Naming Contest #5 - Name the Duck

Name the Duck contest is On at LoopySheep's facebook page! Click the contest post and name the duckling. Best name wins the sheep in the picture!

(and a little boasting - those green leaves on the left are... beans that were spared from the bin. Now i'm curious to see how tall they will grow)

Yogi Duck trying to elevate

This duck is now in the shop, and i'm working on his pattern - hope it will be available sometime next week. 

Have a nice weekend!

If I Could Only

This picture was taken 18 months ago. These dolls were my first "independent" thing, the first things i ever made up and then proceeded to create with my own hands and was actually satisfied with. That took almost four decades...

I love crocheting. I love staring at the skeins and colors, empty my mind and let color and texture take control and dance together, until that colorful blur solidifies itself into a vision of the Thing it wants to be. I love that first moment of taking the hook and yarn in my hands and watching the idea turn itself into a real, touchable thing.

It's like magic. Especially for an ex-programmer who used to live under the analytical regime of The Left Hemisphere. Now left-hemisphere likes to take vacations from time to time.

I would really love to spend a couple of days just crocheting, but there are other Things To Do. However, if you feel like crocheting yourself, i've added a new Owl Tutorial to the etsy shop, so you can make your own colorful owls! Also, when purchasing any pattern from the shop, there is a bonus free technique tutorial for making "my tubes"* that i use for birds legs.

* (it's really weird for me to call them "my tubes", being made in a pretty simple technique. But honestly, i've made them up myself when fooling around  - never seen this anywhere else. So for that matter, "my tubes" they are!)

Owls

Sometimes one feels a bit deflated. In such cases, it's good to have a roll model to look up to

It brings you up in no time

and soon you're fine.

the dog has been here a week, and he's already into yarn:

does this mean he sees me as a roll model?

Guests

We are having a guest here - a very very nice puppy

This is the last of the anemones - a late bloomer. We're on the verge of summer!

i've been looking for my nasturtium seeds for weeks. Found them at last, while spring-cleaning. I planted them and am hoping it's not too late. Meanwhile, this one arrived from nowhere -

 

if you look closely you'll see he's not growing from the pot, but from under the pot.  Probably lives on two grains of sand and a drop of water. I love nasturtiums - they're so modest. 

There are also the weeds that i was too lazy to take out, and that's lucky because now they are blooming, next to the parsley

I never knew parsley was so easy to grow. I got one pot of it last year, and now i keep finding new siblings everywhere. And another lively dweller is this violet -

He seems to have aspirations!

Crochet-Wise - lately i've been asked whether i use wire in my crocheted creatures - for example, in these sheep's legs (this picture always reminds me of that shot from "Armageddon"):

:

So - no, i don't use wire. when i wanted to make arms and legs and horns, and wanted them to be firm but still remain children-safe and washable, i played a little with crochet and Tunisian Crochet techniques, and came up with this simple method. Basically it's a sewn piece of Tunisian crochet. Although i'm sure other people use it, because it's very simple really, i haven't yet seen it anywhere else. I use it a lot when crocheting my creatures, and i like the play of textures and character it gives the piece, knowing it's all "only" yarn. It's nice that the same hook and yarn can create both a soft fabric and a firm limb - depending only on the technique. So i've photographed and written A SHORT TUTORIAL on this, and you can now get it for FREE when buying one of my patterns! 

Going back to making owls now - thankfully on the bench outside, oh blessed daylight saving time. have a nice weekend!