Hello everyone! I’ve been so busy working on crochet projects for friends all around the globe. I never realized how truly time-consuming it is to crochet, until pregnancy! Wow. I feel some serious fatigue from it but at the same time I enjoy it SO much.

The above picture is an owl mobile/decoration that I made for my friend Wendy. She just had a son a few weeks ago and I wanted to make her little boy something special for his room.

The owl expressions are something I had in mine like…

1. “hoot hoot! So
HAPPY!

2. “HUH?! Bed time?

3. Good night!

Ever since I posted this picture on instagram (anniegurumi) and WeChat, it’s been a hit! I got some people who want to pay me for a mobile. (Thankfully, since shipping anywhere but China is pretty expensive)

Currently, I’m working on another owl set, this time with a lavender theme for a Weddingbee friend in Australia. She’s having a little girl in April and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t read my blog so it’s safe to post it here! She offered to pay me or buy me things in Australia for our baby. I’m very excited to finish this mobile, my plan is to have it with some flowers and leaves on a vine that holds it up.

I’ve had always had trouble with sewing and embroidery. No matter what I do, it seems that it is always crooked or just doesn’t look right. It wasn’t until the owl mobile for Wendy that my embroidery got better! The above pictures are the eyes I made for the purple owls. It looks pretty good right? After a few more projects, I might upload a video on how to do this.

Anyone interested?

I hung up the pictures from my shower, I think they look pretty nice on the wall instead of the bookshelf. It makes me so happy how color it is and how everything is mostly handmade. The hubs and I don’t want to buy too many electronic toys that have bright lights and sounds. But who knows, maybe that’ll change once we have him but we want to keep things simple. We’ve been asking friends to buy clothes or books instead.

I cleared a dresser and we’re planning on using it as a changing area for Boram. The hubs suggested I make another mobile to hang up so he can look up and be a little distracted while we change the diaper. He loves all my crocheted items and he prefers them over bought mobiles. Awww, isn’t he so sweet?

Boram loves music, he kicks so much when I play piano that I think he’s dancing in my belly. It makes me smile, I sing and play, enjoying my time with the baby in my stomach. Loving every single moment of this pregnancy and feeling so happy.

Whoa. That was a long entry. But yes, I’ve been a bit busy but doing well! I had a little moment where I really got homesick and missed my friends back in America. But I know they’re always here for me, even if it’s through email/text/FaceTime. 

I’ve been so busy making crocheted things for other people’s babies that I had no time for my own. But I am happy to say that I just finished this last week. Isn’t it adorable? I made the same one for my niece, Zoe and I know the BFF loves it!

The hubs wants to hang it on the wall right by our crib so little Boram can look up and see happy amigurumis. It makes me excited to make my own things, I also kind of wish I had amigurumis that other people made too though. But living in China, I don’t have any friends that are local and who knit/crochet so I’ll have to do it on my own.

It’s so hard because the types of yarn that I like to use for these kinds of projects is Red Heart. Their yarns have a stiff texture which makes it great for these types of decorations. So if the people at Red Heart Yarns feel generous and want to send me yarn so I can make more things for my baby, please… Please! Send it to me.  

I just sent two things yesterday that I made for friends and I have to say… I’m really sorry to the rest of my friends having babies. I just can’t afford to send my creations to America anymore. It cost me $50 (usd!!!) to send and it’s going to take a MONTH. ugh. I can’t even imagine how much it would cost to send a real package full of things I bought. It’s funny how the boxes only had my amigurumis and it costs so much more to ship than the actual item itself. Boo.

But in the mean time… does anyone have some cute patterns they’d like to share? Crochet please… and nothing too difficult. I’m having a hard time finding anything cute for a boy but plenty for a girl. I want to decorate our nursery more with some amigurumi and I haven’t quite figured out what I want to make yet. But I’m sure I’ll be following something along the theme of the pictures that I frame and this mobile.

And if anybody is trying to contact me by email (using my anniegurumi account), sadly I can’t receive mail at the moment so it’s best to leave a comment or use my personal email address. (Sorry about that!) I’m starting to run out of RH yarn so this is mostly if the kind people at Red Heart wants to send me some yarn, but I doubt they even know my blog exists.  

What do you think of our latest addition to the nursery?  

Hello everyone! I’m here to update you on little Boram and guess what? We are halfway through our pregnancy at 20 weeks! (YAY!)

I’m going to follow my EDD twin’s blog post loosely for this post!

Weight gain/Belly: I felt a significant bump increase these days, my pre pregnancy clothes still fit but my tummy is sticking out quite a bit. According to my handy Sprout app, I have gained a total of 2.7 kg/6 pounds since the beginning of pregnancy! (It definitely shows!) My belly feels tight and round, I love rubbing it and I am so happy when my loved ones rub it too!

Sleep: I’ve been sleeping really well, I feel very lucky in those regards. I put a pillow between my legs and guess who’s completely out? I’m not a heavy sleeper but these days, you can’t wake me! 

Symptoms: The only symptoms I have is fatigue, especially in the late afternoon. Maybe some shortness of breath but for the most part, it’s pretty easy for me these days. No more nausea or gagging from yucky smells. 

Cravings: For the most part, Boram only likes healthy – fresh foods. Examples: squash, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, yogurt, blueberries, Asian pears and eggs.

Gender: We have a boy!  

Movement: I felt Boram moving a few weeks ago, it felt like popcorn popping or bubbles bursting. Now I feel him sometimes moving from side to side. One time I felt him pressed up against my belly and when I poked it, he moved back in! That was so exciting for the hubs and I to feel.

Maternity Clothes: Still wearing a lot of my pre pregnancy stuff. I have been wearing my Old Navy maternity jeans and shirts. Also some Motherhood Maternity shirts the hubs bought on sale. I really wish I had some maternity leggings and tights, I didn’t have time while we were home and when we did have time… they were sold out. I’m also wearing the Bravado Silk Seamless Nursing bra - highly recommend it!

What I’m looking forward to: I can’t wait to see his hand or foot sticking out of my tummy and constant kicks. I can’t wait to hold our baby skin to skin.

Just like Amy, I absolutely LOVE every part of pregnancy. I have to say that I am lucky that morning sickness wasn’t so bad. I don’t have much aches and pains, so it makes it a whole lot easier to enjoy pregnancy! I was telling the hubs since my body loves pregnancy, I’d like to have three kids. He chuckled and said “Let’s see after this one…”  

I have a private video here at 20 weeks, please put in your password (if you are a friend, please leave a comment and I’ll email you the password).

Thank you coming along on our journey, we can’t WAIT for our little one to be born!

From the beginning the hubs and I decided we’re not going to go nuts with the nursery. We want to save money on things and keep it as simple as possible.

That’s not to say we won’t buy cute things here and there but hopefully we can try to use what we have, buy what we need and splurge every now and then. Plus I’m hoping that I can make things for the nursery as far as decorations.

This is what I have so far!

At our baby shower, Jess made a beautiful-hand made banner! (She had other decorations that she made as well) I couldn’t get over how beautiful it is so I had to bring it back home with me!

I didn’t quite know how I would use it but knew I would find a way.

I took the “O” and added letters to make our son’s name. Oooh, surprise! Now you guys know Boram’s name. We have been debating over this and the hubby’s name for a while. We found ourselves (without thinking about it) calling out for Olly. And since we’ve done it so much, we decided that it’s meant to be.

My little Oliver. :) My son.

I thought that this would be adorable to put in a cute frame (from Ikea, cheap… cheap, CHEAP) and I added a scrapbooking paper circle (like the sun) with a blue backing that looks like a sky. Easy. I also love that it’s a memento from our shower.

At our shower, we played a game where everyone drew a picture of what our son will look like. Everyone was asked to be creative and we got to pick the winner! We chose Jonathan, who is a toy designer, because it was just too adorable.

Jonathan also made is another picture at the shower because I loved his pictures so much. Isn’t it adorable?

I just had to buy mini frames to put them in. I’m hoping to buy more of these frames from Ikea. They have so many bright colors and I’m planning on putting most of the drawings people made into different frames and hanging them on the wall.

I’m planning on making my own mobile, using crochet amigurumi. I’m wondering if there are other things a nursery would have that I could make. Any tips?

What do you think so far?

I’m waiting till I frame everything, then put them up on the wall. I have to say that I love these pictures so much, it reminds me of all our friends who love us and especially little Oliver. <3

Remember the cousin I was telling you about who loves chicken? Well isn’t this a great addition to the chicken drumsticks that I made? This is probably the most complicated baby blanket I made so far. But then again it wasn’t that it was difficult but it just took a lot of time to make.

The pattern that I used was from the Cuddly Crochet book I used for a previous project. It is easy but you need to know how to crochet through the top and back loops of a stitch. But it’s really easy and the book explains how to do those things with illustrations.

The picture in the book was blue instead of yellow but I wanted it to look more like a chick and less like a bird so I did it in my own colors. I imagine that this would look good in any color, especially red or blue.

I can’t get over the face of the blanket! I can’t wait to see my new niece snuggled up in this blanket. Oh my goodness! I can’t even imagine the cuteness!

I love the little feet too! I kind of feel like it looks more like a duck than a chick but either way I think it’s adorable. I used 100% acrylic baby yarn by Lion Brand. It is so soft and it can be machine washed and dried so that’s especially good for new parents who probably don’t have time to special wash certain baby items. The pattern did say that if you use 100% cotton it can be a baby TOWEL! I’ve seen these kinds of towels everywhere and it would be super special to make that for a little baby. I need to go back to the yarn store to see how much it would cost to use 100% cotton. But it gives me many ideas.

I hope Wilson and Laura will get good use out of this with their daughter. It was a lot of fun to finish but the blanket portion of it was really mundane since it was all one color and the same stitch over and over again. But then again if I had some crazy complicated color changing, stitch changing pattern…. I would probably lose count and have to unravel and redo many times.

Simplicity is some times the best. I’m really proud of this one. I may have to make some more for more friends and their kids.

Once my niece was born, it felt as though everyone was pregnant or giving birth. You know what that means… Since I was just hopping on the crochet train and didn’t know how to make much more than a scarf, I made tons of baby blankets for my friends children!

So I made a baby blanket for my friends Julie and Victor who have a beautiful son named Lucas.

I looked at my Stitch N’ Bitch book where they show different kind of crochet patterns and I just picked one of them to make his blanket. I liked this one because it’s puffy and I thought since he was born in the winter, that it would keep him warm. If you know how to dbl crochet… this is just a bit fancier and almost like doing shells.

My friends Krissy and Hunter had a girl named Dashielle and I couldn’t resist the adorable multi-colored yarn for them.

I did the same pattern but with a thicker sc border. It looks like confetti and I hope they got good use out of it.

You know what’s funny? I never knew how big a baby blanket should be. So most of the blankets that I made were probably only big enough to last through maybe 9 months or so. I don’t have a child so I had no idea how fast babies grow.

A pattern that I’m working on right now for a proper baby blanket… Wants the end size to be approximately 31″X31″. Whoops. I feel bad for all the baby blankets that I made that were nowhere near that. At least I’m better educated now about how big a blanket should be.

The baby blanket I’m working on now is so adorable and I can’t wait to share it but just incase my cousins reads this blog…. I’ll post it after it’s finished and has been opened. 

My niece, Claire , was born last year and I fell in love with her immediately. I made her a simple hat with ears that resembled a bear with the same yarn I used to make her baby blanket.

It was a simple sc in the size I wanted and then I crocheted some ears and it was perfect! She looked so adorable in it.

I got back into crochet after Claire was born. The excitement of being an Auntie for the first time brought me a lot of joy. I never made anything other than a scarf so these were very easy. The blanket was dbl crochet all the way with a puff edging that I learned on line. It was really soft and I was so proud to give this to Claire.

See how proud I am? Sigh, I love this little girl so much. She was the real inspiration for me to get back into crochet and do something other than blankets or scarves. I’ve come a long way since and I’ll post more as I get time. But a baby blanket that is just a simple crochet pattern makes an excellent gift for any novice crafter. So go get your needles and some super soft yarn and make some for the babies in your life.