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.