Treasury Feature!

Laura The Wekeshi Doll has been featured in a fab treasury over on Etsy! Yay! Check out all the great Kokeshi Doll inspired work here :D

A big Thank you to Eileen of DorsetHillBeads for including my Laura‏!

Gus Is Here!

Yay! He's arrived! And he bought chocolate with him - yummy!


He was so squashed in his box lol! I took him out and gave him a drink...


... something to remind him of home no doubt!

And I heard today that Gladys has arrived in OZ! Now the fun can really start :D

You can keep up to date with what's happening with Gus at his blog here :D

Career Choices

I've been feeling alot better lately, so have been thinking about work, which in itself is a big thing for me after 9 years of ill health.

I like the thought of training to do something. Well, in an ideal world I know what I want to do. I've always wanted to be an astronomer. Yep, a boffin that looks up at the sky. I LOVE anything to do with space, and even understand the basics of space physics. But alas, that's where my braininess runs out. I only got a CC on my science GCSE, so I don't think I'd make a great astronomer :(

So, in it's place, I came up with afew possibilities, revolving around health care and helping people - pharmacy technician, laboratory assistant, childs nurse - but the one that stuck out for me was dental nursing.

Now, I'm slightly scared of dentists. So why on earth would I want to be a dental nurse?! I don't know, to be honest! But my Mum was a dental nurse so I kind of know what it's about - it's in the family. The thing is now in the UK you have to be registered to work as a dental nurse, which has changed since my Mum did it, and to be registered you need qualifications. So I had a look into it.

To start with you need to get a job at either a hospital, dental practice or within the armed services as a trainee/student dental nurse. Then you need to enrol on a 2 year course recognised by the General Dental Council (GDC) - such as the National Certificate awarded by the National Examining Board for Dental Nurses (NEBDN), NVQ level 3 in Dental Nursing, level 3 VRQ in Dental Nursing, or the Certificate of Higher Education in Dental Nursing. Phew! Lots to think about. But like I said, I like the thought of training to do something so it all looks good to me. And I like the thought of having to wear a uniform - it would make me feel important lol!

So my next step is to go and ask my local dentist (who I've known for years and years) if she has any tips or advice for me, and if she knows of a place looking for a trainee nurse. It's something I'd really like to do, I've even started learning different dental terms and studying charts lol! Good to have a head start, I suppose!

Wish me luck!

Gus' Blog!

He hasn't arrived yet, but I've set up a blog for my Little Visitor from Australia, Gus! You can check it out here!

And this is a picture of Gladys on her way to the post office. She's mega excited!



Hope they both arrive safely!

Little Visitor Swap 2010

Do you remember last year I took part in the Little Visitor Swap on Craftster.org? Well they're running the swap again this year and I'm gonna take part!

I loved doing this swap last year so I know it's gonna be loads of fun this time round! Last time I sent off Eddie the Eggbert...


... and hosted Walter the rainbow dinosaur from Minnesota, USA...


...I miss him! This year I'm sending Gladys the Monstie...


... and hosting Gus the Turkey from Australia!


Isn't he lovely?! We're gonna have lots of fun! I plan on taking him to London for a sightseeing tour, Basildon Shopping Centre for some retail therapy, Southend for a stroll down the pier and lots of other places! Plus if he arrives by the 15th June he's gonna go with me to see Aerosmith at The O2 and Green Day at Wembley Stadium! Yay!

I'm also gonna be starting a blog for him, like I did for Walter last year. I'll let you know when it's up and running!

Free Pattern: Happy Pills!

Here's another free pattern for you!

The first amigurumi pattern I ever wrote was for a 'Happy Pill', called Zack The Prozac. I still have him somewhere in my room. The pattern was super easy (it had to be for me to write it at that time!), so a little while ago I thought I'd make some more and put the pattern up on my blog.

It's a super easy pattern, you only need to know the basic crochet stitches. It's also a great stash buster project as it only take a tiny amount of yarn for each pill.

Like with all my patterns if you find any problems with it, or you have any questions, please comment below and I'll get back to you asap :)

Enjoy!

Happy Pills

You Will Need:
. Crochet Hook (I used 3.5mm [E]
. Small Amount Of Worsted Weight/Double Knit Yarn
. 5mm Safety Eyes
. Stitch Markers Or Piece Of Scrap Yarn
. Yarn/Embroidery Needle
. Poly-fill Or Other Stuffing
. Blusher or pink eye shadow (optional)

Abbreviations
. Ch - Chain Stitch
. Sc - Single Crochet
. St/Sts - Stitch/Stitches
. Slst - Slip Stitch
. Inc (Increase) - 2 Sc into 1 St
. Dec (Decrease) – 1 Sc across 2 Sts
. ** - Marks a group of stitches to be repeated until the round is completed

Gauge
No gauge, just keep your stitches nice and tight to avoid gaps in your work

Finished Size
7cm's Tall (approx) using a 3.5mm (E) hook

Other Info
. As this is amigurumi, work in continuous rounds; in a spiral. Don’t join at the end of a row; just keep going
. Use stitch markers or a piece of scrap yarn to mark the start of every round. Replace at the start of the next round as you go along. This will help you keep track of where you started, and saves a lot of time if things go wrong!
. Although I am English, I write my patterns in American terms, so Sc means Single Crochet; Dc means Double Crochet etc.
. The number at the end of each round is the number of stitches you should now have
. Although I have used certain colours for this ami please feel free to use whichever colours you like!
. I strongly recommend using a small hook i.e.- 3.5mm (E), to keep the proportions of the toy as they are in the pictures

Head/Body
In White
1. Ch 2, Sc 6 into 2nd Ch from hook, or Magic Ring 6 (6)
2. Inc around (12)
3. *Sc, Inc* around (18)
4-11. Sc around (18)

*Change To Blue*

12-20. Sc around (18)

*Add Safety Eyes to top half of pill*

21. *Sc, Dec* around (12)
22. Dec around (6)
*Finish Off, Weave In End*

Apply a small amount of pink blusher/eye shadow to the cheek area

You might also want to ad a mouth to your pill at this point

Done!

Pretty simple, no? I hope you have fun with the pattern!

Best Of

...Craftster!

*wants...*

Johnny Depp for Mother's Day? Yes please!
Lady Pistola

Stuffed Acre of Land??
Alliecat30

1-up pixelated mushroom cake plus cupcakes
r0ckwithme

Kanzashi Accessory Explosion
TastyMagic

Orange Handspats
fluffybaka

New Pattern! The Uniloomph!

I got round to typing up my latest pattern today - I give you...

The Uniloomph!

The Uniloomph is a Jellyfish/Turtle/Unicorn hybrid! They are friendly creatures who live under the sea. They live on plankton and coral, and have a top speed of 750 meters per hour. This particular Uniloomph is called Stuart :)


This is a fun and easy amigurumi pattern - explained fully over 5 pages in American terms with clear, easy to read instructions. When finished, he measures approx. 10cm’s tall, when using a 3.5mm (E) crochet hook.

The Uniloomph PDF pattern is available now in my Etsy Shop , for $3.00/£1.98 :) I hope you like!

Best Of

Here are a few of my favourite patterns at the moment on Ravelry!


Crochet Flower Headband
by Hannah Ruth

Everyday is a New Sweater Day
by Rima Aranha

Skinny Cabled Scarf
by Elisa Purnell

Unicorn Costume Pet Headband
by Lindsay Smith

Circle jacket crochet with “Silke-Alpaca”
by DROPS design

Blog Neglect and A Craft Fair

Hiho!

I do appologise for my absence of late - I am guilty of Blo Neglect. I haven't been busy - I just haven't been bothered lol! But I'm back now and hopefully normal service will resume :)

Yesterday (Sunday 2nd May) I took part in the first 'Now, Voyager' Craft and Vintage Fair, and it was great! I sold most of my stock and made a big profit! Plus it was a really fun day with some very talented people, and that's the most important thing in doing these fairs.

I arrived at The Railway Hotel with my helper and driver (Mum and Dad...) at about 10:45am, and was set up and ready to go by 12pm. There was a queue outside the venue when it opened, even though it was chucking it down with rain! Typical Bank Holiday Weekend weather!

I was angry with myself for forgetting my camera (which is why you won't see any pictures in this post...) so I had to use my Mum's camera phone. We haven't worked out how to get the pictures off of it and on to the computer yet lol!

I learnt alot of things at the fair which will all help me get ready for Brentwood at Christmas. It was a great day and I'd just like to Thank Felicity & Lauren of Now, Voyager for all their hard work! :D