coastal scene and psychedelic hippo

Last Friday the latest issue (318) of Cross Stitcher hit the UK shops and it has the beautiful coastal scene on the cover that I stitched a few months ago.

It`s a Maria Diaz design at its best: patches of colour that make it easier to break the whole down to manageable areas, `daily bits` that help the project grow so much faster. The flowers in the foreground (1 day), the sea (2 days), the cliffs with the lighthouse (1 day), the beach and the harbour with the little houses (2 days) - and then, instead of spending another day or two backstitching... hardly any BS to add because it`s more like a watercolour painting! 😍

Fair enough, it took me a month to finish it, but only because I had the flu for 3 weeks in the meantime - fact is, it can be stitched in a week (if you need an urgent last-minute present for someone) because it`s one of those projects that you can`t put down, you know the type I mean? I think every stitcher is familiar with the concept of `I`ll just finish this little bit here and then I`m off to bed` and then you stay up till 2 a.m. 😂

The above-mentioned flu made me rethink a few things and I realised that the only time I have for myself is time I spend sick in bed, unable to do anything anyway - not exactly quality me-time. 😩 So I`ve slowed down a bit and now I can make room for other stuff too, e.g. I picked up knitting again and finished the little psychedelic hippo I started months and months ago. I named her Lucy after Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, and put her in my Etsy shop for someone to fall in love with. 😁 I also dug out my Personal Stitching but I can`t show any pics of it yet, it was supposed to be my parents` Christmas present in 2016 but hopefully, they`ll get it this year. Happy stitching, folks!

Cross Stitcher 302

In the latest issue of Cross Stitcher, there are three mum-and-baby animal pairs that I stitched towards the end of last year. I loved working on these, they were a nice wee breather between larger projects and amidst the preparations for Christmas. Plus, I love Diane Machin`s pastel colours, they always have this soothing effect on me, which was especially welcome during those hectic days, and what could be cuter than baby animals with their mommies? It`s a pity I only had to stitch three of the patterns but there are lots more in the mag so they could be turned into a sampler even, or any number of little presents e.g. for a baby shower - as you`ll see below, in the magazine they are featured as baby toys and decoration for a basket.

Surprisingly, I have a couple of days off just now, so I`m very excited to be working on my own stuff for a change: it`s going to be a photo conversion for someones` Christmas present - if you think it is frightening how organised I seem to be, I`m not really, I just reckon if I can only pinch 2-3 days here and there, I`d better start preparing for Christmas 2016 nice and early. Also, just today I got nominated for the 7-day cross stitch challenge that`s doing its rounds on Facebook, so I`m going to spend a pleasurable hour or two rummaging through my old photos now - if you follow me on FB, you might see them popping up there, starting from tomorrow. Happy stitching, folks!

Picture taken by my official photographer, DS :) #WeeManPhotography

Rapunzel - Cross Stitch Crazy 200

Happy New Year! I know it`s almost the end of January but this is my first blog post for 2015 - I know, they`re becoming increasingly few and far between. Even though I`m constantly crafting something, it`s either a surprise to someone or some official magazine thingy but the end result`s the same: I can`t post pictures until the recipient has got the prezzie or a publication is in the shops.

So in the past weeks (months?) I`ve knitted e.g. a jumper - but I`m pretty sure the owner of it wouldn`t like his picture all over the Internet -, and over Christmas I stitched a glasses case for my Mum for her birthday - but as she can`t see it before the end of February, I cannot post a piccie of that, either. However, as my parents have already received it, I can finally show you the Lucie Heaton cuckoo clock I stitched for them from issue 284 of Cross Stitcher:

I stretched it over a ready-made canvas I`d bought in an arts shop but as my Mom wants to put it in the kitchen, it`s still an ongoing project, now in my Uncle`s capable hands, who`ll box it in (probably with glass, he didn`t sound too keen on plexiglass) to protect it from greasy fumes.

I had another `emergency project` over the holidays: my adorable wee boy dreamt one night that his two favourite teddies have met and become friends with a green alien teddy - cue a trip to the shop to find the perfect shade of `alien green` yarn, and I had to knit this bear for him the very same day, following his instructions to the letter (hence the slightly "giraffesque" antennae):

And finally, the latest issue of Crazy is out and in it another Lucie Heaton design I stitched. I`m sure little girls all over the world will love this Tangled-themed picture - I certainly enjoyed stitching it!

See you again "soon" - hopefully, before the end of 2015, lol!

George, the handsome hippo

Do you remember Gloria, my glorious diva of a hippo? Well, I put her up for sale in my Etsy shop, and a couple of weeks ago someone saw her and - as expected - fell in love with her. Only problem was that this lady wanted a boy version for her (yet) unborn nephew, and preferably in grey. So I slightly amended the original Alan Dart pattern and came up with this:

I think he`s just as gorgeous as his big sister - pity the lady who`d ordered him never contacted me since! I hope she still wants him... then again, I wouldn`t mind keeping him at all! I`ll keep y`all posted.

Elsewhere, in my little dreamworld of freedom (=I haven`t had any commissioned stitching for over a week now), I stitched this freebie from the latest Crazy and made it up for my MIL for Mothers` Day - I hope she`ll like it, I wanted something cheerful (she had a heart operation a few weeks ago and she`s still not 100% but she`s getting there). So here are some colourful birds to cheer her up:

And as there`s still no sign of any model stitching in the pipeline for the noo, you won`t believe what I`ve unearthed from the bowels of my cupboard: La Scapigliata! Yes, I started working on it last night and I hope to finish it before the next commission arrives - again, I`ll keep y`all posted of my progress. Happy stitching!

crocheted Despicable Me minion

I`m happy to report that in between stitching tasks, I managed to finish a crochet project as well in the past couple of weeks: I`ve made a strange hybrid of a minion, a weird cross between utter cuteness (with his goggles on) and a possessed jelly bean (without his accessories). You`ll see in a minute what I mean but first let me give credit to the designer of the pattern, which I found here. Truth be told, though, it was only a starting point for me - as always with crochet -, because I`m so hopeless at it: as I don`t see clearly what`s a chain and what`s not, I keep miscounting (even with a stitch marker!), plus I used different yarns from hers with different sized hooks... so as usual with my crochet attempts, this one belongs to the `Played By Ear` category too. And while the jury is still out on whether it was worth all the effort (although Gregory usually loves and appreciates everything I make, but maybe in this instance he would`ve been happier with the battery-operated model that makes all those cute sounds...?), but the main thing is that I finished something that I set out to do, and now I can`t wait to see his little face when he opens it at Christmas! :)

Mr. Cute! :) I deviated from the pattern (again!) and put wires in his arms
so they`re bendy. Unfortunately, I was concentrating on this so hard
that I didn`t pay attention and sew the fingers on the same way on both hands,
so now he has a thumb on the one and a pinky on the other, lol!

Alternative mouth, with slightly big and scary teeth. In the end,
I decided against it and sew a plain line for a smile :)

And without all his accessories... Unfortunately, his legs come off with his trousers,
and without the goggles he has this slightly demented look in his eyes
(I didn`t have brown felt so I ended up crocheting the eyes as well,
hence the fish-like, lifeless stare... oooh, quick, put those goggles back on!)

Gloria

Well, do you remember this?
Alan Dart`s hippo, whom I named Gloria

I don`t blame you if you don`t, it`s been a while... Still, that doesn`t matter now, the main thing is that SHE IS HERE!!! Are you ready for a gorgeousness overload? (You might want to sit down first...?)

As you might have noticed, I substituted the grey yarn with light brown - this is more of a hippo-colour to me. Also, I have omitted the `finger and toe` nails because I hate sewing and the mouth + nostrils + eyes and generally making her up was more than enough for me. (May I just add here, on a personal note... not that my whole blog is not personal... anyway, probably the greatest factor in Gloria being finished today is the fact that this morning I spent about an hour and a half frogging a commission stitching, practically half of what I`d done so far, so I thought I`d better give cross stitch a break and get on with my knitting - but I`m not a masochist so I didn`t want to sew too much). You might also notice that I changed the eyes - the black pupil with white circle around it freaked me out a bit so I just used black yarn, and also stitched her a few eyelashes, for extra gorgeousness. Finally, I gave up on the sunglasses, and let this be a lesson for all of us, shades knitters of the future: if the pattern says spray it with hairspray, use that and don`t try your luck with spray-on starch - it won`t stiffen the yarn at all. And if you, like me, are crazy enough to switch on your iron in this heat, that`ll make things ten times worse: even on the coolest setting, it`ll make your already limp wool flat and shiny to boot. Thus, alas, there are no cool shades for Gloria but I think she looks stunning even without them - crazy summer heat or not, I might just go back for another cuddle... ;)

sleeping puppy`s famous!

I`m so busy sharing this on Facebook that I almost forgot to post here: remember the sleeping puppy I knitted about 2 months ago? When I finished it, I sent an email to Knit Today with a photo of it attached and as it turns out, I was first past the post knitting this particular pattern. So they feature it in this month`s issue, which is great in itself, but! On top of that, I`ll get some Rowan patterns books too as a prezzie! Woooooop! I`m so happy about this I don`t even care about my tooth I managed to chip during lunch (with a pizza! How???? With melted cheese?). Anyway, back to the beautiful cottage I`m stitching at the moment - pictures of that in a few months` time...?

WARNING: this will be a very long post, with lots of links and some photos :)

Before I say what I want to say, I`ve just got to say this: I won again!! Same as with buses and hedgehogs: now two wins come along at once (of course, entering competitions helps). Last night I got an email from Celtic Rose Needlecraft, with 4 PDF patterns attached - Dartmoor Heather, Moonlight On The Shore, Cottage Garden Pond and Daffodil Wood. I`m so chuffed! I just wish I had more time... or more hands... or both... I think if I ever get round to do it, I`ll start with Moonlight On The Shore. (Note to self: Don`t forget to write Thank You email to CRN!).

And now, what I originally wanted to write about: visiting other blogs. The other day my dear friend Katya (http://astitchingtime.blogspot.com) has already touched on this topic when she apologised, unnecessarily, for leaving a longer-than-usual comment after one of my posts. Unnecessarily, because - don`t get me wrong, I`m, like everybody else, glad to receive any signs of appreciation, even if it`s just a four-letter word (I meant `Nice!`, naughty!) but I simply LOVE long, personal comments where we can engage in a friendly conversation. At the same time, I realise that that`s what emails and personal FB messages are for, and maybe not everyone`s interested in the above-mentioned conversation... luckily, this blog is MINE so I can do whatever I want with it, so here`s what I didn`t want to clog my friend`s comments with about her book review:

I`ve been meaning to read J. K Rowling`s `next book`, i.e. the one that came after Harry Potter for ages, just like one day I intend to read The Host by Stephanie Meyer, her `next book` after the Twilight Saga, because I`m always curious how an author is trying to break down the fences their epic first work has built around them. But I have to be honest, after reading Katya`s review of The Casual Vacancy, I might not rush too hurriedly into this novel - I tell you why. Because with every year passing, I notice that I`m less and less tolerant towards sad things. At the moment, I can (just) cope with watching the news every night but I can see a future where even that`ll be too much for me - if I picture my supersensitive, weepy future self, then look back at my Dostoevsky and Camus reading, Goddard and Becket watching teenage self, I guess I`m about halfway through the scale. The little time I have for guilty pleasures like reading, I try to fill with happy  and easy stuff, so apart from perennial favourites, like Pride and Prejudice, I read a lot of historical novels - do you think it`s cowardice that I seem to escape to bygone ages, when the world seemed a less complicated, nicer place? (I know it wasn`t, not really, but you still get the illusion).

Anyway, enough of the heavy stuff, back to other people`s blogs. If you haven`t visited Minnie`s blog (http://minnie-allxxs.blogspot.com) yet, do it now... I mean, after you finished reading this! You know how sometimes you regularly check out a blog and the person`s WIP photo never seems to change? (Like my DaVinci, lol!). Not Minnie`s, uh-huh. She must be stitching 20 hours a day and I love ALL her WIPs, which is rare but I guess we have a very similar taste, I`d gladly take on any of the patterns she`s working on. The other day she shared photos of some of her finishes and I cheekily tried to get her to give me her African ladies cushion (my attempts failed miserably, btw). Shame, it`d have looked so neat with my Joan Elliott design, which I managed to frame since I posted that picture:

And so as not to leave you without news of La Scapigliata: although I haven`t worked on it since last Friday (on the upside, though, I finished Santa so I only have a robin and a snowman to stitch - oh, that reminds me! Now that the weather`s getting summery and I`m stitching Santas, the Fathers` Day hot air balloon cards I stitched last Christmas are in the shops! Sorry for digressing but I have to quickly add a photo here):

Cross Stitch Card Shop issue 90

Where was I? Yes, La Scapigliata. The good news is, I had another look and I hope I was panicking for nothing because the way I calculate it, there should be at least a 2" border so that`s fine. And the teaser from my last post: once I finish this, I shall stitch another version of the same painting, this time designed by one of my fellow model stitchers, Pippa Slack from Stitching Dreams. Her chart contains 22 colours as opposed to Maria Diaz`s 8 - I can`t wait to see the difference between the two! It`s quite a while away yet but rest assured, there will be plenty of progress photos - I`m going to enjoy that, a nice change from all this super-secretive magazine stitching! Obviously, I have to finish the commission works first, then my own 1-year-old DaVinci - but after that I hope not to have too many distractions (luckily, I got a fairly lax deadline from Pippa: "sometime within the next couple of years", lol!). And talking about distractions: have a look at this!!! I can`t believe they didn`t give her a name, she`s OBVIOUSLY a Gloria?!? Can`t wait to knit her!!

Alan Dart`s Heatwave Hippo from Simply Knitting Magazine Issue 107

sleeping puppy

Hope nobody`s huffing about my tweet-like posts lately - my Mum`s still here and I spend next to no time on the computer these days. Plus, the sun is out (!) so it`s time to take the Wee Man for a walk.

I just wanted to share a quick photo with you of this little pup I started knitting yesterday when my copy of Knit Today (85) arrived, and I finished it just now, in less than 24 hours (my personal best so far). Any suggestions for a name?

knitted hedgehog

I have realised something today: hedgehogs are like buses. You don`t see any for ages, then two come along at once. After the Ed Hedgehog I stitched the other week, I couldn`t resist knitting this little critter when I saw the pattern here. 

How sweet is that nose? And the ears? I just love it! Needless to say, Gregory has already claimed it - oh, I almost forgot to mention: he`s home again, this time with a sore ear but luckily the Nurofen is already kicking in, so he feels well enough to watch endless episodes of Garfield (yes, you guessed it, I have to either knit or crochet him one...) and demand `healing` biscuits (???) on a regular basis.

If my updates are a bit less frequent in the next few weeks, it is because model stitching jobs are like buses too: at the moment, I`m working on some Angela Poole cards for Cross Stitch Collection and this morning I got my next assignment for Cross Stitch Gold, a mammoth mandala-type design by Durene Jones, it`s going to be gorgeous, a 180x180 circular cushion cover. Can`t wait to start but first I wanted to finish this hedgehog, plus I`ve got a reindeer to make (have I told you I`ve enrolled in a free Craftsy class? I have 2 days left to learn a bit more about crocheting). I have finished the two Mothers` Day cards for my Mum and Gran - I can`t show you the photos yet but they were WOCS freebies, both from the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady series. Oh, and talking about magazines: on Saturday I picked up about 25 issues of Cross Stitcher from a charity shop for the hefty sum of £2 - yay! So if I have a spare minute (haha!), I have those to go through too. Hope y`all are busy doing your favourite things too, happy stitching!

mastering crochet :)

Another busy day, another late night, another finish and another short post: I had a lovely morning chatting at Jo`s and she liked the bunny - yay! Then I came home, enrolled in a Craftsy class and spent the afternoon learning to crochet: as it turns out, I already knew all the basics, I just kept miscounting, hence the crooked end results. But now, as suggested, I started to use a stitch marker and lo and behold, all my problems are solved (it was really a revelation, can`t believe that a tiny wee thing can make such a big difference!). And the first thing I made? Naturally, the long-awaited angry bird for the Little Man! :))

I found the original pattern here but due to changing the hook halfway through and tweaking with practically every bit, this being sort of a trial run, I could almost call it my own design

Easter bunny

This will be a very quick post - it`s way past my bedtime but I wanted to share this cute little bunny with you. Earlier today I spoke to my friend, Jo, whom I`m going to visit tomorrow morning. A few hours after we spoke, I found out that a payment I`ve been waiting for for a while is not likely to clear in my account before Friday. 

But just when I thought, `Bummer! Now I have to go empty-handed, I can`t even get a pack of biscuits, how embarrassing!`, somebody shared on my FB page a picture tutorial of a little knitted bunny - which, needless to say, I had to make straight away. I made an effort of finding the original site for the pictures so that I can give credit to the creator of the pattern (it`s a Polish blog so thank you, Google Translate - although the photos are quite self-explanatory anyway). You can see the original here.

And here`s my little Fluffy, a wee early Easter present for Jo:

little chefs finished!

Good evening from Ward 7 where the only thing warmer than the soup and tea is the nurse`s smile :)

I`ll be the first to admit: I have no idea how it happened in all the commotion (both snotty males are home, no doubt to give the school and work a little respite for a change) but I managed to finish not one... not two... but THREE projects!

OK, first up is the least successful one. I sewed up the Scrappy Doo pieces I`d knitted the other day - well, I don`t know if you remember the cover of the Wendy booklet I showed you earlier, but my Scrappy looks nothing like the model. I don`t know why, I mean I followed the pattern to the letter, and still: my version looks more like the love child of Ratatouille and Wile E. Coyote. Are you ready for a giggle? Here we go:

I think I stuffed the muzzle too much so it`s a wee bit on the large side - not to mention that I mixed up the arms and legs (by that point I just wanted to finish ASAP and get this thing out of my sight) but Gregory seems to like it... well, he very caringly buried it under a pile of toys...

Next one up is a couple of hats I made for the charity appeal: I have to say, I`m much happier with the end result of this knitting escapade!

And, finally, the big reveal, the moment I`ve been waiting for for a couple of months now (due to other engagements) but it`s finally finished - yay!!!

Scooby Doo

I`m happy to report that the green pig was/is a great success: we took it to the playground yesterday (and I had to push the bloomin` thing on the swing, whilst hoping against all hope that nobody saw me), and after sleeping with it last night, Gregory took it to school with him today for Show-and-Tell. So all in all, he`s quite chuffed with it - although the first thing he said this morning was that now my next knitting project (for him, obviously) should be a Scooby Doo, because "Piggy needs a friend". After failing to persuade him that I could make the red angry bird or the yellow one (Knitterbees also has patterns for those here), I spent about an hour this morning searching for Scooby - and found this:

Found this on the Vintage Knitting Lady`s website here 

Isn`t the Internet a wonderful thing? My son just utters a wish and within an hour, for a mere £1.50 I`m the ecstatic owner of a vintage Scooby - as well as a Scrappy! - knitting pattern. Whether I can make it for him is another question but at least the first step`s been taken.

I feel a bit guilty for inundating my so-called stitchy blog with all this knitting but it (and especially making knitted soft toys) became my hobby away from my hobby, more so since I started to "work" as a model stitcher. However, today I`ve been a good girl and done a bit more on my Gran`s birthday chefs:

Now I`ve got almost a whole dog and at least half a cat

And, finally, a mixed lot: the mohair beanie on the right is last night`s crop (for charity) and yes, you guessed it, I simply couldn`t resist putting up a photo of the black hat I knitted  for Mummy-in-law - this is the one she`ll get for Mothers` Day, together with this card I made a couple of years ago for a fair and never sold it, but I`m all for recycling... and sniggering at the moment cause the phrase `Here`s one I made earlier` reminded me of Vinnie Jones and Stayin` Alive... And now, of course, I`ll be humming it for the rest of the night, argggghhhhh!

the greedy Green Pig from Angry Birds

This time I promise to be short and sweet: Saturday night I finished the black hat for MIL (I won`t attach a picture here, it looks like the one I`d made a few days ago, only this hat is plain black). Yesterday I spent practically the whole day knitting, and a mere 5 minutes before I had to go and pick the Wee Man up from school today, I managed to finish the green pig I`ve been meaning to knit for a couple of months now. I found the pattern here - thanks again, Knitterbees - and the other day in Dundee I finally overcame the last obstacle too (that I didn`t have light green wool), so here`s the result:

Gregory`s favourite, the Green Pig

Cross Stitch Collection

I`ve been (literally) snowed under for a week now - although if I`m honest, it could be a lot worse than the couple of inches we`ve had so far: I could be staying in e.g. Ballater and spend my precious time shovelling two feet of snow, instead of sitting in my cozy living-room, furiously stitching. OK, at the moment NOT so furiously, since I`ve had a little mishap. The design I`m working on now is a mandala-type intricacy by Durene Jones for Cross Stitch Gold - actually, it`s more like a henna tattoo, using a lot of DMC 902 (garnet) as the basic colour with some pink, orange and electric blue to accentuate and, of course, a lot of gold (metallic thread and beads as well) to make it sparkle. Unfortunately, I only got one skein of garnet and it looks like I`ll need more like four, and Anne must be on holiday or off sick because it`s very unlike her not to answer my email for days - anyhoo, after running out of the main colour, I did whatever else I could but now I just have to wait for the replenishment (unless Hubby takes me to Kirkcaldy on Saturday - I will NOT drive in the snow! - where I can buy some). In the meantime, I`m itching to get on with my little chefs but I don`t want to get another big project out, in case I get too absorbed in it and then I wouldn`t want to go back to "the job". So as a something-in-between, I started to play with this cross stitch clock I`d picked up a few weeks ago for £3 in a charity shop:

I think I`ll give it to my mother-in-law for her birthday (unless I decide to keep it in the meantime). Of course, I could also use this mini-break to get on with my knitting: I want to make some hats for the Woolly Brew girls` new appeal and my second teddy square, technically, couldn`t even be called a square as it`s only 5 rows so far but last weekend I got a far more important job from The Boss. Gregory came to me with a fully developed picture in his head concerning a little alien that he wanted me to stitch for his gang of teddies to experiment on (?). So I "just" had to follow his instructions and make it the right size (he made me unpick the legs twice because they were too long and too wide!) - so here`s the result:

He even drew the eyes on a piece of paper so I had a template to follow, and he showed me (the little control-freak!) the angle he wanted me to sew them on - as a consequence, my Hubby says it looks more like a little green pig with his blue ears flopped over his eyes, as if playing Peekaboo... Anyway, now that I have the time to write, I thought I`d add some photos of the works I`ve done so far for Cross Stitch Collection (at least the ones that have already come out). As another first, I shall attempt to add a link, rather than a photo, to my blog - starting with the retro Xmas trees that appeared in issue 216. Then there were the thank you cards I stitched for issue 218; and the latest issue (219) has my Mothers` Day owls in it but I couldn`t find a link to this magazine just yet, so here`s a good news-bad news situation: I`ll add my own photos which are much less artistic than the ones taken by a professional photographer... on the other hand, if the links above didn`t work, at least you`ll SEE these, right? OK, I think it`s a nice, long post now so I`d better go and get some work done, not to mention that a picture is worth a thousand words anyway - so here`s another 4000 words` worth:

UPDATE: since this post, I`ve found these too here.

bear madness continued

This week Gregory is in "cops and robbers" mode and gave me the orders to make these outfits for his teddies. So far my task was easy - wish me luck with the policeman uniforms...!

apple with toothpick

Just a quick post to show how much DPNs do NOT intimidate me any more: I started to knit a wee green apple with toothpicks! I`m using two strands of embroidery (or crochet???) thread and it`s pretty slow going, not only because it`s fiddly to work with toothpicks (plus they don`t slide) but also because they`re so short, they dig into the fleshy bit under my right thumb so I have to take regular breaks. Yes, I know (or at least I think) that there are proper DPNs this size but I`m all for using whatever I can find around the house. Another topic: last Friday we, parents were invited to the kids` Jubilee Garden Party at school. They were so sweet, singing their little songs while covered in Union Jacks, plus I finally had the chance to meet all the other parents, and quickly discuss the details of next Saturday`s Jumble Sale. Since Gregory took the stegosaurus to school the other day for Show & Tell, word has started to spread that I can knit a dinosaur, so I decided that I`d make another one as a raffle prize (I can`t really take anything else: as I explained it to the mum organising the event, by the time my son`s finished with his "unwanted" toys/books/clothes, they`re usually pretty useless and only good for the bin). Anyway, so here`s the other steg I knitted for the sale:

Stegosaurus

I have to say, with this weekend`s project (which I found here: http://jwgh.livejournal.com/475358.html) I have entered the dangerous territory of knitted dinosaurs - Gregory already picked a T-Rex as the next candidate for my to-do list. So the fruit bowl is on hold for the moment, since the last update I`ve only made a lemon and a tangerine - of these I don`t have a picture at present but here`s the "steg":

Oh, and a totally unrelated subject: Gregory`s lost yet another tooth on Saturday, the second one within ten days - if it goes on like this, the Tooth Fairy`ll go bankrupt! :)

first encounter of the DPN kind

The major story of this day: Bigyi, who was lost, has been found! The silly fluffless bear disappeared last night (on account of being thrown about in the garden, where he managed to disappear in the hedge). I`m half-asleep while I`m writing this, since we looked for him till about half past eleven last night, but the main thing is that this morning Bigyi finally reappeared, with not a scratch on, so Gregory`s world is a happy, safe place once more. Elsewhere, in the normal (?!?) world, thanks to a lovely visit from a friend of mine, I had my baptism of fire with the dreaded double-pointed needles. So far I avoided any knitting pattern that involved these and tried to opt for the "flat" version, made with straight needles - like the closed banana on the second picture below. But thanks to Jo`s tutorial, now I have knitted my very first item "in the round", a peeled banana! Yay!

The fruit bowl is coming along nicely, by the way: now I have an open and a closed banana, plus a slice of watermelon: