Saturday, May 22, 2010

Always Listen to Lauren

Greetings and Dear Laura:
What a great bag! You’ve chosen great fabrics - and it looks like a very useful size. Big enough for a beach towel, I’m thinking.
I have a cute little finished object to share. Well, I before we get to the hippo, maybe you’d like to see pictures of the bears that I made earlier this year. I decided that since so many of those adorable baby great-nieces and nephews that I used to make birthday sweaters have progressed to the (still adorable)kindergardener/preschooler stage that I no longer have time to make sweaters, and so this year we have moved to the ‘stuffed toy’ world. I love the patterns in the Itty-Bitty Toys book, so that is what I’m working from. LOVE Susan B. Anderson!
I scored a real stash victory when I decided to make the first Baby Bear. It calls for Noro sock yarn, and I knew I had some. A look at Ravelry showed me that I actually had the same color way that was used in the original!

I made two from that skein, and I have ALMOST enough for one more. Then I switched to a different color-way, and made one more.


I decided that I was all bear-ed out for awhile, so for my most current stuffed toy, I made the Hippo. This involved my nemesis - the dreaded Kitchener. The MOUTH is grafted - not the toe of a sock that will be hiding in a shoe. Not the foot of a Baby Bear - the MOUTH. Lauren offered to bring in the instructions that she found helpful, but I did what any sane person would do.
I offered her five bucks to do it for me.
She said no.
So I upped it to ten. (Note to knitters - it pays to hang around me when Kitchener is called for!)
She insisted that I must do it myself. (Hi Lauren! Thanks!) And I did! I buckled down and used her instructions, and it worked! BEAUTIFUL mouth on that hippo! (Of course, then you embroider over it, so no one really notices my lovely grafting......)

I was looking for a velvet ribbon to tie around it’s neck, but Lauren felt that it needed a scarf - and once again, she was correct!

So, always listen to Lauren. That’s what I say!

Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter!)

4 comments:

marit said...

I think you have some very lucky grandnieces/nephews! Those bears are cute, but the hippo is just adorable!!! And the scarf looks great on him.

Lauren said...

This is the best blog post I have ever read from anyone.... ever. ;-)

Laikabear said...

I LOVE those stuffed animals! Noro seems to be a good choice for the yarn - the color transitions are cool.

I'd say that you could mail me anything you want Kitchenered, but if it's a cute stuffed animal like that, you might not get it back! Plus, the hippo looks fantastic, so clearly you DON'T need any help! :)

Lea-Ann said...

Hope that book gets here today... I must add that hippo to my to do list... Tara's fave!