A Parade

It's a parade of Knitting projects! Whoopee!

This post is going to be FULL-O-Pix. I realize I've severely neglected this blog and updating you with all my FO's lately.(I'm so into ravelry it's not even funny) To start I thought I'd catch you up with my Christmas gifts. (with as many links as I can put in there for you)

But first let's look at this hat I made for my Dh. Originally I was going to make it for him as a surprise for Christmas b/c he saw me making the "may the force be with you" hat for a friend's kid. And he kept hinting that he'd like a storm trooper hat. I got so far as the ribbing, then all the other projects I needed to finish got in the way so to the back burner it went. I finally finished it on Saturday. and I'm glad I didn't make it for him as a surprise Christmas present b/c i would've been really upset, it's a tad big. I even knit him one that was 1 inch smaller than his head but since it's St st it doesn't pull in...... so I've got to knit him another but smaller. i like it maybe i'll use it. anyways onto the Christmas presents. they're in No particular order.

First we have some Crochet Pac Men. I made them for my little brother. He's hard to shop/knit for b/c I'm not sure what he likes anymore. I figured these can sit in his room and he can use them as balls and throw them around or something fun like that. The coolest part is I used glow in the dark yarn so at night they'll light up! SO.MUCH.FUN! if I didn't have to give them away I'd keep them to play with. But since I used that yarn I couldn't use the true pac man colors.. but i don't think he'll mind.. or even really care/notice.. etc.

Next is a combo of some patterns in the Amigurumi!: Super Happy Cute Crochet book. I made this french chica for my niece. When she opened it at first she didn't like it. but that was b/c her brother just opened a leapster... and being a normal sibling she wanted what He got..etc. But I spied her the next day running around with it and then sleeping with it. So all is well. I liked it and so did my sister.



Up next we have a hat I made for my sister. She really liked it and started wearing almost immediately. In this photo it's me modeling the hat. The pattern is a great pattern, Robin's Egg Blue Hat. it reminds me of a cloche type of hat. It was a fun and easy knit. The button is one I had in my button stash.. it looks nice doesn't it?


Next up is some amigurumi I whipped up for my neighbor's kids. They surprised us unexpectedly and I thought they should get something from us.. so I made a hamster from one of my Japanese Amigurumi books that i got off of Yes Asia. Then the elephant is a pattern from Lion brand.(you have to log in to see it but it's free) It was pretty simple. The last is a monkey that I just made up. I needed something simple and quick. So that is what I came up with.



Next are some gifts for my niece who didn't get her present until a week after Christmas. I *think* she liked them (she's 8 months old). The first is a little ditty bag. made to hold all the finger puppets and anything else she'd like to put in there.
The frog isn't part of the pattern of finger puppets that I made for her. It's one I've added. Usually when I make these finger puppets I add another one. b/c 5 just makes it fit on a child's hand or hands. I've made a dog before when I've given these away in the past. But a frog I figured, goes really well with the whole Fairy Tale Finger Puppets theme. Don't you think? Anyways the frog isn't a pattern just something I kinda made up. I really like finger puppets as gifts for kids. and I find that the youngins like them too.


The next gift we have here is one of my fave's this year... I think it's b/c I made it up from scratch, plucked it from my head and it came out great. It's a Robot I made for my nephew. (who at first wasn't so jazzed about it b/c he'd just opened that leapster...grr) anyways I caught him sleeping with it the next night so I don't mind his initial reaction. The wheel at the bottom moves! sooo cool! and I used that great glow in the dark yarn for the white parts so it gives it an added neatness at night. It's cool huh?

So this little amigurumi was a gift for my niece. It's a donkey but she kept calling it a pony. So it's now a pony. Not that I mind either way. She LOVED it. She carried it around all day. As is the tradition of getting together with family for Christmas, either my kids or my sister's kids are sick. This year it was my sweet little niece. But she still really liked this little gift. Which warms the heart. It's that type of reaction to the things I make that makes me just jump for joy (inside of course)


Next I made some Star Wars guys for my Nephew. who hasn't opened his gift yet as we haven't seen them.. (I know!) SO I'm not sure if he likes them or not. I think they're cute and the girls were playing with them so we'll see. As an added bonus I made him a hat. The pattern is the Basic Earflap Hat for the whole family (a free ravelry download) I didn't make it until really late. It's a great pattern and goes really fast. The yarn I used was paton's classic wool. I like how the yarn pooled it looks really neat. That's the bead modeling the hat btw. It only used half a skein and that's with the poof ball on top. And It was used as one of my homework assignments for the HP Knititng/Crochet House Cup (ravlery) group. Which now all my knitting projects are consumed by.. but that's another post another day!


Last but definitely not least I made a scarf for my future BIL. The pattern is for a neckwarmer but has modifications on it for a scarf. It went really cool. It took a skein and a half of the paton's classic wool. (I made it before the hat for my nephew) I didn't get it done in time for him to open on Christmas. so I've got to send it to him...
yeah that's my goal for this week or next to get the packages in the mail!

Ok so I think I've updated ya'll for now.. if you've read this far why not stop and leave a comment, it should only take a few extra min! thanks a bunch.