A Purrrrrrfect bookmark

Hello again!

I can finally share pics of the surprise I was working on. It's a kitty cat bookmark. One of the groups I belong to on Ravelry has this great random act of kindness (RAK) thread where people list 5 things they would enjoy and random people can send them to them no strings attached. One person had a list which included: Anything with cats on it, anything handmade, and unusual bookmarks. I decided to help her cross those 3 off her list in one cute lil project. I first tried to make a cat curled up sleeping. It ... ended up looking like a rat. Then I remembered this picture I'd seen months ago and used it as my inspiration. This is the result:

I forgot to take a final picture after I blocked it, but you can see the added paw details in this picture of it while it was blocking:

 

I'm happy with it, and the giftee (all the way in south Africa!!!) received it today so I can finally share.

On a sad semi-related note, Canada Post is raising their shipping costs yet again. All parcels to the USA are going up by 20%. They already have prices far far above those in the USA, and even above FedEx and UPS. If I had either of those depots anywhere near me I wouldn't use Canada Post anymore. As it is, I won't be shipping out Christmas cookies this year. It was $28 for a medium tin of cookies last year. I love sending fresh baked nummies to my extended family and friends in America...but no home baked goodies are worth THAT much, on top of the prices of mats to make them. I'm extremely sad about this as baking and singing carols are my favourite things about the holidays.

Until next time....
*huggles*

Phoeny KAL Done!

WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!
The month long mystery knit a long of one of Phoeny's designs is done! Take a look at this darling knitted sheep! It is her pattern "Shaun the Sheep".
It's not yet available for sale, but hopefully soon! It's such a great quick pattern. I think it likely took maybe 5 or 6 hours total knitting time plus some time for seaming if you knit flat. The longest part for me was the body which is moss stitch and which I'm terrible at...I don't know how I always get distracted and forget to swap stitches. My fault for usually watching tv/movies as I knit I suppose..But I paid attention for the WHOLE body and it turned out fabulous! I love it!  

This was such a great experience. I especially love seeing everyone's take on the same pattern. "He" was supposed to end wearing a scarf but when I tried this tiny shawl on him he just became the cutest lil grandma sheep. So I made a pair of glasses out of some hanging wire from the toolbox, added a cute sheep button as the shawl pin and voila!

Until next time, happy crafting and *huggles*

Snow in July!

Hello!
It has been SO hot and humid this summer. Hottest on record I do believe. So I thought I'd knit up a little friend to help cool things down.

What do you think? I just grabbed some needles and wool and went at it, so he was very simple to make other than using the boucle yarn. IGH! But he turned out so much cuter using it I think.Still debating if he needs a scarf or not.

I also finished the little cutie below on Friday, thanks to the inspired idea of one of my Ravelry group mates to designate Friday as 'finish Friday'. He'd been sitting on my desk without legs for a whole week. Poor fella.

I made him in an attempt to destash some horrible old scratchy acrylic. Bad idea on a detailed knit in the round piece (my fingers were red and sore for days). But he turned out cute and laughing and perfectly palm-sized so I suppose it was worth it. If you'd like to make your own smiling alligator you can find the free pattern here. My apologies for the blurry first photo. Silly shaking hands. *sighs*

Now I'm on to a new cute project but I can't share it quite yet as it's a surprise gift for someone.
Ooooh, but we have Thursday to look forward to! The final step in the mystery knit a long of one of Phoeny's magical designs. I can't wait to see it all put together. I shall post as soon as I get it assembled and pics taken.
Until then, happy crafting and *huggles* for all!

Awwwwww I have flowers!!!!!!!

WARNING: Non-craft related hijacking below

My boyfriend is the BESTEST boyfriend in the whole wide world. How do I know? Not only is he absolutely wonderful and perfect and allows me to drone on and on about my knitting and crafting obsessions....he sent me flowers for our first anniversary yesterday. They are so beautiful I just had to hijack my own blog to share and coo and swoon. :) I'd never had a boy buy me flowers before *ducks and blushes* but I have to say these are the most beautiful and most wonderful flowers EVER. Not only that, he had the forethought to think: Hey! It's in a basket. She could use that for knitting stuff! Yes, he's just that wonderful!














Oh! Oh! Oh! Not only did he get me flowers, he was extremely sneaky finding out what my favourite flowers were (carnations, ftr). A few days ago I was pouncing on etsy (randomly pops up 3 new shops) and had found this shop. The owner takes butterfly wings (after they have naturally passed) and laminates them to make the most stunning necklaces. So I was rambling on about that and my bf pondered (not even a real question!) as to whether that could be done with dried flowers too. I, thinking it a legitimate conversation, proceeded to ramble about drying flowers and how some could and others wouldn't cause they lose colour or would be too thick, etc etc etc....and he slips in there somehow (I'm still not sure how!) asking what my favourite flower was. Yep. That's my sneaky loveable rogue. *sighs happily* I am so incredibly lucky.
It has been a fabulous year and I look forward to many more. Thank you again my dear sweet love! 

Hmm....since I've already hijacked this thread, I may as well go ahead and share this adorable pic of my nephew who just turned 3 months old on the 7th. Looks like he loves teddies as much as his auntie. :)

Until next time!
*huggles*

Cloths, Cloths and more Cloths

Wow I've fallen behind. Lots of new things to share.

First, as a gift to the twin of the girl that received Snape, I made a little collection. To the right is the final product. Inside is a glass jar of pomegranate sugar body scrub, 2 washcloths and a face scrubbie, all made of the same yarn.
The cloth on the right is the same pattern as the white one I posted previously. The square one is a DW Cloth. I love how the carries look. I've posted pics of the face scrubbie in a prior post I think.

Edit: Woops, just looked and  I didn't show the scrubbie before, so here it is with the one I HAD made and posted before. :)

After these were all done and gifted, I started work on a new cloth that caught my fancy. It's called the Pi Cloth. (above right) There are so many ways to personalize this cloth, as you have 3 sections to do whatever pattern you chose. I rather like how it turned out. I still need to block it to hopefully get it to lay flat in the middle.






Finally, I've joined my first ever KAL (Knit Along)! It's so much fun! It is a mystery KAL which is even cooler. I have no idea what the end product is going to be. A new bit of the pattern is posted every week for 3 weeks. This one is a toy pattern by an amazing and inspiring pattern creator who goes by Phoeny on Ravelry.
Here is week 1. The head and body.
I'm currently working on week 2 which is arms/legs. So no, it is not a penguin (my first guess as I played with the pieces). Though I'm partial to penguins as they are my sweethearts favourite :)

So that is what I've been up to. How about you? 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!
*huggles*

Edit: sorry for the bad layout. Blogger is being a pain today. *sighs*