Yarn Along!

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First, what I'm currently working on:



Longies! I'm enjoying the color combination immensely. I'm not crazy about having two balls of yarn attached to my work all the time, though. I'm rereading more urban fantasy: The Blood Books Volume 1 by Tanya Huff.

And now! The recently finished items. Whee!



What's that? Longies? Who'd have thought? These are toddler sized and a lovely muted orange. They're headed for my Etsy shop when I get around to writing up the description. (Rav notes here)



A heart dish/washcloth. This is for a swap I'm doing. It's only one part, though. (Rav notes here)





Oh man. Lots of stuff here. We have seven critters (raccoon, fox, mouse, otter, squirrel, hare, hedgehog), three acorns, and two mushrooms. The raccoon wasn't part of the pattern set. I used someone else's as a base and cobbled together my own. My lighting sucks, but there you go. (Rav notes: critters, large acorn, small acorns, mushrooms)

(late) Yarn Along!

I decided to participate in the Yarn Along I've read about on several blogs. You can be a part, too. Stop by Small Things to read about it.

I'm behind on everything (as anyone expecting an email from me knows), so here's my day late Yarn Along post. Since the epic sweater fail I haven't been focusing on knitting as much. I have worked a bit on the Playground Shirt for the boys. And I'm reading The Lightning Thief at the urging of my oldest, the Elf.



Here is what I've mostly been focusing on: part of my Four Seasons Exchange swap.



See that tree stump? Embroidery. Let's just say that I've discovered that I'm not patient enough for embroidery.



The flower gnome has a little sleeping sack thing. I was half thinking root child, but this is supposed to be a summer swap not spring.. so.. it's a sleeping sack.



I'm not happy with the cap. Sewing it together, stuffing it, having the pieces not exactly fit. The perfectionist in me is crying. I think I may just try needle felting the edges down and see how I feel about it then. Of course, the stabilizer inside might not like that too much. Oh well.



Now I just have to figure out what else to make and send for this swap.

Swaps!

I've been knitting like crazy lately. First I finished up a doll for Belle + Bee.









I used this hair tutorial for her hair. I suspect it takes practice, because I don't think I did it very well. It looks okay, but it's just not the sort of coverage I was going for. So I made her a headband - which spurred me to start one for myself, too (which I'll try to post about for tomorrow's Yarn Along).

And then, I finished up my items for the Wings of Spring Bird Swap. I started out with some owls (pattern here). Then I added some lovebirds (pattern here). While helping the Elf learn to fold paper cranes, I decided to throw in a few of those. And then the whole thing looked like it really needed a nest. So I made some (pattern here).





And here are the Elf's cranes for the kids' bird swap. We've had to ship them flat (and folded in half!).

Life, the Universe, and Yarn.

The past two weeks have been craziness. The Beast's birthday, B's birthday, free comic book day, Mother's Day - not to mention that B was home from work for more than a week! Whew. Craziness. Now B has gone back to work (unfortunately) and things are slowly sliding back to normal paces. Except that the Imp woke up vomitting at 6:30 this morning.

A few good things:









- B made a kite with the older boys out of slick paper, bamboo, hemp twine, and a can tab. And tape. Lots of tape. It didn't fly, but they had fun trying.

- Yesterday, while getting the mail, the younger boys and I discovered hydrangea blooms in our yard (from a neighbor's bush that has grown wildly out of control). We decided to pick a few (we knew she wouldn't mind - especially since she hasn't lived in the house for nearly a year and her yard is going crazy). The Imp kept wanting "more! more!" He even requested that I take a few steps over the property line for the oh-so-beautiful blue ones. Amazingly, the cats haven't tried to eat these (as they usually do with anything remotely green that I bring in the house).

- Sonya gave me some yarn once upon a time. It's been sitting on my shelf, waiting for a project. I decided to dye it (with easter egg dye - safe for kidlets) for doll hair. The orange was supposed to be more of a variegated yellow/brown - oops. The blue should have been more blue and less green. But I like it.

- The doll I'm making for Bell + Bee is finally coming along. I'm trying out a new (to me) way to add the hair. I'm using this tutorial, though I don't think I'm doing a very good job of it. It looks okay (I've added more hair since this photograph), but I think I'll keep looking for another way to do it.

Yarn Along!

I decided to participate in the Yarn Along I've read about on several blogs. You can be a part, too. Stop by Small Things to read about it.

I didn't get around to taking a picture for the Yarn Along until this evening. And then, within an hour, I'd completed my knitting project. So here are the images.






Ravelry notes are here. I didn't block them (because I don't know how) and my arms are a bit too big for them. They were made for the lovely We Bloom Here in return for a catapulting pixie game she made for my boys (and some aromatherapy oil and an adorable peg faerie).

I'm reading Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison. Again, my book was elsewhere when I was photographing things. Oops.

I'll leave you with one of the very few pictures ever taken of me that I don't mind. B took it from the top of a staircase at Wakulla Springs on the Beast's birthday (we're both loving our new camera - can you tell?.

Yarn Along, Swaps, and More.

I decided to participate in the Yarn Along I've read about on several blogs. You can be a part, too. Stop by Small Things to read about it.

I've been terrible about posting. About, well, everything. B and I came down with some body-ache-flu-thing and we've been cleaning like crazy people for his mother's visit. She's arriving today and I still don't feel that things are up to par.

I didn't get a picture of what I'm reading. I'm actually waffling between books. First I picked up The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett. Then I picked up Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - which I've already read. This morning I picked up a book about Bach flower remedies by Stefan Ball.

I just don't know what I'm in the mood to read.

Knitting. I'm still knitting a doll - I didn't take a picture of it though. I'm also knitting fingerless gloves for a swap with a friend. The picture doesn't do the yarn justice. And the cables look funny when not stretched as though being worn.



Here are some things I've made recently.



A leaf washcloth. It doesn't look great, but it feels lovely.



Wee peg gnome hats. These are for a swap hosted by One Hook Wonder.



A rainbow bird. B and the Elf told me that it looked like a Beluga whale or manatee before I added a beak. Hrmph. Boys.





These are flower gnomes and acorn babies (that look more like acorn capped Tibetan monks to me!) for a Yahoo group swap.

And now! The swaps I've received but have been horribly remiss in posting about!

First, the peg doll swap that We Bloom Here hosted.



And the lovely (and well loved already!) doll that Belle + Bee sent for my boys.



He can also be a knight! (The Elf loves this costume - though we've misplaced the belt at the moment)



And a super hero! (The Imp's favorite!)



There. And now I need to get back to prepping the house for company and the Beast's first birthday (can you believe he'll be one this Friday?!).

She's done!

She's all done and ready for her new home! Yippie! The Imp has decided that he loves this doll - checked her "diaper" and everything. So now I'm off to make clothes for his doll (and yes, I still owe the Elf a ninja doll).

I'm, personally, rather happy with how this turned out.

Here are the Ravelry details for all the pieces:
The doll (using this pattern)
The knickers
The dress (using this pattern)

Knickers!

Ha! I'm going to say that as often as I can get away with - I'm driving my boys nuts.


(Ravelry notes here.)

I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. I put elastic in the waist instead of a drawstring so that little hands could handle dressing the doll.




Now she just needs a full head of hair. And maybe a bracelet?

Yarn Along - knickers!

I decided to participate in the Yarn Along I've read about on several blogs. You can be a part, too. Stop by Small Things to read about it.



Knickers! I love that I get to post about knickers! Today I'm working on a pair of ruffled shorties for the doll I was working on last week. I'm also adding hand dyed wool yarn for her hair. Over the weekend I finished her dress (you can see it here). Soon she'll be ready for her new home - yay!

I'm finishing up Shalador's Lady by Anne Bishop. Next I'll start Little Fur by Isobelle Carmody (suggested to me by the lovely We Bloom Here).

Marie was kind enough to swap with me again. Her work is so amazing, if you've never see it - you should check out her Etsy shop.

Early last week, this is where I was:



Three peg dolls with burned details and watercolors, capes and hats cut out, caves felted and cut, the ground freshly knitted (while waiting with the Elf at the doctor's office).

Here's detail of the doll bodies:



This past weekend, I finished them up. Now they look like this:





I also finished this doll dress as part of a swap I'm doing with Belle + Bee.


(Ravelry notes here)

I'm pretty happy with it. It was my first time knitting a top/dress of any kind. It was also my first time using such thin yarn.



I'm now knitting shorties for the doll. Switching to worsted cotton felt so clumsy after such a delicate yarn. I'm used to it now, though.

Yarn Along - Doll.

I decided to participate in the Yarn Along I've read about on several blogs. You can be a part, too. Stop by Small Things to read about it.



I took this picture this morning. On the needles was the second arm for a doll (pattern link here) I'm knitting for Belle + Bee. It's night now, and the doll is knitted, stuffed, and sewn together. It still needs hair and clothes, though. My next knitting projects are ground for some gnome caves and a dress (pattern link here) for said naked, hairless doll.

I'm reading The Lady of Shalador by Anne Bishop. It's book.. er.. six? in the Black Jewels trilogy. I found out that I'm two books behind now. I swear, I used to keep really good track of these things.




Here's the doll pre stuffing/sewing.



And here's a truly terrible picture post-stuffing.

Waffles and peg people.

Last weekend we bought a waffle maker. I'm a waffle addict. This way, at least, I can control what goes into the waffles. That must count for something, right?



That one is the Elf's. He, of course, loves syrup. I prefer mine with just butter.

I joined a peg doll swap hosted by the lovely We Bloom Here. Well, it's taken me the full time alloted, but I'm done!.



This is why I've not been posting. Or answering emails promptly.

I decided that my peg folk needed caves. See, I wrote this little "story" for them. And they *had* to have caves. I tried wet felting some. That failed miserably. I tried a variety of ways to knit them. Finally I settled on this:



Which turned into this:



And needed the addition of this (which I didn't remember to photograph until after I'd already thrown it in the washer):



Combined together, I ended up with this:



So. The people are composed of watercolor paint, tea-dyed wool felt, finger knitted (crocheted?) wool trim, curly roving for hair, and some wood burning detail. The caves (which didn't turn out how I'd planned - but what ever does?) are knitted and then felted (fulled?) wool that have been cut and sewn. Whee!



I hope their new families enjoy them. They'll be off to the post office tomorrow.

The Elf also joined the swap. His are still awaiting some Mama-assisted glueing, so the pictures will have to wait.