Noodles the Mouse

Remember Eli the Elephant, and how much I lamented amigarumi knitting? Yeeeeaaaa... I take it all back. I am so so so in love with this little guy. And I loved knitting him. It was quick, and easy, and not once did my hands feel like they were going to burn off.  As it turns out, it's not so much the Amigarumi that I hate - it's the double pointed needles. So I found this awesome pattern for a magic loop teddy, and gave that a whirl. I'm still on my quest to knit from stash, and I lucked out and found the perfect yarn for this little guy. It's Aslan Trends Artesanal, which is a tweedy cotton/alpaca blend. It's not the softest yarn ever, but it has a furry little halo that was perfect for a mouse. And it feels like it will hold up well over the years.

I needed this little guy to be a mouse, not a teddy, so I had to make some alterations to the pattern. I made his ears a little larger and more concave that the bear, used a pink nose instead of black, and added cute little whiskers and a pink tail. All in all, I think he resembles Noodles from the book pretty closely. And fortunately for me, newborn babes are not harsh critics. This is a first part of the set that is going to my new niece/nephew who is coming in just a couple weeks. I'm working on the blanket that goes with it, and then I'll be done with all of my baby knitting for this year.

This pattern has inspired me to give Amigarumi another go. Since my son got "Sharky McShark", I'm going to try and make a dolly for my daughter. Of course, I also still haven't made her baby blanket, and she's coming up on 3 years old. So yea, it's probably time she got some mama knitting love.

Baby Jack's Pinwheel Blanket

I just finished up this super cute blanket for my nephew coming this spring! This darling pinwheel blanket is a super basic pattern, but I love love love how customizable it is. It really is one of my favorite patterns. It's miles and miles of straight stockinette stitch, which some people find boring, but personally I find it relaxing. It's great to pick up my project and just knit away without much brainpower. And it's the perfect TV marathon project. (BTW, my Amazon video series for this one was Vikings. Highly recommend!)

For baby Jack's blanket, I strayed from traditional baby colors and went with a much more modern color scheme. And I love the way it turned out. It's black, medium gray, and a pretty Robin's Egg blue. The yarn for this project is Caron Simply Soft. While I can be a bit of a yarn snob (cashmere, anyone?), I love Simply Soft for baby blankets. It's got nice drape, super soft, and the color options are pretty much endless. And machine wash and dry - a must for any baby project.

This blanket goes along with Elijah the Elephant project I completed just a couple weeks ago. One baby set down, one to go! Next up, and orange and white set for my niece/nephew coming this summer.

Elijah the Elephant

I just finished up this little guy for my nephew coming in the spring. All I can say is this little elephant was a labor of love. He's so squishy and cute, but -if we're being honest - he got thrown across the room with a string of curse words more than once.
It wasn't a difficult pattern to follow at all. It was straight forward, and the designer included some great photos to help. I think it was a combination of yarn choice and knitting at such as tight gauge.
I decided to dig in my stash for the yarn, and came out with TLC cotton plus. The cotton yarn had zero give, and I had to yank like crazy to avoid ladders. My hands were so achy after a few hours on this guy.
And the increases and decreases caused me such as headache due to the stitches being so tight. This is worsted weight yarn, and while the pattern called for size 2 needles, I had to go up to size 3.

I'll admit, he really isn't the picture of perfection I has dreamed about. His little ears are a bit wonky, and I stuffed his body way too much. But, he's done now. And I love him, and I hope baby Jack will love him just as much as I do.
If I were to re-do this little guy, I would make his arms and legs longers, and probably skip the short rows in his ears. Oh, and I would absolutely never ever ever use cotton for amigurumi again!

Here's the link to my Ravelry project page, with all the yarn, needle, and pattern info!