Toys anyone?

Well, I've completed a few more toys, and they have taken over the bed in our guest room.  A couple more months and they will be on their way to the Diamond Children's Medical Center in Tuscon.  Hopefully they will help some little guy or girl to smile.

Here's my favorite of my recently completed projects:

His name is Frog Charming, and he's from the October, 2009 issue of Interweave Crochet.  A delight to make, and very, very easy.  Seems he's struck up a friendship with sock monkey.  That's nice, everyone needs a buddy!












And then there's this creature of the great outdoors:

An Alan Dart pattern, Night Owl, featured in the latest issue of Simply Knitting.  His toy patterns are the best.  If you haven't seen any of his patterns you really need to visit his website and take a look around.  If you love knitted toys, you're in for a treat!

New FO's

Finally I am getting around to adding these finished objects.  I'm still in the stash-busting mode, and I'm happy to report that the stash is really diminishing, which means that soon I'll be shopping for brand new, shiny yarns, oh my!

This is my favorite of my recently completed stuff:

And once I finished him, I decided to make him a friend:

And then I decided to make him some clothes, so when dressed, he looks like this:

I think he's really pretty handsome.  The plan for all these toys is to donate them, so come this December I'll pack them all up and bring them up to the children's hospital in Tucson.  And God Bless Them Every One.

The last finished object of late is this cropped sweater, made in 2 days (really, it's that fast and easy) and this will be a birthday gift for a friend of mine, who shall remain nameless in case she is browsing this blog.  This is made using super bulky yarn (also a part of my ever-shrinking stash) and I'm thrilled to finally use it because it takes up waaaaay tooooo much room in my yarn storage.  I will update this post with pattern information, which is not available to me at the moment because I am doing this at work.  Because sometimes, when my real work is done, I fill in the hours with other things, the internets being one.  Shhhhhhhhhhh!

It's Done!

My Cropped Rib Jacket is now hanging on a hanger in my closet!  It fits, I had enough yarn (that was a real concern towards the end) and I love it.  It will be perfect for cool summer evenings, which, believe it or not, once June is gone we do get those even here in the desert!

The front, back and sleeve pieces are worked separately in a K3, P1 rib for 7 inches, and then joined at the yoke to form the raglan sleeves.  That leaves minimal seaming to do at the end, which I like, lots! 

The yarn is Cascade Cotton Rich DK, and the pattern is from the Debbie Bliss Knitting magazine, spring/summer 2009.

eta:  the black box behind the sweater is husband's brief case.  Why do boys leave things where they don't belong?  Really.  Why?

Friends Are Good

I made this because I wanted to try the 'spring card.'  I'll keep it on hand in case a friend needs a pick me up, or I just want to tell someone they're special to me.  Because friends are special, and it's good to let them know that every once in a while.

This card is super easy, and really good for cardmaking newbies because all you need is paper, double-sided tape, a computer (if you're reading this you obviously have one) and an embellishment (if you want to add one, but even that's not necessary). The sentiment was created in Adobe CS In Design, but could easily be done in Microsoft Word. If you want to try making one, here's the link.

And sometimes I make cards

Because it's fun to play with scissors and papers and glue and tape, just like when we were young! I started doing this a couple of years ago, and now my card-making (is card making one word, two words, a hyphenated word?) supplies are fighting with space for my yarn stash, but it's ok.  They are learning how to get along and play well with others! This is just one example of the many cards I've made. It's called a tri-fold shutter card, and if you google tri-fold card, you get instructions for making one of these.

Who is this guy?

Due to copyright issues, I am not allowed to call him by his recognizable name.  However, if you have someone in your life, or maybe it's you, who loves those plastic take-apart, put-together, building thingies, then you should consider knitting this.   This pattern is designed by a very talented woman, who goes by the name of Ella on Ravelry.  You can search her by entering Ella's Pattern Store, and get the pattern.  But, be warned....this is extreme knitting, not really suitable for a beginner.  The directions are clear, but knitting this requires patience and lots of experience.

The picture of his hand is not very clear (as you can clearly see!) but I wanted to show you the detail, and how much it looks like the real thing. Ella also has a really cute astronaut pattern, if you have a space freak in your life. So go ahead, knit a toy. You'll have fun, and it's a great way to use up leftover yarn, and they really make cute gifts. And best of all, gauge doesn't matter when you make toys!

and now…

…back to my regularly scheduled programming. As often happens in life, lots of things have been going on. Some good, some not very good at all. So in order to ward off the not-very-good, the needles have been busy. Very busy. Because the thing to do in life when sh_t happens (as they say) is to keep the mind occupied.  It works. 

I decided it's time to do some serious stash-busting, which meant I got to knit some toys, one of my favorite things to knit.  And even though I don't really have any little ones to knit toys for right now, I am knitting them just because I love to.  They're fast, almost instant gratification, they're cute and goofy, and they make me smile.

Here are two:This is Georgina, a free pattern from the Lion Brand site.  The pattern called for baby weight, but I made her with worsted weight, which is the beauty of making toys.  No gauge to worry about, which I really like because making gauge swatches makes me crazy.  This toy can be crocheted in just an afternoon, which is great if you find yourself needing a quick gift, or a quick pick-me-up.

Also from Lion Brand, this is the Purrfect Kitty Sock Critter, (no, I didn't spell it wrong that way, Lion Brand spelled it wrong that way because they wanted to!)) knit in worsted weight. It's a good pattern if you want to learn how to do short rows, commonly used when knitting socks. Speaking of which, they're not your grandmother's socks anymore. The art of sock knitting has come a long way. The patterns range from basic and simple to awesomely elegant and intricate. And today's sock yarn is really, really, beautiful, thanks to many talented people who spin and dye their own yarn and sell it via the internets, or in fancy, schmancy yarn shops. I'm going to try some.  Soon.

More projects tomorrow.  Or in a few days.  Right now the boy of the household is making breakfast, and I'm going off to get me some.

Ok, that was good!  Now I have a minute to post another one:

This is one of my favorites.  The pattern is (once again) from the Lion Brand website, and it was a great way to use up some Vanna's Choice worsted I picked up on sale about 6 months or so ago.  For any knitter that might be reading this, I inserted pipe cleaners in the legs (all EIGHT of them!) to make sure they would curl up.  Love this guy, and so did Miguel, my favorite cocker spaniel!