Crochet Ballerina Mice

Ballerina Mice

There are so many projects that I have forgotten to write about. First up are the finished Ballerina Mice I made for my Nieces for Christmas. I added photos of the mice in the making but forgot all about the finished ones. Well here they are.

They were lovely to make. You can read all about the materials used on my Ravelry page. I mainly crocheted them on the train so they came together pretty quickly. They are so cute and were well received. I didn't add cheeks, I thought they were ok without them.

The pattern is Ballerina-Mouse by Mari-Liis Lille.

Christmas gift progress

Day 2 working on Christmas Gifts

I'm really enjoying making on the train again, and these girls are coming along really quickly. I'm a bit behind in writing about them, but that's ok. If you want to skip ahead check out my Instagram (look for dittocrafts) or flickr (click on the picture above).

Back on the hook

And hopefully back into blogging. So many things have just got in the way, like life maybe?

It's school holidays here at the moment and we have all been sick, yuck. Seems like everyone in Melbourne is at the moment. Sewing at the machine while I'm sick usually spells disaster, so I've picked up the hook again.

I've been eying off Planet June crochet patterns for ages, waiting for the right time. Well the right time came so I bought and made a few! Here they are.

First up a few of her free tutorials, just to make sure I wanted to start again and my fingers would cope. So I made the baby whale, apple and pear. These are now sitting on my desk at work.

By the time I'd finished the pear I was hooked (get it!!) again so I bought a set of dino patterns and the lemmings pattern.

Baby Brachy

Baby Stegy

Oh no! Lemmings

I've also been playing with a few photo editors for the iPad and iPhone. Haven't found my "look" yet. It's all flickers fault, I had a look, oh well.

I think another reason I haven't been blogging is I've been having trouble loading the pics from my camera onto the big computer, so I've been iPhoning all my pics. I guess its a certain look, just haven't found one I like yet.

I've got one dino left to make in the set. AJ has already put an order in for a T-rex! He wants a bucket full of dinosaurs!!

Well hopefully this will be the start of blogging again. You can always find me over at Ditto Crafts too.

Happy Hooking

TTFN

Dobby the house elf

..has come to live at our house.

Dobby's close up

I made Dobby for AJ for his 7th birthday. He was fun to make, I loved how he came together and his character was there almost straight away.

Dobby

I bought the pattern here from Lucy Ravenscar. I love her patterns. You may recall the Ewoks I made a couple of years ago also from a pattern she designed. Her patterns are very easy to follow with handy hints also. I decided not to crochet Dobby's clothes but used an old tea towel instead.

AJ with Dobby

AJ also had a Harry Potter themed birthday. Here he is in his quidditch robes. All of his friends dressed up, they all looked fantastic. They watched the first movie, well kinda, they were all a bit excited to sit down and watch. They all had a good time, boy the first movie is long!

Hogwarts Castle

We made a Hogwarts Castle cake for the party too. I say we cos the hairy bloke made the cake and I decorated it.

It's been a big couple of weeks leading up to this party, I'm exhausted now. Might be re-thinking the whole party thing next year. I don't mind the organising and planning, it's the very excited naughty boy that appears in our house before hand that I don't like!!

TTFN

Thirtyseven

Amigurumi Elephant, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

Yep it's my birthday. Happy Birthday to me. The number 37 has followed me all my life, it's cropped up in all sorts of places. Have you got a number like that? Hopefully this is a good sign and this will be my year.

I made this little Ele while on a girls weekend last weekend, well most of it, finished it off when I got home, too much talking, eating chocolate and popping in the spa to get too much done :-).

A bloggers dilemma

Little Amigurumi Mushroom

I've been writing this post in my head for a while now and thought it about time I got it out of my head! I think I have blog overload or blog fatigue, and not just from posting here, from trying to keep up with everyone else's blogs too. I have so many in my reader now that I'm just not reading them, just scrolling down looking at the pretty pictures. I have a few blogs that I definitely read and try to comment on every post but I'm finding it really hard to keep up. And then I think, why am I trying to keep up? It's not my job, I'm not getting paid for this I don't have to do it. So I'm going to go through my reader and unsubscribe a few, which is hard, I'm a hoarder and it's like I've hoarded these subscriptions! It's school holidays here at the moment and I'm going away for a week next week, without a computer! I wonder how many posts will be waiting for me in my Google Reader, will I just mark them all as read? Then I think what if I miss out on something? What am I going to miss out on? It's only a week and it's only someone else's (that I usually don't know) blog!!

So if I'm skipping over blogs, how many are skipping over mine? I know I need to improve my photography, will that make people stop by or is it what I write or what I craft? Am I losing track of why I started this blog in the first place?

It's not just blogs that I'm trying to keep on top of either, it's also facebook and recently I was introduced to pinterest! So I think having a break for a week is going to be good for me, get my head and priorities straight.

So does anyone else share in my dilemma or are you stronger than I?

On another note, these are a few pics of what my mum has been up to lately with the Grandkids. They are so lucky to have an art teacher for a grandma. She got the inspiration and pattern from here. Every time a grandchild comes to play they add a little.

Saucepan Man

The Magic Faraway Tree

Dame Washalot's washing

Dame Washalot's house

Toadstools at the bottom of the tree

So that's it for me on this very wet, cabin fever, kind of school holiday day. Hopefully I'll be able to take some pics of some baby hats I've been making.

TTFN

200th post

Wow never thought I would get here but I have. 200 posts. Could have got here sooner if I blogged more!!

I'm taking a little break from sewing, after the marathon effort over the last couple of weeks, so I can now catch up on other things that have been a bit neglected. Like blogging and connecting with other people!! (Not to mention house work!)

Lego Box pouch for Billy

A couple of weeks ago I made another box pouch, this time for my cousins now 5 year old. I love this lego fabric, I wish I'd bought more.

This is what I've been busy making.

Lots of tiny shoes

Lots of Pocket Clutches

And a cute little Amigurumi mouse

I think I am now up to date in sharing what I have been making. Next will be for family and friends. It's been a good experience making for a market but I do get a lot more joy out of making for someone in mind. I'm looking forward to taking commissions though, there is a contact and I know where the product will end up.

Until next time.

Happy Sewing

TTFN

Edit: I would also like to thank those that read and comment on my blog, thanks heaps, I wouldn't have got to 200 without you :-).

Ewok's on an adventure

Ewok's on an adventure, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

I made these two little guys for Little A's friends (brothers) for their birthdays in early November. They are Star Wars fans along with their Mum (I made the yoda for her) so now they have their own star wars amigurami. The pattern was a free tutorial found here. I can't believe she gives this tutorial away for free. It was very easy to follow and gave two options for the face, which was handy so I could make two individual ones. Little A is now obsessed with watching the Ewok movie. Lucky I haven't been asked to make one for him.

More stuff made in the last couple of months to come. Now I have the photos off the hubby's camera they will come sooner rather than later. I love the new lens he has on his cannon, perfect shots. I want a new sewing machine before I splash out on new lenses for my camera.

Only 3 weeks of work to go and only 3 weeks to start and finish making stuff for christmas. It's been so muggy in Melbourne that I haven't felt like sewing. Need to crank up the air con.

TTFN

Made a yoda I did

I recently made this little guy for a friends 40th, star wars fan, can you tell? I've got plans for her kids birthday's this year, shh. I got the pattern from a crochet tutorial by Oh so happy together. Go check her other stuff out.

My mum's been busy again. Another tea cosy, more to come, she's not stopping here.

Frog Rattle

My second attempt at Amigurami

Stitching comments: I used 4ply cotton this time with a 2.5mm hook, much better gauge and of course didn't have anything to do with the fact I'm getting used to doing it again!! The mouth is a bit wonky, but what's a frog without a bit of character?

Lessons Learned: Need to push the stuffing in a bit further down when continuing to crotchet, it got stuck a bit in the stitches.

Pattern: dog & frog rattles, more softies, Penguin Books, design by Suzie Fry

Dog Rattle

My first attempt at an Amigurumi

Stitching comments: I was a bit hasty in wanting to try my hand at crocheting again, I did do a bit when i was growing up, I dove in the deep end with the wrong wool weight for the crochet hook that I had and didn't practice to get the guage right. Anyway, this is the result, better luck next time.

Lessons Learned: Use what the patterns says to use, 4-ply cotton with 2.5mm hook, not a 3.5.

Pattern: dog & frog rattles, more softies, Penguin Books, design by Suzie Fry