My little mouse has problems sleeping. She doesn’t really nap and she has slept through the night only once in two and a bit years. Yes that’s right, ONCE!

This gives me ample hours of perusing Pinterest and Instagram and means that my list of sewing patterns to make increases as fast as my actual time at a sewing machine decreases to meet the needs of an increasingly active and demanding toddler.

For a while this lack of “sewing time” really got me down. I was constantly on the cusp of a frustration -inspired bad mood wondering how on earth all these amazing insta mummy’s have time to have multiple children whilst making, teaching and writing blogs when I hadn’t even managed to wash my hair that week!

Then somewhere in cyberspace I read a line that really resonated with me: “this too, shall pass” was the author’s response to some desperate, sleep deprived mum’s question. (I would love to attribute the quote to its rightful creator but I can’t remember where I read it or even the exact context in which it was used). She was right though. These moments of being completely and utterly needed will pass and they will pass all too quickly. Those little hands that grasp and clammer at me, that sweet innocent voice that calls for me, that little fragile body that finds its most peaceful sleep when I’m its side, all that, shall pass and leave me longing to to have it all back even for just an instant. These moments are so precious and I need to live them intensely so that their memories live with me for a lifetime.

To fulfil my creative urge I therefore need to find a practical alternative for those days where I will have my baby glued to my hip or lap all day. Or those in which I may only get a five minute window to “do something”. I think knitting is probably the best suited mummy craft because you can pick it up and work a row in a spare five minutes you have or take it with you and do it on a park bench if your child falls asleep on your daily walk. Problem is, I can’t knit. Better said I can knit but I can’t read knitting patterns.

So, I came up with a plan. I’ll learn to crochet, then I’ll learn how to follow crochet patterns and then I’ll plunge in and tackle a knitting pattern!

Finally, we get to Josephine!

Josephine is my fifth or sixth completed crochet project and the second from the amazing Sweet Crochet by Sandrine Deveze (the first having been Pirum Parum whom you can see on my Instagram feed). I would thoroughly recommend this book for any beginner. It is beautifully illustrated and all the stitches used are very well explained at the beginning of the book. Each project also includes a summary of the stitches that will be required so you can pick the project according to specific skills you want to practice (or avoid!).

Josephine came together very easily and quite quickly. I could have been faster but I decided to go down a hook size and use a 2.5mm instead of the 3mm recommended after having completed the head so just as I was about to begin assembling, I decided to redo it to keep it consistent with the subsequent body parts. The one negative of the book is that it doesn’t go into very much detail when explaining how to embroider the faces or how to join the different body parts together. However, this is quickly resolved by a quick Google search which brings up a plethora of fantastic tutorials but it would be something that I think could be addressed in subsequent editions. The joining of the head to the body was what I least enjoyed about the project and I could have been neater. I was in such a rush to finish though (my first knitting project had arrived and I was so desperate to get started) and I knew the join would be covered with a scarf so I didn’t put a great deal of effort into it.

Overall I’m pleased with this make and so is my little mouse (although every time she sees it she gets upset that she doesn’t have any shoes and requests we go buy her some) and I look forward to more makes from this book.