Irony

So my husband said to me, when we first heard about the Amigurumi competition on Etsy, "Hey, hon, why don't you make a pirate squid?"

"Hm," I said. "Sounds good, but let me make a few simple things first."

Like Jellyfish. So I make Angel and Devil Jellyfish.

Then, I say to myself "A squid is still too hard. I'll warm up to it by making a pirate whale. And so I do.

And then I say "Now that I've made a pirate whale, I want to branch out. What would be really aPEELing? (Get it, aPEELing, like a banana? Snort. I crack me up.) So I made a Bananamonkey, and put a lot of time and effort into it, because the competition was ending, and I wanted a good shot at a prize.

So the competition ended. And what won?

A Pirate Squid.

Merry Christmas, one and all!

At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David's ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiance, who was obviously pregnant by this time.

And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn.

That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened, but the angel reassured them. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! The Savior--yes, the Messiah, the Lord--has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David! And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!"

Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others--the armies of heaven--praising God:

"Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and peace on earth to all whom God favors."

When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, "Come on, let's go to Bethlehem! Let's see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

They ran to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. Then the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds' story were astonished, but Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their fields and flocks, glorifying and praising God for what the angels had told them, and because they had seen the child, just as the angel had said.

Luke 2:1-20 Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.

Bananamonkey Roscoe and Friends

So...I've been bitten by the craft bug. Bitten badly. Here is a sampling of what I've been up to in the last week, NOT including Christmas presents.

Bananamonkey Roscoe was my final entry into Etsy's amigurumi competition. Click on the picture to see more poses at the shop site.


And here is my progress on Kiri. I've done 10 repeats of the leaf pattern in chart 2, and am planning on doing two more before starting the edging with chart 3. This is a great knit, and everything you see has come from only one ball of yarn, of which I probably have 1/8 left.


Here is the scarf I was starting in the last post. I knitted it diagonally, increasing one stitch every row on one side and decreasing one stitch every row on the other. It's pretty long, probably 7.5 feet.


And another bulky scarf, knit from rosy-orange handspun Blue-faced Leicester, in a simple basketweave pattern to keep it from curling.


Progress has been made on the Crusoe socks. I've turned both heels and am progressing up the ankle.


And here is my pride and joy, 300 yards of sport-weight superwash superfine Merino, destined to become either socks or gloves, depending on whether I can figure out how to knit the fingers nicely before Christmas. I had to have some impressive yarn for my Christmas knitting, because one of my cousins' wives is an avid knitter of Opal sock yarns, and since I came to sock knitting later in the game than she did, I'm sure as shootin' gonna have better yarn to make up for it!


Merry Christmas, one and all!

Amigurumi and others

Alison mentioned a few days ago that Etsy was having an Amigurumi competition, and that was enough to send me down the path to a debilitating addiction. I cannot believe how fun these little guys are to make. For instance, I give you Eva, the Devil Jellyfish:



And Blueflipper, the Pirate Whale



Both are entered in the competition, along with assorted cats, monkeys, and horrifying hybrids. One of mine has already sold, much to my surprise.

Also in the works is Kiri:


And this handspun is quickly becoming a funky scarf:

HANDDYED YARN SALE

In honor of Christmas, Two Waters Fiberworks is having a free domestic shipping sale at Etsy.com. Join me in celebrating the holiday season with some warm, woolly sock knitting!

Shop update

I've put five gorgeous new yarns up in the shop for your viewing pleasure. Handdyed sock yarns, of course, make the best Christmas presents for knitters and non-knitters alike. Knitters can make beautiful socks, and non-knitters can cuddle them up to their faces and ooh and ahh at the pretty colors. And, to spice up your wassail, I've swatchified this latest batch, giving a better impression of the interplay of colors and tones:


"Carnavale"


"Sunrise"


"Blue Nile"

I hope you enjoy this batch, as I certainly did. Coming soon: Kiri and one cute dog.

A Winter Wonderland

As I told my 2nd period class today, any snow at all in Western Washington is a meteorological miracle, but it is coming down hard and sticking. I always envy knitters in snowy climes, and today, for once, I am practicing a craft that could, indeed, mean the difference between life and freezing to death. I am fulfilled.