My Pattern Was Tested ... and It Worked!

Christina's Sockless Sock Monkey!

Thanks very much to Christina, who knit my Sockless Sock Monkey pattern and was kind enough to send along his photo! She changed the mouth a bit and worked in a nose. How cute he turned out! Thank you, again, Christina!!! If anyone else has tried the pattern and would like to send the photos of their finished monkeys, I'd love to post them here.

Easter Stuff!

Here is my first attempt at a Panoramic Egg! I'm really thrilled! I had purchased a Wilton sugar-egg mold years ago and saved the little description. I have tried to recreate it here in a knitted/felted egg! I cut the bunny shape from the piece I cut out of the egg after felting. I am going to add pink "icing" around the egg hole and a few other felted creatures ... a chick ... a butterfly, etc. This is Lopi Lite white yarn and it felts WONDERFULLY!!! You can't really see it in the photo, but I finger-combed in some green flash into my green-dyed roving inside the egg. The flash looks incredible! I love it!!! It's so sparkly.
Here is my first attempt at a felted duck. I wet felted her bill and feet. I learned a lot while coming up with the pattern and will probably make her body a bit longer next time.
Here she is again, with the little felted hat I knit. I was thinking of wet-felting flowers to make it an Easter bonnet! I'd like to knit an entire duck family and put them on parade.
The duck is about 5 inches tall and the egg is about 4. Do you see how the duck's stitches are still showing??? AAACKKK! The egg is still damp, so I need to shape it a bit more before it's finished drying. I hope the shoe-button eyes arrive soon!

I have been so preoccupied with my little felted things! That's all I can think about! I have been browsing eBay (my favorite place, as you know already!) and looking hard at all the tiny, vintage Steiff animals. They are so wonderful. I am hoping to knit/felt similar-looking pieces. They are quite endearing. I love how full of character some of the smallest creatures can be! Next, I'll be working on a rabbit, a little lamb, etc.

I have to say that I was quite disappointed with my yellow Cascade 220 yarn. I used two strands (maybe I'll use just one next time) and I had to let it go through about four or five washes (in hot water, starting with prewash, no less!!!) in the washer ... it took about 2 hours or more!!! And it still didn't felt like boiled wool. So far, I have to say that Lopi (both regular and lite) is the best felting wool out there. I have heard that Universal is good and am going to buy a little (yes, just a wee little bit, honest!) to test out. It's disappointing to spend a great deal of time on designing a pattern only to have it semi-ruined by the wool! AACKK!

I am still waiting for my glass, shoe-button eyes to come in and then this little duck will be almost finished! The eBay seller I found for the eyes is terrific! Also, he has lots of other colored eyes, so when I work on the mice, I bet I can find pink! I saw some blue with pupils, just like the ones on the Steiff kitten!

I also purchased some glass glitter and I hope to add this to my roving when I'm wet felting. I would love to make a few glitter-speckled, felted disc-shapes, then stuff and sew them together for bases for things. Ah, I say, as I gleefully rub my hands together in anticipation!!!

Rebecca Is Finally Finished!

I have finally finished the Rebecca doll! She doesn't have clothing yet, but at least she has all her pieces and parts!

I also have to share a rare find! In all my eBay browsing, I came upon my favorite album that I had when I was little. Cuddly Teddy Bears has all the great stuff, including a wonderful rendition of Goldilocks and the Three Bears ... the little girl's voice who plays Goldilocks is just so annoying that I love it! It also has other great songs like Ozzie the Ostrich, Teddy Bears on Parade, Sweetie Bear, etc. And who could forget the story of Pancho the Circus Donkey!!! Wow! What memories this brings back when I play it on our old turntable!

I've come to the conclusion that I just love old things ... from old children's books to old toys! I've gotten some great ideas for little felted toys lately and am just about to start on some. I hope they will be as charming in real life as I envision them to be in my head! I am collecting small paper flowers, ribbons and little trims so that I can decorate them. I've been thinking of small things like duck families with paper parasols, little rabbits with flowers, little mice with strawberries, squirrels with acorns, etc.
The father of one of my childhood friends had purchased a whole zoo full of Steiff animals when he had been overseas. It was one of our favorite things to do when I visited to go in their living room and take all those animals off of the shelves. I don't think we were really supposed to play with them, but we knew their value (not in money, but certainly in looks) and we were always very careful to put them back "just so." I have always loved the look of Steiff! And also, I love little pom-pom animals, too.
One year, at Easter, a friend of mine gave me a decoupaged egg that opened up. Inside were TONS of little pom-pom chicks, ducks, and rabbits. Oh how I loved that egg! What a great gift! I happened to be in college at the time!

Take a look at the Jennifer Murphy website for incredibly cute toys!
I am thinking about wet felting little "broken" eggshells to put my tiny felted animals in ... I'm hoping to have them peek out of the top. Also, I think I will try to wet felt their legs ... not sure how I feel about using pipe cleaners, but I may use them and cover them with felt. I have so much roving that I dyed earlier ... I have about every color I will need! I'm so excited! But I've promised myself I won't start until after this last project. *sigh

One-Year Anniversary of My Blog!

I can't believe it, really, but today marks the one-year anniversary of this blog. I hope I'll have lots more toy knitting patterns for you in 2008!

Sockless Sock Monkey Now Complete!

Hi! I'm finally finished!

Sockless Sock Monkey waiting for his hat

Well, I finally finished knitting and sewing on his arms, so my Sockless Sock Monkey is now complete ... well, almost. I am still working on his red-felted fez. I'll be happy to post that pattern when I am finished. So, stay tuned! For the complete pattern for the Sockless Sock Monkey, please click on the link to the right under: Nean the Bean's Free Patterns or click here to go there now!

The Complete Jane Austen on PBS!!

That's right! PBS will start airing the Jane Austen collection starting this Sunday, January 13!!! Be sure to click on the Jane Austen Collection link above to find out more ... and to check the times.
If you'd like to start your own book club, they've even provided background information, a bookmark, and a scone recipe to get you started, all on pdf files! Click on this LINK.
And for homeschooling, there is also a great teacher's guide available. This would have been a great resource last year when Amelia was studying 19th-century women's literature. *sigh I had to put together my own for that one. (Finding the Norton Critical editions helped with this, though.) An interesting paper topic is to compare/contrast the main characters' strengths and weaknesses.

Anyhow: I can't wait! I guess this almost makes up for not being able to download the audiobook of Persuasion!

My Birthday ... Epiphany .... and Christmas Vacation is Over

My birthday was yesterday. It was really great. Here is a picture of the unique ceramic "cake" that my friend Denise sent to me!!! Look at the top ... it even has a ceramic candle in it!!! She sends me a lovely flower bouquet in an interesting vase every year on my birthday. The flowers (and her thinking to send them to me) make my day. (I think she knows this, but I'm saying it again in case she doesn't ... so I hope you're reading this, Denise!!!)
The cake vase was extra special this year, as Randy is on a diet (he's lost 30 pounds so far!!!) and I just couldn't bring myself to have a cake this week and another next week (it's Colette's birthday next week) ... so I had my cake and my candle, too!
Not to be braggy, but I also received a sweet, little book about tea and friendship, as well as a gift certificate to my favorite yarn store from my neighbors; a much-needed check from my parents; an Amazon.com gift certificate by email from my sister and her husband; the LOST season one set from Colette, Amelia and Kent ... and lots of anti-wrinkle creams and a lovely card from Randy!!! (The anti-wrinkle creams were ones for which I had especially asked. Yes, I'm feeling my age ... and so are the lines around my eyes.) THEN we feasted on Chinese take-out for dinner. We all had to try something new, except for Randy who can't stand to possibly "waste" a dinner that he knew could have been good on an experimental dish that may or may not turn out to be good. . As it was, he was satisfied with his usual order of Sesame Chicken ... Kent; however, tried Shrimp in Lobster Sauce and was not disappointed! He loved it! Amelia tried Moo Shu Shrimp with 4 pancakes. It looked odd, very odd, but she seemed to enjoy it. I think she could have used extra pancakes, as there remains a TON of Moo-Shu Shrimp, but no more pancakes to stuff. I, the birthday girl, ordered the Happy Family, which I thought was quite appropriately named! It boasted lobster, shrimp, beef, pork, chicken and vegetables. In short, as Randy suggested, everything they had laying around in the kitchen. In reality, I only found one piece of lobster in there (with shell still attached, I might add). Yet, it was quite delicious and we have plenty left for today, as well! It doesn't need any pancakes. We'll make more rice. Colette, by the way, was at a different birthday party and so did not get to try any special new Chinese dish. (She can try all our leftovers today, though.)
Meanwhile, when I was little, my birthday was always lots of fun. It usually snowed around my birthday ... and since I wasn't the one taking down the Christmas decorations, it didn't bother me.
But now, as I sit looking at the ornaments on the floor waiting to be wrapped and put into boxes ... and knowing our wonderful tree will become either a) mulch or b) a place for fish in one of the many lakes around here, it does make me a little depressed.
Colette and I took down all the Christmas decorations at my parents' house yesterday. In fact, although it's sad they have to come down, when it hits that 12th day of Christmas, the decorations need to come down. They look sad and saggy and ready for a rest.
Randy and I walked through Target and looked at all the 90%-off Christmas goods. Talk about depressing! It was like the "Island of Misfit Toys" in the Rudolph story. Snowmen with their eyes poked out and their stick arms conspicuously missing stood on the shelves waiting for someone to take them home. Broken bits of ornaments were scattered here and there ... nutcrackers without their hats looked forlorn with their bald, wooden heads showing ... bits of glue stuck on them where the hats had been.
I did get some incredible deals, though ... like icicles for .04!!!
So, anyway, here it is Epiphany ... when the Wise Men finally reach Jesus and offer him their gifts ... and we put away the last vestiges of the happy, holiday season and go back to the gloomy days of winter ... and back to school ... starting the second semester of the academic year.
*sigh