I went shopping!

Look guys! I got new stuff. The fleece is to work on some blankets for Project Linus as well as a couple for my kids. I'm going to do a crocheted edging around the outside. I got a special rotary cutter blade to give me evenly spaced holes to work in and I'm really excited to try it out!

Here are my new books and my rotary cutting stuff. The books at Joanne's were 40% off when I went today, so I decided I needed to get myself at least one knitting book and a couple of edging books. I figured if I'm going to be making several blankets for Project Linus, it would be nice to have a jumping off point for the borders, and the knitting book is full of projects to dream about starting.



The purple elephant fleece is for Jenna and the puppy fleece is for Cole. Super cute, no?



Here is the fleece I got for the donation blankets. I liked them because they could be for either a girl or a boy, and they are just stinking cute! I think I can get at least two blankets from each of them. I got yarn to go with the Noah's ark fabric, so I think I'm going to start with that one.



Hopefully I'll have at least one of these done in the next couple of weeks to show you guys!

Headband/scarf thing...

Every now and then I take time out to make things for my family. My friend Andrea pointed this pattern out to me on Ravelry a while ago, and I spent months (literally) looking for the right yarn to make it. Jenna doesn't like anything itchy, so the yarn had to be super soft, but I wanted bright, fun, girly colors as well. I finally found Yarn Bee Snowflake Wool Blend yarn at Hobby Lobby and got started on this a couple of weeks ago. The pattern was quite easy and it worked up beautifully, and the yarn is crazy soft. I had Jenna model for me today so that I could get some good pictures. Between the soft yarn and her soft hair, it took a couple of clips to keep it on, but I really don't have a problem with that.

1 Up Mushroom & Zim Piggy

This is the companion to the grow big mushroom I made before. It was a birthday present from my friend Andrea to her husband (also my friend) Drew, and it now sits alongside its companion on Drew's desk at work. I find that very fun. I wrote down the pattern to this guy as I was making him. I'm so proud of me for being responsible and making it possible for myself to make these again if anyone (or just me) wishes.



Zim Pig is for my friend James' son Ryan. I made the octopus for James, and Ryan wanted something too, so I decided to make him this. The kid is a big Invader Zim fan and since I wasn't quite ready to take on Gir, I decided on making the pig. It turned out pretty okay. Although, like anything else I make for the first time, I think I would make a few adjustments next time.

Okay, here's Madelyn's elephant.

I decided to put a purple fuzzy fringe around the ears of Madelyn's elephant. I love how it looks! It just makes it so little girl stuffed animal. Besides, purple and grey just look awesome together. Here he is! (Notice, still a he even with purple ears. Hmm, I wonder what it is that turns all of my projects into boys in my head?)

Giraffe for Madelyn

Madelyn is 3! For her birthday her mom asked her if I could make a giraffe and an elephant. The elephant is the same as the fuzzy ele I made before. I may post pictures of it later if I decide to give it a little twist, but until then you all must settle for seeing the giraffe.

I found a pattern via Ravelry for a pretty cute giraffe, however, I have an aversion to following patterns and so I just started crocheting until I had something that looked similar. I really like how the little guy turned out. (For some reason I've noticed that everything I crochet is a boy to me. However, some of them end up being girls to the people I give them to, ie the Octopus who ended up being "Sally".) Anyhow, here he is!