FO: Slugbert the Garden Slug

In all my gift making frenzy of the past few weeks, I found myself with all my current gifts finished and a free evening of movie watching with my husband. I didn't really feel like working on my Emelie sweater, and I also didn't feel like spending who knows how long picking patterns and pulling out yarn for my next batch of gifts. I needed something quick and fun - luckily the Indie Gift-a-Long put an idea in my head that filled the gap perfectly :)

I've always wanted to make the Garden Slug by cheezombie, but never got around to it. When I saw it was one of the eligible patterns for the GAL and that I had the Garden Slug (Flat Version) pattern in my stash, it was the perfect excuse to finally show some slug love :) Meet Slugbert!

As the pattern title suggest, this pattern is knit flat and seamed together - honestly not my favorite construction method (I would have preferred in the round), but the pattern was given to me and I do not look a gift horse in the mouth :) It came out great even with the seams. Also this pattern comes out bigger than I thought it would from the pictures - mine is 6.5" long, 5" tall and 3" wide.

I made my slug using Vanna's Choice in kelly green, cranberry, white and black - all from my stash. The pattern suggests you use poly-pellets in the body to make him stand up - I had never thought of it, but I'm really glad the pattern mentioned it as I'm sure it would just flop over without them. As usual, I put the poly pellets in knee high panty hose and tied the nylon off to make a tight sack, then put the whole thing in as one piece. I'm always paranoid that a baby may get their hands on this sometime and I don't want to be responsible for any choking hazards. The panty hose solves this worry and keeps them all at the bottom so they don't redistribute themselves over time. The rest of the body is stuffed with poly-fill. The pattern has you use size 3 needles, which makes for a very tight fabric. Honestly you would be ok with slightly larger, but for my first go I just followed the instructions.

Here's his seam - not bad, right? The only place you can see it is in the angled area - I used a mattress stitch so the top part is invisible. I love his little tail, lol.

So, there you have it: Slugbert :) It's a really fun pattern, and the face is so expressive! I can definitely see a small army of slugs in my future...

FO: Monsieur Splat Cat

In all my gift making the last month or so, my husband reminded me of his grandma's birthday just a few days before hand. Yeah, lol. I had something already made for her for Christmas and I think he just figured I'd give her that earlier, but I really didn't want to change my Christmas plan, so I started looking through my patterns to see if anything struck me as to what I should make her for this occasion.

I stumbled on mention of the Indie Gift-A-Long on a blog I follow. A bunch of indie pattern designers on Ravelry all got together and set up this group with awesome prizes and pattern discounts. For this first week of the GAL, certain patterns from certain designers would be 25% off (so only Nov 13-21), and one of the patterns was something I'd always loved but never purchased: Splat Cat by cheezombie.

Isn't it cute?! I've always thought it was really funny, but I just never had cause to make one up. Justin's Grandma is definitely a cat lover, so I thought she might enjoy it too. The pattern is pretty easy to follow, and I made mine up over a few nights (only a few hours total) and had no problems. The appendages were definitely more time consuming than I thought, but I guess that's pretty typical for me :)

Isn't his face great? The body is knitted as one piece, then the legs and eyes are picked up and knit while the tongue and ears are separate pieces you sew on.

The pattern is listed as an amigurumi/coaster, so he cam be nice and useful too :) I doubt Justin's Grandma will use it as a coaster though - I think she said she wanted to hang him up.

As for his name, I added Monsieur to mine since every time I read the title I hear it in the voice of Dutchess from The Aristocats (Eva Gabor) saying "Monsieur Scat Cat," so it stuck.

 And here is the birthday girl herself with the splat cat :) She's 86 years old!

And of course the Gordo had to try the cat on for size :)

I really enjoyed making this little guy! Just so you know, if you want the pattern for yourself it is 25% off but only until midnight tonight - so hurry here! (I'm not being compensated to mention that or anything, just wanted to pass along the great discount.)