Scary, Sad Sea Creatures

Hello lovely knitting and crocheting people!

I have updates suddenly piling up and need to take pictures to share them with you, but in the meantime, here is a new friend, Mr. Ancient Sea Creature, yay!



I started making him as a belated birthday present for my sister (he's a nautie, and was one of the first patterns that I bookmarked for myself after I discovered knitty.com.
I've had this guy finished for a while, but I wanted to make him a buddy (wouldn't want to be the only nautie in the house, after all) and maybe a trilobite friend, but the second nautie was boring and black and the strands of shiny yarn I added just made him thicker and harder to work with.

I still plan on making a second friend, but there is so much knitting to be done, and so little time before school starts up again, alas!

In the meantime, a new online knitting magazine Twist Collective will create further distractions. It's probably the best knitting website I've ever seen. Gorgeous photos and a really functional layout. (I hate when magazine-like websites try to look like something on paper. So frustrating, and so not the point. This site has some really excellent programmers. I hate to say it, but they're probably mac users.)

More to the point, I seriously want to make all of the "That Girl" sweaters, as well as several of the Forest Fairy ones. Also, socks in cute shoes. I want it to happen.

All from me for now--I'll get pictures soon and post about my new knitting joy: Magic Loop!

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.)