batman makes a friend

i recently got an order to make a cowboy for a friend of mine in Utah. upon completion, the cowboy seemed to make himself right at home and chum up with batman... this is the way they looked on the morning i mailed the cowboy off to his new owner (my husband is the prime suspect in this "match" seeing how they were not left in this position the previous night). but the end had to come and the cowboy is now on his way to be a little boy's birthday present, hopefully he likes him as much as we did. here are just a few shots to remember him by.the handle-bar mustache was nate's genius idea, as well as the main design for the cowboy hat, which was somewhat of a knitting-engineering dilemma (the key is pipecleaners...) and the rest of the details just kind of fell into place. yeehaw!!!
i really love making these toys. for anyone out there reading this, i'm always up for custom orders! in other knitting news, my lone mitten also got a mate. i am all finished with another great project (well, finished except for the blocking). thanks again to my mom for the book of patterns. i can't wait to make another pair, and i really can't wait for winter to roll around again so i can actually enjoy them out in the real world.what's on the needles now? well, since batman lost his cowboy buddy, i'm whipping up a suitable superhero friend to fill the void. check back soon.

making my return to blogland...

even if this post doesn't amount to much, i am sure that anyone actually reading it will just be silently thrilled that it is something new... i did not fall off the face of the planet i assure you, i just became a really bad judge of how quickly time was passing. this cute bear has been keeping me company for a few weeks as i've sewn up his seams and made sure he is sufficiently stuffed, but he will soon be shipped off to a new home and hopefully become a fast friend of a new baby girl in my husband's extended family. this is one of my absolute favorite knitted toy patterns from toys to knit, and i've made him several times. also happily eating up my time has been the following mitten (soon to be mittens) from a pattern book that my mom gave me for Christmas. the patterns are so fun and it's the first time i've knit with laceweight yarn and size 0 needles (which is basically the equivalent of string and toothpicks). the process has been a little slow, but so fun and satisfying to see the end product!this little girl is another trial of my doll pattern that i wrote last fall. the same pattern as the batman, but obviously with girly variations and i think it turned out pretty fun.i again must apologize for subjecting the few of you that check this blog to "the last post of 2009" for a few months now. i will try to be better about not letting my posts become rare and stagnant. in the next few months i hope to get around to so many of the projects that i have had my eye on for awhile... and will attempt to not get sucked into the void of time again. maybe i should make a rule for myself that i have to post something at least once a week, if only a single snapshot of something that happened! i will try this out and see how i fare. (feel free to censure if i am slacking)

the last post of 2009!

first of all merry christmas! and happy new years too! i have been a little lax as of late in the blogging world, trying to finish last minute projects for Christmas. so after last weekend, the whirlwind subsided and i'm getting around to a more recent post for all of you that are tired of seeing that turkey picture from last month. i have just a few projects to share at this time, first of all there is batman!this was knit for my husband, and finished on christmas eve, right at the last minute!
this little hermit crab came from a knitting book given to me by a friend for christmas and i cast on the day after, i couldn't wait to try the complicated patterns. it turned out so great, with pipe-cleaners in the legs to make it poseable! now who wouldn't want a knitted hermit crab!!!these little turtles are some of my favorite toys to knit right now! they fit in the palm of your hand and there is a rattle in them (actually a cat toy with a bell in it), so they are really fun!and for the future...oooh, cashmere. 400 yards of it just waiting to become something amazing and soft and heavenly...i just have to decide what. there are so many projects to be made this year, and i will keep you updated on all of them! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

happy thanksgiving!

What a wonderful holiday! first of all i do want to say how thankful i am for the best family and friends a girl could ask for, i just wish we were all a little closer... for those of you that couldn't make it to Indiana this year (and that was all of you :) i wanted to share our meal with you through pictures, it was delicious if i do say so myself.
the menu was: sage roasted turkey, homemade gravy, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, apricot-ginger cranberry sauce, cornbread and cranberry stuffing, brown butter and almond green beans and sausage stuffed mushrooms. nate doesn't really care for the stuffing and cranberry sauce, so the mushrooms were especially made for him. and to top it all off, our favorite apple pie recipe that has granny smith apples, a crumb topping and the most amazing custard filling.


we saw the stuffed mushrooms on one of food network's holiday specials, here's the recipe, they are delicious. i hope everyone's day was filled with good memories and good food. maybe next year everyone can come here?

homemade doll pattern

so i have finished my first official "toy pattern"... i've been trying to get some things ready to sell and have felt limited by not being able to sell toys that are not made with my own original patterns. my friends here in bloomington commissioned a "pirate" doll for a Christmas present and it gave me the perfect opportunity to try my hand at a toy pattern. so these first pictures are of the dummy-doll, plain as can be (but i still think it's cute that way)and then by simply adding the right elements for the character, i can turn my dummy...into a pirate!!! arrr, matey!nate says his favorite parts are the thumbs and nose! this is only the first official one i've made but there will be more to come before too long. stay tuned for more knitting projects especially since the holidays are rolling in!

the great KNITTED pumpkin

i knit a few of these last year and had so much fun that i ordered a bunch more orange yarn from joann's.com and set to creating a whole pumpkin patch for decorating with this fall. they are such a quick and easy knit. best of all the pattern is free: the great knitted pumpkin! you can make them big or small or in-between by changing the yarn and needle sizes, so really the possibilities are endless! the pattern shows green leaves attached to each stem, but i made all of mine without leaves because i thought they looked more traditional and simple. i don't know how many i will have by the time the craze passes but enough to be able to tell that it is definitely fall. and the weather outside is confirming that here in indiana! it's been a might chilly and we've been scraping ice off the car already. the leaves are pretty though, i hope to get a few shots of those before all the trees are bare and ready for snow.
happy fall everyone! happy pumpkin knitting!

the great ESCAPE!

1. If you could escape to anywhere in the world where would it be? --Kenai Lake, Alaska (anyone who says otherwise doesn't know about kenai lake!)
2. What song do you play when you are by yourself in the car? paul simon-Graceland
3. If you had a night to yourself, and money was no object, what would you do? put on a long movie like pride & prejudice or bleak house and curl up on the couch with my knitting and then i would order take out and tip all the delivery people exorbitant amounts!
4. What is your guilty pleasure? greasy cheeseburgers
5. What is the farthest place you have traveled away from your home? Russia
6. Last book that you couldn't put down? the brothers karamazov (i've only got about 100 pages left) and the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society that i just finished tonight
7. When you want to escape into another time, what movie do you watch? anne of green gables
8. What is your favorite local escape? the goodwill or michaels, you never know what you might find
9. How do you escape on a budget? i buy sweaters and unravel them and then dream up stuff to make with all my new yarn
10. Best food you've ever had while on vacation- good sushi!

(my sister katie tagged me for this escape... thanks, kates!)

and i know the monkey photo has nothing to do with this post, but he looks like he's thinking about an "escape" and he's one of my favorites... i don't know if i ever showed him to any of you, he belongs to my nephew morgan now.