Progress

The Westport Blanket is nearly done.  I like this pattern so much that I have ordered yarn in my current favorite shade of Burrow Bulky (Vamp) to make it for myself.   There is a half done afghan in Bernat Blanket that I could have pulled out and redone in this pattern but I decided that was just crazy talk.   I do think the Westport would look better in a solid color than in the variegated tones of the afghan waiting to get back in queue.

The Westport Blanket a week ago....

This picture of the blanket shows the color fairly well.   Willow does a great job of making saturated colors in beautiful tones.   Burrow has the same content as another one of my favorites, Plymouth Encore.  Encore does not have the range of colors available in Burrow..and is a little more expensive.

Rory will be two weeks old tomorrow.  I hope to get this blanket...and Henry's hat and mittens in the mail early next week.

The needles have also been flying getting more stuffed animals done.   Owen's nursery theme is "forest friends."    A year ago I had fallen in love with a kit for a stuffed fox that was available at Patternworks.   Now, for Owen, I had the motivation to actually get the kit out, knit it up, and send it out.   The fox was finished last weekend and left in the mail on Monday.

Like the gardening bunny pattern, this fox pattern was done in an interesting way.   While the stomach was done in intarsia (my favorite - not), the white part of the face was done as a separate piece and sewn onto the head.   I really liked doing the white part this way as the edges could be manipulated easily to the curve and height that looked best.   The ears were a lot of fun to do...and easy to place.

The stuffed animal that left as a buddy to the fox is not a forest friend.  Rachel Borello Carroll from Yarnigans designed a series of sea creatures.  One of the patterns was for a manatee.   Manatees are a beloved animal for one of Owen's mother's best friends.   Helen and I thought it would be a good idea if Owen had his own manatee.   I made it so.

For me, one of the big challenges is embroidering the faces on the animals.   My small motor skills  are not that great.   My handwriting is so bad that the day I learned to type was a great source of happiness to many people.   The place in which I really notice this is putting good faces on the  

creatures.   By the time I am done with this run of animals (at least three more to go), I hope I am better at this!

Making the animals is interesting.   I keep saying this but I marvel at the minds that can figure out the construction of the critters.   My next animal will be from one of the Toys from the Toybox collections.   I believe it will be a lamb.  There will also be a lamb hat.....  

I am grateful for all of the children in my life so I have recipients for these fun projects!