Ok... Right... I didn't make it in time for the competition. That's the sad truth. The "parent" animal is still armless, handless, tailless and noseless. However, he will be useful for some other project I have in mind. His feet look ridiculously different in size and shape, though I used the same yarn, pattern and hook. And I don't like the way I crocheted the top of the body. I actually drafted the patterns (and wrote the tutorials) for basic anthropomorphic bodies several years ago, but still haven't put them into a decent form. So, based on these patterns, the arms should've been crocheted together with the body, but I was rushing and willing to save time. That was a bad idea. Poor guy. Too shy to show up in the current state.. Won't be embarassing him. Well, I plan to re-crochet his body during the New Year holidays. As part of my New Year's Resolutions. Another part implies that all WIP should be either finished this coming year, or be unwoven. So, 2 Bugs Bunnies, a minion, Pucca, an elephant and a pony, and a couple of unidentified things are waiting for their fate to be decided.

However, I'm going to finish editting this creature's pattern before New Year to cross it out of my list. It's so much cuter in the real life than in the photos..

sheep pattern

Ok, I'm still not in the mood for doing anything serious. The winter holidays are approaching, everyone is already tired and eagerly waiting for New Year. We don't celebrate Christmas today in Russia. Although, the Soviets made the whole country switch to the Gregorian calendar, the Orthodox Church didn't join. So, our Christmas is a purely religious holiday held on January, 7. Religious people must fast till that day and just can't eat meat or drink alcohol on New Year's Eve... Nah, I'm not religious... However, Merry Christmas to everybody involved!

baaaaa...

I hate being pressed for time. It stresses me out. There are 3 papers needed to be written by.. a week ago.. and an amigurumi for a contest, by Friday. Oh, two amigurumis. And there are only two legs and a little piece of bottom ready. And my inner hamster makes me post pictures of the elf sheep crocheted for the Christmas fair. The pics aren't ok again, because it is always dark here in winter, and I just snapped the sheep to send them to my friend and too lazy to Photoshop anything. If you like them, I can write a pattern. Someday.. After Christmas..

Look at this face! It reminds me of Puss in Boots..

If I tell you that I like hematite beads for eyes, I lie. It's usually when the ends are weaved and I like, "What? The eyes! Oh, sh.. I can't unweave the thread.. Wait, here are some hematite beads!!!" However, they look well on black.

And here are the "hatted" elves.

My son isn't keen on making things (which is strange taking into account his crafty parents), so I registered him for a Christmas tree contest at school. Quite a logical momma. I saw a nice idea on Pinterest: cardboard trees covered with paper. They were so cute that I decided to take them as a model. My mistake. We were cutting paper and gluing it all Saturday evening (yeah, I managed to get the kid involved in cutting. Give him a pair of scissors and he will move the world). And on Sunday morning it was a complete disaster, wavy and messy.. All day I was trying to make something up. We needed to redecorate the trees and make them look neat and, at the same time, crafted by a child, something easy and viewy. My only strong suit is yarn. So, let it be yarn. And buttons. And bells. And beads. And a bit of cotton for snow. Some juvenile labour. And some colour correction. So, here they are.

Ok, it's time to stop procrastinating and start it all. I've been with Livejournal for over 10 years, but the commercialization of the service is getting on my nerves. Besides, due to the recent political and economical issues around Russia and its relationships with western countries, Livejournal has become a place filled with anger, hatred and inadequacy. So, I'm moving here, a quiet and cozy little nook, where I can read, watch nice movies and crochet.

Moreover, I haven't practised my written English for many years and need to restore and deepen the knowledge to take the CAE test. Therefore, it's also going to be my "100-150-word-essay" page.

So, let's begin and welcome!