Long time no see...

I've been away for way too long...

First I've been busy with work. Then summer came, which is for me the hardest time to stay organized. Then my work ended and I had all this free time on my hands so I spent it rearranging my craft room and updating my Etsy shop with new design, new photos and new items. I still have some more items waiting to be added as well as some new ideas in my head. I'm so happy to finally have time for this and I hope to get back to regular blogging as well.

Here are my crochet baskets that are now available for sale in my Etsy shop.

My Christmas Ornament Collection

I finally have a kind of a collection of Christmas ornaments ready to sell on the Christmas poetry event i mentioned in previous posts. Above is a foam plastic ball covered with glittery yarn. Below are my handmade ornament sets. First two are made of carton and the other three are polymer clay.

In addition to Christmas ornaments i will be selling some handmade gifts.

My cell phone cozies:

Handmade fabric pins:

And some of my crochet doilies:

This is the first time i'll be selling my creations, so i am very excited. I am not planning to sell them all, but i hope somebody finds something they like among my lovelies.

More Christmas Decorations

I bought some modeling clay and made more X-mas decorations. I used cookie-cutters for the shapes, acrylic paints and lots of glitter for decorating. Instagram pics again, sorry for that. I get so tired after making these that i don't feel like getting the camera out and going trough the whole process of taking and processing pictures. But i will definitely have a list of everything i have for sale for the Christmas poetry event with proper pictures once everything is ready.

Lots of little crafts and Christmas decorations

I've been making lots of small stuff recently, because I got a chance to actually show and sell some of my works. There's an annual Christmas poetry event we take part in (last year we did an installation and i always get to decorate the place). So this year i will also sell some of my handmade items there. I'm trying to prepare as much things as i can, so i've been busy with that a lot nowadays. I didn't bother taking proper pictures, because not everything is ready yet, but here are Instagram photos of some things i've made recently.

Lots of crochet doily coasters

Little crochet pouches (they still need buttons)

Fabric covered pins

And finally some Christmas stuff! Gingerbread-looking carton decorations

Fabric covered carton Christmas tree decorations.

Crochet on the road

It's been almost two weeks since i'm back home from the tour but i'm only starting to get back to normal life. When you are on the road non-stop even for a short amount of time, it takes time to get used to normal life again where you don't need to move all the time and you don't meet new people every day. I got the pics from the tour developed yesterday, i'll share them soon once i get time to scan them.

We've spent quite a lot of time in trains so i had plenty of time to try out some crochet patterns from my new books:

Unfortunately, i don't have any photos of the doily i've made using the pattern from the "Pineapple doilies" book, because i gave the doily to my mom. It was the doily from the cover. The instructions in this book were really clear and the doily turned out really pretty.

From the "Lacy Crochet" book i especially enjoyed making round coasters. First i've made them exactly following the instructions.

When i've used all the colors that i had with me and got a bit bored of the same pattern, i've tried a different edging.

I've also tried a large square doily from the same book. I did my own edging and more rows than the pattern suggested.

This large round doily was actually the first one i've made from the book before we left on tour.

I am really happy that i got this book (the full title is "Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts! Lacy Crochet"). I really like the way it's designed, all the examples on the photographs are made with really pretty pastel yarn, really similar colors with the ones i have and i really like them. There are both templates and text instructions with photos for each project. There are also instructions for basic stitches, so the book could be good for beginners as well. It was my first time working with crochet templates, and i really liked it, because i often get lost in text patterns when there are lots of rows involved. There are instructions with photos for each sign in the templates, so i've learnt to use them quite fast.

This post was not sponsored by anyone. I did not get any money to review the items featured in this post.

Last Weekend Before School Starts: Crocheted Bathroom Container

This was my last project i managed to finish during my last weekend before school. Originally it was supposed to be a bathroom container (again, this was a pdf tutorial i saved one day and didn't save the link to it, sorry).

I kept the stitches as tight as possible, for the container not to be too soft. It came out just perfect, but quite small for a bathroom container. So i decided to use it as a container for my knitted balls that are not used for anything yet. They decorate my bookshelf now.

Last Weekend Before School Starts: Crocheted Jar Cozies

After having finished my stash basket i've started working on jar cozies that i wanted to do for a long time. I really needed them to cover the boring looking jars in my apartment.

First, i've done the grey jar cozy. I followed a tutorial first, but my jar's shape was different from the one in the tutorial, so i continued on my own. Unfortunately, i don't have a link to the tutorial anymore, i saved the pdf on my computer. But it wasn't anything difficult, just making a chain long enough to wrap around the bottom of the jar. Then half double crocheting the whole way, adding or skipping stitches when needed, depending on the shape of the jar.

After having finished the grey jar cozy i realized it isn't difficult at all, so i made another one for the plastic pot in which i keep the basil. I've added the last row with a wavy stitch to make it even prettier.

Last Weekend Before School Starts: Crocheted Stash Basket

My school started this week. Last week was the only week of holiday i had this summer and i was so lazy, i couldn't do anything. On saturday i realized that school starts in two days and i haven't done so many things i wanted to do during summer. So i got out my hook and my yarns and started crocheting.

I got so into it that i've finished this stash basket in one day. To make it i followed a tutorial from the Purl Bee blog. I really like the blog, it is full of knitting, crocheting and other craft ideas and there are lots of tutorials that are really nice and clear. Now i have this pretty basket that is holding my yarns nicely.

More "Last Weekend Before School" projects are coming up later!

Crochet round frame

My plan for this summer was to find as many good DIY tutorials as possible and try them out. This way i would learn new techniques as well as get some inspiration for designing my own things.

I didn't get too far with my plan. I've tried one more knitted toy from my book and gave it to my sister (i didn't take a photo unfortunately). But i did find a lot of tutorials and patterns mostly through Pinterest and blogs. I even made a folder for them:

One nice tutorial i've also tried was the tutorial on making little crochet flower frames. I found it through Pinterest and it seemed nice and easy. I happened to have some old metal bracelets that i don't use anymore.

The tutorial was really easy to follow (remember, i'm still a beginner crocheter) so i got a nice flower.

I printed a vintage bicycle image i found on *The Graphics Fairy* blog. I glued the image to a piece of carton and then secured the frame on the carton in several places using needle and simple thread.

Now it's hanging on my fridge among all the fun stuff.

Hopefully august won't be as busy as two previous summer months and i will manage to try more tutorials. I will definitely show you what i got.