Presents!

It’s pretty dang cold in the cabin today, so any wit I may have planned for this post is frozen stiff, kinda like my fingers. Mostly I just wanted to show you some of the cool stuff I got for Christmas!

First, my ever-observant sister-in-law got me the crayon drawing book I had mentioned here a few weeks ago. I am so excited about this, I can’t even tell you. I went to the store yesterday to buy some crayons, thinking I would get the 64 count box. Apparently, I haven’t been paying attention to crayon developments. They had the 64 count, and then a 92 and then a 120 count!! Wowzers! I figured, the more colors the better, so I splurged. When I got home and opened it up, I found the large box contained two 48 count boxes and one 24 count. Wait a minute, what kinda rip-off is this…? I opened both 48 counts and much to my relief and delight, saw that the crayons are all different. There really are 120 colors! Yay! There won’t be any color drawing around here, though, until my hands have thawed out.

The other book is crochet animals from Rana. There are some cute patterns in there. The descriptions of the animals are kind of goofy, almost like they were trying too hard to make it interesting. You don’t have to convince me why I need to make a pirate panda bear. It’s cute and that’s good enough reason for me. Rana is looking forward to me making some of these animals; I think she may have plans… haha

In my stocking, I found these two little goodies from Mr. Gren. One is a disappearing fabric marker. I usually use a bit of chalk, but it doesn’t work on all fabrics. I’m looking forward to trying out the marker on my next sewing project. The other, strange-looking object is an ergonomic crochet handle. Sometimes I have trouble with my hands cramping up, especially when using the smaller hooks, so this should be a good help! I’ve already been using it.

So three cheers for Christmas! These gifts should lead to some interesting projects and posts this year. Oh, yeah… “year.” Happy New Year to all of you!

Spring is coming! (I think)

I know the calendar said that spring has already arrived. You can just never be too sure here in the Pacific Northwest since there isn’t a significant difference in the weather. But I’ve been seeing cherry blossoms as we drive around and the days aren’t quite as cold. It does give some hope that better days are ahead! Although we can still plan on it being soggy for another two months. Anyways, I thought I’d feature a little robin I made a couple of years ago for a spring-themed craft swap.

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The pattern came from here from someone in the UK who made it as a Christmas decoration. This part baffles me. In America, robins are harbingers of spring, but apparently in the UK, robins are a symbol of Christmas? Can anyone explain this to me? Because I would really like to understand the connection.

But anyways, to reinforce the idea that this was a spring robin and not a Christmas robin, I made a little nest with eggs. I made those up out of my own head.

Robin red-breast and her little blue eggs

She’s so cute and sweet, I think I might need to make another one to keep at home!

Hippity-hoppity

I’m proud to introduce the newest addition to my etsy shop: an Easter bunny!

I say “an Easter bunny” because I don’t know that I can claim him the title of THE Easter bunny. Besides, I plan on making more.

Take me home!

Actually, I’m just ears and a tail away from finishing a little miniature bunny that fits perfectly in the palm of my hand. Konik picked it up the other day and said, “I like dis bunny” in his sweet little 2 year old voice. He may need one of those tiny guys in his Easter basket.

Toy drop #2 Prepare to die of the cuteness!

Since my sewing machine has been in the shop for the past week, I took the opportunity to make a new toy for The Toy Society. One of these times, I plan on sewing up a little stuffie using scrap fabric (these toys are great stash busters!). This time, though, I crocheted a cute little bunny. The pattern came from the September/October 1988 issue of Crochet World. No, I did not subscribe to craft magazines when I was 10. Last December I was the recipient of an old woman’s collection of crochet magazines and patterns. It has been a lot of fun to sift through. There are some cute baby layette patterns, adorable animals, and horrifying examples of why crochet should have skipped the 80s.

It's a MESH PULLOVER! With dripping triangles! And beads! WHY?!

This bunny pattern was a winner, though. I used a soft grey yarn that I had in my stash. I think I originally bought it with the intention of making a purse, but the USS Motivation had long since sailed on that project. The softness was perfect for a little rabbit. I finished him up on Friday night. His eyes went through several incarnations before I finally settled on this sweet look.

Bunny rabbit!

Saturday, my family and I went to Pike Place Market in Seattle to meet up with some friends and I took the little bunny along with me. It’s such a busy, active place, I knew he wouldn’t languish for long before someone found him. The trick was placing him without anyone seeing! Mr. Gren pointed out this street sign that conveniently had a bolt protruding from the side, just right for looping the string over and it was in a great location with lots of foot traffic.

Small bunny in a big city

Bunny in a bag and Rana's hair

After hanging up the bunny and letting the girls bid it farewell (they fell in love with it as I was making it last week), our whole group moved a few yards away to watch and wait. The first few people who walked by didn’t seem to notice. Then a couple of people leaned in to take a closer look as they passed. Two teenage girls walked right up to it and talked about it briefly before going on. Finally, a woman approached the sign and read the “Take me home! I’m yours!” note through the bag. Without unhooking it from the signpost, she held the bag in her hands and turned it over and over. We laughed a little as we watched and were quietly cheering her on: “Go ahead! You can really take it! It’s ok!” After a full minute of examining the bag and the bunny, the woman finally lifted the bag off the bolt and tucked it under her arm. It turned out that she was the one who was selling the teepees right next to the sign! Mr. Gren said that he had specifically watched her as I hung up the bag and that she hadn’t been looking at that time. Kind of amusing that with all the people passing by, it was the person sitting just six feet away who finally claimed the little rabbit.

You can doooo it!

I think that the next time I drop a toy, I will add to the note something along the lines of “No, really, it’s ok!” The people who actually got close enough to read the note in the bag all seemed to be a little nervous that they might be doing something wrong or that maybe someone had lost the toy. A little reassurance that there’s no catch might help ease the jitters!

My first toy was put up on The Toy Society blog a day or two after I dropped it. If you go here, you’ll see the comment from the finder: ToySociety Drop #1541. How fun! I’m so glad to have brightened someone’s day!

The End!

I joined the Toy Society!

Sometime over a year ago, I came across The Toy Society. It was started by an Australian crafter named Bianca who wanted to bring a little joy to a stranger’s life through the unexpected gift of a toy left in a public place. The whole concept intrigued me and I wanted to be a part of this! I signed up last June to get all the information, and finally, finally I got around to making a toy! This may be a procrastination record. Although, I do plead a little bit of forgetfulness, too. And three children.

A couple of years ago, my mom got me the book 1-2-3 Skein Crochet and these stripey dolls caught my eye.

Aren't they fun?

As patterns go, this really wasn’t difficult, but it did turn out to be a little bit of a pain in the neck. Actually, in the fingers. My hands cramped up so badly making my own stripey doll! It uses a G hook with worsted weight yarn in single crochet. If you don’t crochet and have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s the translation: smallish hook + thick yarn + tight stitches = ouchie. That’s why I didn’t get it done yesterday. My poor hand needed a break! I sewed the little guy together this afternoon.

Yellow, orange, and pink, like Fruit Stripes Gum.

It bugged Rana to no end that I didn’t put a face on this doll. I actually kind of liked it plain; then you can imagine whatever face you want. I prepared the little tag and letter explaining what the toy was about and arranged it all in a ziploc bag. Rana and I scouted out a bus stop on a busy street, but there were already people there. Zut! She suggested that we hide behind a bush until the bus came and picked them up. I thought that might call undue attention to us and proposed just walking halfway down the block and waiting. She conceded, but I think she was still a little disappointed that we didn’t get to sit in a bush.

A few minutes later, the bus came, and we scurried back to the bus stop pole. As I tied the bag onto the pole, I had coaching from Rana: “Hurry! Don’t let anyone see you! There’s cars coming! Get it tied!”

Tied on the bus stop pole. And look! Blue sky!

Toy drop number one! We walked nonchalantly away. Ok, maybe not. We kept turning around to look at it. After dinner we went back by to see whether the stripey doll had been claimed, but alas, he was still hanging from the pole. The wind had blown the bag around against the bus route sign, hiding the “Take Me Home” tag. I repositioned the bag, so hopefully it is obvious that anyone can take it and that it wasn’t just forgotten. Y’know, tied to a bus stop.

I’m also hoping that it doesn’t get thrown away. I think, if we ever use a bus stop again, we’ll choose one without a trash can right there. We will go check in the morning to see what has become of our little stripey friend! I’m already scheming about the next toy to make. I’m thinking a little amigurumi kitty.

If you think this is a cool idea, you ought to check out some of the toys on the Toy Society blog and think about making one of your own to drop!