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!)

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!