New year, new beginnings and some old memories

Hi to all of you who still visit my blog and read my posts. I know I disappeared from blogland all of a sudden. There have been some major events that happened since my last post in early August. We moved to a different house in October. Preparing to move, moving, settling into the new home and new routine all took my mind away from blogging and also crocheting. I like this new house better than the older one (both not our own).

There are plenty of pigeons in our building. The house has a courtyard and it makes it easier for the pigeons to even come into the house. 

One even built a nest inside a box that I had temporarily stored on a cupboard. At the same time another one made a nest outside the house on a windowsill. There were two eggs in the one outside on the windowsill and 1 egg on the cupboard. All 3 hatched on the same day, that was 2 days before the new year. For the first time I saw baby birds this close and that too within a few minutes of hatching.

There are a few squirrels living in a tree close to a window. They are not very scared of humans and always coming in through the open window demanding to be fed. I always leave some nuts for them. They remind me of our pet squirrel named Bujju from many years ago.

My husband brought home this baby found abandoned on the road. Our Bujju loved coffee! Every time I finish my morning coffee and leave the cup on the table he will dive into the cup and finish off the remaining few drops. 

He was more attached to me than my husband or kid. Whenever I sit on the table to work he used to climb to my shoulders and lick my neck. His tongue was scratchy like a cat's tongue.

He was with us only for a few months. We lost him to a stray cat that sneaked into the house and carried him away. Poor baby, we still miss him. I never knew squirrels could be this friendly until we had Bujju in our life. 

Moving on to other things, something else is keeping me distracted from crochet. I suddenly find myself attracted to miniatures and dollhouse making. I had always liked miniatures and dollhouses but this sudden obsession is something which is new. I don't know what started it but the next thing I knew I was pinning dollhouses, miniature stuff and tutorials, watching youtube videos and following miniature blogs. I even started making a dollhouse out of cardboard, the progress is slow and I'm making plenty of mistakes but learning from them. I might even make a tutorial here on how to build a dollhouse from scratch. I'm not entirely giving up on crochet but I have already started exploring ways to combine both.

This is the unfinished shell of my dollhouse. It will have 3 floors, lower floor, upper floor and an attic. Not so attractive to look, right? Wait and watch! 

As I said I haven't stayed away from crochet. I did make a cardigan for myself. I was even planning to write a free pattern for it. It looked alright after finishing, it looked alright on my dress form but it doesn't look alright on me. I'm not pleased with the neck. It looks way too broad on me but I'm not going to alter it now. 

I also started a pullover for my son. It's almost done but I'm not pleased with that one too. Something is not looking right. I think I didn't get the armholes right but I'm not going to do anything about it now, maybe later. I'm too distracted by dollhouses.

The scrap yarn hexagon blanket is taking a lot of time to complete. I wanted to finish it by the end of the year but obviously now it's going to need probably another year. 

I'll leave you with this. I have rambled enough for now. Most probably my next post would be a tutorial on dollhouse. Enjoy your weekend!