FO: A Crab For Easter

It seems that "created a monster" (lol - sorry, I've literally created monsters so I find that phrase funny) with making my nephew an Easter gift each year. According to my sister (his mother), it's a tradition. Now my goose is cooked for the rest of my life it seems, ha ha. So, this year when we brain stormed about what to give him, I used the opportunity to make up a pattern I've always loved.

This is "Grab Crab" - according to my nephew, any crab is called Grab Crab. It was a character on WallyKazam and he thought that crab was hilarious. So, considering the fact that the pattern Susan the Social Crab by Retro Lemon has been on my favorites list forever, I used this to my advantage (she bought the pattern, I made the crab). This pattern was just so adorable I couldn't pass up the opportunity, you know?

I had an interesting tale to go along with making this little cutie. At first, my sister requested a more "huggable sized" crab, meaning bigger. So, I decided to just double up with 2 strands of my yarn (I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby in Fire Red) and knit it with a size 13 needle. I started knitting and it looked like a good tension, so I just made the whole body. I thought everything was fine ... until I started stuffing it. Apparently two strands of worsted yarn creates a much stretchier fabric than a super bulky weight yarn, so I kept stuffing ... and stuffing ... and stuffing .. and it kept stretching.By the time I sewed up the body, I hated it - you could see stuffing all over the place. I even showed it to Luke just to see what he would do (there was no sign of what this red blob was at that point), and he immediately started pulling stuffing out between the stitches. Not good. I was pretty bummed, but just cast on another body in the original pattern size (one strand of worsted with size 6 needles). Happily, my dad saw the big body and mentioned how he would love a pillow like that. Done! I sewed a "Handmade by Megan" tag on it and now he uses it to take naps, lol. So I got 2 gifts out of this project.

Once I made the crab to the patterns specs, it worked out just fine :) I really love the shaping on the claws - very inventive and mine came out great plus they weren't hard. The yarn is really nice and soft, and he's squishy but firm now with no stretching out. Yay!

I used 15 mm eyes and they filled the eye pieces perfectly. I free-hand cut a piece of felt for the mouth and I hand stitched it one instead of gluing it like the pattern recommends. No glue on my lovely knitting! 

So there you have it - a Grab Crab for the Easter bunny to give Luke :) I really liked making this pattern - it was quick, simple, and satisfying, yet it was still constructed in a way that kept me interested. I definitely recommend this pattern if you're an animal knitter.

FO Friday: Springy Animals!

First on my finished pile this week is my new pal, Hazel :)

I used the Well-Dressed Bunny pattern by Fuzzy Mitten and absolutely love how he came out :) 

The bunny is made using Patons Canadiana yarn in Flax, the jacket using Lion Brand Microspun in Turquoise, and the waistcoat Red Heart Designer Sport in Mint. I picked the Canadiana because it was the color I want, and it was really nice to work with except one thing ... his ears! The yarn is actually a little too soft for this pattern it seems, because the ears just don't want to stand up. I can position them and then with the slightest movement they fall down. I'm still contemplating starching them :) Also, I think the yarns I used for the clothes were too large because his clothes came out a bit big. I doubt anyone really sees it but me though - it's just a small thing.

Hazel graced our table at Easter dinner and he was definitely a big hit :) Even my nephew likes to hold him by the ears and make him hop (this is a big deal because he usually couldn't care less about my animals, lol). He made a great center piece.

Here's a full frontal nudity pic, lol. Isn't it funny - all my other animals I would never think of as 'naked' even though I've never made clothes for them, but since this one has clothes I just look at this pic and think he's incomplete. By the way I named him Hazel after the main character in Watership Down :)

And here's his little accoutrements :) I never would have thought making what are basically doll clothes would be fun, but I really like it. I'm sure there will be many more articles of clothing in my future.

I also finished my pattern test for Adrialys Designs :) I'm not sure how much she wants me to divulge about it since the pattern hasn't been released yet, so you just get the one pic for now. I'll post about it fully once she releases it! It was lots of fun to make.

So that's what I've finished this week :) Head over to Tami's Amis' Blog to see what others have finished (and this week she did actually post an FO Friday, lol, so there are things to see!)

WIP Wednesday: Easter Is Almost Here!

Well, as promised to my husband I have slowed down with my knitting crazy this week. I have managed to finish one item though (check back Friday) and almost finish another!

This is the Well-Dressed Bunny pattern from Fuzzy Mitten - is this not the cutest bunny pattern?! I fell in love with it immediately and knew I had to make it up for Easter this year. I managed to completely finish the bunny himself, but as you can see he is not very "well-dress" at the moment, lol.

The pattern includes several outfit options, but I'm going for the very dapper jacket and waistcoat look. I've already started the waistcoat :) Hopefully I finish it before Sunday!

I would have gotten much farther with my bunny if I hadn't finally decided to do some of the alterations that have piled up in my sewing room. I bought this skirt because it was on clearance for super cheap, but it was a size 1X - as you can see it was quite a bit too big on me (I could actually just slip it on and off without opening the zipper). So last night I buckled down with an audio book and got to sewing.

By the end of the night, I had a much more wearable skirt (at least it didn't slip off, lol), but it's still not quite there yet. Those wrinkles at my hips are driving me crazy - it's like mini jodhpurs. So this will get a bit more work before I wear it out and about. Definitely a great staple in the making though - it's a knee length black knit straight skirt. Totally filling wardrobe holes - hizzah!

I decided to listen to Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore last night while sewing and I am really enjoying it so far. It's completely different from my usual reads, but so far its a very cute story and it's interesting. Can't really ask for more than that, right?

So that's what's up around these parts this week. Head over to Tami's Amis' Blog to see what others are making!