What comes between Easter and Mother's Day?
This post, apparently. ;o)
This blog is becoming a holiday affair... Quite unintentionally, I assure you. But since I make a lot of peeps as holiday gifts, it's just been happening that way.
I'm busting out of that mold today, though.
Belated Easter for Kristina & Mia:
Last Sunday, we had a happy family gathering, celebrating 3 birthdays, and belated Easter for our two younger nieces, whom we hadn't seen since Christmas.
Mia and Kristina got their Eggy/Bunnies, Eggletina and Eggalia:
(Made with Softee Baby "Rocking Horse" and RH Baby Teri "Baby Print")
Their fuzzy lambies, Lambie Pinkletoes and Lambie Meringue:
(made with TLC Baby Amore and Paton's Be Mine*, respectively)
(Patterns for the Eggy/Bunnies and Wee Lambie Peeps will be coming in the next post.)
* I am not recommending knitting peeps with Paton's Be Mine though, because it's so hard to work with,
even though it does make a yummy soft and fuzzy fabric. *
And we (finally) gave Kristina her Christmas Cookie Monster!
Made after Christmas, to replace the one that Kristina didn't get at Christmas.
When we gave an Elmo to Mia and a Cookie to Kristina for Christmas, wee Mia "adopted" Cookie with such fervor that no one had the heart to take him away from her, least of all, sweet Kristina. So I promised to make Kristina a replacement. And finally, she has him! And she was delighted with him! Hurray!
(Cookie Monster Pattern is available free! See patterns and tutorials.)
Here are all three Cookie Monsters, D's - the original - and Mia's and Kristina's. You might notice that D's felt that he should have a Christmas scarf as well! :o)
Tony's birthday goodies:
The main purpose of our gathering, was to celebrate Tony's birthday. For the occasion I made some goodies for him.
He LOVES hot bright colors, especially orange, red, and yellow, so I made a simple cotton washcloth with a very bright colorway of Sugar and Cream. Just a plain garter stitch. But it made a wonderful zigzag pattern, and the garter st made it nice and cushy. :o)
Don't you love multicolor yarn? You never know what you're going to get.
Next - a money bag, stockinette st, in the round, bright yellow, lion brand soft baby, with a big red dollar sign on one side and a big red t on the other. Filled with money of course. :o) a teen boy's fave gift.
An interesting feature is the closure: I felt that tying the drawstrings or using a bead would be too bulky, but it needed to close pretty securely so the money wouldn't fall out, so I knitted a strip and wrapped it around the drawstrings, snugly, and sewed it closed, making sure it still would slide. It worked just great!
And last - but of course not least to a peep or amigurumi lover - a skateboarding monkey peep, Maximillion, with a backpack full of bananas!
He prefers being called Maxie, by the way.
Making the teensy backpack was such fun! I felt like Gulliver in the land of Lilliput. :o)
We owe the skateboard to chez michelle... I'd considered making one, since Tony loves skateboarding, but I wasn't sure how a knitted skateboard would come out, so I hesitated to make it. But then I saw this wonderful ami [here] by chez michelle and saw how feasible the skateboard was.
Construction comments:
Maxie was made with Bernat Microspun Mango, and bright yellow, Lion Brand Soft Baby, using my Wee Lambie Peep Pattern (free pattern for the Lambies coming in my next post, along with the pattern for the Eggy/Bunnies). I made him with longer legs and arms (appropriate for a monkey), and slight modifications for the ear shape. And, of course I did some simple colorwork (which I don't like doing), for the face. The face and head were made the same way as the lambies, but after stuffing and closing his head, I needle-sculpted his face to give him a more monkey-shaped muzzle.
His skateboard was made with two strands of size 10 crochet cotton, and size 1 needles. Knit in the round, a simple tapered tube, then slipped a piece of cardboard in (cut to fit) and closed up. Added seed beads for wheels and a piece of yellow beading elastic for a carrying strap.
My DH and I were really happy with him! :o) and so was Tony, which is what counts, of course. :o)
Marvel Comics' The Human Torch for Matthew:
I couldn't have peeps for the other nieces and nephews and not have something for Matt, of course, so we took the opportunity to give him the "Human Torch" I'd finished a few weeks ago.
Unlike the Thing, the Torch peep is much more impressionistic. He rather reminds me of a fire elemental. He's quite small, doubleknitted in my "classic peep" style, with sz 3 crochet cotton (Senso) and size 2 needles. The flames were crocheted in long strips (I've forgotten the hook size), and sewn on.
The moment I saw that yarn, I immediately thought "The Torch!"
Matt seemed quite happy with him. :o)
I'll be posting the Lambie and Eggy/Bunny patterns with the next post, and I hope that won't be tooooo long from now.
Also.... I'm actually working on a Kermit the Frog pattern (as I've received MANY requests!). Making a Kermie for Kristina's June birthday, but it's a challenge, trying to remember how I made the original! :o)
Wish me luck!
Many thanks to all of you kind folks who have been so supportive, and so willing to comment so positively on my flickr.com pages, and elsewhere. I appreciate it more than I can say. It gives me strength to do the arduous work of pattern writing. It's arduous for me, anyway. I like to just grab my needles and some nice yarn and just CREATE!! Stopping and thinking about what I'm actually doing is quite a stretch. ;o)
Cheers!
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