to finish off some crochet and sewing.
First of all, these little tiny shoes for my newest great-niece. I wrote the pattern as I went along, but I'm not going to reproduce it here yet, because first of all I would like to simplify it a bit (and I also want to make a similar pair in DK wool). I think they look so joyful in these bright colours.

In the same yellow/orange theme, I've made an addition to my collection of owl brooches with their cousin, Little Yellow Chick.
You may have noticed the green woolly background to the little chick. Guess what it is? I'm going to tell you: it's part of the planned Jolly Green Giant socks for my OH. But bad news, I'm afraid. I've decided not to finish them. They were becoming very thick and fluffy, and I was worried they would end up on this blog. So OH isn't going to look like the Jolly Green Giant any time soon. Actually, he doesn't really mind :D.

Just a little word about comments

2011-04-03T09:18:00.002+02:00

I'm so thrilled by the springtime sunshine and my latest projects, but before I post about them I just wanted to add a special post on ... comments.
I know (hope!) there are lots of people who read my blog but who choose not to make any comments, and that's fine. But if you would like to leave a comment but haven' t been able to, now you can!
Thanks to the kind advice of a friend and fellow blogger, I have enabled the comments so you can use them, even if you don't own a google, yahoo, etc, account. Just click on the comments link below, and in the drop-down list "Comment as" select Name/URL. If you don' t have a URL it doesn't matter, it will still work. You can also comment anonymously, but I would love to know at least what your name is.
AND you can also tell me with a simple click what you think of each post.
More exciting stuff coming soon, I promise :-)

What a busy week!

2011-03-29T17:00:00.001+02:00

I've not posted for a while because I've been away on a trip as part of my job, travelling to Brussels and London. It really was a whirlwind trip, starting with a meeting in Brussels on Thursday. I went with my great friend and colleague, H, and we had a very good time, especially in the evening when we visited the Grand Place in Brussels and went for the iconic Belgian meal of mussels and chips. If ever you go to Brussels, eating mussels and chips is a MUST. We then went on to see the Mannekin Pis, another Brussels icon. The poor little guy has people staring at him while he pees all day and all night! He is really quite small, no bigger than a doll, but for some reason he is a very big tourist attraction. We went in the evening so the pictures are a bit dark, sorry about that! Lastly we bought Belgian chocolate, yet another Belgian tradtion, and a very delicious one at that. Yum yum yum!

And I almost forgot - how could I ?! - just after the meeting and before the shops had closed, we found... a craft shop! Where they had my favourite Catania yarn in colours I hadn't yet acquired: a lovely dark elephant grey, and Catania color, a gorgeous variegated yarn that I just HAD to buy too. And I found boxes and boxes of the faceted beads that I use for my owl eyes and that the lady on the market I normally buy them from had completely run out of. So I came home with two boxes of beads too (containing 130 beads each) - that's enough for 130 owls!

On Friday, we took the Eurostar from Brussels to London. It was the first time I've been through the Chunnel and it was a doddle! So much easier than flying! We had to be at the station half an hour beforehand for check in, but it was very easy and straightforward. We were served (a second) breakfast on the train, and the trip only took two hours. You know how tired you feel after flying? Well, I do. But travelling by train is so much more peaceful and feels more natural. And when you travel by train your carbon footprint is neutral. Otherwise said, zero. For me, that's a simple enough reason to prefer the train, when you have the choice.

The London leg of the trip was very interesting and exciting too. We were there to report on the March for the Alternative, which I'm sure all the UK readers on here had heard about, and maybe some of the others too (I hope so!). It was a HUGE, very impressive and very hopeful march with hundreds of thousands of protesters demonstrating against the cuts imposed by the UK government. We walked all through central London, from Embankment to Hyde Park. We went past lots of landmarks: Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, 10 Downing Street, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus. On the photo you can see the London Eye just visible on the right. It was a wonderful, peaceful, collective gathering of ordinary people marching together for a better world. Let's just hope we'll be listened to.

Felt owl brooches

2011-03-19T23:06:00.004+01:00

Another thing to tick off my list! Today I finished off the fourth owl brooch, it was the little blue one. Do you remember when they looked like this? I call this group my English owls because I bought the felt and the gingham ribbon on my last trip to the UK. The ribbon was a very good bargain from the local market, I couldn't believe how cheap it was! And the felt was from my hobbycraft trip. I think I now have enough felt to make a couple of hundred owls! I also made another little brooch, but I'll show that one to you another day because I've not taken its photo yet.
Today I went to the local (French) market and tried to get some more of the shiny faceted beads I use for my owls' eyes. But there weren't any! The lady who I buy from in the market didn't have any left, what a disappointment... I did buy a different kind, but I'm not really convinced they'll look as good. We'll see.
My craft supplies have been getting a bit out of hand and taking over my life and my bedroom! I've emptied out the top drawer of the chest of drawers in the hall and I'm sorting out my stuff and moving it in there. I've started with my ribbon stash and I'm quite pleased with myself - instead of having all the ribbon in a bag getting mixed up it is now neatly arranged in an old watch box.

How do you managed to keep your stuff in order? Please do let me know, I need as many ideas as I can get!
Have a great Sunday!

Llama worm

2011-03-16T21:34:00.001+01:00

After Manuel la llama, here's llama worm! If you've never seen the "real" llama worm, here it is:

The llama worm is going to a new home in Britanny, where it will be adopted by my son's friend. They spend time look at this kind of thing on the internet and judging by the number of times this image appears on any search engine, they're not the only ones... Anyway my son agreed that it would be funny to make one for his friend, so here it is.

That's another item off my list.

While I was wandering through our small town this afternoon, I came across this:

Naturally, my first thought was, "Why is there a stegosaurus on the back of that truck?"... but then I moved on a bit and on the side of the truck it said:

And sure enough, around the corner, there it was!

A dinosaur exhibition! But I couldn't visit because it was closed. So the photos will have to do. Anyway they've got something a bit wrong. According to my expert son, neither tyrannosaurus nor pterandons lived during the Jurassic period, they're from the Cretaceous. Stegosaurus was a Jurassic dinosaur, but when he was around the other two didn't exist yet. It did make me think that I've not tried to make an amigurumi dinosaur yet. Hmmm...

Manuel la llama

2011-03-14T17:28:00.000+01:00

Anyone who knows me through flickr may have already seen my llama on there, and his flickr name is Miguel. However, he has now been given to his rightful owner and his name is Manuel. "You'll have to forgive him, he's from Barcelona". I'm sure the English amongst you recognise the quote :D

Manuel is going to Norway with his new owner, Maria. I'm very sad that Maria is leaving. She has worked alongside me for the past six months and we shared so much. We had lots of fun, and some serious times too, and there's going to be a big empty space in my life now that she's gone. On the other hand, I'm happy for her that she's going back to her family, and Maria, if you're reading this, I'm counting on you to come back very soon.

To make Manuel I used the same basic pattern as I used for the blue stripy giraffe:

Spot the similar legs and arms, and body shape? However, Manuel's head is a different shape and the ears are different, of course. Well they would be for a llama, wouldn't they? I also used hairy yarn for the body, for the top parts of the arms and legs, and for the back of Manuel's head.

I'm sorry I haven't yet had time to write up the pattern, but I'll do it eventually, I promise!

So that's one item off my list. I've also finished one of my felt owls and I've done some more work on llama-worm, so things are chugging along nicely.

Earthquake and tsunami in Japan

2011-03-13T10:09:00.000+01:00

We watched the Japanese tsunami happen before our eyes - luckily for us we are thousands of miles away and it was brought to us via television. It was shocking to see the wave advancing irremediably across the land, dragging along with it debris, cars, boats, houses.

News this morning is that the scale of the earthquake has been increased to 9. In any case it is the one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded (there was a 12.5 earthquake in the Yucatan Peninsula 65 million years ago, that created the Chicxulub crater). I have heard reports that it is the strongest, but according to the entry on Wikipedia, there have been a few stronger earthquakes more recently:

9.0 in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1755
9.2 in Anchorage, Alaska, USA, in 1964
9.3 in the Indian Ocean in 2004
9.5 in Valdivia, Chile, in 1960

Maybe it's to do with its intensity. If anybody can shed any light on this, please leave a comment.

Last Friday's earthquake in Japan was 8,000 times stronger than the one that preceded it in Christchurch, New Zealand on 22 February, which created lots of damage and over 200 dead.

In Japan, thousands of people have been killed and thousands are still missing. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced because there is also a nuclear danger. The nuclear power stations were built to withstand seismic activity, but nothing of this magnitude. One nuclear reactor has exploded and another one is, as I write this, in danger of exploding. The radioactive material is no longer being cooled efficiently so it is in melt-down, bringing with it a huge risk to the population. People have been evacuated in a 20 km radius. But just imagine if you lived on the limit of that radius, at only 20 km from the nuclear site, where there have already been leaks equal to 100 times the maximum permitted level. Wouldn't you want to take your family as far away as possible? I know I would.

I am glad that the handful of Japanese citizens I know are safe and well, though shocked, but many, many more are are injured, homeless, have lost members of their families, have no home, no job, nothing. Whole cities have been wiped out. Just look at these before and after photos of Minamisanriku, a border town. The pictures say it all.

If you want to help, several charities are collecting money for aid and are easily searchable.

I heart you!

2011-03-12T20:46:00.000+01:00

I don't know why, but I' ve been in a heart-making mood. It must be love.

I made these lovely red hearts with this pattern from Red Heart (of course!) and my favourite yarn (Catania cotton for any newcomers who don't yet know that it's my favourite yarn)

I also made a pink one, with different soft, squidgy yarn

and while I was in my hearts mood, I made a granny heart too. No idea what to do with this one.

I've also been through my workbag and I've really should prioritise. I get so excited about starting new things that the old things tend to sit waiting patiently for me to get around to finishing them. It DOES feel good when I finish a project, but there are so many unfinished ones...

First the crochet projects:

Coasters for M+J (4 out of 6 finished)
Jolly Green Giant socks for H (half of one sock made)
Llama worm for S (almost there!)
Granny square covers for my poufs (no started yet but my poufs really need them)
Bootees for baby C (the idea for that lovely wool I bought in the UK in February)
Garfield that I started over a year ago (no comment)

and finally a Llama for MAW (that I AM GOING TO FINISH THIS WEEKEND)

Then the sewing projects

The four felt owls from my last post
An owl pyjama case (about half done)
Little dress for ??? (about half done)

So I have made a resolution: no more new projects until I've finished all of these. I'm going straight away now to finish off the llama. I'll post them up here as I finish them, so that we can all see where I'm up to! If you see me talking about anything new, please do me a favour and remind me that I've lots of other things to finish off first!

Spring in colours

2011-03-04T22:07:00.002+01:00

Owl brooches WIP
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

It's not yet Spring, but I can tell it's on the way. Not only are lots of the blogs I follow displaying photos of sunshine and flowers, but even in my part of the world, where the winters tend to be longer and colder, probably due to the proximity of two mountain ranges, the first signs of spring are peeping out from the ground. After yet another cold, grey spell, this morning there was sunshine and birdsong. Yes, I know the birds in the photo are not going to be singing any time soon, the poor things don't have beaks yet.

You may remember that I bought lots of bright felt last time I went to the UK. It had been sitting waiting for me to do something with it, and this week I took the plunge. I've started on four new owl brooches. This is where they're up to, and I just had to take a photo of them with their beady eyes shining! Watch out for the finished owlies, they should be along quite soon.

On my way to work I spotted these gorgeous crocuses.

Then as I walked past the flower shop I couldn't miss these.

I don't know what you think, but I prefer the crocuses.

The flowers in the shop look too bright, they almost look as if they contain additives. They make me think of those bright sweets that are bursting with food colouring and sugar but don't actually contain anything useful. They're pretty, but just a little bit too bright.

At least now it's the weekend so tomorrow, sunshine permitting, I'll be out with my camera once again trying to catch a glimpse of some more springtime cheer.

Scrappy kitty free pattern

2011-02-24T08:51:00.001+01:00

Here as promised is the pattern for the quarter-hour kitty, who I've since renamed Scrappy Kitty. Scrappy Kitty is made from a scrap of worsted weight yarn, honestly you won't need much at all. It's an ideal way to use up all those little bits that you don't know what to do with. She's also filled with scraps of yarn, though of course you can use proper stuffing if you prefer. And Scrappy Kitty would definitely not win any prizes in the amigurumi cat shows. She is not a beautifully crafted, perfect work of art, far from it. But what Scrappy Kitty lacks in beauty, she makes up for in love. She fits perfectly in the smallest hands and pockets and will always be there for a kiss and a cuddle. All the little people you know will be clamouring for one and she's so quick and easy to make that you'll be able to please them all.

You will need:

A very small amount of worsted weight yarn

A 4.00 mm crochet hook

A very large-eyed blunt needle (aka bodkin)

30 cm of embroidery thread for the facial features

Scissors to snip off all the yarn ends

Legs and body

First leg:

Start with a magic ring

rnd 1 - 3 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 1 sc around

cut the yarn leaving the working loop, and put the first leg to one side.

Work the second leg in the same way, then:

rnd 3 - 1 sc in each of first 2 sts then pass the hook through the loop of the first leg and pull yarn through. Work 1 sc in each of the 3 sts of the second leg, then work an extra sc between the legs, and then 1 sc in the remaining st on the first leg.

That looks a bit complicated but it really isn't. Basically you are joining the two legs together and adding an extra stitch between the legs at the front and back. Remember that crochet is very forgiving and it will be fine if you somehow end up with 8 sc.

rnd 4-7 - 1 sc around (or work 32 scs if you prefer counting each stitch as I do)

Stuff the body with yarn end scraps or a small amount of polyfill.

rnd 8 - sc2tog 4 times, pull yarn tight and fasten off.

Arms

Start with a magic ring

rnd 1 - 3 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 1 sc around

Fasten off, leaving a longish tail of yarn to sew the arms to the body.

Sew the arms to the body between rows 6 and 7.

Head, ears and tail

Start with a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc into each st (12 sts)

rnd 3-6 - 1 sc around (or work 48 scs if you prefer counting each stitch as I do)

Stuff the head with yarn scraps or polyfill

rnd 7 - 2sctog 6 times, fasten off, leaving AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT a very long tail of yarn of around 20 inches or 50 cm.

Now sew the head to the body, then using the bodkin, thread the yarn through to where you want the ears to be.

To make the ears, make a small loop of yarn between two rows of crochet, then pass the yarn through the loop about six times, then pull, adding a couple of stitches in the ear if necessary.

Poke the bodkin through to the other side of the head and make the second ear in the same way.

Now thread the bodkin through the body and out where you want the tail to be. Remove the bodkin, and use the remaining thread to make a chain of crochet. When you reach the body, poke the crochet into a stitch near the base of the tail and pull it through, so it doesn't come undone. Trim the end of the tail.

Finally, embroider a face on your scrappy kitty.

Shopping and crochet, what more could a girl want?

2011-02-20T17:18:00.000+01:00

I forgot to tell you about the goodies I bought while I was in the UK. I went to Hobbycraft and it was wonderful! I had to restrain myself from buying everything in the shop - especially the beautiful organic wool at over £5 a ball. It's not that I didn't want to buy it. And I could afford it, really. It's just that I knew if I bought it I wouldn't know what to do with it and I'd be afraid of wasting it. Also, my yarn stock is still rather large and I have promised myself to try to use up everything I have before buying any more. But I have a confession to make... I just COULDN'T resist this:

It's not organic but it is wool. And I just loved the mix of colours. It wasn't expensive either, at £2.99 a ball. I only bought two, then as soon as I got home I wished I'd bought more, but of course by then it was too late and I didn't have time to go back again. Now the question is, what shall I make with it? I don't want to make an amigurumi with it, I was thinking baby hat (my friend recently had a baby boy) but I've still not decided yet. Any ideas?

In Hobbycraft I also stocked up on felt.

Aren't the colours lovely and bright? I do know what I'm going to make with this - some more felt purses and some more owls. At home in France my felt stock had been seriously depleted after my mega-production of owls at the end of last year, so it's nice to have some more and in some beautiful colours too. There are several shades of pink, blue and green, and I'm really looking forward to getting crafting. I also invested in some nice sharp craft scissors that will be very useful and a lot more precise than the nail scissors I've been using up to now to cut my felt. It will be great to be able to make smaller and more detailed shapes and I've already got lots of ideas.

Another thing I started in the UK and have since finished is these wrist warmers. My friend Maria had lent me her wrist warmers one day when it was really cold outside and I wasn't feeling very well, and they were so comforting! I decided to make some myself and here's what I came up with:

They are very simple to make, but I'll put the pattern on a new post so that I can add it to my "Free patterns" list. Did you notice I've added a free patterns and a recipe list just to the right? I'm always happy to receive any comments on how to improve the blog, so if you have any ideas, don't hesitate to tell me.

And last but not least, I've made a tiny little kitty! My original idea was to make a 10-minute teddy, but the ears came our rather pointed, and it took me more than 10 minutes to make. I decided to add a nice long tail, so instead of a 10-minute teddy I'm pleased to introduce you to the quarter-hour kitty! Please let me know if you're interested in the pattern and I'll try to write it down so little kitty can have some new friends.

Have a great week!

Salvage, recover, recycle

2011-02-12T16:31:00.001+01:00

This week I came back from a short and very enjoyable visit to the UK. It was lovely to see everyone and to give my little crochet gifts to the children. After the wind and rain that fell upon me for (almost) all the time I was in good old Blighty, it felt decidedly spring-like when I got back. Here's the gorgeous view of Mont Blanc that I had from the plane on the way down:

Beautiful, isn't it? Mont Blanc is so majestic and I feel so privileged to see it almost every day from our bedroom window (depending on how cloudy the sky is). But the view from the plane was really something special.
Well, it felt so spring-like and bright that as soon as the weekend allowed it, I started to spring-clean our flat.
I have inherited the hoarding gene from my mother's side of the family but I do try to fight it! Today I decided that the old cream handbag I bought about five years ago had actually reached the end of its life and I wouldn't be using it again. So off it went to the bin. For about five minutes. Then the salvager inside me sent me right back to get it out again.
The bag was synthetic and badly stained, and I knew I definitely wouldn't be using it again. So why, you may be asking, did I get it out of the rubbish bin? This is why:

That stained cream synthetic bag had hidden treasures! One key holder, one lovely buckle, two rectangular metal rings and a 12cm metal zipper. I reckon if I'd wanted to buy all that stuff it would have cost me quite a lot. And being a crazy crafter, I know I'll use them. The moral of this post is: Throw away what cannot be used again, but don't forget to recover and recycle all the hidden treasures first. Have a great weekend!

Little amigurumi robot free pattern

2011-02-05T10:45:00.002+01:00

amigurumi robot
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

I decided to make a toy robot for Charlie, who I'll be seeing later this week. I only see him very occasionally as we live far away from each other. Of course I'll be seeing his older sister and younger brother too, but their toys were ready. I needed to make something for Charlie, and I thought he would like a robot.

The problem, as I soon discovered, is that there are very few free patterns for amigurumi robots. So guess what? Yes, I made one of my own. Using my favourite Catania yarn and a 2.5 mm hook, I got to work and this is who came out of it. I might one day make some improvements to the pattern, but as I don't like to keep you all waiting, and I did actually write it down as I went along, I thought you may like to have it straight away. Please feel free to make your own alterations and decorate it as takes your fancy. If you make a robot, I would love to receive a photo. As with my other free patterns, please do not sell this pattern. Do not post this pattern to any website, but link directly to my blog. No file sharing of this pattern.

This robot is not suitable for very small children and babies because of the small parts. If you want to make it for a small child or baby, do not include any embellishments that could be bitten off and swallowed. Decorate it with embroidery instead.

If you see any mistakes, it's because I've not tested the pattern, so please be indulgent and just let me know. If I do make another, better robot, I'll definitely post any changes I make, but here for now is the pattern for you to try.

You'll need:

Catania cotton yarn in grey, orange and blue (or colours of your choice)
2.5 mm crochet hook
A small amount of felt and metal trimmings such as press studs, washers, buttons, beads, etc
Needle and thread
A large-eyed needle
Embroidery thread

Head

Start with a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring
rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)
rnd 3 - [2 sc in next st, 1 sc] rep around (18 sts)
rnd 4 - [2 sc in next st, 2 sc] rep around (24 sts)
rnd 5 - [2 sc in next st, 3 sc] rep around (30 sts)
rnd 6-12 - sc around (30 sts)
Fasten off

Don't stuff the head yet.

Antennae (make 3 - one orange and two blue)

Start with a magic ring

rnd 1 - 5 sc into magic ring
rnd 2-3 sc around (5 sts)
Fasten off

Collars (make 2 - one orange and one blue)

Start with a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring
rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)
rnd 3 - [2 sc in next st, 1 sc] rep around (18 sts)
rnd 4 - [2 sc in next st, 2 sc] rep around (24 sts)
rnd 5 - [1 sc in next 3 st, 2 sc in next st] rep around (30 sts)
rnd 6 - [1 sc in next 4 st, 2 sc in next st] rep around (36 sts)
rnd 7 - [1 sc in next 5 st, 2sc in next st] rep around (42 sts)
Fasten off

Feet and legs (make 2)

Start with the soles of the feet and work your way up. The feet, legs and body are worked in a single piece.

With blue, make a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring
rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)
rnd 3 - [2 sc in next st, 1 sc] rep around (18 sts)
rnd 4-5 - working in back loop only (ie the loop furthest away from you), sc around.
Attach orange
rnd 6-7 - sc around (18 sts)
rnd 8 - [1 sc in next st, sc2tog], rep around (12 sts)
Attach grey
rnd 9 - sc around (12 sts)
Stuff foot
rnd 10 - working in front loop only, sc around
rnd 11 - 14 sc around (12 sts)

Fasten off

Make another leg, leaving a long tail of yarn to sew it to the in-between legs piece:

ch 6
1 sc in 2nd ch from hook, 1 sc in each st to end, turn
work 4 more rows in sc.
Fasten off, leaving a long tail of yarn to attach it to the first leg.

Body

Now sew the legs together with the in-between piece. Sew each of the 5 sts to the corresponding sts on each leg, it will look something like this: O=O
There should be 7 sts of each leg remaining

Now attach the yarn to the beginning of the remaining 7 sts on one of the legs, and continue as follows:

rnd 1 - 2sc in each of the 7 sts at the top of the leg, 7 sc along the straight piece, 2 sc in each of the 7 sts of the other leg, then 7 sc along the remaining straight edge (42 sts)
rnd 2 - sc around
rnd 3 - *1 sc in each of next 14 sts, 2 sc in each of next 7 sts, repeat from * once again, to end (56 sts)
rnd 4 - sc around
rnd 5-6 - working in back loop only, sc around
rnd 7-11 - working in both loops, sc around
rnd 12 - *1 sc in each of next 6 sts, sc2 tog, repeat from * to end (49 sts)
rnd 13-14 - sc around
rnd 15 - *1 sc in each of next 5 sts, sc2 tog, repeat from * to end (42 sts)
rnd 16 -17 - sc around
rnd 18 - *1 sc in each of next 4 sts, sc2 tog, repeat from * to end (35 sts)
rnd 19-20 - sc around
rnd 21 - *1 sc in each of next 3 sts, sc2 tog, repeat from * to end (27 sts)
rnd 22 - sc around
Fasten off.

Don't stuff the body yet

Arms

Start with a magic ring

rnd 1 - 5 sc into magic ring
rnd 2 - 2 sc into each st (10 sts)
rnd 3 - [2 sc in next st, 1 sc] rep around (15 sts)
rnd 4-6 - sc around
rnd 7 - [1 sc in next st, sc2 tog] rep around (10 sts)
Stuff!
rnd 8 - sc2tog 5 times (5 sts)
rnd 9 - 2 sc in each st (10 sts)
rnd 10 - 2 sc in next st, 1 sc] rep around (15 sts)
rnd 11-13 - sc around
rnd 14 - [1 sc in next st, sc2 tog] rep around (10 sts)
Stuff!
rnd 15 - sc2tog 5 times (5 sts)
Fasten off leaving a long tail of yarn and use it to sew a metal washer in the place of a hand. Weave the yarn back up to the top end of the arm so you can use it to sew the arms on the body.

Finishing touches

Head and neck

Attach the antennae to the head, the orange one at the top and the blue ones to the side (I attached them a bit too high - slightly lower would look better, I think).

Sew on two halves of largish silver press-studs for the eyes (keep the other two halves for the front screen decoration).

For the mouth, cut a small rectangle of white felt and attach it to the bottom of the front of the head with orange embroidery thread.

Now stuff the head, and attach it to the orange collar piece, using the long tail of yarn still left on the head. You should have two rows of the collar overlapping.

Body

Cut a square of felt to fit on to the robot's tummy. Decorate it with the two remaining press-stud pieces, some beads and embroidery thread, or whatever takes your fancy. Then sew the piece onto the tummy.

Now sew the arms on to each side of the body. I stitched them on one spot only, so that the arms remain fairly mobile, but if you prefer you can stitch them more solidly onto the body.

Now stuff the body, and then attach the blue collar piece, using the long tail of yarn still left on the body.

Finally, sew the orange and blue collar pieces together, making sure your robot's face is in the right position.

Charlie loves his robot!

Goodbye and hello again

2011-01-23T18:12:00.001+01:00

A few days ago I decided to merge my two blogs, and now it's done! I've imported all the posts from somethingbetterinstead to this blog. I found I was invariably pasting stuff on both blogs, or wasn't sure where the items should go. So now everything will go to just one place.

This blog is no longer only about amigurumi crochet soft toys, but lots of other things as well. You can find more general things about how I spend my time, including some yummy recipes and some of my ideas about more serious stuff as well.

I would love to receive your ideas of how I can improve my blog. If you have any ideas, please insert them in the comments box below. And if you're wondering what the photo is - it's the sky seen from my kitchen window a few months ago. It looked better in real life but I thought the photo's not bad either, eh?

Growing old

2011-01-22T21:31:00.000+01:00

Many years ago at work we produced a publication about elder care. In it was a lovely poem, which I also translated into French. Since then, my lovely Mum who is 91 years old has developed dementia and I decided to try to dig out the poem from our archives. Amazingly, I found it, together with my translation of which I was very proud because I managed to make it rhyme while still respecting the meaning and the rhythm of the original English. Here they both are. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

What do you see nurse, what do you see?
What are you thinking when you look at me?
A crabbit old woman, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit, with far away eyes,
Who dribbles her food, and makes no reply,
When you say in a loud voice, "I do wish you'd try!"
Who seems not to notice the things that you do,
And forever is losing a stocking or shoe.
Who, unresisting or not, lets you do as you will
With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill.
Is that what you're thinking, is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, you're not looking at me.
I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,
As I move at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I am a small child of ten with a father and a mother,
Brothers and sisters who love one another.
A young girl at sixteen with wings at her feet
Dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet.
A bride soon at twenty, my heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep.
At twenty-five now I have young of my own
Who need me to build a secure happy home.
A woman of thirty, my young now grow fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last.
At forty my young now soon will be gone,
But my man stays beside me to see I don't mourn.
At fifty once more babies play around my knee,
Again we know children, my loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead,
I look at the future, I shudder with dread,
For my young are all busy rearing young of their own
And I think of the years and the love I have known.
I'm an old lady now and nature is cruel,
'Tis her jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body it crumbles, grace and vigour depart,
And now there is a stone where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcase a young girl still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys, I remember the pain,
And I am loving and living life over again.
I think of the years all too few, gone so fast,
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, nurse, open and see,
Not a crabbit old woman, look closer, see Me.

Anonymous.
It has been reported that this poem was found with the belongings of an elderly lady who died in a nursing home in Ireland.

And now in French:

Madame l'infirmière, que voyez-vous?

Qu'est-ce que vous pensez quand vous me regardez?

Une vieille femme perdue, plus ce qu'elle était,

Qui ne sait pas où elle est, ni ce qu'elle fait,

Qui bave quand elle mange, et ne prend jamais note

Quand vous dites "mais essayez!" à voix bien trop haute.

Qui ne semble remarquer les choses que vous faites

Ni même savoir exactement qui vous êtes,

Qui vous laisse faire, mais pas sans peiner

Me nourrir, me laver, pour remplir les journées.

C'est ce que vous pensez et ce que vous voyez?

Alors, ouvrez les yeux, vous n'avez pas bien regardé.

Je vous dirai qui je suis, moi qui reste sans bouger,

Moi qui fais et qui mange ce que vous, vous voulez.

Je suis une petite fille à l'âge de dix ans,

Avec des frères et des soeurs, aimés par nos parents.

Et puis à seize ans, la tête je relève,

En esperant bientôt voir l'homme de mes rêves.

A vingt je me marie, le futur me guette,

Je me souviens bien des promesses que j'ai faites.

Bientôt vingt-cinq ans et j'ai des enfants moi-même,

Qui ont besoin de savoir que maman les aime.

A trente ans, les enfants grandissent

Avec les liens que les longues années tissent.

A quarante, les enfants vont bientôt partir,

Mais mon mari est là pour me soutenir.

A cinquante, les bébés sont là encore une fois,

Les petits enfants de mon mari et moi.

Et puis vient le jour où mon mari est mort,

Le futur ne me promet que peur et remords.

Mes enfants s'occupent de leur propre familles

Je pense à toutes ces années d'amour envolées...

Je suis vieille, la nature est cruelle

De transformer en carcasse une jeune fille si belle,

Le corps se désintègre et perd sa vigueur

Et il y a une pierre à la place de mon coeur.

Mais dans cette carcasse habite toujours une jeune fille

Et mon coeur se réveille quand je pense à ma vie.

Je pense à mes peines, je pense à mes joies

Et je revis et j'aime encore une fois.

Je pense à des années toutes trop vite passées

Et je trouve malheureux que ça ne puisse durer.

Madame l'infirmière, approche toi et vois,

Ce n'est pas une vieille folle, non, c'est Moi.

Lip balm holders

2011-01-22T09:46:00.001+01:00

Lip balm holders
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

Yes, I know that lip balm holders are not toys. But I made these two little beauties using the same technique as amigurumi and so I wanted to share them with you here. They are both crocheted with a 2.5 mm hook using Catania, my very favourite cotton yarn. I started with a magic circle of 6 sc, then increased to 12 (2sc in each st) and 18 (1 sc in next st, 2 sc in next st). I worked the next row in the back look of the stitch only, then continued in straight scs until I reached the height of tube I wanted. On the pink one I added a darker pink "lid" and a button and key chain. On the green one I worked a "flap" and then added a picot edging in darker green. They each contain a tube of lip balm, of course. Please tell me which one you like best!

Early spring or just a taste of it

2011-01-18T20:05:00.000+01:00

After the snow and cold, we've recently had beautiful weather, sunshine and warm temperatures. It's been so nice I went out walking without wearing a coat on Sunday, and I have already seen my first wild primrose! The photo isn't very good but it's a real wild primrose, growing by a wall on the path I take to work every morning. There's more cold weather forecast for this week so I'll keep my eye on the little primrose to see if it survives. It's quite sheltered by the wall so hopefully it will be OK.

I'm still really busy at work and at home, so I've not had much time to do crafts. I do however have several works in progress - and during the weekend I did manage to make a sweet little felt purse. This is one of the wonderful free patterns on the internet that are there for the taking. I make my crochet patterns available for free, and lots of other people do the same for crochet, knit and sewing patterns. You can also buy them, but I have never done so, as there are so many going for free.

It is nice to be able to walk outside again without slipping on the snow and ice. We are lucky to live in a place that is safe and peaceful and yet only a short bus ride away from an international city and airport. I walk to and from work every day (my office is only 5 minutes away from home!) and try to come home the long way round, especially now that the weather is so lovely. The other day I saw a jay and lots of other birds, they were enjoying the nice weather too.

Ollie the owl

2011-01-02T21:08:00.001+01:00

Ollie the owl
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

I have made lots of felt owl brooches, so many that they've inspired me to make some more owlish things. The first one is this owl soft toy that's 15cm tall, and very soft and squishy. I've got a cupboard full of material, including the beautiful red printed cotton that a friend brought me back from Japan. I made the eyes and beak in felt, and decorated it with some lovely satin ribbon.
Now I'm thinking of making a blue owl cushion, but as it's back to work tomorrow, I'm not at all sure when I'm going to have time. Stiggy the giraffe is expecting a sister too. Do you have any ideas of how to fit more hours into the day?

He did it!

2011-01-01T22:27:00.000+01:00

As I mentioned, I'd promised my soon-to-be-14-year-old that during the holidays I would teach him how to make croissants. Well, he's done it! Here is one that I managed to salvage for a quick photo before it was gobbled down with the rest of them!

They turned out very well, nice and flaky, buttery and very moreish!

On a very different subject, I found a very cute pattern for some tiny crochet flowers and here's what I made:

They literally took me about 5 minutes each flower. I have lots of different colours of nice cotton yarn, so it looks like I'm going to have fun making some more.

Happy New Giraffe!

2010-12-31T22:21:00.000+01:00

Here's my latest crochet project, and surely the last one in 2010!
I want to improve it somewhat beforehand, but in the next couple of weeks I should be able to make the pattern available here on my blog.
Do tell me if you have any good ideas for a name for this little giraffe. I was thinking of "Stiggy", as it's a striped giraffe, but we're open to suggestions :-)

Easy peasy pancakes

2010-12-31T07:43:00.000+01:00

Yes I know pancakes are never very difficult, but this recipe removes the need to measure out ingredients, and considerably reduces the amount of washing up at the end - always a good idea, in my opinion! You will need:

1 mixing bowl
1 sieve
1 teacup
1 tablespoon
1 frying pan
1 whisk

Plain white flour
1 large egg or 2 small
milk
water
salt
light oil

Makes about eight big pancakes

I start this recipe by gently heating my frying pan on the hob. However, if you use gas it's probably better to heat the pan just before cooking the pancakes.

Using the teacup as a measure, sift two cupfuls of flour into the mixing bowl. Add a pinch of salt, then break the egg(s) into the middle of the flour and start to mix with the whisk. Graduallly add 1 cupful of water, then 1 1/2 cupfuls of milk, mixing all the time so that you obtain a (hopefully) lump-free mixture. Now stir in one tablespoon of light oil (sunflower oil or similar).

Turn up the heat under the frying pan, add a little oil (I use a wedge of kitchen roll paper to spread it around the pan) and pour in about half a cup of pancake mixture, tilting the pan to spread it evenly around.

Leave it to cook for a few minutes. You can lift up the edge slightly with a fish slice or spatula to check if the first side is cooked and golden. Then flip it over and cook the other side for a few moments before sliding it onto a plate.

For the next pancake add a little more oil to your pan, and continue until you've used up all the mixture.

Eat with lemon and sugar, or honey and melted butter, or jam, or whatever takes your fancy.

Bon appetit!

This time of year

2010-12-28T18:06:00.000+01:00

I feel a bit guilty saying what I'm about to say, when I read the introduction to this blog. Yes I know, I said that it's better to do something other than watching TV.
BUT... the thing I like best about this time of year is that they show some really good films on the TV. There's lots of rubbish too, but here in France just this past week I've watched E.T. (my all-time favourite), The Secret Garden (in English!), Jane Eyre (cried buckets), and there are more to come. Tonight there's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, on Thursday a beautiful French film The Fox and the Child, and on Friday another French film called Two Brothers, about two baby tigers. That's about it, and then on Monday it's back to work!
I am doing other things too - some sewing, some crochet, some cooking, some ironing, even. And spending some quality time with my family, though mostly indoors because it's still grey and frozen outside. My soon to be 14-year-old son now knows how to make tuna and egg filo rolls, and I've promised him he'll know how to bake croissants before the week's out.
I'll try to get back soon, with some pics of my latest creations. Bye for now!

Owls

2010-12-08T21:47:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a friend about owls. She said her daughter collected them, and I thought about making some. A couple of doodles later, and a delve into my felt stash, and here's what I made. It's a little felt owl brooch. It was great fun to make, so I decided to make some more. This time the owls came out a bit wider; I trimmed them with some ribbon, embroidered the beaks and used press-studs for the eyes. Then I bought some pretty faceted beads and some lace trim from the market. For the later models, I added a tiny bit of polyester stuffing.

In all, up to now I have made nine owls, I have sold five of them (including all of those pictured here ) and given one away. They are about two inches "tall" and I must say they are very cute. My favourite one is the little orange one with the white lace trim - it looks like an owl in a petticoat!

The world is full of garbage

2010-12-07T21:22:00.000+01:00

I often wonder how future generations will survive on this earth. And if they do, what will they think of us?

The world is full of garbage. Literally. Every day we create more and more garbage. On an indivdual level; we throw out 400 kg per person per year. Well, that's the quantity for France. The average American produces 900 kg of waste, while in Senegal the amount is only 170 kg. Basically, the richer you are, the more you throw away.

Talking about recycling is fine, we are all full of good intentions. But some things can't be recycled. And some people simply don't bother. Most of all, we've done too little, too late.

The plastic that we dispose of every day is ending up in the oceans. Sea birds are found with their stomachs full of plastic. Turtles die from eating plastic bags that they mistake for jellyfish. In the Pacific ocean, there is a huge "plastic stew" that covers an area the size of a continent. It contains around 100 million tonnes of plastic!

In Lebanon, there is a mountain of garbage that's 50 metres high and 375 metres long. As it's situated on the coast, it regularly collapses and falls into the sea.

That's not all. I recently read an article in New Scientist about the over 8,500 vessels that were sunk during World War II and that are so many timebombs. They are spread all over the world, and contain somewhere between 2.5 and 20 million tonnes of oil. And that oil is starting to leak. The first leak happened in 2001 when a typhoon hit one of the areas where a military oil tanker had sunk in 1944. For the rest of the vessels, it's just a matter of time. The steel plate they are made of is gradually corroding, and nobody is doing anything about it.

What can we do? Not much. We can continue to recycle. We can stop buying plastic. We can lobby our governments to do something about pollution. Let's just hope our children and our children's children will find a way to clear up the mess we have left behind.

Scones

2010-12-06T08:21:00.000+01:00

Well today we had scones for breakfast. They are, along with scotch pancakes, the easiest and quickest breakfast treats. I have got it down to a fine art: turn on the oven first, then by the time you've prepared the scones the oven is warm enough, and once they're in the oven, lay the table and make the tea. In theory, everything will be ready in time for breakfast!

You will need:

225g white flour
1 sachet baking powder
40g butter (at room temperature)
150ml milk
2 tbsp caster sugar
pinch of salt

a mixing bowl
a metal tablespoon
a round fluted pastry-cutter
a rolling pin

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl, rub in the butter with your fingertips.
Stir in the sugar, then add the milk little by little, using the metal tablespoon. Finish off with your hands, kneading it together gently to a soft dough (you might not need all the milk).
Roll the dough out on to a floured surface, but keep it thick (around 2 cm).
Use the pastry cutter to cut out your scones. Be careful to tap it straight down, don't twist it or your scones will have a strange shape.
Place the scones on a lined baking sheet, place in the oven for about 12 minutes, until they are crisp and golden.

I like to eat them as is, but you can add butter, jam, clotted cream... If you have any left over, freeze them straight away because they quickly go stale.

Owls

2010-11-27T19:12:00.003+01:00

Owls
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

I've been at the felt again! Making these little owl brooches is great fun. A while ago I bought felt in lots of different colours and I've been through my stash of ribbons and lace to decorate them. I have made loads of these now, you can see more of them on my flickr page - just click on the photo to get there:-).

Tresses au beurre

2010-11-23T17:55:00.000+01:00

I actually made these on Sunday (which is my baking day) but have only just got around to writing up the recipe.

I love to make these because they are so pretty. On Sunday morning I made one for each of the three of us, and a larger one which I put in the freezer for another day. Here's the recipe. Bon appetit!

Makes 2 medium or 6 small tresses

500g flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

75g butter

300 ml milk

20g fresh yeast

1 egg for glazing

Preheat the oven to 180°C

Mix the flour, salt and sugar and rub in the butter.

Heat the milk to body temperature and add the yeast, mix until it has "melted".

Pour the milk/yeast into the flour and knead for 5-10 minutes until you have a soft springy dough.

Cover and leave to rise for 1 hour.

Knock back the dough and knead briefly again.

Separate the dough in two parts (and each again in three parts if you're making the small tresses)

Separate again each part in three parts, which you should roll with you hands to a long sausage shape.

Take the three sausage shapes and make them into a plait, making sure you tuck in the two ends well.

Do the same with the remaining pieces of dough.

Lay them onto a baking sheet, cover and leave to rise for 30 minutes approx.

Brush with beaten egg and cook in the preheated oven at 180° for 20 minutes (small size) or 30 minutes (medium size) until nicely golden.

Leave to cool. They are nice and buttery so you really don't need to add anything to them, though I must admit I like them with just a little bit of jam.

Inauguration with music!

2010-11-20T21:21:00.000+01:00

The small town in which I live was home to the French writer and philosopher Voltaire from 1759 to 1778.

During his stay here and because of his outlandish way of life compared to the very serious Calvinist attitude in Geneva, Voltaire was often obliged to travel to and from Geneva. According to local legend, he used a road that ran straight from his French castle to the Swiss border. The first part of the road crossed a field and was bordered with poplar trees but they were cut down "for safety reasons" in 2008. The lower part of the road has, after various agreements and conventions between the town and the local landowners, been open to walkers, joggers and cyclists since last month.

Today was the official inaurguration of the lower part of the road, named l'allée de la Tir. It was a pity the sun wasn't out today, it has been beautiful for the past three days but I suppose we all knew it couldn't last. At least it didn't rain.

The mayor and other local dignitaries made the customary speech and cut the ribbon, but for me the highlight of the morning was the wonderful band who played from the centre of town to the beginning of the allée, followed by the crowd of well-wishers who particpated in the inauguration.

Now we're just waiting for the higher part of the road to be re-opened. It is in a large grassy park which will be further developed as an "urban park" (whatever that means). According to the town website it is open to competition among developers, and the project should be chosen by the end of 2010.

Scotch pancakes with apples

2010-11-19T19:17:00.001+01:00

Scotch pancakes are one of my favourite breakfast recipes. They are quick and easy to prepare and appreciated by everyone I know. To make them a bit more special, I like to fry up some apple slices in butter and sugar and add put them between two pancakes, and top them with fromage frais. You could also use whipped cream but I do try to avoid too much fat (do you really believe me?) And this time I had some melted chocolate so I put a drop of that on the top too.

Here's what it looks like. And here's the recipe:

Scotch pancakes

To make scotch pancakes with apple filling, you'll need (for 3 or 4 servings):

For the pancakes:

120 g flour
30 g sugar
1 sachet baking powder
1 sachet vanilla sugar
1 pinch salt
150 ml milk
1 egg
Oil for cooking

For the apple filling:

4 or 5 apples
30 g butter
1 tblspn brown sugar

1 measuring jug
1 mixing bowl
2 frying pans

Start by preparing the apples, peel them and cut into slices.
Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the apples.
Cook over a medium heat, stirring occasionally to ensure even cooking
When they are nearly ready add the brown sugar and cook until it is slightly caramelised. Leave to cool

For the pancakes, mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt in a bowl.
In a measuring jug, measure out the milk and break the egg into the milk, mix the egg in with a hand whisk
Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients, mix well and then pour the mixture back into the measuring jug (it is easier to pour it than to spoon it out)
Warm the second frying pan, add a small amount of cooking oil and use some kitchen roll to remove the excess and spread it evenly over the pan.
Gently pour small quantities of the mixture in the pan to make the pancakes, keeping them at about 8cm in diameter.
When bubbles appear on the surface, gently turn them over using a fish slice or a palette knife. They should be golden with a distinctive "lacy" pattern. Do not over-cook.

Once you have finished making the pancakes, make a sandwich with the apples in the middle (see photo).
You can top with whipped cream or fromage frais, if you wish. A drop of maple syrup would also go very well with these pancakes. Bon appetit!

Sunday is baking day

2010-11-14T17:06:00.001+01:00

I got up early and decided to make croissants and pains au chocolate for breakfast.

I've lived in France for 27 years now, but only discovered the secret of croissant-making about five years ago. They do take a long time to prepare, about four hours from start to finish, but much of that is time waiting for the dough to rise, or the time they spend in the oven. I love to make them because they make me feel creative and all that work really is worth it when you bite into the delicious flaky, butteriness of them.

If there are any left over, they freeze very well and can be gently heated in a warm oven.

I make my croissants with organic flour, butter, milk, yeast, salt and a small amount of sugar.

Here's the recipe:

Croissants

500g flour

200g butter

300 ml milk

20g fresh yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 egg for glazing

Mix the flour, salt and sugar in a large shallow bowl/plate or directly on a work surface.

Cut 50g of butter in to small pieces and rub into the flour.

Heat the milk to hand temperature and add the yeast, mix until it has "melted".

Pour the milk/yeast into the flour and knead for 5 minutes until you have a soft springy dough.

Cover and leave it to rise for about 30 minutes, then knock it back and fold in three to make a rectangle, and roll it out on a floured surface.

Cut the remaining butter in two pieces and, using plenty of flour and a rolling pin, start by bashing it and then roll it in the flour until you have a large flat "leaf" of butter. Do the same with the second piece of butter.

Now cover the lower 2/3 of the dough rectangle with the butter, fold down the top 1/3 downwards and the bottom 1/3 upwards.

Tuck in the edges to stop the butter from escaping, then put the open side to the right and roll out the dough again.

Fold and roll the dough in the same way two more times.

Now put the dough in a floured plastic bag, in the refrigerator and leave it to rise for one hour.

Roll the dough out again into a rectangle, which you will cut down the middle lengthwise.

Cut each length into several triangles (for the croissants) and rectangles (for the pains au chocolate).

For the croissants, roll the triangles up from the long base towards the point of the triangle, keeping it fairly tight. Then turn the ends towards each other to make a croissant shape.

For the pains au chocolat, place a smallish piece of chocolate at the short end of the rectangle and roll up, making sure you leave the "seam" on the underside.

Cover and leave your croissants and pains au chocolat to rise again for about 20 minutes.

Brush them with beaten egg, and place them in a pre-heated oven at 200°C for around 20 minutes or until nicely golden.

Best eaten warm!

Then in the afternoon here's what I made: an apple tart. The pastry looks a bit over-cooked but it was nice and crispy lol. I cheated a bit because I lined my pastry with apple sauce, it keeps the whole thing nice and moist.This was for afternoon tea. That's a lot of butter in one day - maybe it's a good job I only have time to make patisseries at the weekend!

Feathers

2010-11-11T22:35:00.006+01:00

Feathers
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

A few weeks ago I met Aral Balkan at a communications meeting. He is the man behind the Feathers app for iPhone. Feathers brings a whole new life to tweeting.

With the app you can use novel fonts, pictures and even coded messages, using Twitter, facebook, msn or simple texting. The cute Feathers bird shows the app user how much they've used their character limit. As the limit draws near, the little blue bird becomes green. And if you overstep the limit, it becomes red. My little bird has used a bit more than half the character limit, so it's still blue but slowly becoming green. You can see the real thing on the app, for more information tweet @aral, or see more about it on feathersapp.com.

My version of the feathers bird isn't really suitable for young children because of the small parts. If you want to give it to a child, please make sure you adjust the pattern to make it safe, especially as regards the eyes and feet.

Here's the pattern:

Stitches used:

sc single crochet
ss slip stitch
dc double crochet
hdc half double crochet

I used Catania cotton and a 2.5 mm crochet hook, and scraps of yellow felt for the beak and feet.

Head feather

Start with the head feather, which you will later attach to the top of your bird.

With blue, ch 12, turn.

Work 2 sc into each ch to end. Fasten off, leaving a long tail to sew the head feather to the inside of the head.

Head and body

Rnd 1 - With blue, work 6 sc into a magic circle.

Rnd 2 - 2 sc into each st (12 sc)

Rnd 3 - * 1 sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, rep from * to end (18 sc)

Rnd 4 - * 1 sc in next 2 sts, 2sc in next st, rep from * to end (24 sc)

Rnd 5 - * 1 sc in next 3 sts, 2sc in next st, rep from * to end (30 sc)

Rnd 6-13 - sc around

Rnd 14 - * 1 sc in next 4 sts, 2sc in next st, rep from * to end (36 sc)

Rnd 15 - sc around

Now's a good time to attach the head feather by threading it through the small hole at the middle of the initial magic circle. Sew it firmly to the inside so it can't be pulled off!

Sew on the eyes and the beak. I used sew-on goggly eyes because I found they resembled the original bird the most, but you can use safety eyes, or sew on felt eyes, or just embroider them if you prefer. For the beak I used a small piece of yellow felt and embroidered the smile :)

Continue in green.

Rnd 16 - * 1 sc in next 5 sts, 2sc in next st, rep from * to end (42 sc)

Rnd 17-24 - sc around

Rnd 25 - * 1 sc in next 5 sts, sc2tog, rep from * to end (36 sc)

Rnd 26 - sc around

Rnd 27 - * 1 sc in next 5 sts, sc2tog, rep from * to end (36 sc)

Rnd 28 - * 1 sc in next 4 sts, sc2tog, rep from * to end (30 sc)

Rnd 30 - * 1 sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, rep from * to end (24 sc)

Rnd 31 - * 1 sc in next 2 sts, sc2tog, rep from * to end (18 sc)

Stuff!

Rnd 32 - * 1 sc in next st, sc2tog, rep from * to end (12 sc)

Rnd 33 - sc2tog 6 times, draw the yarn through remaining stitches and pull closed. Weave in ends.

Wings (make 2)

Rnd 1- with blue, 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)

Continue in green.

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.

Tail

Rnd 1 - With green, work 12 dc into a magic circle

Rnd 2 - 2 dc into each st (24 dc)

Now fold it in half so it makes a semi-circle shape and work into both layers of stitches, joining them together.

Rnd 3 - 2 ch, skip the first st, 1 hdc in next 3 st, 1 dc in next 4 st, 1 hdc in next 4 st to end. Fasten off, leaving a tail of yarn to sew the tail to the body.

Legs and feet (make 2)

With yellow, ch 10. Fasten off, leaving a tail of yarn to sew the leg to the body.

With yellow felt, cut out four feet shapes, and make a small split in two of them at the heel end (these are the tops of the feet). Attach the end of the chain in the split, sew it in place, and then sew the bottom pieces of felt to the tops with blanket stitch all around.

Sew the legs to the bottom of the bird.

Sew the wings in place, aligning the blue/green separation with the one on the body.

Sew the tail to the back.

You can of course make the bird all in blue, or alter the green/blue limit. You could even make a red/green bird, or a totally red one. See the app for further inspiration, and please leave me a comment if you make one of these little guys. I would love to see your photos too!

If there are any problems with the pattern, please let me know.

Basil

2010-11-04T11:59:00.005+01:00

Basil
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

Whatever happened to October? I've been so busy at work and at home I've simply not had time to deal with my blog.
I have, however, finished my last project and I'm pleased to introduce Basil. Basil will be going to a new home in Canada, with his drawstring bag and little visiting card. I made Basil with organic cotton and he's stuffed with recycled wool, so he is a 100% organic bear. Oh and he's also made with my chubby teddy pattern, though I did make some minor changes, including making the head and body in a single piece.
I really loved working with the organic cotton, it's very soft - the only negative thing about it is the cost, but the sheer enjoyment of handling the lovely soft cotton yarn makes it worth it. I'll definitely be buying more.
For the wool filling, I recuperated an old and slightly holey woollen blanket that I'd had lying in a cupboard for years and years, machine washed it at a high temperature, and cut it into small pieces suitable for stuffing. I have plenty now to make lots and lots of toys.It's heavier and lumpier than polyfill but I suppose that's normal for a natural fibre.
Basil's visiting card has the following message: I'm BASIL an original organic cotton bear stuffed with recycled wool. I've been made with love and care in a smoke-free and pet-free home. Please wash me in cool water with a detergent that respects the environment. Meet my friends on our blog (with the address of this blog on the last page).

Chubby panda

2010-09-27T22:08:00.003+02:00

Chubby panda
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

Having received a couple of messages concerning difficulties in my chubby teddy pattern, I decided to try it again so I could make the necessary changes. Instead of making another teddy, I decided to alter it slightly and here's the result: Chubby Panda!!
Chubby Panda has black felt around his eyes. His head is all white, and the body is white except for the last four rows, for which I changed the colour to black. I gave him shorter legs than the chubby teddies, and slightly bigger ears. I made Chubby Panda in DK yarn, and I'm pleased with the result. He's really chubby!
Here's the link straight to the my pattern:
http://isitatoy.blogspot.com/2010/07/chubby-teddies-free-pattern.html

Atashi

2010-09-25T18:40:00.005+02:00

Atashi
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

I'm very busy both at home and at work at the moment, but I still try to find time to do at least a little bit of crochet. Small, short projects are my favourites at the moment. I found this really cute pattern here, and it was so much fun to make. Each part is made separately and then sewn together so it's easy to spread over a few days. At just 8 cm tall, this little rabbit (I think) is just perfect. Apparently, it's from an anime and is called Atashi, but I've never heard of it before, I just found it so cute. Normally it should be holding a star but I didn't have one. I did however find a cute lilac flower in my beads box, and I felt it would suit. You can't see her feet very well in the photo, but she does have two, honest!

Moko the cat

2010-09-23T20:14:00.002+02:00

swap cat ami
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

I made this little cat for a swap on flickr. The amigurumi group that I'm a member of arranges swaps between its members - each person has to make an amigurumi and send it to another designated member together with other goodies like yarn, eyes, buttons, ribbons, etc. You receive a parcel from a different member, and it's a nice way to share. It's always so lovely to receive a package through the post! And it's as much fun to send one too. The Moko pattern is available again after being offline for a while and is really fun to make. It's quick and easy and turns out really cute. You can find the pattern here. Enjoy!

Bright, bright, bright

2010-09-08T15:55:00.001+02:00

Aren't those colours just gorgeous? I've been shopping again. The lovely lady who sells yarn at our local market had a sale on, and I just couldn't resist stocking up on my favourite cotton yarn. It is rather thin, about equivalent to 4-ply, and I crochet it with a 2.5mm hook, so it's not good for doing large projects. But it is ideal for little things, and I chose bright colours with lots creative ideas in mind.She even offered me an extra one for free.

I used some of the new yarn to make 'tails' for the new felt flowers I've made. They are so quick and easy, I just love making them. Someone asked me what they can be used for, my ideas are: as a decoration, or a bookmark, to attach to a bag (and maybe to make your suitcase easily recognisable when travelling), and even as an original bracelet. Any other ideas?

Little felt elephant

2010-09-03T19:59:00.002+02:00

Yes, as you can see, I'm still in my felt phase. This time it's a little elephant, about 5cm long and tall. I've attached it to a ribbon so it can be attached to a bag or onto a keyring. I've changed the photo because I stitched the ears a bit so they are lower down on the head. I'm wondering whether I should make some more? And shall I do them like this one, that can stand on its four legs, or would it be better just flat?

Something different for a change

2010-08-28T09:54:00.002+02:00

Felt flower
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

I have so many pending crochet projects! Another little monster is on the way, a cat, a teddy... My problem is I start things then get bored with them and start something new. Don't worry, I do go back to them and end up finishing them off eventually :-)
I keep lots of my photos on flickr, and it's also a great place to get inspiration. A fellow flickr crafter, Eloisa, has made some very nice comments on my crochet, and I went to have a look at her photostream too. She is so clever! I especially love the things she does with felt, and that inspired me to make this little felt flower. It's not as good as Eloisa's but was very quick to make and I think it's rather sweet, and not bad for a first time.

Froggy finger puppet pattern

2010-08-26T08:07:00.003+02:00

Froggy finger puppet
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

This is a very quick and easy pattern. I used Phildar cotton/bamboo yarn, equivalent to DK, and sew-on 8 mm goggly eyes. Don't use the goggly eyes if you're going to give this finger puppet to a very young child as they do represent a choking risk. You'll also need a short strand of black embroidery thread for the mouth.

These are the stitches used:

ch = chain
sc = single crochet (double crochet in UK terms)
ss = slip stitch

For instructions on how to make a magic ring, there is a great video here.

Start with a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring
rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)
rnd 3 - [1 sc in next 2st, 2 sc in next st] rep around (16 sts)
rnd 4 - *1 sc in next 4 st, ch 5, ss in 5th ch from hook, rep from *, 1 sc in next 8 st to end
rnd 5 - 1 sc in each st, pulling the "eyes" towards you as you go (16 sts)
rnd 6 - 1 sc in next 4 st, 2 sc in next st (below the eye), 1 sc in back look pf next 3 sts, 2 sc in next st (below the eye), 1 sc in next 7 st, to end (18 sts)
rnd 7-9 - 1 sc in each st around (18 sts). Now is a good time to embroider the mouth.
rnd 10 - 1 sc in next 6 st, *10 ch, 1 ss in 6th ch from hook, 1 ss in next 4 ch, 1 sc in next 6 st, rep from * once
rnd 11-15 1 sc in each st around (18 sts)
rnd 16 - 1 sc in next 8 st, *12 ch, 1 ss in 6th ch from hook, 1 ss in next 6 ch, 1 sc in next 6 st, rep from * once, 1 sc in each of next 4 sts, fasten off, weave in ends.

Sew a goggly eye on each "eye". Enjoy playing with your froggy finger puppet!

Monster!

2010-08-23T08:37:00.003+02:00

Monster!
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

Here's my latest project, which I finished off this morning. I got the free pattern for this "bubble leg monster" right here: http://www.craftbits.com/project/amigurumi-bubble-leg-monster.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this little fellow is completely lined and can go in the washing machine without any fear of losing its stuffing. I'm seriously thinking of making another one - I have enough yarn left to make it a negative-positive friend with a blue body. The photo doesn't really do this little monster justice as far as the colour is concerned, it's a gorgeous highligter fluorescent yellow, pity it doesn't shine in the dark.

Any ideas for a name, by the way?

Lining my monster

2010-08-17T18:22:00.003+02:00

I know that in theory, for amigurumi crochet stitches, you have to use a much smaller hook than is usually recommended for a given yarn size. The idea is that the stitches will be very close together and any stuffing will not be able to escape through the holes. The reality, however, is a different story. I recently machine washed one of my toys before giving it away and the polyester fibrefill that I had stuffed it with really did want to get out. There were little fluffy bits all over.

When I made the little ball for baby Alfie, I wanted to be sure the stuffing wouldn't escape, so I enclosed it in the end of a nylon stocking. The result is great. It was easy because it is just a round ball shape, so no need to deal with fiddly small limbs.

I'm in the middle of two projects at the moment, and I've decided to line them too. One of them is almost finished so I should be posting it in the next day or two. Lining it not only helps for washing, it also means that when you're finishing off, your hook doesn't get mixed up with the fibrefill. So good news all round. Yes, you do have to make the lining and sew it up too, but it really is worth it.

Any experience with lining or not, and are there any disadvantages with lining that I've not thought about?

Sally

2010-08-06T19:32:00.002+02:00

snail
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

I've not been on my blog for a while, as I took a much-needed break and a great trip to London with my son. We're back now and I've been inspired by that little snail I found, and made myself Sally. I used the same spiral pattern as on Alfie's ball, and made a simple head and body in white, with embroidered eyes and mouth in the same blue as the shell.
We're having some visitors tomorrow, including a little girl, and I'm wondering if Sally will still be living here with us after that.

Tiny snail

2010-07-17T13:06:00.003+02:00

Every Saturday I go to our local market, and I buy lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, and other salad goods from a local organic farmer. The food is really good and fresh and my family looks forward to Saturdays when lunch is invariably a fresh crisp salad with tiny new potatoes and cottage cheese.

There is also a fruit seller who only sells fruit in season. The cherries have ended all too soon, but he now has apricots and melons.

Back to the lettuce. When I was washing today's I found the tiniest little snail in it. It is lovely and so tiny, with a transparent body and shell. I just couldn't resist taking its photo to share with you. To get a closer look, click on the photo. Just to give you an idea of its size, it's crawling along one of the apricots!

Japanese goodies

2010-07-16T17:55:00.007+02:00

My friend Nobuko has just come back from a holiday in Japan to visit her family and she brought me back the cutest Japanese goodies. Thank you my dear friend!
The box is just delightful and I must say the illustration has already got me planning another amigurumi rabbit. I'm sure I've seen a pattern somewhere that looks like this little bunny. Not only that, but the sweets inside the box are just as cute and very tasty too. They have a soft sponge outside and a moist almond paste centre. Yummy yummy I definitely feel inspired!

Later: I found the pattern I was thinking of. It's here: http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/60480A.html

Claude

2010-07-07T21:45:00.003+02:00

Claude
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

Here's my latest creation, by the name of Claude, a sausage-dog rattle with crochet legs and tail.
I got the idea for Claude from the very expensive children's clothes shop near to where I live. It is very chic and sells designer clothes for kids, Baby Dior, etc. But they do sell some cool toys too. The little dog I saw there doesn't have crocheted legs and tail - they're my design, but apart from that it's pretty similar. It was fun to make - I can imagine a whole family of Claudes taking over my home.

Chubby teddy free pattern

2010-07-03T19:37:00.008+02:00

Chubby teddies
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

The pattern has been updated. There were some errors, notably on rnd 11 of the head, that I've now corrected. I've also corrected some of the numbers of stitches that were wrong, and I've added an extra row to the ears to make them slightly bigger. I've made a new friend for the chubby teddies, using the same pattern. Please look out for chubby panda - I'll post a pic very soon. Chubby panda's legs are shorter too - please feel free to adapt the pattern as you prefer it.

Here, as promised, is the pattern for the chubby teddies. I made the small one with fine baby yarn and a 3mm hook, and the pink and white one with thicker yarn and a 3.5mm hook.

Now for the official bit:

Please do not sell this pattern. Do not post this pattern to any website, but link directly to my blog. No file sharing of this pattern.

I would also love to see your creations, and please do leave a comment.

Head

Start with a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)

rnd 3 - [2 sc in next st, 1 sc] rep around (18 sts)

rnd 4 - [2 sc in next st, 2 sc] rep around (24 sts)

rnd 5 - [2 sc in next st, 3 sc] rep around (30 sts)

rnd 6-8 - sc around (30 sts)

rnd 9 - [2 sc in next st] three times, sc in next 12 sts, [2 sc in next st] 3 times, sc in next 12 sts (36 sts)

rnd 10 - sc around (36 sts)

rnd 12 - sc around (36 sts)

Change to white yarn

rnd 13-15 - sc around (36 sts)

rnd 16 - [1sc in next 4 sts, sc2tog] rep around (30 sts)

rnd 17 - sc around (30 sts)

If you use safety eyes, now is a good time to fix them. You can also now embroider the nose and mouth with black embroidery thread.

rnd 18 - [1sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog] rep around (24 sts)

rnd 19 - sc around (24 sts)

rnd 20 - [1 sc in next 2 sts, sc2tog] rep around (18 sts)

rnd 21 - [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 2 sts] rep around (13 sts)

Stuff!

rnd 22 - [1 sc in next st, sc2tog] rep around (9 sts)

rnd 23 - [sc2tog] 4 times

Fasten off, leaving a long tail to sew the head to the body

Ears (make 2)

Start with a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)

rnd 3 - sc around (12 sts)

rnd 4 - [sc2tog], rep to end (6 sts)
rnd 5 - [sc2 tog] twice

Fasten off, leaving a long tail to sew the ears to the head

Body

start with a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)

rnd 3 - [2 sc in next st, 1 sc] rep around (18 sts)

rnd 4 - [2 sc in next st, 2 sc] rep around (24 sts)

rnd 5 - [2 sc in next st, 3 sc] rep around (30 sts)

rnd 6 - sc around (30 sts)

rnd 7 - [2 sc in next st, 4 sc] rep around (36 sts)

rnd 8 - [2 sc in next st, 5 sc] rep around (42 sts)

rnd 9-12 - sc around (42 sts)

rnd 13 - [1 sc in next 4sts, sc2tog] rep around (35 sts)

rnd 14 - sc around (35 sts)

rnd 15 - [1sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog] rep around (28 sts)

rnd 16-18 - sc around (28 sts)

rnd 19 - [1sc in next 2 sts, sc2tog] rep around (21 sts)

rnd 20 - sc around (21 sts)

Stuff!

rnd 21 - [1sc in next st, sc2tog] rep around (14 sts)

rnd 22 - [sc2tog] to end.

Leave a long tail of yarn, weave it through the remaining stitches, draw up and fasten off.

Arms (make 2)

start with a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)

rnd 3-7 - sc around (12 sts)

rnd 8 - sc2tog, 1 sc in next 8 sts, sc2tog (10 sts)

rnd 9 - sc around (10 sts)

Stuff!

rnd 10-14 sc around (10 sts) (don't stuff the tops of the arms)

Fasten off, leaving a long tail of yarn to sew the arms to the body.

Legs (make 2)

start with a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)

rnd 3 - [2 sc in next st, 1 sc] rep around (18 sts)

rnd 4-5 - sc around (18 sts)

rnd 6 - 1 sc in next 2 sts, [sc2tog] twice, 1 sc in next 5 sts, 2sc in next 2 sts, 1 sc in next 5 sts (18 sts)

rnd 7 - 1 sc in next 2 sts, [sc2 tog] twice, 1 sc in each st to end (16 sts)

rnd 8 - same as rnd 7 (14 sts)

rnd 9 - same as rnd 7 (12 sts)

rnd 10-14 - sc around (12 sts) or if you prefer shorter legs, finish at row 12.

Stuff the legs in their whole length.

Fasten off, leaving a long tail of yarn to sew the legs to the body.

Tummy (optional)

Using white yarn.

Start with a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)

rnd 3 - [2 sc in next st, 1 sc] rep around (18 sts)

rnd 4 - [2 sc in next st, 2 sc] rep around (24 sts)

rnd 5 - [2 sc in next st, 3 sc] rep around (30 sts)

To assemble and finish off:

If you haven't already embroidered the nose and mouth, now is the time to do it.

Stitch each ear closed and then sew to each side of the head.

Stitch each arm top closed and then sew to each side of the body.

Sew the legs to the bottom of the body.

Sew the tummy to the tummy!

Recycling

2010-07-02T22:07:00.004+02:00

I have quite a stash of yarn and I must admit I often give in to temptation when I see beautiful yarn reduced in the sales. I recently picked up some orange and yellow yarn and hopefully you'll eventually see what I made with it. At the same shop I bought a new bag of polyester stuffing, but when I got hope I started to think about recycling.

I try to recycle lots of things. The plastic bags that the organic sliced bread we eat comes in are used again and again, I even take paper bags with me when I go shopping to avoid using new ones. I do keep things that "might come in useful" and they often do eventually. Today I bought a beautiful skirt in the sales but it's slightly transparent. I don't own an underskirt, but I had kept an old black viscose skirt whose waistband had gone loose and that had become very thin and soft, but that I couldn't bring myself to throw away. So I cut off the old waistband, and turned a hem in the top of it, thread through a piece of elastic and voilà I have a recycled underskirt!

I also own lots of polyester scarves, some of which are worn out too so I've cut them into small pieces and will be using them as stuffing for a future amigurumi project. I'm sure it's also possible to recycle yarn but I don't have any old jumpers to unthread so I'll make my way through my stash first. Do any of you have further recyling ideas?

Chubby teddy

2010-06-18T22:44:00.003+02:00

This evening I finished my latest project - a chubby little teddy. It's about 6 inches tall and has a cheeky smile. This is my first personal creation. I'm busy writing up the pattern but I might well test it once again before publishing it here. So please "bear" with me :-)

For now it's name is Chubby teddy. Any suggestions for a better name would be welcome, too.

Rattle ball for Alfie

2010-06-16T19:40:00.002+02:00

Rattle ball for Alfie
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

I made this little ball for baby Alfie. It's about the size of a tennis ball, so easy for little hands to keep hold of. I followed the pattern for the spiral footbag, which you can find here.
My model is made with smaller stitches, using quite a fine cotton yarn, so I did add some extra rows in the middle. It's the first time I've tried to make a two-colour spiral pattern and it was in fact very straightforward.
I made a rattle with a plastic "egg" filled with a few plastic beads. I wrapped the "egg" with the stuffing, and then put the stuffing in the foot of an old stocking before putting the whole thing into the crochet ball. Then I finished off the spirals and now I just need to send it off to Alfie.

Chihuahua

2010-06-12T22:41:00.005+02:00

Chihuahua
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

My daughter has a thing about chihuahuas. I must say I don't share her passion for the real ones, but this tiny chihuahua is less maintenance than a real one and it can fit into a handbag, a pocket, anywhere.
I thought it was very cute, and I added a pretty pink ribbon and a little jewel to make it special. I used the free pattern available here.

Elise

2010-06-09T22:33:00.002+02:00

Elise
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

At last! I'm pleased to introduce you to Elise, my amigurumi elephant.

Sorry it took me longer than planned to finish, because I tried several types of ear before deciding upon a very simple round shape.
In fact, I make a lot of changes to the pattern that I had planned to use, leaving only the head/body and the legs. I altered the trunk, the ears and the arms, and added a bit of embroidery around Elise's eyes.

I'm quite pleased with the end result, and Elise looks happy too.

amigurumi snake

2010-05-31T22:34:00.003+02:00

amigurumi snake
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

This colourful snake is one of the first amigurumis I made. It came from the first impressive collection of patterns I discovered when I googled amigurumi: the Lion Brand website. The snake pattern is here. I didn't have any safety eyes, so I used two small pearl beads that I sewed on instead. I also added a felt red tongue. The yarn I used changed colour every few centimetres, which gave it a rainbow effect.
I'm still working on my elephant. I had trouble making both ears identical, but I managed in the end. Hopefully I'll be able to post a pic tomorrow, or on Wednesday.

Meet Lester

2010-05-30T16:57:00.005+02:00

I've been looking for a cute free elephant amigurumi pattern for some time. None of them was really what I wanted, but I have nevertheless started one using this pattern. As soon as it's finished, I'll post the picture on my blog.

In the meantime, I thought you'd like to meet Lester. It's the name my son has given to the little amigurumi rabbit I made using this pattern. My Lester looks a bit different from the original version. He's 19cm tall, and I changed the facial features. I think he's cuter too!

the blog begins!

2010-05-29T17:43:00.002+02:00

disco birds
Originally uploaded by aishakenza

Hi there!
I've been interested in sewing and crochet for many years, but have only recently started to be more active.
I discovered amigurumi (Japanese for crochet soft toys) two months ago and have really got hooked (ha ha). Here's one of my earlier creations (I found the pattern here) - more will follow and I might even get around to writing up some of my own patterns. Watch this space!