One last gift

Here's the very last thing I'm going to be able to finish by Christmas, the table runner for my mom, displayed with some help from my six-year-old. It's made of Kaffe Fassett scraps and a few others I bought to coordinate--although it's pretty much anything goes with Kaffe Fassett. The back is a fabric by P&B Textiles, but can't recall what. The finished runner is 72" x 18.5", so it's for a small table or sideboard. Here's a closer view. Really hard to get everything in one picture when it's such a long thing.



And a homemade label for the back:


There was one project I decided to let go until later, a stuffed toy based on a drawing my son did of a rock monster (any of you with kids who play Legos will know what this is). I figure he's going to be so overwhelmed by Christmas that this can easily wait till later. And I need to say enough for now and take some time to reflect on the season. Deep breath!

I wish everyone a fabulous holiday, however you choose to celebrate it, and hope you enjoy the season!

A beary Merry Christmas

In the nick of time, another Christmas present ready to go out the door! This is a gift for my Starbucks bearistas, their very own mascot. I first saw this bear made by Susan Crowe of knitblog Damn, Knit and Blast it and thought it would be just the thing for my favorite Starbucks guys and gals. Susan has actually made three bears, because the first went missing from the Starbucks and never came back, so Bucky version 2.0 came along, and then a third one was made for a favorite barista. She shows the steps involved in making them on her blog, and I was able to find on eBay my own copy of the pattern for the bear, which is a vintage one called Teddy Bear Parade (by Sirdar, it often comes up for auction--there's another booklet like it called Teddy Bear Picnic). In them are patterns for these bears and lots of outfits to crochet for them--among them a chef, a pirate, Robin Hood and such. I used the chef's apron for the Starbucks bear:


But my rudimentary crochet skills were put to the test by the little shirt, so I made up my own raglan sweater and pants to knit. Note to self: learn more about crochet more than one week before Christmas!

Anyway, I hope this little gal, for she seems like a gal to me, finds a happy home at my local Starbucks.

Christmas is coming . . .

. . . and I have more crafting to do. Above are two Xmas gifts, twin hats I made for my piano teacher and his partner. They are in the same squishy merino I used to make a hat for myself, so I know it's nice stuff (DiVe Autunno). The pattern is from the book Holiday Knits.

I dubbed them Dog Walking Beanies, because this is the kind of thing I can see my friends throwing on when they walk their three poodles in the morning drizzle. It's sort of a revolt against the kinds of hats one sees for sale at places like REI, like the Shred Alert! beanie or the Sherpa Adventure! beanie. Mine are more likely to be used for daily rituals than a mountain ascent, so they're just regular ol' dog walking beanies.

Patchwork cats

One of my Christmas gifts is coming along. These patchwork kitties are intended for my sis, who works as a volunteer at a local cat rescue in McMinnville, TN. There are about 80 cats the group takes care of and tries to find homes for. I stuffed mine with catnip so they'd be especially appealing to the kitties.

The pattern is by Keiko Goke from Kaffe Fassett's book Quilt Road (2005). Here's how they look in the book. The only thing I did different was resize them; the cats in the book are big, about 15 inches. But since I wanted them to be catnip toys, mine are only 7 inches tall.


I did use my neverending supply of Kaffe Fassett scraps that I have from other projects. I could keep making cats for some time yet.

Finished drawing

This week I got to finish the drawing of Nuke the ancient Siamese cat. Well, he's no longer living, which is different, but the photos I worked from were taken in his last days, and he was 17. Here he sits on his favorite leopard cushion. It's all ready to be given to his human companion Sally for Christmas, except that I can't decide on the framing. The frame itself is one I know Sally will like, because it's more exotic looking than your average frame. But I can't decide if the shiny gold mat is better or the cream on top of the gold.




Any opinions out there? Send 'em my way, I'm hopeless at this sort of thing. Next up is a Sheltie, and I plan to do a close-up of her face in my favorite medium, colored pencil. Should be fun.

Knitting-wise, I finished a cowl that looks almost exactly like the one pictured here by BrownBerry on Ravelry. She calls it The Neck Poncho, and it's very comfortable to wear. But do you know how hard it is to take a picture of yourself in a cowl? I'll get proper photos when husband is home to take care of such things.


I started on a ribbed hat with the leftover yarn, and just in time, as we're expecting snow within the week.