2nd Christmas, Late Valentine's and Other Celebrations

It was almost like 2nd Christmas yesterday as we celebrated 3 birthdays, an anniversary and I brought some late Valentine's Day gifts too.  And this after the start of the Olympics, President's Day, Chinese New Year and Mardi Gras!

I had to wrap up the heart soaps I made, so I made a few miniature gift bags from a Martha Stewart pattern. 

And I wanted to be purple for the day, so I wore this beaded tank from Forever 21

and some light purple jewelry: this beautiful beaded necklace from Cameo Sisters Designs and ring from a trip to Chicago

My Dad had bought my Mom some little purple glasses

and I brought purple wine (and yea, my grandfather likes the box stuff )

And of course there were presents!

I got this gorgeous lilac Le Creuset casserole dish for my Aunt Liz.

[from Yummery]

On the Yummery site, Erin from Erin Cooks explains that this color was only recently made available in the US and right now Sur La Table has the exclusive on the lilac and the darker purple cassis colors, fab!

The other day I mentioned a gift that made me think of pink, pearl and ribbon and that was this Lion Brand knit flapper cloche for my grandfathers wife, Ruth.

Instead of the Landscapes Yarn in the pattern a very helpful woman in the shop recommended the yarn on sale this month: Wool-Ease Thick and Quick.  It's a lamb' s wool/acrylic blend, also a Super Bulky weight and surprisingly soft: it knit up in about 5 hours, so yes (relatively), quickly!  

I say pearl because at some point the shape reminded me of Pearl, the pink octopus in Finding Nemo.  It was even able to stand up on its own!  Let's compare:

[from freewebs.com]

Actually, this would probably make a pretty good amigurumi.  Eventually I got to the end of the knitting part and was all proud, until I realized that I hadn't joined the round.  Oops...

It was sewn up quickly, just ironic since I was already using circular needles, so why didn't I think of that before?  But it turned out fine and then I added this cool 2-tone pink/blue ribbon from Paper Presentation.

It was a good, relaxing day.  And I love that my Mom always has flowers around the house.  Maybe someday i'll learn how to keep a plant alive.

Amigurumi Turkey

Completed: Thanksgiving Day 2009. Pattern: from Lion Brand Yarn. Yarns: Vanna’s Choice Acrylic in Chocolate, Mustard, Cranberry and Honey, plus the black yarn I unraveled from a failed shawl.

I was totally amused by my very first amigurumi project. I swear I just giggled as I was crocheting it. And what better yarn to use around Thanksgiving than colors with food names?

Why take on a project when it seems like you have no time? It’s never stopped me before. Of course it caught up with me a little bit when I realized that I didn’t have black yarn for the pilgrim hat, so I sat in bed Thanksgiving morning unraveling a shawl that was completed, fringe and all, but which I’d never really liked and knew I’d never wear. The unraveling wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, I figured I’d just pull on one end and go, but instead I ended up with a lot of random pieces and a big pile of yarn.

On the train to my parents' house, I sewed the beak, wattle, drumsticks, wings and tail onto the head and body. And I got enough black yarn scraps to make the hat, complete with the gold "buckle". I think I’ll be making another amugurmi soon. Christmas is coming…