Happy Holidays

Just sending out Holiday love.  Whatever your reason for celebrating this season be it a time of joy.  Peace!

Owls Need Big Eyes

While cruising the pages of Ravelry I came across a crochet pattern for little owls ( http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/owl-key-chain-pattern ).  I had some cotton scraps I was waiting to move into a finished object and thought this pattern was a good project to achieve these goals.  I also thought they would be cute little gifts for my friends.  With hook in hand I started on plan.  My first couple of tries were not cutting it.  I pulled those out and started again.  My crochet skills lacks the refinement of some of my more talented friends.  However, it did not deter me from making four of these little key chains.  My first 3 look okay, but the 4th one looks much better.  In the end the success is all about the eyes.  I have tons of buttons in all sizes, but currently I have no idea where my buttons are packed.  So I was scrambling for 2 matching buttons of any size..  My friends at Kirkwood Knittery gave me the buttons to finally make my little owl look great. Lesson learned, owls need BIG eyes.

Bat Mobile Or Itty Bitty Battys

Natalie and I heard we were getting a new niece awhile back.  I decided to knit her something and fate would bring Rebecca Danger's little monsters into my life.  I kind of fell in love with her itty bitty batty and saw a group of them made into a bat mobile.  The original plan was for Natalie and I to knit the bats together, but after knitting 2 of these bats, my control issues kicked in and I decided I would do it all myself.  I was frugal and used up most of the leftover Simply Worsted form the build a block blanket.  I had fun with this project and was excited to give the finished bat mobile to our new niece, the Divine Miss O.  The gift was a hit and now I can publicly crow about my knitting prowess.  Actually, the hardest part was the mobile.  I never was very good at mobiles.  Mobiles need precision and balance, things I do not possess in abundance.  I also made the bat mobile so as the Divine Miss O gets older they can cut the cords and she can have a colorful bat family.  Enjoy new niece!

Just Showing Off

I know I already blogged about the Cat's Cradle crocheted tunic, but Natalie took such a great photo of the tunic I had to show it off.

Princesses

Last year if I saw one Disney Princess costume, I saw 100.  Little girls and a few boys wanted to be Elsa, Snow White, Jasmine, or Cinderella.  Who I am I to throw metaphoric stones about the state of feminism in a 5 year old.  In 1971 I had the good fortune to live out my dream of being Cinderella in a hand me down costume.  I remember thinking that mask made me look just like the princess du jour.  After that Halloween I would ask to wear the costume again, but with some kind of evil magic it disappeared.  However, just once I had the thrill of being a bona fide Disney princess.

Cat's Cradle or More Crochet then I can Stand

About a year ago I started on a quest to improve my crochet skills.  I wanted to get better at hooking, you know what I mean.  Sometimes when you knit it helps to be able to incorporate crochet to be a more versatile fibernista.  And I did use skills I learned on the crochet afghan to finish the building block blanket for Natalie.  I am not regretting spending more time in the land of crochet, but while I am crocheting I am longing for my knitting bag sitting so lonely on the corner of the futon.  You would think after the afghan I would throw away my hooks and cast on some dramatic knitting project and never look back.  You would think that.

Try not to notice the spiderish shapes on the tunic

However, I still wanted to crochet myself some crazy tunic to wear over a turtle neck or something like that.  Well, the something like that turned out to be the Cat's Cradle 2 by Doris Chen.  I promised myself I would only join the crochet along if I could find the yarn in my stash.  I found I did not have enough of one color, so I added another color for the trim and just like that I was in another crochet along.  As always I was compelled by that inner product knitter to crochet my tunic up as soon as possible and with miles of chain stitches behind me, I finished.  I even made it point to flaunt my project at a craft fair and a party all in the same day. 

Hooking under a "Sale" sign

Now, I am saying this to you and anyone else who is listening, I done hooking for awhile, Christmas knitting is awaits me.

Rainbow Knitting

2 Washcloths and a Hand Towel

After the history making Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality, I felt driven to knit up some rainbow themed coasters.  As you can guess coasters do not take a significant amount of yarn.  After 4 coasters I found myself with a bag full of unused rainbow hued, cotton yarn. About the same time one of my straight, not narrow friends gave us rainbow beach towels for the new house.  With yarn in hand, I thought I should knit some linens to match.  A hand towel and two washcloths later, I still find myself with some extra yarn.  However, I am very pleased with my triple rainbow accomplishments fancying up the bathroom on the second floor. 

Washcloth Matching the Rainbow Towel

Coaster that Launched Half a Dozen More Projects