Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Little Things

A lot of my recent posts mention how crappy the weather has been recently in Duluth. We had one or two days of 70 degrees back in early May, but since then it's been rain, drizzle, fog, cold, and wind every single day. It got to the point of pulling out my little space heater for my room, since the heat is turned off in my apartment building (controlled by the landlords) and it's been high forties for the last week or so.
The only "good" thing about all this gross weather is the increase in productivity for my crafting. I finished sewing a chalk bag for a friend, and I'm really happy with how it turned out!
The design was completely my own, and it was fun writing up the pattern for it. I cut out newspaper pattern pieces so I can continue to make more chalk bags, because it was a relatively fast and easy project. I made a chalk bag once before (it was more of a chalk pot), and had to scale down the design to a more normal size. I'm happy with the result, and plan on making more in the near future!
I finally got to give a long-standing project to my friend Mark over the weekend- meet Ben Fish!
When Mark and I first roomed together our sophomore year of college, we lived in a house that would only allow fish as pets. Mark named his new pet mouse "Ben Fish" in order to qualify him under the rule!
I started this project a loooong time ago as part of a swap, but never actually finished and he's been sitting on the shelf for a very long time. I pulled him out recently, realized he would be perfect for Mark, and quickly finished him!
Pattern: Mousie by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Brown Sheep Wildefoote in light pink and gray
Time Frame: April 2009 to June 9, 2011 (oops... another one I've left off...)
Favorite Part: It's such a cute pattern, and super fast to knit up!
Worst Part: Leaving it for so long, because I had to figure out what my notes were for where I left off. All the increases and decreases were a mild pain because of the teeny needles and stitches, too. :)
Mark was pretty happy to get him, and I'm glad he enjoyed it so much!
Last night I put in a movie and made a quick mug cozy for Tyler with some leftover yarn, blocking it and setting it out in the "sun":
Unfortunately, the downpouring rain today and continuous damp is going to make fast drying hard. I'll probably have to set it in front of the heater to actually dry.
I can't believe I'm talking about my heater being on... June 22? Really?
Uff-da.

1 comment:

Mark said...

Love your knit animals, especially those with a good story. So you take the lucky giraffe sailing, but the poor mouse only gets a hike in the brush? Fits with history. Giraffe's were brought on boats as gifts for kings and sultans etc. Mice had to sneak onto boats to get a ride.