G'Day Bruce!

G’day cobbers! Say hello to Bruce, a true blue Aussie Great White :)

Bruce doesn't live with me any more, he's pretty happy with his new family though: he went to live with a good bloke, who has a Marine Biology degree and a special place in his heart for sharks, especially Bruce :) Bruce enjoys being in the limelight and has had a lot of attention at school (his new dad is a teacher) and lots of admiration on Facebook!

Rather stupidly, I forgot to get any photos of Bruce before he joined his new family. Luckily for me though, Bruce recently went on holiday – a road trip with his family across outback Queensland to the Northern Territory, and on to Alice Springs and Uluru. (It sounded like a pretty awesome trip – I’m jealous!) Therefore, I have a few of Bruce’s holiday snaps to share:

Made it to the Northern Territory!

Bruce at the Devil's Marbles

Brucie enjoying a bit of red wine while the sun goes down at the red rock - Uluru

I hope you enjoyed meeting Bruce – he certainly enjoyed saying g'day, and is enjoying his fame!

Bruce is an amigurumi creation of my own design, and once again I forgot to make any notes to help with making him any brothers or sisters! (eejit! I will try harder next time...)

Monster Mash

Well this is exciting for me - I left a comment on LucyRavenscar to let her know that I had shared her links on my last post, and she not only replied to me, but she said "I really like your little animal characters too, and your budgie is adorable!" I feel very excited about that praise!! It's made my day!

I also said in my last post that I had yet more mini amigurumis to introduce, but as I'm making them faster than I'm blogging them I think that will be the case a lot, so I might stop saying it! Instead, I'm just going to introduce a few every now and then, when I have a nice little group to show, or something I'm especially proud of.

So with that in mind, here's a little set of new prototype amis I made the other day. I fancied a little change from making animal ones, so I decided to use the same simple pattern I’ve developed to make some people-y ones.

This first one wasn’t originally going to be a people-y one, it was going to be a turtle. But as I finished the first piece (head/body/legs) I started thinking about of all the options - it could become any number of other things! I eventually decided to make it into a little monster though – I thought of making a zombie, but finally settled on a mini sort-of-Frankenstein’s monster.

His monobrow is embroidered with yarn, and his hair is a small pompom of the same yarn, sewn securely onto his head. I didn’t make many wraps to make this pompom so that it would lie a bit flatter than a full pompom. He also has little co-ordinated buttons on his jumper :)

Having made this little monster, I really wanted to make more! [remember kids, monsters aren’t just for Halloween!] My husband suggested a vampire, so I made this little fellow (He's a bit short as my husband kept asking me questions about it while I was making it, and I lost count of how many rounds I had done for the body...). His hair is slicked back – embroidered with long stitch. He has a string tie and matching cape, but I haven’t been able to make good enough fangs yet – I have a plan for that though, so when I can put it into action I'll let you know how it works out.

With two boy monsters now created, I felt I needed a girl. I decided to make a witch. I couldn’t quite figure out how to make her a cloak and legs, I will need to work on this, but I still think she’s quite cute. I gave her some crazy purple hair and a cool hat, and she has a purple belt fastened with a little button buckle. Cute!

So there's my mini monster mash! I think they need a bit of tweaking still - like it would be nice if the witch could have feet, and even better if she could have stripey stockings under her cloak! But I think they're still pretty sweet :)


I'm not forgetting my regular crochet though, especially as I've been able to collect the rest of my Deramores order from Aus Post. I have in here more cotton for my Cotton Doily Hexagon Blanket, as well as some Stylecraft Classique Cotton DK for another project yet to be started:

As well as adding in a new green colour, I needed to top up the original colours I had for this blanket. Unfortunately, even the original colours I reordered are all a bit different to the yarn I already had. I guess that's what you get for buying your first batch of yarn in 2011, then waiting 4 years to order extra! It shouldn't really matter though, as it was meant to be a multicolour blanket with randomly placed motifs anyway. I will just keep hooking on it and see how it turns out - I'm working later this aftenoon, I wonder how many new patches I can get done before I have to get ready and leave...?

This Week

I hope everyone out there in blog land is all good :) 

I’m still being quite busy this week: I had enrolled on a course a while ago (I think I might have mentioned this at the time), it’s a ‘blended learning’ course, meaning that the delivery is a mixture of home study and college attendance. Well, Monday and Tuesday this week were my first attendance days for this section of the course – I have already completed the introductory section which was attendance-based, and I’ve done a lot of the home study already too. The next big thing to focus on now is getting log book experience as I need to build up practical hours as part of the course.

You may be wondering what the course actually is of course! Well, the full course I’m doing is a Diploma of Remedial Therapy, but it begins with the level below that, which is relaxation massage. So I don’t think I’ll have any trouble finding volunteers to help me out getting my practice done :)

Easter holidays are all over now, so I’m back to my previous work hours on just a Wednesday and Thursday afternoon/evening. I don’t like working these hours as it makes it difficult for me to get to sleep at night as it takes me a while to unwind, and I miss out on not only precious time with my husband (he will be away again soon – we will be apart for most of this year…) but also on the opportunities I had hoped to take up to do ‘after work’ activities, like watersports and Red Cross volunteering. For me these are now ‘during work’ activities so I can’t take part, but of course during the day there are no activities available as most other people are at work then! So frustrating as I really miss being able to do interesting activities! If only there was something fun on a Monday or Tuesday evening instead…

My at-home activities are easy though – I’m still enjoying my current obsession with amigurumi, not only trying it out but also looking at other amazing creations online. I really am in awe of the talent of some people, there are some incredible pieces of work out there. With that in mind, I thought I would just share a couple of websites that I recently found when trawling Pinterest for inspiration:

First up, I’ve already mentioned www.amigurumitogo.com as I have made 2 patterns from there (bunny and pig). My favourite of these patterns was the pig, as it had such a beautifully shaped head and cheeky face, and it looked so cute when finished! I couldn’t believe how simple all this cuteness was to produce, with the easy-to-follow pattern. I do find Sharon’s patterns on this site easy to follow, and she provides great video tutorials too, so I really recommend her simple patterns to anyone who is a beginner at amigurumi, or who wants to learn. Or who can do it already and wants a cute pig! Pig pattern here. 

Next up, and in a different style, is Lucy Ravenscar. If you’ve searched for amigurumi on Pinterest at all and seen any really cute Star Wars figures, chances are they are Lucy’s. Her Star Wars figures are so impressive and cute, and so popular, that she’s even got a book now that comes with a kit for some of the designs. The book is released next month (May 2015), and I wish we had proper Amazon in Australia! Even though I’m not a Star Wars fan as such, I think the figures are so cute that I would be tempted to make them anyway – I could always gift the results to Star Wars fan friends?

As well as this book, Lucy has several free patterns for little teeny amigurumi on her blog, and she has other patterns for sale in her Etsy shop. The for-sale patterns vary from slightly larger makes, to small makes with brilliant details given the size. My favourites from the Etsy shop are the Halflings – they look like cute little Hobbits to me, and the Witches and Wizards. I also love that the Witches and Wizards are inspired by Terry Pratchett’s characters, as I’m a huge fan of his.

Back to her blog for the free patterns, my favourites are the cat and owl to go with the Witches and Wizards. I haven’t made these yet as I’ve been so busy on my own stuff, but just reading these tiny patterns has taught me a bit more about adding shape to small amigurumi. And the owl looks like a Hedwig to me :)

Finally for now, I want to share some amigurumi eye candy! The little dolls on Magic Dolls  are made in mixed media – amigurumi, crochet, knit, fabric, cross stitch, applique, and perhaps more. They are all photographed so beautifully, with gorgeous painted illustrations and little props and accessories. The blog is in Ukranian (I think) and doesn’t have its own translate button, but the post titles and the labels have English, so it’s easy to find the images. There’s also Instagram if that’s easier for you.

I mentioned the illustrations in the photos, well if you like those you may be interested to see that there are also these gorgeous cross stitch portraits of the dolls (I can’t find links to any charts, but if you were really keen I’m sure you could email to ask about charts).

I just love looking at the pictures here, so pretty.

With regard to my own amigurumi work, I’ve been continuing to make little creations from my own pattern, the same one that I used for these little critters:

I’ve got this one written up in note form for myself, and I’m planning to share a pattern when I’m less busy and can therefore write it properly and take photos to accompany it (so probably not this week…)

And speaking of patterns, I’ve also been trying to rework my budgie so that I can make a pattern. I made the budgie without making any notes whatsoever, which was a bit silly. I also made it in rounds rather than in a spiral, as amigurumi should be. This means that it will probably need a fair bit of working and tweaking to find a good ‘proper’ version, but if I figured it out once then I’m sure I can do it again!

My next task though is to make myself a nice cup of coffee, take some photos of my latest creations ready to share, and then settle down with some hooky before I have to head off to work :)

Have a great day whatever you’re doing!

Busy Busy!

I’ve had a busier-than-normal week last week, and it’s nice to be on to the weekend!

Work-wise, with the Easter holidays, I’ve had some extra time with the girl I work with as a Support Worker while she has been off school. While this meant I didn’t get to spend much time with my husband while he was off work, it did mean I had a chance to earn a bit of extra money. This all goes back to normal next week, so I’m hoping to get to work with another person as well so that I can boost my hours. While I’m finding my job quite challenging, I’m sure I will get better at it with experience, and also I really need the money – I have a friend and her kids visiting for a month later in the year, and I really want to be able to give them a really great trip over here, as well as help with the costs a bit.

Speaking of my friend’s visit, I’m so excited about that!! I have spent much of my spare time over the last couple of weeks in planning parts of our trip. I just started writing about it all, but I’ve realised that there is so much to say that it probably deserves its own post really. I will mention part of it though – I’ve booked a trip to Sydney and the Blue Mountains, which I’m very excited about!!

I’ve never been to Sydney before, and I figured for my friend that if she’s going to fly all the way from the UK to Australia, then a trip to Sydney is a must.

I booked everything myself independently, which is how I generally organise my travels. I managed to get in early enough to get the cheapest Jetstar flights, although this was still a bit more expensive than the flights I would buy from budget airlines in Europe. We really are lucky in Europe when it comes to travel options! You have to watch Jetstar though, they are very sneaky with their additional fees – they even charge $17 per person for paying by card!! 

For our accommodation, I have booked us all in to YHAs. As we have the kids with us, I’ve booked family rooms; this has the added benefit of keeping the costs down a little further. YHAs can have a slightly odd reputation back in the UK, but the Aussie YHAs seems fantastic: modern, bright, clean, youthful, and more budget-holiday than austere and remote. I’ve stayed in 2 Aussie YHAs so far, and both were fantastic – especially the one at Hervey Bay. We were only there one night on the way home from Brisbane, but having seen it I would happily make a holiday there again. There are several YHAs in Sydney itself. The Harbour one looks amazing, with wonderful views of the Opera House from the roof terrace. This was significantly more expensive than the Central YHA though, which would have added up even further over a few nights, so the Central one it was for us.

After a few days in Sydney, we will catch the train to the Blue Mountains town of Katoomba, where we will stay in another YHA so that we can explore a little around there before having to catch the flight back to Townsville. The Blue Mountains form part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site too, so I’m really excited to visit there and see what it’s like.

Also on the internet, I have entered the world of MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses. These are free online short courses offered by various education institutions, including some really top universities. I completed my first one last week, an Introduction to Nursing in Healthcare. I chose this as I’m considering training as a nurse next year, and this course had an Australian focus so I thought it would be relevant. It was a very superficial glance at the role of nurses in Australia, but it was good to get thinking about nursing, and it was also a good, gentle introduction to MOOCs in general. I plan to do more throughout the year too, in whatever takes my fancy :)

If you’re interested in MOOCs yourself, these are the places I have found most useful for finding them:

FutureLearn 

edX 

Open2Study 

Away from the internet, I went to my first Aussie sports game yesterday. 

I tried to get some photos of the game and the pre-match entertainment, but as you can see the sun was not helping!

We went to see the AFL – what is called footie in Queensland, but would be called Rugby League back home. The Townsville Cowboys were playing the New Zealand Warriors, and it was a pretty tight game coming down to a nail-biting finish. I really wanted to support my new home town, but I’ve always been something of a Kiwiphile and the All Blacks have always been my second team to support in international rugby. As soon as the Warriors got the ball to score the first try of the match, I found my loyalty very firmly lay with them… They had an excellent player who made several breaks, and they were ahead for most of the game. The Cowboys never let them get too far ahead though, and just when it looked as though the gap was too much to close, the Cowboys scored another try with 2 minutes to go, taking the lead at the very end. The crowd went wild, but I was a bit disappointed that the Warriors hadn’t won…

And there has been crochet of course!

I have made a few more hexagons for my cotton blanket – the rest of the yarn from my order has arrived too, I just need to collect it from the Post Office as soon I can as it arrived while I was out. Then I can get started on even more colours!

I have also been making some more amigurumis, these ones are for my future craft stall. So far I have made another little pig, this one has a purple flower badge (my original one had a coconut heart):

I also broke out some baby blue yarn, and made another bunny and a kitten. The kitten has a nose and whiskers embroidered with sewing thread, while the bunny's nose is yarn. I know the bunny's button looks plain and round, but it's actually glittery:

The bunny has a pom-pom tail, while kitty has a long tail:

That pompom might need a trim...

I have a few more to share too, but I'm worried that this getting a bit long now so I'll leave it there for now! I hope you're all enjoying your weekends :)