More Gnome Love

Thank you all for your kind comments about my gnomes in the last post! Here are some in-progress additions:

Lightning gnomes to go with my other weather gnomes.



Chore gnomes! It was harder than I thought, finding simple pictures that would (mostly) universally represent common tasks. I tried to avoid having images of people and hands - very difficult.





Days of the week gnomes! The "angel" shaped ones are a tiny bit smaller than the average peg person. The "boy" gnomes are the teeny ones that come up to the shoulders of most peg people. I'll have to come up with something better for Sunday (white) because my current paint just isn't cutting it.





They will all be rubbed with beeswax polish and given hats. I'm in the process of dyeing more wool felt for them. What do you think?

Yarn Along and Birthday Goodies

Joining Ginny at Small Things again this week.



A pair of longies! Who would have thought, right? I'm using the leftover yarn from knitting Emily's test pattern for a bear. Will these be for my kids (who sorely need longer longies?) or will they go into the shop? Well, that depends on how far this ball of yarn gets me. It's entirely possible that they'll end up as shorts. Time will tell! As for reading, I finally picked up the second book in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I've owned it for a good long while and just never got around to it. As I'm currently lacking in library books, it seemed like the time to get into it. So far it is quite as enjoyable as the first book.

And now!
Yesterday was my sweet little Imp's third birthday. Here are the (sad, pathetic, poorly put together) gifts that I made for him.



This is Deadpool. A Marvel character. The Imp is in full-on comic super hero mode. Ever year we participate in Free Comic Book Day. Needless to say, we have a lot of comic books. We're also a video game family (hold your judgement, please). So no, he doesn't really understand who Deadpool is. He just knows that he looks cool and (in his words) "Deadpool have two swords!"

I think I failed in making this guy, though. There are some much, much, much better ones on Ravelry. Here are my notes, such as they are.



This is a Wolverine mask. It had so much potential. And then I sewed the "ears" on crooked. The night before his birthday. It's not an accurate representation, either. But he recognized it (along with the doll), so that's what matters, right? Granted, he refuses to wear it properly - guess I should have just made a Spiderman hat instead. Ah, well. Notes here.

These are some of my finished gnomes that will, hopefully, make it into my Etsy shop.. eventually. Many thanks to Julie for her wonderful help and idea sharing.



These are my Autumn Gnomes.




And these are my weather gnomes. Okay, so nighttime and rainbows aren't really weather.

{this moment} and a test knit!

This wonderful toy pattern that I was lucky enough to test for the lovely Emily has introduced the word "bear" into the life of one little Beast.
(Rav notes here)

Yarn Along and Other Things.

Joining Ginny at Small Things again this week.



Still knitting my sweater. Not a great photograph, but it shows the color well. I've just about made it to the bottom of the arm holes. Excitement! I'm just shy of half-way through The Happiness Project - which is a problem because it's due back at my library in three days. Oops. So what have I been doing instead of reading?

This:


I have been extremely fortunate to have two sales on my Etsy shop in the last week or so. Of course now my normally pretty empty shop is looking pathetic indeed. So a bit of restocking is in order. These gnomes aren't done, but don't they look handsome? I got to try out my new watercolor pencils. Yum!

What you can't really see, laying in front of the gnomes is this:


My dear and lovely friend has gotten my family absolutely addicted to My Neighbor Totoro (you should hear the Beast declare "toto! toto-doe!" when he wants to watch it). I searched Etsy and would you believe there aren't any Totoro stich markers? Travesty! The Elf and I had some Sculpey fun and made ourselves a veritable army of Totoro.

Ignore my freaky colored fingers and nails in the photo. I spent last night trying to make black felt.




This is what black gel cake dye gets you. Sigh. I thought for sure that steaming the felt would help. If you just let it soak, it generally turns pink. My next attempt will use much more of the gel (which is freakishly old, anyway). See, I need black wool felt to finish the Imp's birthday present (for this Tuesday! Ack!) and the only local place to buy it (Michaels - and resonably priced, too!) doesn't seem to want to stock it. Bleh.

And to end with a cute picture...

Yar!

Happy International Talk Like A Pirate Day!

I meant to be prepared this year but somehow I let it all slip away.

Next year there will be hand knit pirate hats. And maybe a giant cardboard pirate ship (I made one for the Elf's birthday one year - they *loved* it!).

Some day, we will even make it back to The Pirate Haus for another vacation - we went the October before the Imp was concieved.

In any way you chose, celebrate your inner pirate today!

Yarn Along!

Joining Ginny at Small Things again this week.



I'm working on about a gazillion (or at least it feels that way) small things right now. The photograph is of my work space (which also happens to be the table we eat our meals at - ouch). It's a smattering of what I'm working on.

Knitting: My sweater. It's what I work on while I'm outside with the boys.

Crocheting: A cupcake with a smile! A cookie. A wee brown bear and a red doll.

Reading: I, Coriander by Sally Gardner. I'm really enjoying this one!

***
Don't forget to enter to win the ninja doll I made (posted about here) over at This Cosy Life.

A giveaway!

Head on over to This Cosy Life and enter to win her Meltdown Monday Giveaway - a ninja doll crocheted by me!



This little guy was made using this great pattern. I changed the head a bit (my first attempt looked much too small) -you can see my notes on Ravelry here.

Yarn Along!

Joining Ginny at Small Things again this week.

I don't have anything *on* the needles photographed right now. I just finished weaving in the ends of this:



It's about half of a wolverine mask (like this). I have less than no idea of how I'll be adding the black "ears" but I imagine I'll think of something (I hope!). On the reading front, I'm in the middle of The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner. No picture of the book, I'm simply too lazy.

Here are some things I've finished recently.



Another ninja. This one with a slightly larger head. Neither one looks right, but I like this one better. You may be seeing him in a giveaway on one of my favorite blogs soon - I'll post about it when/if it happens.




Another hare from the Wee Woodland Wuzzies pattern. I adore these toys made out of organic cotton. No safety eyes for this one as it's a surprise gift for a wee one.




A horse! Even though it looks sort of like a giraffe with a mohawk. I need to show it to the intended's mother before I call it a swap. I can't get over how "special" it is. The consolation is that if she doesn't like it, the Beast probably will (poor kid, he gets my reject toys).

What will I start next? A fairy doll, I think. Or maybe I'll pull out my sweater to work on it. Either way, I have laundry detergent to make before I can indulge in some craftiness!

Oh! How could I forget this? It's a skein of yarn I dyed. It started out as a hank of Top of the Lamb by Brown Sheep in a light grey color. I over dyed it with blues and greens. It's a bit jewel-toned now and slightly more green than I had in mind (the colors in the picture and less than accurate).