Happy early Chinese new year! The actual date is on the 25th of January, but I thought this would be a good project to start with in 2020.

This year, I have added some technology into my array of tools, to hopefully get more content out. I had bought a Surface Go and a tablet pen half a year ago, so I am really aiming to use it this year to write my new patterns down. This may help me get them out faster for you guys, I really want to make it as easy as possible to digitize.

Speaking of digitizing, I found an interesting app (called pen to print) that may be able to convert photos of my handwritten notes into usable text, but it needs the premium version to be able to use that feature. If I had this app, it could make it much simpler to bring the older patterns to digital format! I’m excited for progress, but I’m hoping I can wait to get enough credits to obtain it.

Another device I bought recently was the “lazy viewers”, which are essentially periscopes mounted onto a spectacle frame.

I noticed that I was having some upper back pain that would last a couple days at a time. At first I thought it was because I was sleeping funny; then I went on a field assignment for a week, didn’t crochet during that time, and noticed my back was feeling much better. My neck keeps having to crane downwards when I work with my hands, so I’m hoping to reduce that with these odd spectacles. Now that I know about the bad posture making my back ache, I notice it a lot more.

So far, it is a bit heavy around my nose bridge, and there is potential to be dizzy after a couple hours; however, it does allow my neck to remain straight and potentially I could crochet while lying in my bed. If only the nose bridge didn’t get pressed, it would be absolutely perfect- it does what I want it to do, though.

This zodiac “rat- more-like-mouse” was based off the jumping mice design from Coraline, the mice on the book cover of “poppy and rye”, and general details added onto rats representing the year of the rat. I thought I was going to make the head more separate from the body, but the “basic fetus” shape is one of my favourite shapes to make. Like Quilava, the base was made with two halves making the top side and underside.

Every time I added more details onto the base body, the more it started looking cute in the dorkiest sense. The eyes were crocheted with the 6-chain magic ring, making them protrude off the face; the smile added such a derpy touch. Combined with the 3-chain magic ring nose, I was laughing for at least 10 minutes at the development.

The stubby arms and tail were usual affairs, while the hind legs revisited the concept of making an elongated round with a mid-round transition back to regular rounds. The yellow detailing had me trying my first attempt at making a floral design. It is a bit crude, but I’m satisfied with the attempt.

Overall, this was a nice pace for the first project of the year – definitely ready to make even more crochet projects soon! Here’s the final result:

Thanks for reading!