Moji-Moji Design

Original Amigurumi Crochet Patterns

Tag Archives: car journey


by 8 Comments

Giles the Giraffe Takes to the Road

With a long road trip and a mixed bag of bad weather to contend with I’ve had plenty of opportunity to get out my hook and start creating again. My latest pattern is for this cheeky lopsided smiled giraffe whom I’ve called Giles.

It’s been a while since I worked on a design that wasn’t for a book or a magazine so it felt really refreshing to do something ‘just for me’ for a change. No deadlines, no working to commission, no liaising. Don’t get me wrong, I thrive on all of that too, but sometimes it’s nice to take it all down a notch and just create on an impulse exactly what I feel like making.

Giles made a super little travelling companion on a very slow and laborious trip Up North to visit relatives. He was so excited to be packed away ready for his first journey out of the house. He does look rather pleased at the prospect of a great adventure!

We headed downstairs to the kitchen and a step closer to beginning our journey…

…then out of the front door, into the car and onto the motorway. Woohoo! Hurrah!

Giles loved this bit the very best of all. Turns out he’s a giraffe with a need for speed. Yes, this little guy’s a bit of a thrill seeker! I was a teensy bit excited myself as this was my first trip in our new car. Our poor old Toyota Estima had given up for good during the heavy snows and icy temperatures of a few weeks ago. Now we have a Nissan Elgrand with six captain chair style seats and all the space I could possibly need for my endless yarny clutter.

Unfortunately the amount of road works that spring up everywhere these days makes driving a bit of a chore and it wasn’t long before the traffic ground to a halt and then proceeded to crawl along at a snails’s pace.

Now you know that feeling when sometimes amigurumi making, – and particularly something like pattern testing – is requesting more concentration of you than you think you can give? Well that’s where I was at for the first hour of the journey. I blame it on the early start but my brain would only cope with this simple ultra-repetitive four line repeat of this scarf. I’d already memorized the pattern before the journey began so it was the perfect busy hands project for when by head was in cruise mode.

Our visit was fun. Lots of gossip was caught up with and fine pub food was consumed. On the way back I decided to try out sitting in the back (or rather the middle) of the car. I made myself a comfy work area, got settled in a squishy leather chair and felt very decadent while I was at it. I think I could get used to this. Giles looks like he was born for this sort of luxury too and has made himself quite at home on the seat next to me! Oh and I did try to put a seat belt on him but he’s a touch on the tiny side and it wouldn’t fit. Having never seen a booster seat for 14 inch tall giraffes I made him promise to sit still, tucked safely behind the yarn, or he would be back in the rucksack until we got home. With that threat hanging over him he was as good as gold and sat quietly, watching intently as a pink and a blue giraffe began to take shape.

Once we arrived back the sun was still out and after more than our fair share of snow and rain and wind recently it seemed too good an opportunity to miss so we headed for the garden. Rolling out a picnic rug and unpacking my bag I carried on with pattern testing. I’m still getting used to the fact that I have a lawn to play on this summer and oh boy am I loving it! So much nicer than the fence to fence patio area that was down before.

The cats love the lawn too. What a wonderful place to sit and watch the birds.

It wasn’t long before Minnie came to stake a claim on the rug and the crochet by firmly plonking herself down on both.

Oh well. I was just about crocheted out for the day at that point anyway. lots of progress on Pinky and Bluey had been made.

Just to be extra sure there were no glaring errors in the pattern I went through it yet again in the studio the next day and not too long after I am now the proud owner of not one, not two…

blue-and-pink-giraffes

…not three…

three-giraffes

…but four sweetly smiling giraffes.

What a bunch of cuties, and perfect for my craft stall!

If you want to have a go at making one the pattern is available from any of my online shops or, if you live in or near Worcester, come visit me at the Worcester Show in Gheluvelt Park on the 12th August and meet Giles the Giraffe in person. I’d love to see you there!

In the meantime I will be busy making lots more amigurumi and a few more scarves to stock up my stall as well as perfecting my new pattern for a pair of Tippy Toed monsters Called Timothy and Tabitha who will be heading over to Belgium to feature in a second volume of Amigurumi Monsters published by Meteoor Books over at AmigurumiPatterns.net.

I’m also testing a super cute Bobby the Dinocorn pattern by Little Aqua Girl for the fantasy creatures themed book due out in August. This dinocorn will be one of Drake the Dragons book fellows and I cant wait to see how she turns out. And neither can Drake who is too excited to keep out of the project basket.

Things are busy around here, that’s for sure, but that’s the way (uh huh, uh huh) I like it!


by 10 Comments

Daisy Chain Holiday Hexies

Thanks to the welcome glut of bank holidays over recent weekends I’ve been able to make lots of progress with my latest blanket.

The carefully stacked hexi kebabs were getting longer and longer…

…until at last I had a basketful, all ready and waiting to be joined together in holy crochet matrimony.

Mojo got involved in helping me decide which order to join the hexies in. I think this blanket is going to prove as popular with the cats as all my other crochet blankets have been!

We eventually settled for this random distribution of colours, taking care that no two hexies of the same colour would end up next to each.

After spending so long on the decision making, I deemed it wise to invest a little more time skewering each strip of hexies onto separate, numbered knitting needles. I had a pretty strong hunch that if I didn’t my beautiful layout would soon be ruined by a playful cat. All those mouselike yarn tails would surely be too much to resist!

Row by row I threaded them onto to knitting needles labelled from one to twenty.

All the fun of joining the short sides of each hexi began with new kitten, Rubick, looking on curiously.

What a lot of hard work he makes of any attempt to crochet! Pouncing on yarn tails while inadvertently digging ten tiny claws into legs, arms and stomach is one of his very favorite pastimes. Ouch!

I sought refuge from such capers by crocheting in my cat-free car whenever possible over both of the bank holiday weekends.

A trip to Malvern amid classic April showers over Easter weekend was the first such break from kitten caring since he had arrived with us days before. I left my middle son and his girlfriend in charge of keeping an eye on him and enjoyed a crochet filled car journey followed by a peaceful stroll around the town centre.

Back at home and time to settle down on the sofa with an Easter egg and a cup of tea. With all the hexagons finally joined into strips, I now had a zillion ends to darn in so was going to need the sugar rush to keep me going!

Middle son and girlfriend had done a splendid job of wearing out the kitten with various fun and games, so the peace continued all afternoon as zonked out Rubick snoozed contentedly under the sofa.

Mojo was glad of the quiet afforded to us by Rubick’s epic nap too. Having a baby fur-brother suddenly invade his house has been somewhat of a test for him but he seems to be taking it a little better as each day goes by, while Pogo and Minnie are still keeping their distance whenever possible!

Slowly but surely I darned in the ends and the strips begin to look very neat and dapper.

The following weekend we took a trip up to Lancashire to visit hubby’s mum. The long car journey gave me plenty of time to pick up where I left off after the Easter break. Even traffic jams are sources of joy (though sadly not for hubby who’s driving) as the longer I’m in the car the more crochet I’m getting done.

See the smug smile on the cactus’ face? She knows exactly how I feel!

The traffic eventually cleared  and our speed picked up to hubby’s satisfaction. After more than two hours in the car most of the yarn ends were sewn in and neatly trimmed, leaving just those at the ends which are going to be used to join the half hexagons that I’ve yet to make, to fill in those half hexagon shaped dents that you get at the end of each row.

To make sure all the rows stay in the correct order I used a big stitch holder, so they can’t get muddled up.

The sun shone wonderfully on us as we reached our destination. A bit of spring sunshine crochet al fresco was just the tonic after being cramped up in a muggy car surrounded by unappealing grey tarmac and petrol fumes.

Due to an over-abundance of paving (hopefully being replaced with something greener this year) my garden at home looks more like a car park than a recreational park so I avail myself of a spot on the luscious lawn of mum-in-law’s garden and sit back to admire the flowers, both crocheted and real life.

Creaky knees being what they are there is only so much time they can handle being crossed legged on the lawn though but, hey – that’s what garden chairs are for, after all.

I happily followed the sun around all day, from one chair to another, chatting, sewing, crocheting, eating, and drinking tea until it was time for the journey back home.

It had been a lovely day spent doing all my favorite things and with plenty of light still left in the late spring evening I couldn’t wait to begin joining the strips together on the journey home.

I’m really happy with the way it’s turning out.

All the time I had to spend away from Rubick was certainly put to best use getting ahead with the blanket as much as possible, but I missed his crazy antics and was more than happy to have my progress slowed again when I got home. I think he’s was pleased to see me, and half of the new blanket, too!