Honeybee*Hill

Lauren & Ryan’s wedding was absolutely beautiful. It was probably the only wedding/reception I’ve ever been to where I actually had a good time. I took a few hundred photos with my lensbaby — which only confirmed and solidified my deep and sincere love for it. I so badly want to get a composer — and the optic set, but it’ll have to wait. I have pictures of the wedding here.

The lensbaby is one of my toys that has really inspired my creativity. I think if I had a composer I could take photos in lower light situations. The muse is awesome though for on-the-fly shots and I think I’ve gotten really good at portraiture with it.

Since we had a six-hundred mile trip each way, I brought my crochet hook and a ball of yarn and started this little guy on Thursday.

I’m one of those people who gets car sick if I try to read in the car. We don’t have a CD player or anything fancy like that — we have a portable DVD player in the back so Sullivan can watch movies so we get to listen to his movies the entire way. It was pretty easy to crochet in the car though! My fingers did get really tired and sore after a few hours though.

The yarn I’m using for my amigurumi is from Hobby Lobby. It’s called Baby Bee Hushabye Solids and it’s a 50/50 blend of cotton and acrylic. I love how smooth and soft it is — the best of both worlds as far as cotton and acrylic go. The Hobby Lobby we have has a nice assortment of colors, though they’re all muted/softer shades.

The pattern is from a Japanese Amigurumi Book (and Amigurumi Book is the title, so far as I can tell!) I bought on ebay from this shop. It was my first time buying from this seller and I was pleased with the prompt service and quick shipping. I did spring for the shipping upgrade for my purchases (I bought two books from her). I think that SAL from Asia to the US has been SO SUPER SLOW. I’ve been waiting on a package from Mwendas in Singapore for weeks now that I hope hasn’t gone missing.

It was my first time reading a pattern in chart form and I thought it was so easy. I actually like it so much better than trying to decipher the abbreviations. I don’t think I would have been able to figure it out had I not been making some amigurumi beforehand though.

I’m not sure how long it took me to make him. I worked for a few hours in the car on Thursday and a few on the ride home Sunday. I found safety eyes at a craft shop we stopped at in the Poconos called The Ribbon Factory. I made him a little reversible bandanna today and I’m still thinking about ways to make him a matching hat (he needs one because his head is so big!).

I’m really enjoying crochet so much! I’m not confident enough to try to design my own little animals, but that is definitely something I want to work toward anyway. There are so many talented ami designers on etsy already — and with patterns costing a few bucks a pop, I can afford to indulge a little bit. In any case, I have enough patterns and projects in mind to keep me busy for awhile.