Crochet mandala earrings

I've already told you about making mandala for Yarndale 2014 festival in my previous post. Crocheting mandalas is so pleasant and inspiring, that I decided to make a few more, but in a smaller size and create an earrings. At the same time I didn't want to send an envelope with a single mandala to Lucy, I wanted to put a little handmade present for her. I have been reading Lucy's Attic24 blog for several years already and I'm so thankful that she writes it, it's so cozy, colorful and inspiring, it's like a sunshine in blogland that warms hundreds of grateful readers. Thank you Lucy for what you do!

So that's how this two pairs of crochet mandala earrings appeared. I used the pattern for cup coasters from here - it's a reworked crochet circle motif pattern from 1893 and it reminds a flower a little bit.
First pair of earrings is mono-color - in gorgeous blue.

And another one is in a combination of grey, purple, light blue and darker blue. I adore each of these colors. The colorful one of course goes to Lucy as she is the queen of colors :) and another one will stay in my crochet jewelry collection. Hope she will like it.

By the way, do try this cute easy pattern.

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!

Crochet ♥ heart ♥ shaped cup coasters

Here is one more gift idea for the Valentine's day - crochet heart shaped cup coasters. They are quick and easy to make, you don't need a lot of yarn, any leftovers of matching colors can be used. You can give it either to friends, relatives or to your beloved person. The cup coaster will remind them about your love and care every time they'll drink their tea or coffee or whatever.

Everything you need is crochet hook, scissors and of course some yarn.
And here is the crochet scheme.

This is a basic heart pattern. I also added some edging for my heart cup coasters. This one has two rows of single crochet stitches - white and pink one.

For the second heart I've made a shell edging. Here is a description.
5dc in 2d chain from the hook
skip 1 chain
1sc into the next chain
*
skip 1 chain
5dc in the next chain
skip 1 chain
1sc in the next chain
*
Repeat actions between * until you reach the end of your pattern.

Are you preparing some handmade presents for the upcoming Valentine's day?

♥ Happy crafting! ♥

Birthday girl

This week we had one more important event. Our little girl Feature became 1 year old on the 4th of July.

Yes, she was born on the US independence day (maybe that's why she is so independent :)).
This means that she has been living with us for 10.5 months. We took her as a 1.5 months old crazy kitten.

I boiled some chicken for her, which she enjoyed a lot. And in the evening she had a small cupcake with 1 candle. Also she's got this little noisy guy as a present.

She was a little bit scared of  the candle's flame - she is afraid of fire after burning the ends of her whiskers over our gas stove. She is a very curious girl and prefers to check everything by herself.

Anyway she was happy to eat some cream from the cupcake after that.

Time flies and our girl is a grown up now. We viewed our winter photos recently and realized that she became much thinner in summer. She molts a lot, her ears are almost bald, but it is still very hot for her, that's why she is always lying in a drafts if she can find any around the house. Here is her winter photo to compare the amount of hair.

She likes lying on my crafts box very much, that's why it is always covered with Feature's hair.

She also likes to play with my yarn. I need to pack and hide it really good and safe, unless I want to find my apartment covered with yarn when I come back. I've had such experience few times already. She always helps me to do any kind of house work or crafting. When I clean the apartment she follows me and checking if everything is clean enough. When I knit or crochet she lies nearby and checks if the yarn if good enough, usually by tasting and chewing it. When you make the bed, she also comes to help and checks if anybody had left under the blankets. Well, her help is obviously invaluable.
She is very playful and sometimes unruly, but our lives won't be so fun, exciting and challenging without her. Every day coming home you never know what waits you there :)
♥Happy Birthday Feature!♥
And have a nice day! ;)

Potholder

Last week I was reading blog buzz as usual and suddenly came across this post. I needed only one look to understand that I'm going to make this immediately.

The tutorial is super easy and you can find it here.

This potholder is fun too make and good to decorate and use. Also it is a good opportunity to use yarn leftovers form other projects, because it's quite small and you don't need a lot of yarn.

I had some green and white yarn leftovers, so the yarn was found, as well as the occasion - my mom had a birthday last week and she adores green color right at the moment, so it could be a perfect present for her. Just about half an hour and the potholder was ready to use and make the eyes happy of bright colors. Mom was happy too and now is enjoying a color therapy on her kitchen.

Wish you to have a peaceful Sunday evening! Will be back soon with bunch of another news.

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!

Happy Valentine's!

Here is our Valentine's heart shaped breakfast.

I've found this awesome idea on pinterest, it comes from this lovely post - quick, easy and nice. All you need is bread, eggs and a little bit of time.

Happy Valentine's! Wish you all a lot of love, piece and understanding.
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
     Have a lovely day!
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Baby Ripple Blanket - ta-dah!

I couldn't resist the Ripple fever, that rapidly spread among crochet addicted bloggers, caused by Lucy's lovely pattern. You cannot be indifferent to it - this simple and beautiful pattern makes you happy at every stage of work, because you see how nice it goes out from the first rows.

I made this baby blanket for a friend of mine, who became a mother few months ago. Unfortunately, now she lives far from me and I decided to make and send this little present for her and her daughter.

The blanket is 1*1.2 meters. The stripes go vertically. Each strips consists of two rows.

I added a little decorative fringe on the top and bottom sides of the blanket.

I used 50% wool and 50% acrylic yarn of three colors: purple, pink and white - 3 balls of each (200 m, 100 g each ball), and a 4 mm hook.

This crochet journey was rather exciting. Ripple motif is very addictive. At the beginning I needed about half an hour for a row and at the end I was doing that for about 10 minutes :)

The blanket was successfully delivered and I hope will be successfully used by it's owners. :)

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.

Чехол для фотоаппарата

Решила подарить маме хендмейд чехол для фотоаппарата, как раз нужно было использовать нитки, оставшиеся с митенок.

Чехол связан по кругу полустолбиками с накидом (о том, как их вязать, написано здесь).

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