New things

Just to post a few pictures of new stuff.  Like this little guy:

Cute, huh?  And it looks so simple, yet finishing it and putting all the pieces together took a ridiculous amount of time.  See the tiny claws?  I used very small hair clips and forced them through the ends of the arms from the inside, so you can pinch the arms and open them up so it can hold things.  So I made it a heart to hold, and a baby (or maybe it's a monster's teddy bear).  The whole thing is about 4" high.  Instead of making separate arms and legs for the little one, I made a triple crochet for each limb, which then sticks out like an elbow from between all the single crochets.

Next up: a hat that's a little oddly sized when made according to the pattern.  It needs more stitches than are usual in worsted weight for a hat in order to get even repeats of the key pattern - if I left out one repeat of the pattern it would have been too small.  It fits without having to stretch, so it's only slightly too big, not outrageously too big.  And I think the designer realized that it would be too tall if decreases were made as usual with a plain K row between decrease rows, so at a certain point the decrease rows just come one after the other, which flattens out the top instead of making a gentle curve.  But somebody will probably love it.

Biohazard sock 2 is still in progress, and I have the body and 2 legs of a sloth done and a pile of patterns waiting.  I got small ceramic pots at Goodwill for planting crocheted cacti - my frugal side approves.

I made this hat out of a very thick chenille yarn with no stretch whatsoever, and it has a tendency to completely flatten out, and not be very hat-like.  I don't really want to put that in the fundraiser and find the recipient disappointed in how it performs, so I started another in something that is probably Wool-Ease Thick and Quick (no label with it).  What a huge difference.  The stretch makes the yarn so much easier to work with, it maintains hat shape, and I didn't have to use bad words.  Novelty yarns may be interesting, but not very useful.