Frog-Turtle or Finally a Toy for Lil One

I just finished yet another project from itty-bitty toys.  One chapter of this book has five reversible toys.  I knit the one that is both a frog:

 and a turtle:

Knit with my go-to toy yarn of Plymouth Encore Worsted in Greenhouse and Light Greenhouse.  I made this for Lil One for her birthday next week.  Finally, a toy for my own kiddo!  Sometimes she'll pick up one of her toys, hug it, look at me and say, "It not for [name of another kid I've made a toy]."  So it's about time for her to get a knitted toy.  She loves both turtles and frogs, so this seems like the perfect toy for her.

The base of these toys is basically two infant-sized hats with decorations sewn on, then the bases are sewn together.  Here's a better look at the applique turtle shell.

 And here you can see the turtle inside the frog.

I am still loving this book.  I really appreciate how it includes the piecing together and "finishing" steps as you go, so I'm not left with a bunch of pieces and the prospect of a lot of seams and stuffing all at the end.  I may end up knitting every single pattern in this book before I'm done.  I borrowed itty-bitty hats from the library yesterday, and I look forward to going through that one, too.  I know at least ten people who are pregnant right now, so I'll be needing more than a few quick baby knits next January through April.

Yarn Along - Ducks and Thrones

Joining Ginny's Yarn Along again this week!  Only a little late.

From Ginny:

Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs.  I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading?

There are always lots of interesting projects and reads linked to Ginny's blog, so have a look!

I've been re-reading George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones.  The husband and I got back into it after my dad showed us the TV series while on vacation this summer.  Husband jumped back in reading the most recently published book, but I thought I'd better start over at the beginning again, or I'd never remember who everyone was and what had happened to them already.  It's so hard for me to not get attached to the characters, even though I know they are ALL going to die (not really a spoiler -- as soon as you think, "But surely he won't kill this character," that one is as good as dead).  I'm doing better at that this time through.

I've been knitting ducks.  This is another project from Susan B. Anderson's itty-bitty toys.  Lil One loves the ducks, although they are not for her.  The knitting is all done on this project, but there's some assembly still to do that will really make the toy.  I am still in love with this book, and have already started yet another project from it.  This one will finally be for the Lil One.

In other knitting news I tried to go to my first- and third-Thursday knitting group at the library today.  Yeah, the 23rd day of the month would be the fourth Thursday.  Oh well.  This summer has been so crazy that I haven't been to knit with them since early June.  Hopefully I can make it work next week.

Yarn Along - Bunny & Mystery

I'm participating in Ginny's Yarn Along again this week.  Check it out to see lots of good ideas for knitting (and crochet) and reading.

I keep hoping that the recent bout of finish-it-up-itis I've experienced with knitting will spill over into my reading.  I have lots of almost-finished books laying around.  No luck so far though; not a lot of reading has been going on in the past few weeks.

The husband and I did recently finish an audiobook -- Evil Under the Sun A Hercule Poirot mystery by Agatha Christie.  I love Poirot, and this book was read by David Suchet, the actor who played Poirot on the TV show.  I think eventually we'll listen to every unabridged Poirot book read by Suchet.  Very good.

The project pictured above is the body and head of a bunny I'm knitting for Niece K's second birthday.  This is the second project I'm making out of the itty-bitty toys book by Susan B. Anderson.  I remain very pleased with this book.  Yesterday I bought yarn for my third project out of it.   Lil One keeps trying to run off with the parts of this project, too, so I'll have to make something for her soon!

My sister-in-law asked if I could make Niece K some leg warmers, so I improvised some based on the pair I made for Lil One last year.  These will also be part of her birthday present.  Here they are pretending to be adult arm warmers.

I've turned these in to the Harry Potter Knitting & Crochet House Cup to meet the assignment in History of Magic -- craft something FABULOUS to wear to a record company soiree.  We're researching Quibbler articles you see, and never mind.  It really doesn't matter; they just count for points somehow.