Mouse for daughter

I made a mouse for my daughter, exactly the same as I made for my sister, because Katya adores her aunt and wants to be like her in everything.

Still can crochet

I discovered that I am able to crochet while breastfeeding and holding my sleeping son, which allowed me to finish the border around Chameleon Blanket.

This is probably the most time consuming crochet project I ever attempted. Details are on Ravelry

Taking the lid off

If you study is going to be fruitful, let it be because you use the information as a set of tools to take the lid off your own creativity.
James Walters "Crochet Workshop"

Knitting socks will have to wait

Did I say I'm going to attempt to knit a pair of socks for myself? I think they'll have to wait until after Christmas as my plan to make only one handmade present snowballed and now I'm making two time-consuming ones for Katya and few tiny ones for various people. Oh, I also promised to make FIVE Christmas stockings.

Before the snowballing effect took place, I made another crochet flower brooch out of leftover Noro Kureyon Sock (here the ones I made back in summer)

Ironically as soon as I managed to use up most of it I found a gorgeous blanket pattern and ordered more Kureyon Sock yarn in different colourways, so there could be many more flower brooches in the future.

I managed to crochet two snowflakes before loosing interest and finding the paper ones we made last year to decorate the kitchen window.

And to keep my child's legs warm I knitted a pair of legwarmers from the yarn I bought online for my husband's hat. He is happy with blue one, but wants an yellower orange - I have a pretty good idea of the colour he'll like, but can't find it anywhere.

Katya, who sometimes refuses to wear COTTON knitted-looking dresses, because they are scratchy!!!, actually loves the legwarmers and wears them inside and outside everyday. However, she requested a green and yellow pair, because now it is her favourite colour combination. So maybe I'll never get around to knitting my pair of socks.

I wonder how other multi-crafters choose their next project and if they ever end up making anything for themselves or just keep on producing items for their family and friends.

I thought this was a crafty blog?

I guess I was wrong, as the last entry that has something handmade in it was at the end of July. Wasn’t July like yesterday? No? Give me a second while I’ll try to figure out what months it is now. Ah, yes – November. I guess I should be happy that it isn’t yet December, but probably should start stressing about all the Christmas presents that need to be made. Though maybe need is the wrong word to use. “You don’t need X, you just want it” my husband keeps on telling our daughter, who screams about needing the tiniest things in the tone of voice that implies that her life depends on them.

Anyway, here are most of the items made since the end of July (there are more details on Ravelry):


The set of fruit & veg I made for a friend's daughter's first birthday present.


The only vegetable & fruit I managed to crochet for my daughter before I got extremely bored with making fruit & veg.


An autumn heart for my husband. (pattern: MyGurumi Pop-Heart)


A mouse for my "mad scientist" sister from this pattern.

Looks like crochet is my comfort craft – when everything else fails I can still crochet.

I wish

Here’s the truth: if you want something, you can have it, but only if you want everything that goes with it, including all the hard work and the despair, and only if you’re willing to risk failure.
from Clockwork or All Wound Up by Philip Pullman

Some wishes are carelessly uttered and are as easily forgotten. Some dreams are harboured deep inside for a long time and become part of our being. I had few of these hidden dreams for a very long time. They grew and shrank as my life followed its unique course; sometimes they hid away even from myself; occasionally I would re-examine them only to put them away again for later. And now I have the chance to turn them into reality. But remember that old saying “Be careful what you wish for”? So I need to think carefully about the implications of finally living my dreams and how they will affect the rest of my family. And to help myself focus and to find some time for contemplating my future I created a little dream book by altering an old kids board book.

The stamping of the flowers didn’t work, especially after the little hands grabbed the book before the stamped images had time to dry. I didn’t want to repaint the cover, so used some of Katya’s glitter and shiny shapes to fix (or at least somewhat hide) the problem. The butterfly was crocheted from one of My Picot’s patterns and hand-dyed together with some fabric using Procion MX dyes.

I know it sounds silly to spend time on altering a board book in order to carve the time required for the self-reflection, but doing something with my hands helps me to relax and switch off from daily tasks and worries.

If you want to try your hand at modifying an existing book for your own purposes Art Junk Girl has a post with Chunky Book Tips on her blog.

Lucky me

I learned to crochet as a child and crocheted on and off for most of my life, so it is one craft area in which I feel reasonably comfortable. It is also one of the things I can do while Katya is awake. So when talented Barmyowlscoo mentioned having idea for the quilt with crocheted doilies I offered to make some for her.


In return she sent me all these goodness: tinny owl, kiddie fabric (I should write down all ideas I have for it, so I can choose one and get it done), potholders created by herself and a painting set for Katya (not included in this photo as the Little One wanted to try it out straight away). Here is a close up of the potholders - aren't they gorgeous?

Why do I always feel that I got a much better package than the one I sent?