Tampere and amigurumis

I've become a rare guest here. For a number of reasons. The main one, I haven't designed anything new so far and has been destashing with someone else's patterns. However, I have plans for upgrading some of my old patterns with new pictures or just pictures (yep, Boho Fingerless Gloves are the first on the list) and, probably, editting.

Meanwhile, I went on vacation guess where. Finland!!! Yes, again. Yes, I love it. The destination was Tampere this time.

 

Those views are hard to compare to anything. Lakes and forests are what always pleases my heart and eyes. And Piggy enjoyed them, too.

Just look at those little wild strawberries we found in the middle of the city. He enjoyed meeting Moomin, his family and friends as well. 

Unfortunately (or fortunately), I didn't take many photos, but there are plenty of videos over on my IG.

I really loved some obscene contemporary porcelain statues which I can't help sharing.

And eventually there was a day in Helsinki with street food at Kauppatori and tram rides, and blackbirds at night, and late night crochet.

During my trip I finished a cowl, started another and partly made 13 piglets. There has been a little pig detox going, thus, I'll show the finished amis in a week or so along with the finished detox object.

Right before the trip I managed to finish 7 amigurumis in about a month (which is a lot for me). I've been really inspired for a while and it was pretty mild/cold for the summer to crochet. So, here they are:

 

I can now officially state that I'm not a mere pattern hoarder and that I actually used at least a third of the patterns I bought/downloaded.

In case you want to make similar amis for yourself, here are the links to the patterns (all of them can be bought from Ravelry, Batman and Pocket Earl Dog are free):

1. Pocket Earl Dog by MoRAmadePattern

2. Earl Dog by MoRAmadePattern

3. Zombie Boy by Mila Kralina

4. Batman by Serah Basnet

Speaking of crochet I could really touch upon my overall well-being. After finishing the said amis and packing the yarn for the trip, I realised that my left arm would hardly move. All of my joints were sore. I would pick up the pan lid and drop it because my fingers would be unable to hold it. 

The solution came unexpectedly (like, literally, all best things in my life): I subscribed to the Mobility Flow week by Dr. Jen Esquer. And it worked miracles. Bye-bye, carpal tunnel syndrome, hope we'll never meet. Since then it has become part of my daily, and especially, crocheting routine. To help my joint and nerve pain (not crochet related), I decided to add a low-carb diet to the stretching, aiming at 20 to 30 g of carbs a day. 3 weeks into it I can say that it's been one of my best decisions so far. A sugarholic has stayed away from sugar for 3 weeks and going strong. I won't demonize sweets, as I will return them to my diet again at some point, but the unhealthy addiction is gone. I walk past the ice-cream and don't buy any, no chocolate, no cookies, almost no fruit. And no feeling of deprivation. To crown it all, as I go down or up the stairs, my knees still click but don't hurt, yay!

I'll keep you posted!