Crochet!

On my most recent holiday a couple of weeks ago, I taught myself how to crochet- at long last! It's been something I've wanted to learn for a few years now, ever since I was gifted a hand created amigurumi plush by a friend. But, I always thought it seemed crazily complex and out of my skill range to ever learn it, despite buying a couple of kits. Though for some reason I thought, this is the right time(!), so I put my embroidery to one side and put my mind to the task and learned several types of stitches/ techniques. I found this YouTube video the most helpful as a complete novice.

At first I found it extremely difficult to get my head round and definitely struggled, but once I got going with it, I found myself in a good rhythm and it's actually really enjoyable! I'll post a few pics below of my progress.

I started with a US Single Crochet- you can see how much I struggled with the first piece (on the left) and then my progression of how I improved throughout each try:

After that, I learned how to crochet in the round- another super useful technique, especially for making amigurumi. My first one (on the left) was a typical beginner's mistake- where I didn't alternate the increase stitches, meaning that my circle ended up looking hexagonal. I then tried again once I researched how to increase correctly, so the next one was an actual circle- now how about that!

Continuing the theme (kind of), I wanted to make a sphere. Again, especially useful when making 3D objects. The first one on the left isn't quite as neat, but I re-did it (in the gold), which had a much better result.

Must say, I was pretty proud of the second sphere! Very fun just to have on my desk to play catch with! After those, I wanted to learn how to change colour, because one colour is just boring, isn't it?! I got the technique down, but the 2 sizes of the yarn are both different, so it didn't really work that well:

Aaand finally-ish, I just tried a load of different stitches out- mainly ribbed/ stretch ones, to enable me to be able to make garments to wear. As well as US Half Double Crochet and Double Crochet stitches. This piece was really fun and relaxing to make- once I got the hang of the stitches. Using 100% acrylic yarn by the way, because 100% vegan! 

Bonus one below- this is a sneak preview of my first 'proper' project, if you like. Basically chose those colours because the green one was on offer(!) and then I thought the white would look nice to contrast it with. It's taking a while and no idea if it'll look any good when it's finished, but it's an enjoyable task and I would quite like the sense of achievement when I eventually finish it. Of course, you will hear about it in here, however it turns out!! xo

New Camera... kind of

I say 'kind of', because it's actually an upgrade on my previous camera phone, which was shockingly bad! It didn't even have a 2x zoom. Yes, seriously. And I was not enjoying being out and about with it- especially for taking it to football. And if you know me, then you know how much I enjoy taking photos (and football)! So, since upgrading to a Samsung S24, I've reignited my enjoyment of photography. I know it's not the best camera phone out there by a long shot (no pun intended), but it's a serious upgrade from my last one. Here's a few of the results: