Brachiosaurus

I've been collecting Planet June's animal patterns for years. Her dinos are a particular favorite of mine as they work up quickly and her directions are pretty clear and direct. You can purchase the pattern here. She also sells sets of patterns which sometimes make the patterns more affordable as do sales. I believe DH gifted me a couple of the dino sets as presents because dinos are popular gifts.

This was a great chance to use up some sport yarn I've had left over from various projects. In many respects this dino project was my orphan yarn project. It was a great chance to dig into some skeins that I'd had left over from other projects or were my "extra" skein I'd bought so I wouldn't run out when working on another gift. Now of course I need to find a way to finish them off so they stop taking up space.

Just so I don't confuse anyone these dino patterns call for regular worsted weight yarn. I wanted smaller dinos which is why I decided to dig into my sports yarn stash. I wanted a collection that would be fun but take up less room. The lighter weight yarn helped bring down the overall size of the animals.

Reindeer Christmas Ornament

I had a second Christmas package to send out and it too needed a Christmas ornament. Do to the time crunch I was looking for something that would work up quickly.

I'm a bit of a pattern collector and this was one of those patterns Michaels used to have hanging up in the yarn aisles. It is dated in 2012. I looked on their website but these patterns don't seem to be available online any longer. It was a Loops & Threads pattern if that helps you find it.

This was another great stash busting project. This is all left over yarn from previous projects.

Humpty Dumpty

Twas the weekend before Thanksgiving and all through the house the hooks were a flying the Shelties were grabbing at stuffing pusing it into their mouths.

Humpty was finished the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

I love making gifts for kids that tie to children's books. Mother Goose was a favorite of mine as a child. We knew so many of the poems. Humpty continues to be a favorite of mine and I've loved the new kids stories with Humpty as a detective. I think adding toys is a great way for kids to make a connection between favorite books and fun.

Years ago for another family member I made another Humpty found here. I do think he was cute and probably one of the best faces I've ever done. My issue is that he wasn't a traditional amigurumi he was a flat more pillow like structure. You made both sides as a panel and sewed them together. It was also quite a bit larger than most of the toys I make.

I went looking through my patterns for something different for this project and I found it in an old Annie's Crochet Newsletter July-August 1992. You can purchase the pattern at e-pattern central here. If it isn't on sale when you go there and you have time to wait I suggest doing so as they periodically have amazing sales.

Snow Girl

As part of the package I'm sending for Christmas this year I'm working on a snow family. I finished her before Veteran's Day. I'm working from an old Annie Potter presents leaflet The Snowbuddies from Snowville. I've not seen this pattern reissued as an e-pattern but I will post a link should I see it become available. I finished Mom and will post her and baby when they are done. The Dad is next up on agenda to finish. I'm hoping to get a family portrait before they need to ship out.

I changed the colors on the sister to pink as that is a preferred color.

This was the perfect choice for the family it is going to as they have a new baby this year. I've seen several snowmen families but this is the only pattern set I have with a baby snowman. I'm thinking if its a hit, I'll add a second girl snowman next year as I can't imagine little sister is going to want to be the "baby" for ever.