Rag Pets – Handmade soft toys from Helsinki, Finland

And 4 years on...

Monday marked a full four years of keeping this blog! I didn't do anything to mark the occasion yesterday, since I had utterly forgotten about it until now, and we spent most of the day traveling back home from Tampere where we had spent a long weekend away anyways.

Four years doesn't seem like such a very long time, but looking back at all the posts I've written over the years, it really is quite an accomplishment to have blogged so much, even if I do toot my own horn a bit. I know I could post more often or I could maybe have some sort of posting schedule to adhere to, but blogging is something that comes to me more... umh, organically and I find it's best to just post whenever I feel like posting and not worry about how often or when that happens to be.
I've also been thinking about what I post, in addition to when I post it too. I mostly blog about making things and the things I have made, with a few posts about my life outside of the Rag Pets sprinkled in between and I've been wondering if there's anything you, my dear, numerous readers, would like to hear more about?

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of this blog's numerous readers, in these four years an astonishing 80569 of you have visited this blog, leaving 1245 comments all told as you popped by. I would like to thank all of you who continue to visit and comment this little blog of mine, you are what makes keeping a blog so wonderful! :)

3rd Blog-anniversary!

Today marks the three year anniversary of this blog. It's quite amazing to think I've been happily blogging away for such a long time now, especially since it doesn't really feel like that long a time at all. I know I don't post very regularly or very often, but having said that I do have lots to blog about at the moment, and I suppose I'd best get to blogging it all soon, really.

In these past three years this little blog has had a whole lot of visitors too, a very impressive 42915 of you in fact. I'd like to thank all of you who've come by here to read my posts and look at my pictures, you're all awesome and one of the main reasons I blog! The online craft blogging community is really and truly wonderful and I'm very proud and happy to be a part of it, with my now-3-year-old Rag Pet blog.

I hope there will be many, many years of Rag Pet blogging to come yet. :)

Wintry guest blogging

Just popping by to tell you that along with a bunch of wonderfully talented bloggers, I did a guest post on Meg Spaeth's very inspirational blog Elsie Marley, while Meg herself is on holiday. I wrote about a walk I took in the little forest across the street to enjoy the gorgeous winter weather we've been graced with today.

I hope all of you are enjoying blue skies full of sunshine too. :)

New things

A new year always brings with it new things and new beginnings.

I started a 365 Pictures Project this month, I'm going to try and take a photo every day for a whole year. It was a bit of a spur of the moment decision this, but since I now have an iPhone with a rather nice camera and growing love for brilliant and fun photography apps like Instagram and Hipstamatic, I think I have a fair chance of seeing this through! It's nice to challenge myself, to see if I can stick to this and if I can come up with 365 photos that aren't all of the cat!
You can follow my progress of taking 365 pictures over on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kitty_vane/sets/72157625827674961/

Another new thing I've started is a Tumblr blog. All the cool kids seem to have one, and I'd like to be a little bit cool so I thought I'd make one too. I also have a whole lot of pretty pictures and things that I've collected and I thought it'd be nice to share them with others to be inspired by too instead of just stuffing them into a folder.

You can find my Tumblr here: http://passengerpigeon.tumblr.com/
I thought long and hard about the name for my Tumblr, and I settled on Passenger Pigeon, because the "passenger" in passenger pigeon comes from the French word passager, meaning "to pass by", which is apt since my Tumblr will be a collection of bits and bobs I've come by while surfing about and that have caught my fancy. And of course, because pigeons are most awesome!

The last new thing is actually old news now, but since I'm a little bit behind on my feeds, it's still somewhat new to me: I was featured on the Absolutely Small blog! :)
Contrary to the answers I gave in the interview which I did at the end of last year, I just finished "Garden Spells" by Sarah Addison Allen which was magical and whimsical and I'm now reading "Driving Sideways" by Jess Riley which is wonderfully funny. The teddy bear making course I mentioned is over, but I'm still working on my Storybook Rag Pets. The "flu buster"-tea recipe is still current, with spring's flu season ahead of us and all. :)
Claire, the person behind Absolutely Small, and the ever brilliant utterly fantastic Chickenpants, is a really great person, super funny and so creative she makes people (she's currently on maternity leave) and if you haven't already, go acquaint yourself with her and her work!

Bear with me

First of all, I'm happy to say that my Blog-more Month was a success! I managed to post once every week last month, just like I aimed to and I'm rather proud of myself for that. As I had hoped, blogging more inspired me to do more, and doing more made me feel better and happier, even though it's getting rainier and all together bleaker now that we're at that awkward time between autumn and winter.

One of the things I got done is Grace the rag-bear. I started Grace a while back, but she was forgotten in all the Blog-more and Halloween hub-bub and I only got around to finishing her now.

Grace knits a lot, so much so that she even knits and purls in her sleep!

Grace is wearing a blue flowery cotton dress with a white Peter Pan collar and mis-matched red buttons down the bodice. She's also sporting a knitted, warm orange wool scarf.
Grace is made out of grey wool and she has safety eyes, an embroidered nose and blushy cheeks. She has a grey plastic button for a belly button.

The yarn for Grace's scarf was dyed by my grandmother, using -if I remember right- onion skins. Gran used to dye yarn in a big, black cauldron by the lake using natural dyes. Grace herself was inspired by my mum, who knits all the time, and who's super good at it too. I'm sadly nowhere near as good at knitting as my mum is, and the most I can manage to knit is slightly irregular scarves.

I hope to keep on blogging more and doing more in the months to come too, it seems to be a good deterrent for the winter blues that tend to strike me down once the days get short and sunlight becomes rare.

My Blog-more Month

I've mentioned "blogging without obligation" before, and I still stand by that philosophy very much. But still... I do feel a little bad about neglecting my blog, mostly because I find that I do more when I blog more. So, with a new month hopefully bringing with it new vigor, I'm challenging myself to post at least one blog-post per week this month, in the hopes that I'll get more done this month too!

I'm not doing this challenge alone, the many-talented Nina of Made by Nini is taking up the challenge to blog more as well. And if any of you feel like taking part in the Blog-more Month too, please do! I might even make a special little badge-thingy for this. :)
I had the pleasure of meeting Nina in person last week, when she was on holiday here in Helsinki. We enjoyed the unexpectedly gorgeous autumn weather, saw some sights, shopped a bit and talked a whole lot about everything under the sun, although mostly about all sorts of crafty stuff. It was brilliant to meet someone who you've only known online before and instantly have a connection with them, and to share the joy of making things with a fellow crafter. It really illustrated how absolutely amazing the crafty community can be.

As well as it being nice to have record of what I've made, thought about and done over the years, the craft community is a big reason for why I blog. It's super to be a part of the community and to be able to share my love of soft toys, my work and my life with others of like mind. And it's just as super to get to share others' love of crafts, their work and their life through their blogs too.
Another big reason I have for keeping a blog is simply habit. I've kept a diary since I was little and I started keeping a separate "work diary" (a sketchbook where I jot down ideas, design sketches, thoughts, bits of inspiration and notes) in school. I still carry a sketchbook with me everywhere! In the picture bellow you can see my work diaries from 1997 (when I started my costumier-sudies & my first work-diary) to my current sketchbook all piled up.

So with that, my Blog-more Month commences! :)

Blog birthday!

Today marks two full years of Rag Pet blogging. What with my creative dry spell drying up my enthusiasm for blogging of late, it really looks like my little blog has entered the terrible twos! :)
Despite fluctuating activity on my part, you, my dear readers have been very active these past years. An astounding 20781 of you have visited my little blog since I made my very first post here two years back and on average approximately 28 folks pop by here per day. I'd like to say a huge big thank you to all of you, it still surprises and delights me how many people come visit this little corner of the web.

This being a blogging anniversary and thus something unique to life on the internet as it were, I thought I'd list where else me and the Rag Pets can be found on the net:

I really like Twitter! I tweet quite a lot and I avidly follow all my Twitter-friends' doings too. I would love to get new followers!
https://twitter.com/kittyvane

The Rag Pets have their own page on Facebook, that you can become a fan of, or "like", as it's called now days. There really isn't a lot on the Rag Pet Facebook page yet, since I'm not quite sure how to work it and I have to admit that I mostly use Facebook to keep in touch with friends and to play Pet Society. :)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rag-Pets/20122817157

I post on Flickr a lot, and it's the best place to have a peek at my day to day life asides from Twitter.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kitty_vane/

I've had a gallery on DeviantArt for ever and ever, and if you're interested seeing more of my work besides just the Rag Pets and the occasional doodle I post here, DA is the place to go.
http://kittyvane.deviantart.com/

Speaking of neat things on the internet, I strongly suggest you visit the truly awesome blogs listed on the right of the page too. Each one of the blogs on that list has a super talented person behind it, and I'm sure they'd all appreciate a visit just as much as I appreciate getting visitors come by my blog.

love, love, love

Here in Finland Valentine's Day is called "Ystävänpäivä", Friend's Day, and we not only celebrate love, but friendship too. I love and cherish dearly all of my friends very much. I can honestly say that I wouldn't be who I am today and that my life would be a whole lot poorer and duller without them.
With that in mind, J. added a list of the blogs I follow to the sidebar over there on the right for me. The people behind these blogs are amazingly talented, endlessly inspiring and very friendly one and all, and I'm glad I have the chance to know them and to enjoy their wonderful work, and to count them as my online friends.

I've spent this day simply at home with J., who I love beyond measure and BooBoo Kitty, who is the apple of my eye (and a pain in the neck too on occasion!). We've had a lovely relaxing day just spending time together, eating yummy food and playing a game or two on our new PS3. I plan on watching some mushy movies later on and I also plan on eating lots of chocolate as well!

I wish you all a lovely Valentine's Day! :)

We are one!

This blog celebrated it's 1^st birthday yesterday!
... Or rather, it didn't since I plum forgot about this milestone until now and any ways, I spent all of yesterday running errands!

It's amazing to think that it's already been a year since I started this blog, time really has flown by very fast. In this first year, we've had 10767 visitors pop by here, coming from all over the world. And a whopping 134 of you came by just this week! Thank you all so, so much for visiting, commenting and being awesome!

I hope my little blog will continue to grow in the coming years, and that all of you wonderful visitors will keep coming back here, even if my updates do tend to be few and far between.
I'll go and have some celebratory pulla and milk now. :)