Simon Gnome

This is my second Yuletide Gnome toy. It will catch a plane next month going over to the UK to live with my sister number 3.

Sister #3 said that her husband likes all earthy colours like brown, beige, sand, pale blues, navy, grey..etc So this little gnome is wearing Simon’s favourite colour.

I think I got the hat right this time. I turned the hat in such a way that it has a rolled up edge which is how it was in the pattern.

I used double knitting wool and alpaca yarn. This second gnome is softer to the touch than the first one.

Hope your week is going well so far.

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Pattern: This is available online from Alan Dart - the toy designer's website. See side bar for the link.

The knitting pattern gives you instruction to knit flat with two needles. I adapted the pattern and knitted the gnome all in the rounds. If interested, you can see how I did it by going to the sidebar and click on a post folder called “Yuletide Gnome in the Rounds”.

Knitting Weather

We had a cold spell a week ago. It went down to 55ºf/13ºc overnight for a couple of days. Nice. As soon as the weather man said that be sure to take a sweater with you when you go out at night... that was it; time to dig out my bags of wool and start a few knitting projects.

I am working out the tension squares for this Ribby Yoke Jumper. I am nearly there with the hand-knitting square, just need to check out the knitting machine square then I am good to go.
I have started knitting for a few Christmas presents too. This little gnome is almost done. I am using the magic loops method to knit it in the rounds this time. Hopefully I can show you the finished toy in the next post.

Till next time, have a great week.

Thanksgiving Turkey and Christmas Duck

I finally get round to finish the two toys I started back in September: a Thanksgiving Turkey and a Christmas Duck. We have roast duck at Christmas rather than turkey dinner, hence Christmas Duck.

The little duck is just over 6 inches tall in a sitting position.The turkey is about 8¼ inches tall.

I made some accessories for them: the placards and the head gears. My hubby said that these two are militant protesters.

Materials:

Double Knitting white and peach yarn, Sport weight red and black yarn, and I handspun the brown yarn for the turkey

I found it very helpful to use a small amount of glue to attach the turkey feet to the body and then have a curve needle to sew them together. I used Fabri-Tac Permanent Adhesive.
Crochet hook size: 3.50mm

Patterns:

* The Duck pattern is free. It is called The Ugly Duckling by Michele Wilcox. You can find it in freepatterns.com You would need to register before you can download the pattern.

* The Turkey pattern is an out of print pattern from 1983 Annie's Pattern Club. It is called Godfrey Gobbler by Betty Blount.

Our niece's Hello Kitty

When Sarah had booked her tickets to come over to see us, I suggested in an email that I could show her how to knit or to crochet during her stay with us if she was interested.

Sure enough she checked with my sister Frances before coming over and Frances gave her a selection of amigurumi crochet patterns.

Even though we have been busy during the 3 weeks of Sarah’s visit, we found time to crochet.

Here, Sarah cast on her first chain foundation stitches. She started the project towards the end of week 1 at our home in Florida.
This was now week 3 in a hotel when we were visiting Washington DC; Sarah was focusing on her project.Sarah finished her Hello Kitty before flying back home. Isn't it cute?

Her first ever crochet project. Here is a side view.

Sarah is such a quick learner. I have only showed her how to cast on and how to increase, she figured out how to decrease and how to shape the toy all by herself. So proud of Sarah’s achievement.

Sightseeing with our niece – Washington DC

In week 3 of Sarah’s visit we arrived in Washington DC to see some of the famous monuments.

The Lincoln Memorial

The White House

Capitol Hill

...plus lots of pictures of other places we visited but not showed here.

Did I say that we walked everywhere, and I mean everywhere, for days with Poppy? I was so tired. On the homeward journey Poppy and I crashed out in the back seats of the car.

I think Poppy did better than me; at least she was conscious for the camera. I wasn’t.

Sightseeing with our niece – Savannah Georgia

During week 2 of Sarah’s stay we visited Savannah Georgia.

We saw some lovely old buildings in historic downtown.
Checked out their Oktoberfest along the River Street.

Enjoyed the view of the water front.

Took Poppy to an old plantation for a walk in the woods.

Tried some southern food: BBQ, fried chicken, banana pudding...all so tasty.

Sightseeing with our niece – Florida

I just want to share a few photos with you; these were taken when we showed Sarah a few places in south Florida.

We went to the beaches: Delray Beach, Fort Lauderdale and here is Miami South Beach.We had an air-boat ride and saw some of the water ways ...

...an un-usual buggy tour at the Billie Swamp Safari because it was pouring down with rain.

A drive through the sugar cane farming region to see Lake Okeechobee.

We stopped to take some pictures of the sugar cane fields. I asked Sarah to step nearer to the canal edge so that she could be in the centre of the picture. Sarah said that she heard something moved in the water. Just as well she didn’t go any closer; we saw wild alligators in these water ways too.

Slow Going

It is that time of the years when you start thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas. I want to make two toys with the holiday theme. I finished crochet all the pieces very quickly in September and only have the tail to do. But I have only made very slow progress with it after my niece arrived from the UK. She is staying with us for three weeks. We have been out and about, and time flies when you enjoy yourself, right? It is week 3 already and my niece is returning home on Wednesday. I will have my routines back then and have more time to sort out my craftwork.