Errand Day

Bought some pet supplies today, they gave me this huge bag with flamingos on it! I LOVE FLAMINGOS!

Also sent off a mail order for a gorgeous skein of hand-dyed mohair. I've never knit anything with mohair....not even sure what animal it somes from... lol.... but the color was irresistable.
And I found some really cute patterns at the library for some more animals.

I started clearing out the garden yesterday. A neighbor's cat dropped by - literally - he jumped out of a tree next to the garden and startled me! He's really friendly, I don't know his name but he's orange with white feet and has extraordinary orange eyes. We had a fun visit - every time I tossed a weed into the weedpile he would pounce on it! My kitty is an indoor / screened-porch only girl, so it was nice to have some feline company while outside.

Zinnias To Come

Bounty from the Ace Hardware Bag Sale last Saturday. 20% off! I usually start at least some of my seedlings in tiny paper cups a couple weeks before Spring, so I have something to dote over on the porch. As you can see, I'm going with the nice 'n' easy ZINNIA this year, which is one of my favorite flowers in the entire world. And some tomatoes.

Donuts For Breakfast

I don't ordinarily eat donuts, but I promised myself if I got through this morning I would get a chocolate glazed. I actually bought two, one chocolate and one plain, remembering the little donut quiz I took a few days ago. So here it is. The chocolate one was not around long enough for a photo op. :D

You Are A Glazed Donut

Okay, you know that you're plain - and you're cool with that. You prefer not to let anything distract from your sweetness. Your appeal is understated yet universal. Everyone digs you. And in a pinch, you'll probably get eaten.

What Donut Are You?

Bedside Table

Illo Friday's theme was "Simple" and I gave myself the additional challenge of making it relate to Harry Potter. The simplest shape I could think of was Harry's glasses, which led to the bedside table idea. You may notice Trevor visiting in the corner, too - he's Neville's pet, not Harry's, but we all know how much he likes to wander around. :) Then because I was on a roll with the toads and the simplicity, I sketched out this:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here he is! Neville Bear! I'm so happy with how he turned out. The yarn looked a lot darker on the skein than it did once it was knitted up, but I still think it's a good, earthy color. I also get to show off the plants I bought at the nursery this morning, I got a geranium, a couple of peppermints, and some pineapple sage.

Here's a very nice picture of our favorite Herbologist that kept coming to mind while I was knitting this: Neville

Miscellaneous

Just go... and be sure to check out the Pocket Pets section. Oh my goodness, what an aptly named website ~> Cute Overload

Neville Bear is about 35% done. I made the potted plant for him already, it's crocheted and adorable.

The Illustration Friday theme is SIMPLE!! I don't know what to do with that, but I said I would so something and so I will. But what?

Thursday Night Reminder

*just posting a reminder to myself... I've been meaning to try doing another Illustration Friday theme and I've decided that tomorrow (yes, I just had to check my frog-of-the-day calendar, it is tomorrow) I will go with whatever topic it is, and to add another dimension, I want to make it pertain to Harry Potter. SO. That should be interesting!*

Oh, and Leah! I left a reply in the comments section of the previous post about the bears... speaking of Harry Potter.... :)

A Purple Bear

Hermione's on hold until I can get to the craft store across town for more yarn. Meanwhile, I saw something adorable on Craftster and decided to make one, too. Here is my cute wee bear:

Made out of two strands of sock yarn and #7 needles. Here's the pattern, although I warn you I got two of those annoying popunder things when I clicked there ~ Teddy

I found some nice dark brown wavy yarn in the stash, so the next teddy bear is Neville! I'm hoping to start this morning.

Back to Joanne's.....

I have determined why stash reduction is impossible. I had what looked like a fairly sizeable ball of brown boucle yarn left over from another project, and thought it would be perfect for my little Hermione teddy bear. I am now halfway through said bear, and I see that I might not have enough yarn. I might. But I'm not sure. Which means I will probably have to buy another gigantic skein of this stuff so I can knit, like, an ear, and then I will have a ball of yarn bigger than the one I started with.

So, these giant stashes, really.... it's not our fault!

Hermione

I started Hermione Bear tonight, while watching the Sorcerer's Stone, of course. I'm using the same pattern, and a bushy brown yarn that I had in the stash, which seemed in keeping with the description of her hair. She'll have a black witch's hat, which is what my swatch was a few posts ago, and if I can figure out how to knit her a little book, she'll have that, too.

Harry Bear!

Here he is! I knitted wildly for two days and voila! Thank you Leah for suggesting the lightening bolt and glasses!!

The pattern: HERE

The bear is made in two halves, front and back. I did have some issues with the "Front Body" part of the pattern, Rows 12-22. Not sure I can explain it, but here goes...... if the arms are 9 stitches wide, and the area between them is 13 stitches wide according to Rows 13 onward (9 + 13 + 9 = 31) , then later when they tell you to bind off the arms, they say you should be left with 9 stitches for the head but you have 13. (9 + 9 + 9 would have been 27) I don't know what this was supposed to be. The back of the bear uses 9 + 10 + 9. But I played around with it and got it to work somehow. Hurray for black yarn not showing that sort of thing!

Also, that WTS stitch made me put this off for a long time, but it's really not hard, I just jotted down a note on the page in a way that I could remember it easily.

He's made of acrylic worsted on size 10's.

His scarf is sock wool on 7's ~ I just made it up on the fly ~ it's 7 stitches across, stockinette. I think I used * 10 rows red, 2 rows gold, 2 rows red, 2 rows gold. *