Crochet slavic bride and groom

Here are slavic bride and groom amigurumis - my recent creation for my lovely friend's wedding. Both bride and groom have light brown hair with red tint, that's why I used orange yarn to reproduce their hair.
Sorry for not the best quality photo, unfortunately I haven't enough time to wait for the proper light. We have constant rains here lately.

The deadline for this present was really tight, so I had to significantly simplify the scheme. The initial idea was much more rich and detailed. But I think I've managed to keep the symbolism and put my soul, good energy and best wishes into it. Hope it will bring only luck and happiness to it's new owners.
I used linen fabric to make their clothes, blue and pink yarn for belts and headbands, orange yarn for the hair and some synthetic filler to fill the heads. Amigurumis are about 10 centimeters high.

Amigurumi Viking Girl

Let me introduce you a little viking girl. I made this cute amigurumi for a good friend of mine, who moved to Sweden recently. She has a bright red hair with braids and a traditional viking hat with horns. She is wearing a fur coat with colorful buttons, that not only warms her, but also is her basis.

She likes looking out of the window waiting for her viking boy.

Despite braveness, courage and strength, that are usual characteristics for an average viking girl, she is also very graceful and tiny - she actually fits in my palm.

Just take a look at her gorgeous long hair.

So here she is - Viking Girl. Hope you enjoyed your acquaintance. See you later!

Knitted mouse blue & grey

Let me introduce you my little creation - one more knitted mouse. I used the same pattern as for my previous black and white mouse here. Actually some time have passed since I've finished this mouse. To be more specific, the mouse should be about 7 months old now. It was done as a BD present for a good friend of mine (I hope he enjoys her company :)).

The pattern is fairly easy and quick to do and the mouse (as for me) is absolutely cute. Just look at her from the different sides.

After working with this pattern for several times, I've made up few tips, that can make it a little bit easier.

 Useful tips: 

• The mouth is knitted, but it can be embroidered as well, the same for eyes. Or you can use plastic/fabric/etc. ones. This is useful if you don't like switching yarn to change color while knitting, especially on narrow parts of the pattern.
• It is better to add whiskers before stuffing the mouse's body, it allows you to fix them properly, that is much harder after the body is sewed up.

Left side:

Front-top:

Front-left:

Face:

From the top:

So you know each other now, I'm done for now.
Hope you are having a good week. See you!

Red haired amigurumi girl Lola

I want you to meet my freshly finished red haired amigurumi girl. Her name is Lola (shorten from Lolita). You can find previous post about her here. Since then she has got eyes, smile, new handbag with a flower in it, bead necklace and a blue ribbon in her hair.

I had some problems with choosing name for her at the beginning. But it simply came to my head after I've made the finishing touch.

Lola enjoys sitting on my crochet patchwork pillow and looking through the window on blooming chestnut and lime trees. She likes sun and fresh air.

Her bag is a full-featured bag. It opens and she can put anything in it (anything that fits, of course).

She likes to be photographed, particularly with a crochet flower and she isn't scared of it's size :)

So now Lola is a full member of my amigurumi family.

Hope you enjoyed her company!

New crochet creation

In my previous post I've mentioned a new amigurumi family member. Yes. It is a girl. She has red hair and is wearing her new blue striped crochet dress. She is not completed yet, but anyway I want to share with you. Have a look.

Check back soon for new updates! ;)

Blog rebirth!

Hello everybody and welcome to my blog in English!

I hasten to inform you that my blog will be in English from now. Let's mark this day as an official rebirth of 'Life in colour' blog.

Why have I made such decision? Well, I realized that the amount of English-speaking people I'd like to share my creative ideas with is much bigger than Russian-speaking, and frankly speaking, a lot of Russian-speaking people understand English very well, so they won't have problems following my blog further. The second reason is that I started using a lot of social networks (Flickr, Networked Blogs on Facebook, Twitter, Etsy, Bloglovin', Ravelry) to share my ideas and exchange experience with other crocheters, knitters, amigurumi makers and other interesting creative people, and of course I want them to understand what I'm writing about.

I already have some posts in Russian and I'm going to leave them as is. I'll translate them shortly (schemes, explanations, recipes) and make a separate post.

Now I'll write a little bit about myself and introduce my blog to my new readers :)

As you can find from short 'About me' I'm a web developer from Ukraine (Eastern Europe). I live and work in the capital of Ukraine - Kyiv. In my free time (sometimes I have it) I love to crochet, knit, decorate my home, create amigurumi - small cute crocheted/knitted creatures, cook, paint, read, travel and do other pleasant things. My amigurumi family already consists of Girl, Hippo, 3 Ladybirds (Green, Pink and Blue), a Mouse, Acorn and two Cats.

Actually the last two had to leave the family, as they were presented to my friends. Ball cat is on the picture below.

And red cat on wire base. I'll translate tutorials soon.

Moreover I'm working on a new project right now and going to write more about it when finish. Check back for updates soon.

Later I plan to acquaint you with Ukrainian cuisine, Ukrainian places of interest, Ukrainian traditions and a lot of other interesting things. So stay connected and feel free to post your comments. Thanks for visiting me on 'Life in colour'. Wish you colorful pleasant weekends!

Вязаный кот на проволочной основе

Вот такого котика я связала на день рождения своей подруги.Хотела связать худенького кота, долго думала как именно это лучше сделать, перерыла кучу картинок в интернете, но так и не нашла ничего подходящего. В итоге придумала своего кота на проволочной основе.

Вязаное сердце ко дню Св. Валентина

Сердце по этой схеме я уже вязала к новому году. Описание и схему вы можете найти в моем предновогоднем посте «Новогоднее вязание. Сердце и елочка». День Валентина еще один повод связать сердце, только уже вполне определенного цвета.

Вязаный кот

Хоть Новый год уже и наступил, дарить подарки еще не поздно, особенно рукодельные. Такой амигуруми кот будет отличным сувенором для друзей и близких, ввиду того, что он является символом года и просто милым созданием. А учитывая то, что по китайскому гороскопу год кота/зайца/кролика в этом году начинается 3 февлаля, то можно еще успеть навязать кучу таких котиков.Итак, немного о рецепте вязания кота. Вам потребуются

Новогоднее вязание. Сердце и ёлочка

Новогоднее вязание продолжается!

Кроме гирлянды я решила сделать еще несколько вязаных ёлочных игрушек. В поисках вдохновения наткнулась на замечательный сайт minchanka.by со множеством интересных идей. Больше всего меня привлекли вязаное сердце и ёлочка.

Девочка и Бегемотик

Недавно семейство моих амигуруми пополнилось девочкой и бегемотиком.

Девочка родилась еще летом во время моего пребывания в Америке, поэтому ее по праву можно считать американкой.

Knitted Mouse

This mouse was born shortly after my ladybird. It is knitted. The Mouse consists of 7 separate elements: bottom, body, outer ears (2 items), inner ears (2 items), tail.

Few more photos with different views of the Mouse.

And here is an original description with schemes. Good luck!

Божьи коровки

Такие божьи коровки очень просто вяжутся. Идею и схемки я нашла на домашнем сайте Натальи Грухиной.

Состоят всего из трех больших деталей: спинка, животик и голова. Размер коровки естественно зависит от толщины выбранных ниток. Не забудьте взять подходящий по размеру крючек, можно чуть-чуть меньше, чтобы избежать дырочек в вязке, через которые может просматриваться наполнитель.

Amigurumi

Amigurumi (Jap. 編み包み, lit. knitted stuffed toy) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll. Amigurumi are typically animals, but can include artistic renderings or inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features.

Such definition is given on Wikipedia.

Here is an illustration from Japanese designer Annie Obaachan's book " Amigurumi Animals" with little cute amigurumi on a picknick.

My amigurumi story started relatively recently, but it is rapidly gaining momentum. When I decided to make a small crochet animal once, I haven't even suspected that there is such an art in Japan, that have already widespreaded all over the world and has a fancy name 'amigurumi'.

Amigurumi is what you fall in love with at the first sight. After finishing your first cute little creature, you can't stop making them. Suddenly a lot of ideas come to your mind, you see bright colorful pictures, develop schemes and they also want to become alive. Moreover, when you imagine a happy friend's/relatives' face, who have been presented with your amigurumi - that's no doubt at all, you have to do it, you have to proceed and give birth to those ideas in your head! Otherwise, they just won't let you sleep at night. :)

So I took out my dust-laden hook, chose the thread, remembered the basics of crochet, that my grandma taught me when I was a child, and started crocheting. After searching dozens of schemes in the Internet I chose one - the most simple for me and the process began...