Monkeys and Ponies, oh my!

What happens to socks and cutesy "My Little Pony" figures when my daughters and I get our hands on them? Keep reading and you'll see.

I had found a tute for sock monkeys online, and since my youngest LOVES all things monkey, I knew I had to make her one. I searched everywhere for the funky stripy socks I've seen them made from. BTW, if you see any of those socks in stores, let me know where!

So since I couldn't find "fun" socks, my youngest daughter picked out a pink pair. There was a gray pair packaged with them, so my oldest wanted a monkey from them. I cut and sewed, they stuffed and picked out buttons for eyes. I think they turned out really cute, even if they are out of plain socks. They're WAY on the goofy side, but they were a fun project. Of course when Kat spotted the basketball button in my stash, she decided that hers needed a belly button. It doesn't show up very well in the pic, but it made her happy.

Since Kat was only here for Spring Break, I wanted a project for the three of us to work on all week that was different than the usual crafty stuff and would allow each of them to express themselves in it. Over on the craftster board, I had seen a swap done with altering "My Little Pony" toys. hehehe...Game on! We each got one, thought about what we wanted to do with them, and began. Our personalities really did come thru in the end. The first pic in each set is what we started with.

Mine...

Complete with tats and lots of earrings!

B's...

She went for Greek goddess for hers. She's been studying Greek mythology and is SO into it. Her artistic tendencies and girliness really shine in this pony, I think. Did you notice the gold sandals she painted on? She even made it a necklace and an olive branch headband from wire.

and Kat's...

Yep, Kat's my little athlete. Her sister painted the shoes on.

Aren't they CUTE?

We had a lot of fun last week. I also got a dishcloth knitted, but I didn't snap a pic yet.

From my heart (and needles) to her head

Two down, a gazillion to go.

I set a new personal record with this hat. I cast on last Monday night and weaved in my ends tonight (Sunday). I just LOVE the pattern! Since this one's a gift for a very special person, I'll have to make myself one now. I used Bernat Baby in lilac, and it is SO soft! The pattern is from the winter issue of knit.1 magazine.

Meet Moo. Isn't she adorable? I rescued the poor nekkid thing from the bottom shelf of a thrift store last week. She still needs some cleaning up, but I couldn't stand for her to be in the buff anymore. I took some vintage dinner napkins and made her a dress and angel wings. Until I can decide what to do for a halo/headband/whatever, she'll just wear this little ribbon.

The next project I'm tackling is a joint effort with my daughters. We each got a My Little Pony today, and we're in the process of altering them this week. I'm stoked, and I hope mine turns out the way I've envisioned. I'll post before and after pics when they're finished.

In the meantime, I'll steal and tweak a line from Vickie Howell of Knitty Gritty. "Craft on!" ;)

I have a thing for bags. Purses, totes, you name it. I just can't get enough of 'em. I had some old placemats laying around that are cool in their own way, but not as placemats. Because I'm a packrat who "might make something out of that", I couldn't bear to throw them out. I decided that they were just about the right size for a tote bag for WIP's, magazines, etc. on those days when you're out and about. After a little hacking on a couple for the sides and bottom, a little sewing putting it together, a lot of knitting (because I'm the world's slowest knitter), and attaching a couple of buttons, placemats become a tote! To keep the handle from stretching out, I knitted it as a tube and ran twill tape the full length inside.

Ignore the scary mess in the closet back there. Once my pegboard is done, that will all become neat. That's another post, though.

I attached two buttons so that it could be closed no matter how full it was.

Still haven't fixed the look of the place yet, but I have completed projects!

This one was a quick whip-up without a pattern to give The Hub an extra creature comfort on this deployment. Because I couldn't find buckwheat hulls on short notice, it's stuffed with poly-fil.

And FINALLY!! The gauntlets are done! I had to do some tweaking b/c they didn't want to stay up, and I don't love that yarn. After ONE wear, it already looks fuzzy. *sigh* Lesson learned.

Here's the full view, complete with my first attempts at thumb gussets!

And a close-up of the cables. See...fuzzy yarn. *grr* Kiddo loves 'em, so I'm not going to complain. I will say that at this point, I don't EVER want to knit with black yarn again!

And in knitting-related stuff, I ventured into my first yarn store the other day. I'm not talking yarn department full of acrylics at the local craft store. I'm talking YARN STORE. Floor to ceiling with gorgeous, uber-soft natural fibers, silk yarns, hand-dyed yarns, BAMBOO yarn, etc. Yes, bamboo. You wouldn't think it would be soft, but oh my gravy. They were like little balls of the softest kind of heaven. *sigh* I'm already a paper snob in the scrapbooking world. I can see now that I'm probably going to become a yarn snob, too. That thought makes my wallet cry.

In other crafting accomplishments, I'm putting the finishing touches on a bag. I'm groovin' it b/c I made it from old quilt pieces. It'll have a knitted handle and button closure. You'll see.