Pretty Epic

What I'm about to show you is my biggest knitting undertaking to date, and I personally think it's pretty epic. This is the first knitted thing I've done that's 100% my own design, not taken from any other ideas or inspirations, other than my nephew's love of dinosaurs.

Check this out.

I made a dinosaur scarf for my nephew's birthday!

It was pretty involved and took forever, because although I had the idea, I kind of designed as I went.  I started with graph paper, so I could figure out how to gauge the stitches I'd need to get the shape of the head, rounded in front and then the part that bulges by the eyes.  I used the same method for the legs and the narrowing of the tail.

I knew before I started that I wanted a cable knit pattern down the body to sort of give an idea of a dinosaur's bumpy texture, but that meant that I had to figure out how many stitches across to make it and how wide I wanted the center band to be, plus figure out in narrowing the tail how to also narrow the cable pattern.  From snout to tail is all one piece.  Then I made a bottom jaw so I could add teeth, which I knitted separately and sewed on.

In fact, the teeth, legs, back spines, brow ridges, and bottom jaw were all knitted separately and then sewn on.  For the eyes, I actually had to teach myself to crochet circles, which I then sewed on as well!

And then I "embroidered" on nostrils.  I think he's got some serious personality!

My inspiration..

I took some liberties, of course, adding the points down his back, but I like him that way.

The whole thing is done in 100% washable wool and is about 48-50" long.  I wanted a nice, natural fiber that would be warm for the winter but still washable since he just turned three.

As soon as I'm done treating myself to an alpaca scarf I'm working on, I'll be replicating good ol' Daffy the Dinosaur, as I've dubbed him, for Fabric of my Mind.  I'll keep you posted, especially since there are plans for other animal scarves on the horizon too!

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My Handmade Holidays

I did a lot of creating this season.  A lot.  I'm tired, but still truckin' along.

I suppose I should start with Chanukah, which also happened to pretty much coincide with one nephew's birthday, so I include the birthday in this post too.

Both nephews, for Chanukah and Christmas, got these cute magnetic fishing games I made.

Eric helped too; he cut down the dowels for me to make the fishing poles!

And I knitted each one a fish like this one.

But not all the crafts were mine, and I really should back up.  First, there was one gift exchange with a group, and for my recipient, in addition to giving her my own candles, soap, and one of my washcloths, I gave her a beautiful bear ornament from Reflections, like this one.

And Kris, the shop owner, was so wonderful that she sent one for our tree too!

And no, we don't have a fake white tree, we get the real thing from the local EMS, generally.  It just doesn't show up as well on the dark green in a photo, so that's Kris' shop photo.  Here's how it looks in our house:

I also gave the same person this cool hot/cold pack in a racing fabric from Lil' Bit Sassy.  My recipient's favorite sport is NASCAR, after all.

Then in another exchange, in addition to one of our bath salts and one of our candles, I gave my recipient these incense sticks from Delightful Scents.

My office is also REALLY big on Christmas, so we had all sorts of gift exchanges.  For my boss, I got this terrific print of a watercolor painting, which I then framed for her.  It was from StartsArts.

It looks even more amazing in person, and Eric and I kind of want one for ourselves too.  The colors are so bright and vivid!

For the associate with whom I also work, I got this really pretty hanging tealight holder from Reflections.  Fall is her favorite season, so I thought it was perfect.

And for our office white elephant exchange, I got this awesome mug from River Rock Arts, and gave it with some homemade chocolates and a Dunkin Donuts gift card.

That mug is called "oversized" in the description, but believe me when I tell you it's HUGE and gorgeous, and I will own some at some point!

And to everyone in the office, I gave handmade snowman lollipops.  With 14 people in the office and three pops per person, 42 pops took me quite a while to do.  I admire chocolatiers, for sure.  But at the end, everyone got one dark chocolate, one milk chocolate, and one white chocolate pop.

For each other, Eric got me some amazing teas and other stuff, and I got him a dehydrator and some books and things.  It was a great Chanukah and Christmas all around!

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Artist Spotlight: Part Ninety

I think it might be faster to tell you what Rhonda of Lil' Bit Sassy doesn't make.  But I'll try to tell you what this creative woman from northwestern PA does make.  After that, you'll just have to visit her shop and blog to see what I missed.

So... dog coats, book covers, iPad cases,

cupcake toppers, bibs, and burp cloths,

dolls, teddy bears, and cuddle buddy blankets,

luggage tags and heating/cooling packs (the packs I can vouch for; I bought one for a friend and it was great!),

and last, but definitely not least, hair accessories and superhero capes!

Sassy, indeed!