Oh my gawd…. I can’t get over how much I loved this pattern.

Sitting on my window ledge.

Found in this book by Lauren Epsy, "Whimsical Stitches: A Modern Makers Book of Amigurumi"

 Not only is it a great piece for beginners as it introduces you to lots of techniques and stitches you can use on other projects but its also FREAKING ADORABLE. 

The book itself isn't just about cactus and other plants. It's great for kids or making young children's toys; and if you frequent the crochet TikTok scene you probably have seen many familiar makes from this book.

I love that with some simple spheres and imagination you can make pretty much anything from this, including the infamous jellyfish. This introduced me to some simple techniques using known stitches. 

A very early attempt at crochet using this jellyfish pattern.

I still have this little guy on my desk. He's been with me at my old work place where everything died from air conditioning and now in my home studio...where I'm a failed plant mum. 

Dramatic Cacti

Even when in assembly mode it was super cute. Can I just make a table runner of just cacti... oh no - the ideas!!!

Still I reminisce about this project and I have plans to perhaps make smaller cactus options of keyrings and earrings in the Etsy store. What would you guys think? 

My next big amigurumi project after my little Frankenstein starts!

To start off this blog I will be sharing with you some of my early crochet projects in my first year. I’ll also be linking my sources. I can’t emphasise enough how easy I found crochet to pick up once I got the basic stitch, magic circle and decreasing stitches. This is basically all you need to start your journey! 

My favourite early books were the Zoomigurumi collection. Not only are the plushies super cute with lots of character but each book has a reminder of how to do the stitches you need as well. Each book is filled with a variety of patterns from different creators so you get a nice selection of styles to work with. 

The one thing though that I was always struggling with? The dreaded magic circle (even um who has been crocheting since her 20s struggles to do this!) However with the power of YouTube I finally got it after watching this video over and over again until I finally got it!



Not having a huge amount of money I usually end up making gifts for friends and family. In the past I made soaps, creams, candles, art, sewing projects - now it was time for the crochet gifts!

I love giving and receiving hand made gifts, for me it means so much more than buying something as not only have you put money and thought into the gift, but also your time. When working on gifts for people I am always thinking about them when I am making it which helps fill the gift with love and joy. 

So what do you make for twin mum and aunt? Twin bears of course! I used the Panda pattern from the Zoomigurumi 9 book and Drops Paris Cotton yarn which is my go to for Amigurumi. It's cheap and easy to use so great for the prolific crocheter or someone just starting out like I was. 

Starting with the head. I had a funny shaped head and did all I could to mould and re-shape it! I'm still not great at placing things very evenly so the features aren't wonky!

Another reason why these patterns are great is that I learnt how to switch yarn colours in a project. Here you can see the results of a stripey body.

Feeling confident on my progress I decided to start on the next one at the same time!

With all the limbs attached. He was a bit scruffy and doing the toe beans was very fiddly. He came out so much bigger than I expected as well!

Second one down! This time in purple using scrap yarn for multi coloured toe beans. This one was for mum, she's always liked to be a bit different :P

Twinsies together! They went down a treat and although not perfect I learnt a hell of a lot from this pattern.

The Pandas were well received and still to this day sit in my mums and aunts homes. I love making gifts for people and this was such a huge learning experience for me in my crochet journey. They were a bit messy and a bit lop sided but they were still super cute!

Sometimes it's ok to be a bit wonky... My first crochet attempt using Roxy Crochets free pattern for a Pusheen

As long as I can remember I've chewed my nails, which eventually turned into picking the skin around my fingers. Often I was embarrassed as I'd have to hide how bad I had got with band-aids or hiding my hands in my pockets. Oddly enough I didn't acknowledge that this was a bad habit and a sign of stress and anxiety for the longest time. I didn't understand why my nails were getting ridges and were becoming more and more brittle. Turns out all related to this bad habit, which had become an obsessive behaviour I was hardly aware I was doing. 

Dermatillomania I didn't even realise was a thing for many years. It's not pretty folks.

I grew concerned this could develop into something more serious and started looking into things I could do to help stop the habit. The yucky tasting nail polish… didn't work. Keeping nails painted? Not for long. Gloves, plasters... for a little while but not forever! 

Even though I did a pretty ombre nail I'd still end up chewing or peeling off the polish.

Growing up my mum knitted and crocheted blankets, she had tried to teach me several times but to no avail. However someone had mentioned amigurumi and I thought it was super cute and could be a fun hobby for me. After some basic research I found that people use crochet to keep their hands busy from this habit.