More animals - DONE

Since there was a request made for the giraffe and the zebra, my hands have been busy. Crocheting the body parts went very quickly, however these two animals have a lot of finishing detail. Adding the fringe was my favorite part. I decided not to separate the strands, it is slowly unraveling on its own with the handling that it gets. There are patterns included in the book for the stripes and dots, but I found it was easier to cut the shapes free hand to fit...


Dots you say? Apparently, the detail on the giraffe was taking too long (over a hundred pieces in the fringe) so my son declared that his giraffe doesn't have spots and added it to his animal collection. I also decided to change the tail on the giraffe and braided six strands of yarn instead. The eyes are all French knots and didn't do any of the detailed shaping on the hooves.

The next order is in for the hippo and elephant...

The patterns may be found in Crochet a Zoo by Megan Kreiner.

Penguin - just one? - DONE

The Zoo playmat is currently being used as a jumping game. Why? Because mom hasn't made any toys for it yet. Never mind that there are other toy animals that could live on the zoo mat... It's more fun to pick a color and jump! So I took out my hooks and started the first project... A penguin - love it. It is super quick to make and adorable.

I used French knots for the eyes and embroidery thread for the detail.
It's a nice change to pick up my needle to add details to these toys.

I thought I would do a few more penguins and then work my way through the book in order, but I have a request for the giraffe and zebra next. The patterns may be found in Crochet a Zoo by Megan Kreiner.

Ferns - (another hat) - DONE

I managed to squeeze one more hat out of the skein that came with the Craftsy workshop. That will be three hats for the price of one class! Awesome. This hat is Ferns, also by Alana Dakos found in Botanical Knits 2. I wasn't giving it my full attention and had to rip back a few times to correct wayward fern leaves, but this is a fairly easy knit.

I love it!

Craftsy July Mystery Knit Along - DONE

We are on a roll! I cast on Craftsy's July Mystery Knit Along. It is a hat by Alana Dakos knit in Tracie Too Sport by Imperial Yarn. This is workshop on the Craftsy site. The pattern and yarn is included in the workshop cost. You also get access to a step by step tutorial and access to a forum with other knitting the project. I thought the yarn would be a bit more blue, but it is a pleasing gray. I have forgotten how satisfying it is to knit a hat. Such quick results! I think there will be more than enough yarn left over for a second hat.
  Here is it is before blocking. I've already cast with plans to add pattern repeats with hopes of a slouchy effect.

Fruit Stripe Gum Socks - DONE!

As soon as Fretful stepped off my needles, I cast on another sock - Fruit-stripe-gum-socks-featuring-a-spiral-rib. This time using Knit Picks Felici in Firefighter. Ooh, way softer than Patons Stretch Socks and much more fun to knit with. This is another easy to remember pattern that just seemed to knit itself. So much so, that another pair of socks has made it off my needles! Okay it still took a month, but the second side was done in less than a week. That's more like it!

I love the effect!

Fretful is DONE!

Fretful is DONE! Actually it has been done for awhile now. They were on my feet a few days after my last post. The boxy toes are not noticeable after you put them on.

The pattern in Fretful by Twisted Knitter. It is a simple pattern that has made sock knitting with a toddler possible. It really took longer than it should have because the yarn is a bit stiffer than I would have liked.

Fretful in Black

I thought about frogging this one many times, but I kept at it. The colorway does not do this pattern justice. It gets lost in the mottled black and white. It stayed in hibernation for many, many  months. However, the need to knit took over and here we are on the foot of the second sock. A few more inches to go and there will be a new pair of socks for my drawer.

Some miscalculations made a very boxy finish that I will try to duplicate on the second side. New socks.... soon, very soon...

More progress on the elephant - WIP

The elephant is almost complete! Just some straps and a drawstring to go. I ran out of yarn while doing the first strap. An email to the company righted that situation and I have a bit more yarn to finish the second strap and drawstring.  

Crochet a zoo - WIP

I didn't give up, I'm still working on the Crochet a Zoo playmat. It took awhile to weave in all of the ends in the body of this blanket. I even finished the border. I may have picked up too many stitches on the long side, it's a bit wavy.  The greens don't have enough contrast, but my choices were limited, so I'm happy with what I got so far.

The weather has been a humid, so there is not chance of me sitting under the blanket to work on the single crochet detail on the front.

Still a lot more to go... felt trees and stones need to be created, but I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!
 

Felt Ornaments - DONE!

I worked on these during my lunch hour in December and finished them up as the New Year started. I loved stitching them! Stitching is the fun part, now if only I could convince someone to cut out the pieces for me, I would put together another set! The felt pack that I ordered will definitely make two sets. If you are very careful when laying out your pattern, you may be able to squeeze out three sets. Benzie Designs also had a floss pack, but I pulled floss from my stash. I'll be sure to include these ornaments on my tree next year.

Elephant backpack - WIP

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I hope that the holidays provided lots of memories to tuck away in your scrapbooks! As always, I wish I had taken more photos. I have lots of smiles and happy moments tucked away in my head. I managed to make some progress on the project front - here is the first of my updates.

I promise, it looks the same, but there is progress being made on this backpack. I need about 2 more inches to finish up the body. I love the color - real elephant-y!