My friend Ruth bought me a book called Amigurumi World for my birthday, so I was really looking forward to finally getting some amigurumi patterns that were in English, rather than me having to try to decipher the Japanese patterns using my limited Japanese reading skills. So when I heard my friend Catriona was pregnant, I thought it would be the perfect chance for me to use one of the patterns from the book.

I chose the owl pattern, and made it with felt eyes instead of plastic ones, as it would be for a newborn baby. I also added a rattle inside, by putting some beads into a little plastic spherical container and nestling this in the stuffing. The container is from one of those vending machines that looks like a gumball machine, which you sometimes find in petrol station loos (usually containing a wet wipe or a fuzzy brush). I knew it would come in handy for something & I hate throwing away plastic, so why not recycle it!

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It’s my friend Lucy’s birthday, so I decided to make something for her. She’s a real fashionista, so I thought I would make something she can wear. I have been wanting to make something from one of my Japanese craft books for ages, so I dug out one of them which is all about making different corsages (コサージュ).

As the current fashion seems to be for really bright almost fluorescent colours, I made this one in fluoro pink, with a grey leaf and purple centre. There’s no sewing involved: it’s all about cutting the pieces carefully then slotting the inner petals in place through the leaf/outer petal. The actual making of it was easy, but the cutting took the most time as you have to place the slots in exactly the right place. I think it looks pretty cool! The best thing was that when I gave it to Lucy, she was wearing a fluoro pink T-shirt, so it matched her perfectly.

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Last November when I went to visit my family in Japan, I had a hard time withholding from buying every single craft book in the country. I really did. All the books I looked at were AMAZING, and the patterns were for things that were either sooooo cute (kawaii!) or just plain practical and wearable. So needless to say I came home with half a suitcase full of yarn, books and accessories – adorable handles for handbags and whatnot. Lots of whatnot.

By far my favourite book has to be the rather wonderfully titled ‘Happy Small Goods of Crochet’, in which I really want to make every single thing. From slippers to shawls to bowls, book covers, bags, hats and loads more. The really col thing is that Japanese crochet patterns are pictorial rather than written out in sentences, so as long as you know what the stitches look like when drawn, you can follow the patterns… although being able to read hiragana/katakana does come in handy.

My first project from the book I started while I was there, using a Japanese yarn which is also wonderfully titled: it’s called James Dean. What this rebel without a cause had to do with wool is beyond me, but he looks good on a label regardless. Here’s the finished result:

When I get a chance, I think I will line it with the denim bits I had leftover from  making the crochet bowl from jeans. Since I didn’t use the ‘bum’ from the jeans, I think I can sew those ‘cheeks’ together to make a liner for the bag that incorporates the back pockets for handy storage. Sweet.

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