Tangled colours

+13 C Heavy Rain.

December?

In the wood

Love these patterns. 

Flows, currents of matter and time.

An excellent spot for breastfeeding.

Waves and swirls captured in the wood.

I really love these natural patterns. 

Such prints would look great in my bedroom.

Keep on playing.

Looks like MRI scan.

Or a pattern for a coat.

And our glorious team.

Slow day

Hooked

As some of you might know 11 weeks ago my little Shmunchkin a.k.a Master Matthias was born. 

Being his mum is a great fun. But at the same time being a single-24/7-hands-on-post-Cesarean-stay-mostly-in-bed-breastfeeding mum can be a bit challenging. It's never boring and it's not as difficult as I expected, but having this always hungry little thing and c-section made me not a very mobile person. 

This is where crochet became my addiction. It's a very convenient hobby compatible with bed and a baby. Knitting or embroidery could be more dangerous having a wiggly baby next to me. You don't want anything sharp next to your precious dumpling. Safety first!

The first few weeks were especially stressful - jaundice, hospital, sore nipples and questioning myself if I am doing everything right. Crochet with its simple repetitive movements is a perfect therapeutic occupation. I am not a crochet savvy at all and I hate following instructions. So I just took some yarn and a hook and started simple projects. The easiest no-brainer crochet pattern is a square. And 2 squares sewed together is a bag. Here it is.

I shall admit it's my first crochet bag and not a perfect one - it's too stretchy. Putting anything inside pulls it down too much, so not sure about it being a practical bag. But it made a nice gift anyway.

I sewed a ribbon around the opening and on both handles for enforcement and a girly touch.

I saw a similar bag in a book about crochet. To be fare they took photos of an empty bag too and only one photo with only a newspaper inside - the bag has stretched a lot. 

So what I've learnt - before crocheting a wearable item think about it being practical. A tighter crochet pattern would be much better for a bag.

 Crochet definitely is very addictive. Now it became an obsessive compulsive occupation while breastfeeding and watching films in bed. I have piles of squares of all sizes and colours. More projects to come.

I'm really glad I re-discovered crochet. My projects might be not of a great artistic value - no energy nor time to think and plan - but it definitely keeps me happy and sane.

Green

This felt flower brooch already flew to Canada.

I don't usually chose green colour but this is what my client wanted for her dear friend. And I am really happy with the result.

She also wanted a matching felt vase. Unfortunately I am not a vase expert and my attempts ended up with weird shapes and holes. What seems easy in theory can be hard in practice.

But when I have more energy I will try to learn felt vase making. Just a bit more patience.

Steven

Steve is definitely the sweetest cat in Manchester - just being humble, of course, I meant  - in the world. :)

 ...

 ...

 ...

Manchester Gallery of Costume

Even though the Gallery of Costume is situated in a walking distance from my home - it took almost 2 years to visit it. Probably because of weird opening times.
The gallery is rather small, but has an interesting collection of historical costumes. As I have studied fashion design I'm very interested in costume history, even more than in contemporaty fashion.
Their website claims: "The Gallery of Costume houses one of the most important costume collections in Britain, second only to the V&A in London. It contains over 20,000 fashion items from the 17th century to the present day. The gallery continues to collect pieces to enhance the collection." But to be honest, the gallery has an atmosphere of a provincial museum - empty, dormant, with random visitors - not a trendy place to visit. Which makes me feel sad - cause it truly has interesting things to show. For some reason it is much less popular than its neighbour The Withworth Art Gallery.
But well, I had a jolly good time there!

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

24

I am now in my 24th week of pregnancy. It is quite an interesting experience - and I must say it's much easier than I expected. To be honest, I keep forgetting being pregnant and when my baby moves I suddenly remember.
Took some selfies to send to my friend photographer to show him how big I am now. Soon we'll take more professional bump pics!

Swap

Long long time ago - to be precise more than 1 year ago I offered readers of my Lithuanian blog to participate in a handcrafted gifts swap.
Time goes by so quickly. Long story short - the swap was hibernating for the whole year. But patience is virtue - better later than never! Well... I must admit, mainly it was my own procrastination. :)
But today I want to show these beautiful gifts I received from Neringa.
I absolutely love this amazing note book - too gorgeous to be used for my silly doodles, and these lovely and sweet dragonfly and snowflake greeting card.
Thank you, Neringa!