Joe the Cup

I managed to get quite a bit of crafting in over the long weekend. Since I'm a beginner crocheter, I gravitated to Ana Paula Rimoli's book Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet. Her patterns are really easy to follow and the results are darling! I've been obsessed with knit and crochet food, so my latest was her "Café con Leche" (i.e. Joe the Cup). I didn't add the pink cheeks in her pattern because 1) I wasn't sure I liked them, and 2) I didn't have pink felt.

I love using safety eyes. Besides the fact that it's impossible to find them at any of my three local craft stores, I ordered a bunch online from Harvey's Hobby Hut. They have a great selection of craft eyes and sell them in bulk or in the smaller packages. The prices are pretty good and they ship fast! I'd definitely recommend them if you are having trouble getting safety eyes locally.

Recent Crochet

I'm now saying that I officially crochet. After completing two projects that actually look like what they're supposed to, I feel like I deserve to list it as one of my crafty skills.

My little black cat sat around for awhile in pieces - for some reason I was convinced he wouldn't go together easily. It did take a really long time to get his face just perfect, but I think he was worth the effort. For a first pattern, it was definitely easy, but I should have chosen another color. It was really difficult to see the stitches when I was working. One of the good benefits of using black was that it hides all of my terrible sewing for his little arms, legs and tail!

I haven't decided if I'm going to give him up or not. I've gotten somewhat attached since he is my first crochet project. And he's just so darn cute!

My second project were a couple of Happy Eggs. I fell in love with them as soon as I saw the picture, so I borrowed the book from the library and made it my second project. I started by making the yellow chick with wool ease and then was annoyed that the white has a strand of glitter running through it and bought a white Vanna's Choice. The shell was way too big for the little guy so I made the gold chick and ended up making the yellow chick's shell by ripping out the shimmery strand. I actually like the wool ease chick and egg better even though it's not as firm as the Vanna's Choice. The little chick is fuzzier and the gauge works out to be more the size of an actual egg.

What I'm Reading: Angela's Ashes: A Memoir - Frank McCourt

Thumbs way up! I'd heard people say that Angela's Ashes was a must-read book, but for some reason it took me a very long time to get around to agree. I think I made the decision to put it on my 2008 list when we got back from Ireland and wanted to mentally prolong my visit. After reading The Glass Castle (TGC), I thought "eh, why not another memoir?" I was on a memoir roll!

Once again, I listened to the audio - which happens to be done my McCourt himself. I found this particularly nice because he sings all the old Irish songs.

Overall I thought it was well written and very good. As with TGC the subject matter was at times difficult to listen to, but what amazed me in McCourt's experience, was that often times, there were people around to help out. That's not to say he didn't endure hardship, it was just different from TGC.

I feel like I have a much better understanding of what it means to be Irish and Catholic (I'm neither). McCourt does an amazing job of setting you in his shoes - tape and holes included - to get an idea of what it is to be both.