on crocheting and books

I love books. If you've followed my blog for a while, you know that I am an avid reader. When I was a kid, I didn't eat a single meal without reading a book at the same time. Drove my mother crazy. I love all kind of books. My biggest love are novels. I love diving into a story, vanishing into another world, submerging into other countries, other peoples, other lives. But I also love biographies. And guidebooks. And non-fiction.
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Ich liebe Bücher! Wer meinen Blog schon länger verfolgt weiß, dass ich ein leidenschaftlicher Leser bin. Als Kind konnte ich nie essen, ohne dabei zu lesen, das hat meine Mutter wahnsinnig gemacht. Ich liebe alle möglichen Bücher, wobei mein Herz aber immer noch den Romanen gehört. Ich liebe es, in einer Geschichte zu verschwinden und in neue Welten einzutauchen, gedanklich in andere Länder zu reisen, andere Menschen kennenzulernen und andere Leben zu leben. Ich mag aber auch Biographien, Rageber und Sachbücher.

And I love to crochet.
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Und ich liebe es zu häkeln.

So it's obvious that I love a book that deals with crochet.
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Da ist es selbstverständlich, dass ich Bücher liebe, die mit Häkeln zu tun haben.

"sweet forest minis". The animals in this books are really tiny.

but extremely cute!

For my birthday last month, my lovely husband gifted me three amigurumi books. (One is for knitted animals though. He doesn't really know the different and the book is in English, so it was even harder for him to distinguish between knitting and crochet. But it's the thought that count and I always wanted to learn to knit anyway). Those books are wonderful and I can't wait to try all those lovely animals! - Especially the little chamaeleon that you can turn inside out so it can change its color! What an awesome idea!
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Zu meinem Geburtstag hat mir mein toller Mann drei Amigurumi Bücher geschenkt (na gut, eins ist zum Stricken, aber er kennt den Unterschied schon auf Deutsch nicht und auf Englisch kann ich das erst recht nicht von ihm erwarten. Macht nix, wollt eh schon immer mal stricken lernen.)
Die Bücher sind ganz toll und ich kanns gar nicht mehr erwarten endlich mal was davon auszuprobieren. Besonders fasziniert mich das Chamäleon, das man von innen nach außen drehen kann, damit es seine Farbe ändert. Ganz großes Kino!

my newest addition. and my new favourite book!

i mean, just look at it!

those details and those amazing ideas!

my husband already claimed this little monkey for him. He wants to hang him onto his Harley! 

I have to make two other amigurumis for a friend before I can start diving into these books (and my yarn stash) and so I put it on my crochet book pile. And then I noticed that this pile is rather high. (Not counting the two books that I currently lend to my mother!).
And then I shamefully noticed, that all those books are untouched. I never made a single thing from them.
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Ich muss noch zwei Auftragsarbeiten erledigen (die mich grad irgendwie so gar nicht freuen) und dann kann ich endlich loslegen. Zu meiner großen Schande muss ich gestehen dass ich - bis auf eine Tasche - noch GAR NICHTS aus diesen Büchern gehäkelt habe. Das muss sich doch ändern!

crochet bags

i love this one!

And that has to change.

that's a project I'm saving for later this year. My little niece will get that doll for christmas!

it has 45 (!) outfits and accessories, so you can change the doll into a farmer...

... or dress her up as a little red riding hood...

...or even as superwoman. and look at those little cute underpants!!!

So from now on (after I finished my two orders) I'll crochety myself across those lovely books.
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Für den Rest des Jahres werd ich mich nun durch diese Bücher häkeln. Ich freu mich schon.

there are also some small projects

like this little - not so scary - monsters!

Just need to decide which project I will start first.
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Jetzt muss ich nur noch entscheiden, mit welchem Projekt ich anfange...

chosing is hard!

Do you have favourite crochet books? Let me know in the comments below as I am always on the lookout for some new ones!
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Habt ihr Lieblings-Häkel-Bücher? Lasst es mich doch wissen, ich bin immer auf der Suche nach Neuen!

March: A Summary

It's getting ridiculous, but the first sentence that comes to mind, when I'm writing these summary posts is: How can another month have passed so fast??? How can time fly by? How can it be that it's APRIL already? But it IS April, and time HAS passed and so I'm sitting here to reflect and remember the past thirty days.

LIFE:
Things are moving on the house front. My husband and I started to visit several furniture stores and kitchen stores to get a plan for our new kitchen. It took us a while to come to an agreement regarding the looks of the kitchen, but we finally found one that we both like. We're still waiting for the offer. It definitely will be expensive, but we want to buy a good kitchen and we're ready to invest some money!
My sister in law visited us with our family for a few days. I haven't seen them since Christmas as they live in a different part of Austria. It was great to see them all again - especially my little niece. When I saw her last she was 6 months old and wasn't able to sit by herself. She always toppled over. Now she cralws and is able to pull herself up on the furniture. It's amazing how fast these little people learn and grow! And of course for days after my husband couldn't talk about anything else but babies. He would really be ready to have one but I think we will wait for a while with that! ;)

Schön langsam tut sich was beim Haus. Im März waren wir schon in Möbelhäusern und Küchenstudios um uns unsere Traumküche planen zu lassen. Es hat ein wenig gedauert bis wir uns auf das Aussehen einigen konnten, aber mittlerweile haben wir eine ziemlich klare Vorstellung darüber, wie unsere Traumküche aussehen soll. Wird zwar nicht ganz billig, aber wir sparen schon ganz fleißig und uns ist es auch wichtig, dass wir gleich von Anfang an eine hochwertige Küche haben. Das kostet dann halt auch.
Letzte Woche war meine Schwägerin + Familie zu Besuch. Zuletzt sah ich alle zu Weihnachten. Es war schön, sie wieder da zu haben. Vor allem war's nett, meine Nichte Lea wieder zu sehen. Seit Weihnachten ist sie ja schon ordentlich gewachsen. Damals kippte sie immer noch nach vorne über, wenn sie alleine sitzen wollte. Heute zieht sie sich schon an den Möbeln hoch und krabbelt in Windeseile durch die ZImmer. Unglaublich, wie schnell sich die Kids entwickeln! Der Babybesuch hat natürlich meinen Mann wieder dazu gebracht, über Nachwuchs zu reden. Er wäre schon so weit. Aber ich glaub, ich bin noch nicht so ganz bereit dafür.

CRAFT:
To be honest - I didn't do any crochet this past few weeks. I finished little Josefine to hand her over to my niece. She squealed with joy when she saw here and laughed a lot but I forgot to take some pictures. I will hand them in later ;)
The weather is finally nice and warm outside so I don't spend much time at home with my crochet hook. I really want to change that in April though. There is a little lamb that I have to finish for a friend and my husband gave me the most amazing amigurumi books for my birthday in March. I'm really looking forward to try those things out. A review of these books will follow as well, I'm already working on several posts.

by now my little lamb has all two hands and already a part of its head

my pile of birthday gifts including my new amigurumi books!

Im März war ich total häkelfaul. Ich hab lediglich Josefine fertig gemacht, weil ich sie Lea persönlich übergeben wollte. Die kleine Maus hat sich auch total darüber gefreut und gleich mal herzhaft losgequietscht, als sie den rosa Drachen gesehen hatte. Leider hab ich vergessen, die Übergabe zu fotografieren. Mir wurde aber versprochen, dass ich noch Fotos zum Nachreichen bekomme. Diese Woche werd ich auch noch ein Auftragsschaf fertighäkeln. Mein Mann hat mir zu meinem Geburtstag ein paar tolle Amigurumi Bücher geschenkt und ich kann es schon gar nicht mehr erwarten, endlich mal ein paar Tiere davon nachzuhäkeln. Rezensionen über diese Bücher hab ich auch schon in Arbeit, die folgen dann so nach und nach.

SPORT:
Motivation got me again. I use the runtastic app to track my running. I wasn't running very often in 2016. Now you can set yourself a running goal for the year and runtastic tells you, how many kilometres you have to run every week to fulfill this goal. I set myself the goal of 300 kilometers. I ran 25 so far and until now I'm ahead of my running goal. I have to say that this feature is highly motivating and I can't wait to go for my next run - although I've just been running today!
I started with regular homeworkouts as well. I'm nearly able to do a push-up. My arms are my weakest part of the body and I really want to work on them. Just for myself, because I want to prove myself that I'm able to keep being determined!

I'm ahead of my goal. And highly motivated!

Die Motivation hat mich wieder gefunden. Ich benutze beim Laufen die Runtastic App. Seit Anfang 2016 war ich nicht wirklich oft laufen. Jetzt gibt's bei der App eine neue Funktion, mit der man sich ein Jahreslaufziel setzen kann. Runtastic sagt einem dann, wie viele Kilometer pro Woche man laufen muss, um das Ziel zu erreich. Ich hab mir 300 km als Ziel gesetzt, dafür muss ich 7 km die Woche laufen. Bis jetzt hab ich schon 25 Kilometer geschafft und bin meinem Ziel sogar voraus. Das muss ich aber auch sein, weil ich ja nicht davon ausgehen kann, dass ich jede Woche zum Laufen komme. Darüber hinaus mache ich nun auch öfter wieder Home Workouts. Die Liegestütze schaffe ich auch schon fast, da fehlt nicht mehr viel.

BOOKS:
I'm STILL reading the Game of Thrones series. I'm on book 5 now and this is the last volume I own. After the fifth book I will switch to reading something else for a while - I have a few books (that I borrowed or got as a present - I still haven't bought any books this year!) on my to-be-read pile that I can't wait to dig into! So for March there will finally a non-fantasy-book in this section!

books and coffee. the perfect combination. 

Ich bin immer noch bei Game of Thrones. Gerade arbeite ich mich durch Teil 5. Das ist auch der letzte Teil, den ich besitze. Danach werd ich mal wieder etwas anderes lesen. Ich habe schon ein paar Bücher auf meinem "muss ich noch lesen" Stapel, die schon auf mich warten. Und die wurden alle NICHT gekauft. Seit Mitte Dezember hab ich nun wirklich keine neuen Bücher gekauft und bin deshalb auch ganz stolz auf mich!


How was your March? Did you have nice weather? I had my birthday as well on the 20th. 28 years old already...I can't believe that I'm already that "old"!

Wie war euer März? Ich finds ja toll, dass das Wetter endlich schöner wird. An meinem Geburtstag am 20 März (wie kann ich denn bitte schon 28 sein???) tranken wir den Kaffee schon draußen in der Sonne. Herrlich ist das!

Looking for a name

Hey guys, 

During the Christmas holidays, we visited my sister in law and her amazing family in Salzburg. She is married and has three children, two boys, aged 7 and 8 and a little baby girl, who's just a little over seven months right now. 

One evening, we sat together after the kids went to bed and we talked about my crochet work. As I told you before, I'd like to make a little extra money with my crochet work. So I showed my sil the lalylala dolls that I made so far. She was thrilled by the looks of it and asked me, if I would make one for my little niece. 

When we talked about whether I should crochet the cute kangaroo or the even cuter little lamb, her husband interfered. He said, that all the dolls and puppets are way too cute and wasn't there something more masculin? Like...a dragon? 

Well thank god that I bought the pattern for Dirk the Dragon a while ago but never got around to try it out. And when I asked about the colors, my sister in law immediatly said: PINK! 

I guess, finally having a little girl after living with a husband and two sons for ten years makes you really girly. 

So I bought the yarn. 

And started to crochet. 

A few days later I had all parts ready. 

And when it snowed really bad this Saturday, and we decided to stay in and have a lazy day on the couch I started to sew all the parts together. 

Whenever I make a doll for a baby, I rather stitch the eyes on, than use plastic eyes so that there is no choking hazars. And with every doll I'm getting better and better. 

I'm nearly finished now and I can't wakt to visit my sister in law again to give little Lea her little dragon. 

Probably not the kind of dragon my brohter in law had in mind, but I hope, my lovely niece will like it as much as I do and she'll play with it and treasure it for a very long time. 

Now all I need is a new name. "Dirk" isn't really fitting for my little pink baby. So I need your help. If you would have any suggestion for my nameless dragon please let me know. I'm thankul for your help! 

Amigurumi Madness

Hello lovely readers and a very warm welcome to all my new ones! How nice of you all to be here! 

About one year ago I bought a pattern for a lalylala doll. Paul the toadstool was the first one for me. I was addicted from the first few stitches to the easy and lovely pattern. It didn't take long for Paul to emerge from my crochet hook. But as it is with things that you do for the first time - you make mistakes. Pauls hat was way too thick and heavy, so his head kept waddling backwords and forwards and never held up. I am very, very bad when it comes to needlework. I really have troubles with sewing on buttons and so I naturally had difficulties with sewing on the different limps and body parts. I wanted to add beads as eyes but ended up glewing them on poor Paulies face because I got so frustrated when I wasn't able to sew them on his head. 

And so Paul stayed alone and didn't get a lalylala companion to spend his time with! 

Until now. 

I have a friend who bakes. She loves to make cakes and cake pops and cookies and she is very talented when it comes to decorate them. She works in a bank and she earns some money on the weekend with selling those cakes. 

Now as some of you might know, my man and I are saving for a house. And as you can imagine - buying (or building, we haven't decided on this was yet) a house needs A LOT of money. So I thought: if my friend can earn some extra money with something she loves to do why can't I? And since I got so much positive response to poor little wonky Paul, I thought it must be possible, to crochet some not-so-wonky amigurumi dolls and sell them. Not on a "I earn my living with this"-basis, but to have a small, little income on the side for our future home. 

To make a long story short: I made another lalylala doll. I'm sure you are familiar with her. She's making her round through the blogosphere for a while now. So I'm going to stop my blabbering and proudly present to you: Kira the Kangaroo! 

Not yet perfect, but still adorable and - to my endless delight - already sold. 

 

And now if you'll excuse me: I have am order for a Kira. Little Lena already waits for her own little kangaroo. So I better start to crochet!

Taking Stock: September

Making : Amigurumi. Lots of it. I have a new plan in the making and I hope that it will work out!
Cooking : Pumpkin Risotto. I love Risotto!
Drinking : Water and Tea. And I hade a few glasses of Wine on the weekend.
Reading: T.C. Boyle - San Miguel
Wanting: for an opportunity. it hasn't arrived, though.
Looking: at sport videos. I think I have to give "Blogilates" a try. I really need to get fit!
Playing: music, again. As long as I remember, there was always music around me and I stopped listening to music in the last few years. I'm starting to get my love for music back again.
Deciding: on whether or not I should look out for a new job...
Wishing: somebody would make this decision for me!
Enjoying: autumn days. but the warm, sunny ones. not the cold, rainy ones that we also had in the past week...
Waiting: for the weekend. A friend from Hamburg will come visit!
Liking: the fact that I could maybe earn a little money...
Wondering: if the refugee crisis will come to a peaceful solution!
Loving: that my crochet mojo is back.
Buying: NOTHING! I am not allowed to spend any money on anything. We're really seriously saving up for our own house. And for a big holiday next year!
Watching: I watched "Frozen" yesterday. The man fell asleep immediately. nice movie. Too much singing for my taste. I think I prefer Pixar movies.
Hoping: that my nice big plan will work out...
Cringing: at the news at the moment. Austria is overflowing with Refugees. The people are doing their best and it's amazing to see, how many people help to volunteer. But that situation can't go on like this. We need a solution...
Needing: more time for sports.
Smelling: freshly brewed tea. As autumn slowly comes along, I'm back in my baking mood. I really need to make a cake on the weekend.
Wearing: JACKETS! It's way too early to wear jackets..
Following: blogilates. And some sewing blogs.
Noticing: the small changes my man and I go through. I wonder if it's because we're married now...
Knowing: that certain things will have to change in 2016.
Thinking: that I'm really excited to start my yoga lessons next week!
Admiring: how people find time in their lives to crochet, cook, bake, work, make sport...I'm always so short on time!
Sorting: through my yarn stash.
Getting: massages. I have a lot of headaches and my doctor thinks it's because my shoulders and my neck are so tense. So I get massages two times a week. They only last 10 minutes, though.
Bookmarking: Blogilates videos and cake recipes. Perfect combination! ;) 
Disliking: the refugee situation. This world can be such a cruel and terrifying place. It really makes me sad!
Feeling: motivated. I'm about to go for a run. I've set up a reward system for myself, where I save 2 euros for every sport activity that I made. Then I'll use the money to spoil myself. With a nice massage, new shoes, a facial treatment...something like this. Let's see, if this works!
Snacking: apples. Apple season is on and I love a good apple and everything you can bake with it!
Hearing: Music again! Dave Matthews Band, Calexico, Kasabian, Katie Melua and many many more.

getting ready for Christmas

Wow. It's October, the weather is finally getting a little nicer and warmer again (we had 25 degrees yesterday. twenty-five!) and what did I do in this fine weather? Right, I came home from work, turned my laptop on and started to browse for patterns for crocheted snowflakes. Of course.

See, I will have the opportunity to sell some of my stuff at a christmas stall - without having to stand there everyday! I just have to make it and another person will sell it for my. Quite nice, isn't it? But the stall will open up in December and I just heard about it yesterday. So I racked my brain and hundreds of blogs for ideas and started to try out some stuff.

The crocheted owl keyring is my favorite, unfortunately it takes ages to make. The pattern isn't as easy as it looks. And I suck at sewing on the eyes. So I glued them. Pretty sad, actually. But no one will know. Hopefully.

The second is my first crocheted snowflake and I LOVE IT! It will look great hanging from the branch of a christmas tree and I bought tons of glitter (yay, glitter, one of the things that I love most about christmas time - that there is so much glitter!!) to sprinkle over them. AND they're pretty quick and easy to make. It took me about 15 minutes and I will get faster once I've memorised the pattern, which shouldn't take long as it's not that complicated.

And the last one should be a bauble. It turned out a little small and not as round as I had expected it but I will probably make more of them as they're also quick and easy and I think that they look very nice. And there are tons of possibilities with colors and different yarns.

BUT for now I stop making those christmas things. I bought a pattern. The very first pattern that I bought but I've been toying around with the idea of buying it for a while now! For some time I drool over the images of lalylala and the gorgeous amigurumi figures she makes. So when there was a sale at dawanda (which is something like the german etsy) I decided to buy three of her patterns. I chose Paul the toadstool, Lupo the lamb and Dirk the dragon. I will start with Paul.

And so I'm off to my local yarn store to buy all the supplies that I need for Paul. I probably won't sell him because I find him so cute that I will keep him. Or rather give it to my man as he demanded that he wants to have that lovely little mushroom. Do you understand now why I marry this guy? 


P.S.: The owl design is from here, the snowflake is from here and the bauble I found here.