Little Brown Rabbit

I finished this little guy up a few days ago but only just got pictures taken.

Pompom Birdie Spring Wreath

This little pink birdie needed a home so I decorated a grapevine wreath for her.
I'm getting overrun with little birds as I practice my pompom making skills!

I also finished the first project from the book. I really, really wish I'd thought of the bow before I glued the egg in place! Oh well, it was finicky but I got the ribbon on there:)




And now Miss Bunny is holding an egg present and I'm happy with her. I'm starting another pompom rabbit but this time using a combination of techniques from all my pompom books, old and new. Waiting for some glue to dry...my least favorite part of the process. Hopefully pictures soon!

Pompom Bunny!

Bet everyone's been wondering what happened to my obsession with pompom animals. Adventures in Pom Pom Land did arrive last Friday, just very late in the evening via UPS. I read it cover to cover immediately:) Lots of good information but I had to learn needle felting which required some tools and a slight delay until my coupons were good, lol!

I had been working on some birds while I was waiting for the book to arrive and I have to say, it's hard to go wrong. Even the ones that are less than perfect are still cute as all heck.

At the same time I've been working on my first project from the book itself. A little Easter Bunny. I even used the specified materials for a change...well, mostly. As I said earlier, lots of great information but also odd little omissions. Like I'm supposed to use a seed bead for the nose but there's no mention of what size. I ended up with a size 8 but I may try a size 6. I also didn't have 10mm eyes so I used 9mm. Turns out the shank on a plastic safety eyes snips right off with wire cutters:) Cover it with your hand before cutting though, or it'll shoot off like a bullet, possibly into your eye.

Miss Bunny is holding a vintage glittered Easter egg and I haven't quite decided on other embellishments yet. She's also quite a bit bigger than I thought she'd be - about 6" tall NOT including the ears. That's in the correct range according to the book, but I think I didn't trim down the pompom as much. For a first attempt I'm pretty happy with her, what do you think?

My first yarn bombing

So Mesa Arts Center is having a yarn bombing in mid-March and for a wonder I actually found out about it early enough to submit something. Awhile back I finished a Granny Stripe Afghan, pattern courtesy of Attic24 and was wondering what to do with all the leftover bits of yarn. MAC wants stripes, so I came up with this.

 

I did end up buying some more white, but I have plans to make this into a cat bed when I get it back and I wanted a very cheerful, light color scheme.

I'm also still playing with pom poms. THE BOOK is supposed to show up in the mail today and I can hardly wait! What I've been able to figure out on my own is fairly decent, but my mouse definitely needs some fine tuning, lol.

Pom Pom Critters

I'm still having just too much fun making little pom pom birdies and assorted critters. Amazon tells me that my book is on the way earlier than expected and I can hardly wait! Even though I'm guessing and using el cheapo acrylic yarn to practice with I still think they turn out pretty cute. I went through all my old pattern books and pulled out anything to do with pom poms. One of the books has a great polar bear which I tried. I think modern ready made pom poms are different from the old ones.They don't want to fluff up so my polar bear has obvious joins. The mouse has issues - Still cute though:) I seem to be best at birds so far...

In other news I just finished my second elephant for Kelapo Coconut Oil. This one is a much smaller version and done in crochet thread instead of worsted yarn. I had lots of fun blinging him out with sequins and beads:) The owner wants to take him with her to meetings so I made the tusks out of polymer clay instead of crocheting them. I'm hoping that they'll hold up to travel better. Plus I starched the heck out of his ears!

Pom Pom Easter Chicks

 So I opened up the latest bulletin from my book club and found the most amazing book by Myko Bocek. She makes these fantastically cute pompom bunnies, little chicks and even an elephant. Somehow I've missed her all this time on Etsy. The problem is that the book doesn't come out until sometime in March 2013. Easter is the last weekend in March...not a whole lot of lead time there and I was just so eager to try it myself!

I imagine she's gotten swamped with all kinds of emails and messages because her Etsy shop seems to have been put on hold and my message to her appears to have gone astray. Nothing left to do but wing it:)

Off I went to make my own pompoms. Being a frugal sort I used some acrylic yarn I have laying around, not 100% wool. My first one became this little guy's head. I just wrapped around my fingers. The body was made with a template I found here. I've since gotten some of the Clover pompom makers but I think I like the finger method best.

The legs are pipe cleaners wrapped with embroidery floss, the beak is a little bit of felt and the eyes are the black plastic doll eyes you can get in the big craft stores.

It took a little time to get him all together but it was just so much fun:) He stands on his own and I just have to smile every time I see that wide open beak. 

I ended up making him a little display stand and swapping out his ribbon - is this just too cute or what?

Snuggle Cat Scarf

I loved the idea of an animal scarf but I really wanted to make one in eyelash yarn so I could get the super soft snuggly feeling of a cat purring in your ear. Unfortunately, as much as I love eyelash yarn I have a horrible time crocheting with it.

So I’ve been playing with developing a knitting pattern for a simple cat that’s super easy to do but still actually looks like a cat.

Dagmar (the black kitty) was my first attempt. I used a strand of Boa yarn and a strand of Fun Fur for his body and when the Fun Fur ran out, made his tail in just one strand of Boa. His head is crocheted and his ears are a little on the round side. I’m immensely pleased with his legs though - I used a spool knitter. I suppose you could do an icord as well but my hands like spool knitting better:)



Lila was my next try. I redid the head so there’s no crochet work at all on her, just nice simple knitting. I’m still loving the spool knit legs; notice how the ends bulge out just a bit to look like real paws? It does that all by itself. Something I hate on scarves but it works out well for kitty legs. Her ears turned out way better too.







I’m trying for an orange kitty next. I think I’ll name him Brutus. I’ve actually named them all after cats I know, or used to know. I would say owned, but really, cats sort of own us:)

UPDATE: The pattern is up for sale in my Etsy shop, here's the link: http://www.etsy.com/listing/115255875/snuggle-cat-scarf-pdf-knitting-pattern