Year: 2008

Santa Snail and Santa Slug

Posted on by Anna

I was happy to see that Whipup blogged about my free Snails and Slugs pattern last week as a “simple gift” for the holidays. This inspired me to make them just a bit more festive.

santasnailslug

The tiny Santa hats are very simple to make.

With white fingering-weight sock yarn, cast on 9 sts onto 3 size 1 or 2 dpns, and join in a rnd.
Purl one rnd.
Switch to red sock yarn, and knit 2 rnds.
Next rnd: [k2tog, k1] 3 times (6 sts)
Knit 2 more rnds, then break yarn and draw through sts with a tapestry needle.

For pom pom, thread white yarn through top of hat several times, crisscrossing over the six stitches that you pulled together to close the end. (I made more of these stitches on the hat on the left for a bigger pom pom.)

Weave in loose ends, and now you have a Santa topper for your Snail or Slug!

Couture Cross Stitch

Posted on by Anna

This has been a nice break from endless knitting, started over the Thanksgiving holiday.

gera

My awesome mother-in-law Bonney gave me the chart, which was created by Kyoko Maruoka, aka Gera. Her designs are way cuter than most traditional cross stitch.

gera2

(My finished cross stitch will hopefully resemble the above in the end.)

Outside of Japan, you can get them from superbuzzy. But this cute Japanese import doesn’t come cheap—it’s$17.95 for just the charts to the above design, NOT a kit. No wonder Bonney thought she was getting kits, and ordered multiples of the same design! Well, at least I’m getting full enjoyment out of this project.

Highballs for All

Posted on by Anna

I seem to be on a ’90s music kick lately. Well, here’s one more. But this time it’s new to me!

coctailsThe Coctails made playful lounge-y music in Chicago in the early ’90s, which I discovered recently when I should have been working or maybe sleeping. The collection of their early works contained on the Early Hi-Ball Years album is actually an eclectic mix of sounds from different genres and eras throughout the 20th century—it’s mostly light on vocals and heavy on vibraphone and sax, but there are some exceptions. One of my favorite exceptions is “Jobless,” a very catchy little song that stops abruptly after 58 seconds.

Later in the ’90s, the Coctails changed their sound to more closely resemble something like Pavement, which is fine, but less interesting to me than their earlier groove.

Mmmmm!

Posted on by Anna

Coincidentally, one of yesterday’s Elf makers just released a new knitted toy pattern of her own!

Meet mmmmm, aka Mr. Mighty Munchie Mouth-pouch Monster!

mmmmm

Aren’t they hilarous? This is an original pattern by Joan De Lurio available as a pdf from Ravelry or Etsy for $5.

Joan, aka Giolou, has tested tons of patterns for me over the past two years, so she really knows her stuff when it comes to pattern construction, and toys in particular.

Nice job Joan!

Elves Aplenty!

Posted on by Anna

December feels like the fastest month of the year to many of us, I’m sure. Luckily, some of us are getting a little extra help this year from a few diminutive friends.

Sparkle sparkle! No one can accuse lisamarykay1’s Elves of not getting into the holiday spirit.
elves_lisamarykay1

Giolou whipped up some fraternal twins, Winey and Limey, to help her out for the holidays. They may have stubby appendages, but they look ready to lend plenty of moral support!
elves_giolou

Hannah’s duo has “Christmas tree radar,” and set up camp under her tree while her back was turned. These guys are ready for the 25th!
elves_hannah

Something tells me that many more elves elves are on their way. Thank you very much to Giolou and Hannah for testing!

Pics from Luv-able and Hug-able

Posted on by Anna

The opening last Thursday was wonderful! The gallery was full throughout the evening, and many people went home with new hug-able friends. Thank you to those of you who turned out!

I was too busy to take too many photos, but here are a few from Thursday.

lh08_1

lh08_8

lh08_11

I wanted to take home all of these, but I ended up picking the big blue furry guy with the candy cane legs!
lh08_2

Katie Park, known to many of you as Caffaknitted, was there with her Henry VIII and his darling wives (who are less blurry in real life).
lh08_4

Nicole Gastonguay was there too! Her creations were way cute.
lh08_5

Blythe Church sent us some amazing objects.
lh08_10

Love this tiny antlered creature by Ariana Marinelli.
lh08_9

Ossu! Syugeibu came all the way from Tokyo with their Mr. Slim. Then they lead a fun workshop at the gallery on Friday.
lh08_3

And of course Jenny Harada was there! She made the blue furry guy that I adopted. (And I just noticed her matching stockings!)
lh08_6

Funny plushes by Rei Komurasaki:
lh08_12

Eloole made their versions of Picasso and Dali.
lh08_13

Here I am with the cities and a few rogue elves.
lh08_7

More pics are up on the gallery hanahou flickr page. The show will be up and also online through January 7th!

Luv-able and Hug-able
Through January 7
gallery hanahou
611 Broadway, Suite 730, NYC [7th Floor of the Cable Building, NW corner of Broadway + Houston]

Luv-able and Hug-able Tonight!

Posted on by Anna

If you’re in the NY area, please join me tonight (Dec. 4th) at “Luv-able and Hug-able,” the holiday plush show at gallery hanahou! Other plush-makers will be there too, including The Ossu! Syugeibu, Jenny Harada, Nicole Gastonguay, and Katie Park!

Luv-able and Hug-able
December 4 – January 7
Opening party: December 4, 6-9 pm rsvp info@galleryhanahou.com
gallery hanahou
611 Broadway, Suite 730, NYC
[7th floor, NW corner of Broadway + Houston]

If you can’t make it in person, you can also see all the plushes in the show at the gallery online shop, where they’ll be available for purchase starting December 5th:

luvableonline

Hope to see you there tonight!