More gifts

This is an admittedly crazy-looking creature.
It is based on the owl, Errol, in Charmed Knits, but it ended up looking a bit more like a duck, or a penguin, perhaps. I blame the beak. It was pretty fun to make, though I had to use cotton balls as the stuffing, so it's a rather lumpy bird as well. I really liked the yarn I used: blueberry Nature Spun and blue Queensland Soft Comfort Mohair. The fuzziness seemed like it made a good stuffed animal, and it also covered up mistakes! I do love fuzzy yarn for that, I readily admit.

The final gift knit from Elizabeth is this hat from One Skein Wonders) that I've been wanting to make for ages. When I realized I had some Noro yarn that was pretty close to what the pattern actually called for, I knew it was fate. The yarn I used (Noro Blossom) was actually a bit fuzzier than the yarn used in the book, so the fake cabling that came out of it is perhaps a bit more understated. But I like the columns and it was fun and not too difficult. However, there is some crazy crochet border that, as a complete novice to the other needle art, I found rather intimidating. The little that I did was pretty fun though, and I will not be so scared of the single needle work in the future! (I will note that I used perhaps a skein and a half (despite the name of the book) and even then the hat could have been longer. Also, sadly, I have no pictures of the hat! Alas.)