Major Knitter

31 Projects in 31 Days

Wow!  I like knitting lots of quick knits.  So much so that I actually knit 31 projects in the month of January.  I should say more accurately, that I finished 31 projects in 31 days.  Yes - there were many hats and jumbo Christmas stockings which are all very quick - but still THIRTY-ONE projects is a lot of knitting.  I don't think I posted every single on in the blog.  You can look at my Ravelry project page (click on the tab that says 2016) to see what I've been up to so far this year.

Now we're on to February.  I hope it's equally as good a month.  So far, I have quite a few felted hats and felted projects in mind for this month.  I hope it goes as planned.

Remember the Size 2 Wonderful Wallaby I knit last year?  It's for a friend who has had her first grandchild and I wanted to knit something special that her little darling could grow into.  As you know, the Wonderful Wallaby is one of my favorite projects to knit.  But it needed something else to give it a little extra pizzazz so I found Hanna Leväniemi's Siksak hat pattern that was featured on the front page of Ravelry on February 1st and knew that was the perfect accent for this gift.

It turned out quite nicely and my Curious George was more than happy to model the finished hat.

I made a pair of children's mittens and incorporated an abbreviated version of the zigzag pattern.  I added the crocheted string to go through the sleeves of the sweater so the mittens won't get lost on a toddler.  Is this a thing anymore?  

Together I think they make a nice set.  Now there is some life to the pink baby set.

And my friend was here for Super Bowl Sunday and she loved the set.  It's always good to knit the extra mile.

The Secret is Revealed

I went back home to visit my family and co-hosted a baby shower for my nephew & niece-in-law.  That's what all my secretive knitting has been about these past several weeks.

I created seven different baby woodland animal hats.  OK - I knit the owl three times because it had sewn on buttons the first time; was too small the second time and finally, on the third try, I got it right.

From top left hand corner:  Bear, Deer, Owl
Center row:  Wolf, Owl, Beaver
Bottom row:  Owl, Rabbit, Fox

Curious George models the bear hat...

...and a deer hat...

... and the owl hat...

 

... and the wolf hat...

 

... and a rabbit hat...

... and a fox hat...

 

... but we couldn't get him to model the beaver hat.  He seems to be afraid of them. 

There you have it - an entire collection of Woodland Animal hats.

 

Busy Little Elf

I've been so busy knitting up some of my last minute Christmas gifts.  It's fun... but it's also frustrating.  I want to share pictures with everyone online... but if I do that, then my friends and family won't be surprised with their handmade gifts.  Such a dilemma.  So I post them on Ravelry and I bide my time.  I also have to come up with other topics for posting.  So today I'll show you a random sampling of my  Christmas Tree ornaments.

This is one of my favorite cross stitched Santas.  It's more work than the others because of all the color changes, but it is so happy and colorful.  I started making these about 20 years ago.

I always love a felted red cardinal on the tree.  This one was store bought, but as children we had a collection of felted birds that Grandma Grace made for us in a variety of colors.  This one reminds me of those decorations.

Here is my Mets miniature stocking and the Mets Penguin Poppers that I made in the past.

And here's a favorite.  Who doesn't love Curious George?  It's even better when you learn how he escaped Nazi Germany in 1940.

Here's another favorite from the Santa Claus collection.  This one is St. Nick.  I like to call him "The Bishop".  I added extra red jewels to his hat.

Very few paper childhood ornaments remain - but this one is very special.  I urge all teachers to do this simple craft project.  It's a no brainer and is a wonderful keepsake of a child.  Primogeniture was probably in 1st grade for this picture.

One of my new ornaments from last year is this gorgeous Boy Scout Handbook glass ornament.  What a treasure.

And I have this fuzzy little alpaca from our trip to Peru this fall.  Such cuteness and detail in his saddle bags.

And my tree is festooned in a series of Peanuts for the Beagle Scout series.  Don't you just want to get your gear and head out to Camp Snoopy?

And finally, my last Santa for this post is a salute to all law enforcement officials across the nation.  I salute you all.  There is a lot of craziness going on.  Let's pray for peace and sanity in this world of ours.

Please share some of your Christmas ornaments too.  I love to see which ornaments make people smile.

 

 

 

 

 

Is There A Monkey In The House?

Kelly emailed me a nice note and pictures of her Curious George look-alike from the Knitted Toys book by Fiona McTague.  She was inspired by my post in March.  Isn't George cute?  Nice work Kelly.  Thanks for sharing.

George, George, George of the Jungle!

Knitted Toys and Curious George Pattern

Look what came in the mail today?  It's my Knitted Toys book by Fiona McTague. 

While the Monkey pattern isn't exactly Curious Geoger, it's close enough that with some adjustments I can get a better likeness.  I'll just make his face a bit bigger (more than than brown).  I'll make his ears smaller.  I'll lengthen his body and shorten his legs.  I'll also change the shape of his eyes, nose and moth.  I think that will just about do it for Curious George.  Oh.  Maybe I should knit up a little red sweater for him to wear.

 

Stop Monkeying Around

Marcia found a website with a handknit monkey mascot from Knitted Toys by Fiona McTague that sort of resembles Curious George.  Check out Kristo's blog to see all the fun her little monkey has.  He's a cutie.

 

I just ordered the book.  If you are looking for a pattern to knit Curious George, this might be just what you're searching for.  Now I just need to find a pattern for knitting a man in a yellow hat.