I’m pleased to be able share the news that I’ve finished off my bat pattern at long last. These little guys were originally designed for a UK magazine and published in October 2015 so I got to thinking it was high time I reworked it slightly –  with the aim of listing it in my online pattern shops just in time for Halloween. Phew! Mission accomplished, though admittedly without nearly as much time to spare as I would have liked. Better late than never I guess. I know it’s only a few weeks until the big fright night itself, but these bats are very small – about 4″ (10 cm) tall and are fairly quick to make. Or maybe you just love bats as much as I do and fancy a woolly one as a pet whatever the time of year. No special occasion required!

There have been the usual amount of distractions this week but with October the 31st looming heavily towards me I crocheted up a motley collection of dismembered bat bits, zealously guarded by a luminous spider and an insanely happy ghost.

I eventually plucked up the courage to extricate the body parts from their creepy clutches and bundled the various anatomical necessities into little wicker baskets ready to be made into something altogether less grisly.

After a spot of wizardry with a needle and thread the bats started to take shape very nicely.

The original set of bats wore yellow, orange and blue T-shirts with dinky little bat logos and even made it onto the cover of Craftseller.

See how proud they look when they get a peek inside? It’s enough to make anyone fluff out their wings and crow a little. (To be honest, I was pretty chuffed too!).

As with most of my patterns, things change a little bit every time I rework them so with the new version I couldn’t resist using  green, orange and purple for their T-shirts. I totally love this colour combo at any time of the year but I especially love how, with the addition of a splash of black and grey here and there, it sums up Halloween so perfectly!

Now if you’ve ever looked at any of my other patterns you’ll know I’m completely batty (sorry!) for a bit of alliteration so I’ve duly named these three amigos Bertie, Betty and Barty Bat.

After I taught myself a smattering of sonar (blimey, I thought learning French was tough enough) we had a little bat chat and they agreed to be the focal point of my festive Fall decorating this year. I’ve strung them all up onto a lovely piece of sparkly black and white bakers twine, interspersed them with some crocheted stars and hung the whole garland on my fireplace.

They do make me smile just to look at their perky faces. As I don’t really like the macabre or grizzly details of Halloween decor this level of cuteness is just right for me. I’m a big wimp when it comes to horror films, or in fact even most films rated higher than a 12A, but that’s just the way I’ve always been and I don’t think I’m likely to toughen up any time soon. So bring on the cute overload because I can handle that by the bucketful!

The crocheted stars also make a really simple but effective garland of their own. They’re lightening quick to make and it’s so easy to whizz up a whole handful in an hour or so while watching telly or listening out for Trick or Treaters. I’ve threaded a few onto a piece of twine to complement the bat garland and I’m definitely going to be making another one in whites and silvery greys for my Christmas decorations.

A few tea lights burning keep the spooks and the winter doldrums away…

…and the bats are in their element as the darkness descends.

Now you may be thinking that Bertie, Betty and Barty are a little chubbier around the tummy than your average bat, and you’d be right. But don’t worry, as the classic nursery rhyme (only slightly adapted) explains:

“Bat Baby Bunting, daddy’s gone a-hunting, he’s gone to catch some tasty flies to stop them eating pumpkin pies”.

It wouldn’t do for them to get too heavy for their wings. With a bit of luck, and the hard work of their conscientiously foraging father, this is probably just a transient smidgen of puppy fat. With the practicalities of staying airborne aside, I actually think it rather suits them!

Wishing you all a happy and creative run up to the spook-fest at the end of the month…

…and watch out for things that go bump in the night – it might just be a chubby, pumpkin pie filled bat plummeting to the ground!

(Pattern available on Etsy or any of my other online shops)

Oh goodness! I just looked at my last blog post and see it started with an exclamation about how it was September already. Hmmm, now I have to start this one one with a similar remark about how it’s October already! Time seems to be speeding up here in Moji-Moji world and blog posts have been left behind, trailing in the dust for now. I haven’t been idle though. Far from it. I have been working on a major commission for a magazine with lots of different crocheted elements to it –  all of which must remain top secret until publication but I don’t think it will be giving too much away if I shared with you a little piccy of the gorgeous colours I’ve been working with.

This is my first time working with Stylecraft Special DK exclusively and I just loved the colour range and the supersoft feel of the yarn. Ooh, I cant wait to show you what I’ve been up to!

A lovely dose of brightness has helped with the transition from a sunny summer to a gloomier autumn. Gotta get a cat nap in near those luscious balls of yarn. I’m quite surprised Pogo isn’t actually in there with them. I guess it’s not quite that cold yet!

Minnie gets in on the action too… attracted by the rainbow of yarn and a comfy (?) keyboard to lie on.

It admittedly looks comfier than my WIP basket which is her other favorite spot at the moment. This one is full of notebooks, pencil cases and lumpy, bumpy, partially finished amigurumi. A far superior resting place than her fur lined, padded, roomy and expensive cat bed, of course.

Not to be outdone Mojo likes to demand his share of desk time too.

He finds it impossible to grasp that I may have to occasionally prioritise typing up a pattern over fussing him and often tries to put me back on the ‘right’ track by reminding me of his presence in an up close and personal way.

What is it about paperwork that makes cats so obsessed with lying/sitting on it? Ah well, plenty of room on the desk for a nap.

It’s kinda cute that even when I relocate to the other half of the desk so he can enjoy his first choice of prime resting spot, he just hot foots it over and hassles me there instead!

I give up, but secretly bask in the kitty love of devoted fur babies that follow me around all day.

Tigger’s been sneaking into my project baskets too. Here he is blocking access to the ongoing Spring Dots blanket (a smaller companion to my Spring Circles blanket, finished a few weeks ago).

Pogo and Mojo shared my lazy birthday morning lie in recently.

It’s just good to do nothing sometimes and a slow start to open some pressies and enjoy a cup of tea  before my birthday really gets going is a very nice indulgence.

Mysterious commissions and happy birthdays aside, I’ve also been busy finalising my new Owl design for Zoomigurumi 6. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with these books, this is a the latest in the series of amigurumi compendiums published over at amigurumipatterns.net)

So this is Oswald, or rather these are all Oswalds in their various subtly different incarnations that are the result of painstaking and maybe even quite unnecessary tweakings of small details until I’m 100% happy with the finished design.

It was rather nice to have a parliament of owls gracing my desk, followed shortly by the owl pageant – staged to decide which one to send over to Belgium for the photo shoot. They do all look quite similar, I know, but there are differences in the eye structure, stripes, beaks and the types of yarns used. I’m so fussy!

At least I can be sure the pattern’s had a few really good trial runs to iron out any problems before it goes through the main pattern testing phase at the hands of the Zoomigurumi team.

I’ve enjoyed working on his pattern either tucked up in the lounge in the increasingly chilly evenings or outside in the occasional burst of early autumn sunshine.

Got to make the most of the fine weather while we still have it. It’s been a lovely summer and I’m going to miss marathon crochet sessions lounging about on the daybed in the yard. But there’s always next summer to look forward to – and all the fun of Halloween, Christmas and Easter in between.

I think my leftover Oswald’s are going to be taking part in this year’s Halloween display. I’ve found the perfect roosting space for them anyway.

Looks like they may have been teaching owl manifestation spells at Hogwarts this year. If only creating amigurumi could be as quick and simple as waving a wand and uttering a suitable latin phrase then I might well catch up with all the new ideas buzzing around my head once and for all. Actually, that might not be so much fun you know, after all I do really enjoy the whole process (apart from tight deadlines, frogging and knuckle cramps). ‘Be careful what you wish for’ as the wise old saying goes! A life without the need to wield a crochet hook would actually be a terrible curse now I come to think about it properly!

Talking of tight deadlines, I’m admittedly running out of time for new Halloween designs this year but, hey, just like there’s going to be another summer after this one there’s always another autumn too. Here’s a sneak peek at what may or may not be appearing in my Etsy store this year!

I’m carrying on anyway, in the hope I will catch up with myself over the next week or so. You never know – there may be plenty of last minute crocheters looking for a spooky pattern. I can’t be the only one who leaves everything to the last minute!

So with my magazine commission in the bag, Oswald the Owl safely shipped to the publishers, my birthday and a dose of some change of season gruesome flu-some type snuffles out of the way, I’m going to dedicate the next few days to trying to finish my latest two patterns. On that note I will bid you good bye and head off to find my various baskets of projects (and hopefully they will be found without a cat in situ!).