Too hot to work...

...but I still try. I have so much to do these days and a million things on my mind. Because I'm having a hard time going to sleep at night I do some knitting and I have almost completed a white Venezia Lace shawl and a very pretty cream-white scarf which might end up for sale on Etsy. Meanwhile I have listed a couple more items-
a cotton eyeglass or sunglass case, crocheted and lined for extra protection, closes with a pretty vintage button and I have decorated it using an unusual embroidery technique: the yarn is wrapped around a pencil then the flowers are formed and stitched on the item. Tricky but effective. I have then decorated each flower with a small pearl.





A couple more crocheted cell phone - iphone - ipod cases-
one in chocolate brown with pink Sarubobo doll and vintage button


and one cream - white with red Sarubobo doll and matching red vintage button


and because I really enjoy making them, a few more cute tiny Sarubobo dolls

don't you love to see mama and baby playing together? :)

so sweet!! You will find more details here
And lastly, the buy-one and get-one-free pattern sale is still on. Don't miss it!

Pattern summer sale

From now to the 31st of August: buy one pattern, get another one for free.
How? Purchase one pattern normally then contact me with the name of the pattern you would like to receive for free. I will send it to your Paypal email address.
My patterns are available here:MyOrigDes
or in my etsy
or on Ravelry

Please note - offer does not apply to my crochet filet centerpieces- runners.

Don't miss out!

Changes

A lot has happened since my last post. My peaceful life has been upset by unespected events and the necessity of important and not easy decisions. I will not go into details, what I can say is that I will have to face some unespectedly and extraordinary expenses and since the economy is not at its best here, like everywhere else, I have been trying to fight the overwhelming feeling of powerelessness working as much as I can. Because I am definitely not up to getting into challenging projects I have been working on small, simple handmade items that I plan to sell, actually some are already listed in my Etsy shop - a crocheted shawl


and two cell phone cases





and I will be adding gradually others. I have also decided that it's time to part with some things which I have cherished for a long time but have no real meaning to me at this point of my life. They are going to be listed in an Etsy vintage shop that I will be opening by the end of this week. Please check them out. I will add updates and more details soon.

Sweet Tango Lace Shawl

Finally ready. The testing took longer than I expected but here it is, pattern ready and available. Why did I change its name? Simply because the original wasn't so original after all and someone had already used it.
I love the lacy transparencies of this shawl!



Two of my testers have already sent me pictures: Wendy's Sweet Tango Shawl, beautiful in white...so light and lacy, makes me think of a wedding shawl!

And Debi's in lovely pink!


Pattern can be found on Etsy and on Ravelry. It includes written instructions and full charts.

Crochet Sarubobo dolls

I'm sure that most of you know what Sarubobo means, but in case you don't know here's the definition from wikipedia:

" A sarubobo is a Japanese amulet, particularly associated with the town of Takayiama. Sarubobos are red human shaped dolls, with no facial features, made in a variety of sizes. Traditionally, sarubobos are made by grandmothers for their grandchildren as dolls, and for their daughters as a charm for good marriage, good children and to ensure a well-rounded couple."
And...
"Sarubobo literally translated from the Japanese as "a baby monkey".
There are several reasons why the amulet has this name. The sarubobo is associated with three wishes- protection from bad things, a happy home, a good match, having an easy delivery on birth."

Well, I don't really believe in lucky charms, but I fell in love with Sarubobo dolls because they are so cute, and I have decided to create a crochet pattern.
They are small enough to be considered amigurumi, size varies from 4.5cm to 6.5cm.
The pattern includes a step-by-step tutorial for making a sarubobo keychain,


a sarubobo pincushion,


a sarubobo fridgie,



a flying sarubobo with ballons,


sarubobo mama and baby


I used left over yarn from shawls and I think it is a nice pattern for recycling wool and thread!
Pattern is available on my Ravelry
and on ETSY

Update on Tango Shawl

This has never happened to me before, two posts in the same day... but I have just finished pinning my Tango shawl and I really needed to tell somebody :).
I will begin working on the pattern tomorrow. Ok, here's a sneak peek.

Someone is selling our free patterns!

Yep, that's right! I have just found a Blogger's Blog where a person from Singapore is actually selling several other people's free patterns. So much for copyright. How sad !?!

Warm weather & satisfied customers

Firstly, I want to thank Pamela, who bought one of my crochet patterns from my Etsy store and sent me photos of the finished shawl:



It took her less than a week to finish, what a fast crocheter! :)
Not like me, that with the weather getting warmer and warmer I'm experiencing the usual change-of-season symptoms which include a slight loss of energy that makes any activity slow and rather difficult. At the same time, as a sort of compensation, my brain is working overtime and I have already planned the next 2-3 months workwise. I have set a deadline for finishing the ufos (at least the ones that are not going into the frog basket), including Tango shawl, for the end of June. Then I will take a break from shawls, well maybe not completely, for something new for me. As usual I will alternate crochet hooks and knitting needles: switching between these two "modes" keeps my brain always in full activity. More in the next post.;)

Lei wedding ring afghan pattern

Project details:

size: 17"x 51"- cm90 x cm130
yarn: approx. 450gr fingering weight wool
2mm crochet hook

Pattern is available on my Etsy store or as pdf download on Ravelry (I'm missrita).

Afghans in spring

An afghan can take several months to finish, so it makes sense to start working on it perhaps in spring or in summer and have it ready for the following autumn-winter season. I was looking at some beautiful quilts on a magazine a couple of months ago and I decided to crochet a small blanket. I was pleasantly impressed by the double wedding ring motif in particular, which is so popular and at the same time I wanted to create a simple pattern, an alternative to the common granny square.
This is what I came up with.

Isn't it pretty? It would make a lovely gift for a wedding or for Christmas.
I count on having the pattern ready by Monday and I will be posting more photos as well as details about the project.

Next week will be a busy one. I need to get stuck into some serious spring cleaning, which includes rearranging the bir's for the warm season, then I plan to finish the Tango shawl. That shouldn't take me more than 2-3 days, unless I get distracted by a new inspiration. You never know!