Category Archives: Holiday

Where does the time go?

These last few weeks have been busier than ever!  With a big influx of orders (thank you thank you!) and holidays, coupled with starting a new job, I’m just about pooped!

Finding the time to post here has been a struggle, and my poor Facebook page is looking a little neglected too.  I don’t even have time for my absolute favourite pass-time – browsing Pinterest!

So, what have I been up to, crochet-wise?  Well, I’ve made a lovely dragon, based on this patter by Sidrun on Craftsy, I’ve made another Huggable bear from A Morning Cup of Jo Creations, also on Craftsy.  Both were massive undertakings.  They are both more than 30cm tall, and in amigurumi terms, that’s pretty huge.  Most toys I make are around 10cm tall.  My poor fingers hated me at the end, having to keep the tension really tight (so the stuffing wouldn’t show through), but I was so happy with the results:

Dragon http://missneriss.com

Huggable bear http://missneriss.com

Not only have I been busy with those two giants, which probably took me on average a week each to make, Spartacus is the coolest thing since sliced bread, so there have been oh, about 10 of those on the go!  Not to mention a couple of Hello Kitty hats and a custom order for a mouse/bunny which will be based on another Sidrun pattern found on Craftsy.  Please do stop by Kristi’s site – Sidrun – which incidentally means “Lemon” in her native language; Estonian.

Following on with the dragon theme, I’ve also made a super cute dragon hat, based purely on a screenshot a friend sent me.  Here is the end result:

Dino hat at http://missneriss.com

I hear the hat has not come off for a week.  When we eventually do get it off, I’m going to take it back and tweak it a little, because as it is now, there will be cold ears come December!

In between all of that I found some absolutely gorgeous yarn in my local craft store last week and I just had to make a hat for my daughter:

Custom hat on http://missneriss.com

The photo really does not do it justice.  The colours are truly neon and amazing.  The yarn is Katia Extreme, and although pricey (I think I paid 8.95 euro), lovely to work with and so, so soft!  I whipped this hat up using a pattern that I bought a while back from Baca Creations and it was done within an hour-ish, so super easy!

Coming up, I have more dino hats to make, a gorgeous hooded cowl (still hunting for the perfect pattern, so any hints would be welcomed), more Spartacus, cake pops (can’t wait to make those!) and Angry Birds.  Not sure when I’ll find the time to work, or sleep in there, but I’ll manage!

What has been keeping you busy?  As it’s Monday, I’m linking up with the Lovely Molly from The Move to America for her regular Monday morning cup of coffee, so head over there to say hi too.

The Move to America
Advertisement
Image

Amigurumi, keeping me busy!

Amigurumi, keeping me busy!

Pattern can be found at Dol-Op-Wol, in Dutch

To say I’ve been busy would be the understatement of the century! I’ve been so busy working on projects for friends and customers that I haven’t had the time to scratch myself, let alone take photos and post here.

Here are some samples of what I have been up to, and these are only the projects that I remember to photograph before whipping them in the post and sending them off to their new homes.

Penguin and Squishy Bunny

Penguin and Spring Squishy

owl_squishy

Rainbow Owl mobile phone charm

owl_squishy_blue

Rainbow Owl mobile phone charm in blue

Sheep_Squishy

Sheep Squishy

The owls, sheep and penguin are all patterns that I downloaded from Craftsy, and have been designed by A Morning Cup of Jo Creations, whom as you well know by now I LOVE!

In between all this crochet, my family and I took a week’s holiday to Ireland to celebrate a friend’s wedding and then see the amazing country.

Here are some photos of what we got up to:

Blarney Castle

My husband and daughter at Blarney Castle.

Yep, we kissed the Blarney Stone. You know, for some reason I always imagined that the Blarney Stone was just a rock on a hill in a paddock. I never realised that it is actually a brick in a castle! You have to lie on your back, hang over the edge, hold onto an iron bar and reach as far as you can to kiss the stone. We visited late in the afternoon and that stone was looking pretty slobbery. Plus it’s like a production line of people. Queue, lie down, kiss the stone, get your photo, get up and get out. Mass tourism at its best (worst?).

Actually, once you get away from the castle proper, the grounds at Blarney are stunning. There is a fern garden which is just how I imagined paradise to be, and the stately home is also lovely. Well worth the visit, and not just to kiss the stone.

We also visited the Cliffs of Moher. Wow.

Cliffs of Moher

Cliffs of Moher

You can see that in this view, the sky is grey and rainy. Then, from the same spot, in the other direction it was blue and gorgeous:

Cliffs of Moher

Cliffs of Moher

Here’s why:

clouds rolling fast

Here comes the weather

The wind was blowing at 100km/h plus easily the day we visited the Cliffs of Moher. I even saw a person lose their balance and then get blown over and down some stairs. Spray from the ocean was even being blown up over the 200m high cliffs in places. But it was spectacular.

So, busy times. I also have to remember to squeeze my actual job in there somewhere. Fingers crossed I’ll be back to regular posting from now on.