Funky Owl

I'm having so much fun with these knitted animal toys!
This pattern is also from Amy Gaines and I've used a variety of Lion Brand Cotton Ease colours to create it. I found some plastic cat toy balls at the dollar store, which are about the size and shape of a golf ball, yet lattice style and have a small bell inside. I stuffed the main body from the head down and placed a ball inside, surrounding it with stuffing. The baby who receives this as a gift will also have the pleasure of listening to the lovely tinkling sound of the bell.

The Unthinkable ...

I have a front load washer and dryer set. On the washer is a 'handwash cycle', which has been a godsend for washing all my cashmere or merino sweaters. I didn't even hesitate to use it to block my Earl Grey.

After the cycle was complete, it looked perfectly fine, but I thought it could use an extra 'spin cycle' to get rid of excess water, prior to blocking. Big mistake!!!

Above and below, you will see that yes, indeed, you CAN felt in a front loading washer ... :P******!!!



Cropped, Earl Grey, anyone?

Family from abroad ...

My Aunt and her friend are currently visiting from Scotland, for two weeks. It's been 1 1/2 years since I was over visiting her, so it's been wonderful to reconnect. So much better in person, than over the telephone :) They stayed here for five days, and have moved on to my parent's house so Aunt Chris and Dad (her brother) can catch up. The Scottish accents have been flying! She's amazing, for almost 80. This woman can shop me under the table. I was flagging long before she was!

We had a big family gathering yesterday at our place and the weather was gorgeous! All the kids and grandkids, along with my sister, her husband and my mom were in attendance. Dad was down with a sinus infection, so decided to pass. It was wonderfully chaotic, with lots of laughs and good food.

Scrambled to have this finished for a baby shower for our newest grandson, seen in the previous post. This turned out so cute, but my goodness, what a lot of pieces and sewing up, plus stuffing to do! The finishing was deadly, but worth it! It was a big hit, with the pregnant friends of our daughter putting in requests for similar items and anything knitted, please and thank you!

It's a pattern by Amy Gaines. I happened on her patterns while surfing Etsy and noting that she had a sale on, promptly purchased at least 6 of them! She's also on Ravelry, if you're interested.
I couldn't find the safety eyes that she mentions, so I just embroidered them on. I used Lion Brand Cotton Ease, so it could be easily washed. I preferred the face "smirkless", so left off the smile. All in all, I'm very pleased.

"Mom" requested another pair of booties, please, so I made some in warm weather colours. Modeled below ...

His older brother requested some new slippers, so he could "skate" in the house on the wood floors! Then he decided he'd like to help me make them -- too cute! He'd stayed overnight and had woken up at 2AM, wondering where he was! Hence the look of exhaustion on my face :)

Next post, the saga of the Tea Leaves cardigan ...