Making birthday gifts for three babies born exactly eighteen years after me
Since the eighteenth birthday, symbolizing a person's coming of age, is an important event in life, early in June I got an idea of making mine more special. I love crocheting, wherefore I decided to make large amigurumi lions for babies born on the same day and hospital as I did eighteen years ago - an unexpected, sweet and, for a small child, useful gift, and, most importantly, a lion, which is the zodiac sign for babies born at the end of July.
Considering that I wanted the amigurumi toys to be as similar to one another as possible, in order to avoid biased choices when giving them away, I found a pattern I liked (link) and bought five clews of golden yarn, one clew yarn of each of the required colours - black, white and dark brown, and two heavy blocks of wool for stuffing. Thankfully, I have done a lot of crocheting over the past three years and have made winter clothing as well as at least fifty different amigurumis, so I was well aware of various crocheting techniques and the terminology used in the pattern. Also, already in June, I contacted the leading gynecologist of Jelgava City Hospital to ensure that, after the babies were born, I would be allowed to talk to their parents and offer my gifts.
Having arranged that, I began the pleasant, yet very time-consuming process of making the amigurumis. Because of my tremendous experience in crocheting, I did not encounter many difficulties. First, I made the body parts - body, head, both arms and legs, ears, eyes, pupils, tail and mane, then I stuffed them with wool and finally sewed together. Working systematically, I completely finished the first lion before I began the next, for the body parts had to be crocheted with similar firmness, which - as I know from experience - varies with my mood. Indeed, unintentionally the first two amigurumis turned out slightly larger than the third. And yet, I struggled with the legs of the second lion, as I could not get them to be of equal length and diameter, in spite of using the exact same number of stitches. In the end, I admit, one leg contains more wool and is thus evidently more firm than the other, but at least they are equally long.
While the crucial step of sewing the body parts together is certainly not one I particularly enjoyed, looking how the "face" of the lion turned out was always fun. I did not try to make the faces look alike, preferring to think that each of the lions had its own personality. However, I did decide to unpick the legs of one toy only a couple of days before the birthday, because they were sewed too close to the lion's stomach and looked quite funny when the amigurumi was not in a sitting position. Apart from these relatively minor problems, I also had difficulties with the manes, being unsatisfied with the result when using the written pattern to make them. Hence, eventually I decided to improvise and crochet by my own unwritten pattern until I was contented with the way the toys looked.
Finally, on the day after my birthday, I called the hospital and received the happy news - two girls and a boy were born on July 26. Luckily, the number of babies precisely coincided with the number of lions I had already made, meaning that I had neither to hastily crochet another nor look for newborn babies at other hospitals. As I had planned to give the gifts only when the mothers and the babies were going home, in order not to disturb them at the hospital, I had plenty of time to prepare gift cards and find out the names of the babies, to whom they ought to be addressed. Naturally, the three mothers were not going home on the same day, but I had not expected otherwise and was ready to visit the hospital repeatedly. And although the babies were not nearly old enough to appreciate the gifts, which were actually larger than they were, seeing a mix of surprise and joy on faces of the mothers, fathers and the hospital staff felt very rewarding. They complemented the toys and even congratulated me on my own birthday. I hope that, when the children are older they will be happy about the toys as well, and maybe - as implausible as it is - do something similar at their eighteenth birthdays.
Photos, mostly throughout the gift-making process, for when I realized that I should have taken pictures of all babies, two of them had already gone home:
crocheting
the first lion without eyes, ears, nose, mouth and mane
the first lion with only the mane missing
three lions, each at a different stage
the evolution of lions
all three lions at their going-away party
little Estere, her mother and the lion
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My reflections
At the beginning of June, thinking of ways to make my eighteenth birthday more special whilst, if possible, do something good for somebody beside myself, I got the idea of making and giving gifts to the babies that were to be born at the exact same day and hospital as I did. Without doubt, the gifts had to be unique and somehow symbolic, hence my decision to crochet lion amigurumi toys. First of all, having crocheted around fifty different toys I was certain of my ability to make both adorable and qualitative toys without particular technical difficulties. Since the task promised to be very time-consuming and challenge my patience, having the needed skills was essential in order to make enough amigurumis. Secondly, I decided to make lions instead of other animals or popular characters to honour the zodiac sign of people born in the time period between July 23 and August 23.
Before I began crocheting, several things had to be done. For instance, to ensure that the lions looked more or less the same and thus avoid a subjective choice, I looked up a pattern invented and published by a keen crocheter that resulted in a toy charming enough to satisfy me. Also, I had to purchase the materials - eight clews of coloured yarn and two heavy blocks of wool for stuffing. Only then I could begin my work - crocheting details and sewing them together - that extended over a month and a half, taking 50 hours altogether and resulting in three lion amigurumis. Despite my experience in crocheting, I did not always sew the extremities at the right spots on the body and had to unpick them. In addition, I struggled with the lions' faces, for, while I preferred them being different as if the toys had personalities, I still wanted them all to appear joyful and lovely. In the end, as far as I can objectively judge, I think they did. As another encountered problem I could mention having to come up with a pattern for the mane due to being unhappy about the way the head of the original lion looked. Although it did not took a lot of time relative to other body parts and especially sewing, it still required a lot of focus and even tested my memory, since at some point I had to write most of the pattern down.
While I had contacted the Jelgava City Hospital and arranged that implementation of my project was possible already in June, on the week of my birthday - July 26 - I once again made sure nothing had changed. Reading the newborn column in the news and seeing that on some days five babies were born, I must admit being nervous that I would have to hastily make two additional toys, instead of one which I was ready to do, after the baby's birth. Lucky for me and rather unbelievably, exactly three babies - two girls and a boy - were born on July 26, relieving me of extra work. After speaking with the hospital staff and finding out the names of the newborn babies, I wrote gift-cards and on the days of them leaving the hospital (the baby girl Estere went home only five days after birth) went to surprise them. Of course, the babies were not nearly old enough to appreciate the gifts, which were actually larger than they were, and yet seeing a mix of surprise and joy on faces of their mothers and, in one occasion, father felt truly rewarding. Overall, I believe this project increased my communication and organization skills, and, which I consider no less important, it brought a lot of delight.
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