Tired Bunny

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Off White, leftover from this

Pattern: not the slightest idea, and I lack the energy to dig around and find out. His ears won't stand up, and he looks faintly disgruntled by life. Some child will love him and confide all their secrets into those floppy ears.

An unexpected pleasure

My friend, as is her wont, gave me a scrap of leftover yarn to play with. Having a lot of time on my hands at the moment (I know, Christmas is coming, but I seem to be living a little to one side of reality this year), I measured out the exact yardage, then poked around on Ravelry and found a little toy I could make. I was finishing it up and thinking about whether there was an obvious recipient, or whether it was destined for The Box, when I stopped and really looked at how it turned out. A perfect match of pattern and yarn. The gradient moves from purple-blue at the base through green to a golden orange.

He's mine.

Pattern: Maria Yarley's Sebastian Owl

Needles: 3.75 mm dpns

Yarn: unknown Irish worsted plus Lion Brand Wool Ease in Forest Green

Mods: I did the 20 rounds of seed stitch the pattern indicated, but continued in stockinette with the same yarn instead of switching to another yarn since the gradient color changed right then. When I ran out I used scrap yarn to finish. After I attached the eyes I realized I wanted more green over the eyes, so wound up with 19 rounds of stockinette instead of 15. I used felt circles and attachable eyes instead of glue, and some scrap orange cotton for the beak. The instructions don’t ever say to stuff it, but it was obvious when. I used Jeny’s super-stretchy bind-off in a 3-needle variation, to emphasize his ears.

Knitting from Stash

A co-worker gave me a bag of yarn she'd found when de-cluttering her house, "from when the kids did crafts." Since yarn does not equal clutter in my universe, I was happy to take it off her hands, despite the fact that none of it was yarn I would have bought for myself. Yarn is always useful.


The novelty yarn gave me pause, particularly in partial skeins. I challenged myself to find something to make from the light green eyelash yarn, and came up with a miniature boa for my young niece. It photographs badly, but I think she will like it.

Yarn: a partial skein of Patons Twister (discontinued) in Lime
Needles: Size 15 straight needles
Pattern: Cast on 8 stitches and knit every row until just enough yarn to bind off

~~~~~

That led me to pull a project out of the UFO bin and finish it for my nephew. Made from leftovers from Saige, it was much more fun to knit than to stuff.

 

Yarn: Berroco Sox in Huddersfield (discontinued color), 1/3 of skein

Needles: 2.5 mm double-pointed

Pattern: Celestine Sox

~~~~~

To my utter amazement, I still had enough of that skein to make myself a pair of ankle socks. Despite their bright colors, all of which lie outside my normal palette, I love them dearly. Possibly this has something to do with wearing them to work on a day when the temperature was in the single digits, and having my feet stay warm. But more likely it's because I was able to make them match without even trying hard. I just made my standard toe-up, fits-me sock until I could see that the colorway was finally going to repeat, bound off and started the second sock where the repeat started. The photo is wonky, they are really the same length.


Yarn: same as above, 2/3 of skein

 Needles: 2.5 mm double-pointed

 Pattern: Figure-8 cast-on of 24 stitches, 12 per needle; increase every other row to 52 stitches; 52 rounds of stockinette later begin gusset increases using Wendy Johnson’s Heel Template for a Gusset Heel Sock; knit 13 rounds; make k2, p2 ribbing until the color pattern repeat is coming up; use Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy bind-off.

Inspiration

Sometimes inspiration for knitting strikes unexpectedly, and from unexpected sources. My daughter and I came across an adorable baby outfit for our friends' expected daughter. Knowing that they had designed their nursery around a jungle theme, how could we resist the giraffe print in pale pink, the adorable elephant, the inexplicable owl balanced on his trunk?

Frankly, we couldn't, and by the time we got it home I knew I was going to knit a little owl toy, suitable for a newborn (washable, easily grasped). The stash came up with acrylic remnants in a pink and grey that matched the outfit (pink soles on the feet!). A Ravelry pattern search did not fail me. A quick store run for white felt and safety eyes, and a frantic search for some beak-colored acrylic, and I was ready. Both needles and stuffing were in arm's reach (they shouldn't have been, they should have been put away, but there they were). Moments later I had an owl.

Pattern: Owl Puffs (I will be making lots more, they are adorable. Besides, I have a whole bag of eyes, and the rest of the felt. Who wants an owl?)

Yarn: Red Heart, probably. The bands were long gone.

Mods: reminded my self to under-stuff to make it easier for little fingers to grab

Then I stared at the leftover pink and grey acrylic yarn for a few minutes. Back to Ravelry, which again did not fail me.

Pattern: Little Shells Carseat Blanket
Yarn: same as above
Mods: I started with one color, switched colors every pattern repeat, carrying the unused yarn up the side, and ended when I had enough of the other color to finish. It didn't work out to start and end with the same color, and I'm determined not to mind (no one else does).

And there you have it. A gift set I had no thought of making when I woke up that morning.