Recoup

After a rough week or so of knitting progress (See: ripping out EVERYTHING), I decided to take "time off" of my projects to knit something silly. Looking around, I noticed the antique doll cradle that my great-great grandfather made by hand for my great grandmother. It has been passed down through my mom to my daughter to play with. How cool is that? Also, why did I never get to play with it as a kid? MOM??? Ha! Well earlier today when I put Norah's cabbage patch doll in there, the doll's head went THUNK against the wood. I thought, "this thing needs a mattress!"... And so, I knit one:


I held some worsted white acrylic yarn I had lying around, held double on US10 needles. Knit for 5.5 inches, did a purl round, knit another 5.5 inches, and sewed up all sides. I was going to put some fiberfill inside, but that made it too pillowly. After sewing it up I realized it was a bit too small to fit in the space... so instead of screaming and throwing it across the room I did an applied i-cord. WHEW :)


Also, a week or two ago I whipped up this tiny little bib for Norah's dollies:


It's based on this garter stitch bib pattern (Rav link), but I just made it much smaller :) I think I CO 20sts, and cast off 10 for the strap part. Quick and fun. Norah tries to rip it off if I put it on her doll... oh well!


Sometimes the silly little projects are the best.

Hippo's pants

Yes that's right folks, I had to make hippo some PANTS! The poor guy was running around all indecent!!! :-)


Again, I made this up as I went along.... I worked from the bottom up, knitting two tubes for the legs and then joining them with a couple increases for the body...I did one short row on the backside too. Then I did a foldover brim for the waist so I could do a drawstring waist (I thought that would look cooler than ribbing - and hippos need to be cool!) Oh and of COURSE a hole for his tail! Can't forget about that!


They were a lot of fun to make and now hippo can feel comfortable in public! ;-)

Hippo in the house!

This is a long overdue post, but I'd like you all to meet Hippo :-)


He joined us not too long after Christmas, because I got the book Itty-Bitty Toys on xmas eve, and knew as soon as I saw the hippo pattern, that it would have to be my first proj! (My hubby is partial to hippos)


I had a ton of fun making him!!!! It really wasn't that hard, I just had to be careful sewing all the pieces together to make sure he didn't lose an arm or anything, hehe!


The ears are super adorable!!! And his big round hands and feet! I can't wait to make another animal from this book :)

Of course, I couldn't stop there! The poor hippo needed some ACCESSORIES! First thing I knew I had to make was a simple garter stitch scarf... with fringe of course!


Hmm what next, well I had some leftover green and tan from the scarf... oh I know! A matching hat to keep his head warm! (with ear holes for his cute hippo ears, duh!)


Put it all together...


One fine lookin' hippo!


Now, I'd love to give you all a "hippo hat" pattern, and I think I took a few scant notes, but I truly made that thing up on the fly and got extremely LUCKY that it fit! I just kept trying it on him and eyeballing where the holes should go for his ears! Glad it worked out and he looks super spiffy!

Up next.... hippo gets his DECENCY!