Enough with the kids.....bring back the crafts!

OK, this post will be picture heavy. I'll show you many of the crafts I have completed in the last year or so and provide a brief story/explanation where applicable. If you have questions feel free to ask in the comments. However, I don't remember what yarn I used in a lot of cases....so I may not be able to help you there.

This is Cheer Bear. Made for my adorable niece. This is the first in a series of Care Bears, only one other one is pictured here because in a lot of cases I don't have time to look through hundreds of photos to find the crafty ones. In addition to Wish Bear below I have also made Good Luck Bear and Funshine Bear. I have decided to make it a tradition to give a Care Bear to each of my nieces, nephews and children. Good Luck Bear was actually made for my sister by her demand, um, I mean request....and Funshine was for my nephew. Allyson's bear has not been started and I am still decided which one to make. Right now it is between Lovesalot (pink), and Friendship (orange). Any thoughts?

This is Wish Bear - given to Braydon for his first birthday. I used a different wool than on any of the others, because this was the first one I didn't buy a kit for. I liked using wool I selected myself better (I think it's Bernat Satin). I also changed the recommended eyes from felt to embroidery with wool. You can really see the difference the yarn made...this one is much shorter and wider.

Allyson's first blanket. I used Cottontots (bernat I think), which is what the pattern called for. I did modify several things. There are many more rows of blue than called for. I also changed the colours that were called for, added extra flowers and did the flowers with different colours and different coloured centres. Oh, and I completely changed the border. I didn't like the striped border of the original design, so I just did a few rounds of the various pinks and white and then did the same picot edge on the last row that the pattern did suggest. I think it turned out really cute. If I did this again I would do more rounds of the grass. Also I wasn't able to get enough of the blue in the same dye lot, but I bought it anyway, you can see stripes in the sky when the skeins changed. At first I didn't like it, but now I think it looks more like the variations of blue in a real sky and it adds to the quirky homemade look. I love it, but it's a bit heavy so Allyson hasn't actually used it yet.

Meet Tigger. This turned out super, super cute, but it was the worst written pattern I have ever encountered. I had to change the pattern several times in order to make things centered and symmetrical. I do not recommend this to beginners. I'd like to make the other items in the pattern book (Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore), but I dread having to re-write more patterns cause it was such a hassle.

That's all I've got pictures of for now. Going forward I will probably not do pictures of older crafts unless it's requested and I have time to find the pictures. Other stuffed objects include a Strawberry Shortcake and several amigurumi animals. I have also made several purses and afghans.

And on the go right now I have a gift for my father-in-law, a gift for my mother-in-law, a bowling set for Braydon, and a truck afghan for Braydon. I have the yarn for, but have not commenced the following: 2 baby afghans, and another afghan for Allyson.