Woolly Smile

Baby is on the way, so it is time to celebrate! Baby showers are fun to use the opportunity to find something unique for for the mom-to-be, future dad and the baby. There are endless options for baby shower gifts, you can buy or make it yourself. You can never go wrong with a handmade gift! :) I have pregnant friends and they asked me to make some gift favors for their baby showers. I wanted to make something new and unique. After a few days of dreaming, thinking; watching my two daughters playing and being inspired by them; I made these swaddle dolls. I really love how they turned out. They can be used as key rings, fridge magnet, bag charms etc.. If you want to make your own baby shower favors, you can find the pattern here or if you want me to make them for you, please contact me :)

I love small projects which are stash busting and easy to make with in a few hours, sometimes minutes. Last month on our way to grocery shopping I saw big paper clips and they were jumping up and down, singing "buy me, buy me, you will make amazing stuff with me". :) I couldn`t resist their cute song and before my husband noticed, they were in the shopping basket hiding under some lemons. Sometimes I need inspiration to start the projects I want to make. I need to find the right flower / leaf pattern or the right stitch to start with. It usually takes time until it clicks and after that comes the production process. The paper clips were always in front of my eyes and every idea came to my mind didnt seem very good. I wanted to start with a flower bookmark but none of the flower patterns were good for me at that time. I also wanted it to be unique, not just random bookmark. Then one day.. YAY!! I found it and started making tiny dresses and sewing them on the paper clips. I lo...

There are so many things in my mind about  my etsy shop , business, how to do promotion, products I need to make and so on.. I was drown with the ideas and my long long to do lists. By chance I found out  "rich mum business"  web site by Ranae and after watching her webinars, youtube videos I realized the mistakes I am making over and over.. This time I am getting serious about the business and moving on,  one bite at a time  :) I still have loads of things to do and sometimes 24 hours is not enough for me, especially with two kids :)  I decided to use instagram more active as a promotion for my shop and my products. I started posting more often and got new followers. I also found out a new company called  Three Bears Yarn , they were looking for crochet testers to test the patterns. Yay! I contacted them by email. I tested a blanket pattern made by  Denise Potter . I really liked the cotton yarn they sent me. They are soft and easy to croche...

I am making some small gifts for my etsy shop and started with making keychains. I wanted to make kokeshi doll but I dont like sewing the small pieces in amigurumi. So I made my own pattern with less sewing parts :)   The gauge is not important with the pattern, depending on your yarn-hook choice the size of kokeshi doll will change.  I used 2.00mm crochet hook and fingering weight yarn and she is 12cm long. The pattern is made in a continuous spiral, without joining rounds or turning. Use a stitch marker or a piece of yarn to mark the beginning of a round. Move the marker up when you complete the round. St : stitch Sc : single crochet Dc: double crochet dec : decrease – crochet two stitches together inc : increase – make two single crochet stitches in the same stitch.         Main part (Body and Head) Round 1 :  Using pink yarn, start with magic loop, make 6 sc into it. [6st] Round 2 :  Make two stitches into each sti...

When I started knitting, my husband asked a jumper for himself. We bought bamboo yarn in blue shades and I did some pattern search. After finding a pattern he likes, I casted on and off again and again; finally I gave up.. Instead I made fingerless gloves for him to wear in winter while driving, home slippers etc.. But he is still asking for that jumper :) I always found excuses not to make it, and was looking for some other patterns which is easier than a jumper, like a scarf. I saw Meadowbrook pattern by random on ravelry and that is it! I decided to knit it for his birthday. Easy to knit, masculine, quick project.. I used Nako Super Pearl yarn from my stash as I am trying to save some place for new yarns. :)  I used 4.5mm knitting needles so I had to change the numbers. I used one and almost half of another skein of blue yarn (100gr a ball) and half of gray yarn. The white yarn is from my aunt`s stash that she gave me a few years ago. :) I used a different  c...

When girls sleep in the evening, in peace and quiet I have my yarn and crochet or knitting needles. I don`t have only one project at a time, there is a basket on my table full of projects waiting their turn to be finished. Also, some other is in my head jumping up and down singing "knit me too, knit me too". :) Sometimes I fall asleep right after the girls without no craft time. Nowadays I am addicted to amigurumi. I am making dolls, rattles, softies as a gift for friends. I get inspired for new pattern ideas while making them, I have my notes but need time to try and write the instructions. They need to wait for a while until I finish some of my projects. :) Here is some I have made. ~ I love, love this doll.  It is an easy one that you don`t need to sew legs, you join them :) Sewing is my weak point with amigurumi, I hurt my fingers.  I have made a few differences from the pattern. I made proper hand part larger than arm. I didn`t make a proper dress, I made the a...

When I start or finish a project, I send photos to my sister and sister-in-law. I also share some of my to do list which is getting longer and longer each day. After me sharing everyday with every step of my projects, my sister-in-law also started feeling like crafty. She wanted to make some blankets. What she needed was an easy but cute pattern. I have seen loads of amazing patterns while I was searching for her but I felt in love with the idea of using embroidery patterns in crochet afghans. It is great for using leftover yarns but also worth buying new set of yarns to make it :) That is on my to do list but I don`t know when I can make it. I want to make it as bed spreads for the Little M and Little N.  Here are some photos that may inspire you and also remind myself of my next project.  Source  Source  Source  It is a great way of turning our favorite embroidery pattern into an afghan that we can snuggle in cold and enjoy it :)    ...