Ta-daa! Unveiling the Birdie Decoration....

I seem to be on a bit of a crocheting roll at the moment, and this little birdie is my latest finished project. 

After I'd finished the Twirly Scarf I turned my attention to learning how to knit.  This is coming along slowly and not without swearing.  I'm struggling my way through a scarf made in moss stitch (knit one, purl one) which is a pretty stitch, sort of bumpy, but I'm really having to concentrate and remember exactly what stitch I'm supposed to be doing.  Of course I don't manage this so I end up with too many stitches and holes and, well, look, see for yourself:

See?  Rubbish, isn't it?  I'm not too bothered though as the whole idea was to get the hang of manipulating two long thin needles as opposed to a single short hook.  God, that photo makes it look really, really bad, much worse than in real life!

Here's a closeup of a really crappy part:

I just have to keep remembering that my very first attempt at crochet in November 2009 was meant to be a square but it came out triangular.  It was dreadful, but now I can make blankets.  And small birds. 

So, yes, back to the little birds. Knitting the scarf is hard work, like I said I have to concentrate, and it's disheartening to keep making such a dog's breakfast of the whole thing but I shall persevere because I've got to get better eventually, haven't I?  Please God, say I will...  Anyway, to give me a break from the swearing, I thought I'd rattle off one or two crocheted birdie decorations which I've been meaning to have a go at for some while.

I got the pattern from the incomparable Attic24 blog (which if you are interested at all in crochet, you should check out) and if you follow her wonderful tutorials, the birdies really do come out as they're supposed to.  I followed her instructions to the letter which meant I had to get a new crochet hook, some buttons and some new yarn - cotton, this time.  I got half a dozen or so colours - two shades of pink, two of blue, creamy white, a browny-purple and an orange - and over the weekend made this little guy:

It's a bit dim on that side of the kitchen, so let's hang him up in the sunshine on the other side, shall we?

I'm glad I've finally found a use for some large gold-plated heavy metal beads with big holes that I bought by mistake about 5 years ago - they're perfect for birdie 'feet'!

This was so satisfying to make, that I've made another one, finishing it this morning:

The body of this one is alternating cream and pale pink stripes with darker pink wings and an outside edge in browny-purple.  Cute, aren't they?

I'm keeping the first one but the new pink one is off to a new home as a surprise present for a lovely person.  But I like it so much that I think I'll make another in the same colour way to keep for myself.