I managed to eek out a couple of hand knit gifts this year. For our little artist friend Eliza Bee I made this Unicorn from Dream Toys by Claire Garland. I started knitting this toy months ago but put it away until two days before Christmas. I was feeling kind of stressed out about finishing it in time but the stars were aligned and I happened upon the movie The Science of Sleep and was totally inspired by the characters to finish my dream toy. A whimsical grey felt pony features prominently in the film. This is my new favorite movie!
With most toys I find the finishing touches the most enjoyable. The eyes are antique jet buttons that sparkle slightly. The mane and tale are two shades of white kid silk mohair. I imagined that Eliza Bee would braid the mane and sure enough she did shortly after opening the package. I guess that's what I would do. The blanket came from my swatch pile. It's kid silk mohair with a strand of gold thread with an eyelet pattern that I was playing around with for the Pretty Pink Dress pattern in Greetings from Knit Cafe. I always feel good when I can reuse my swatches.
These golden autumnal socks were made for my mom. I was supposed to give them to her for her birthday in November but instead she got a card with a pair of socks drawn in pencil with a giant skein of sock yarn taped to them with the note "coming soon" attached. I feel I owe her another pair since these are birthday socks, so I'm busy making those right now while I have some free time. She picked out the yarn for these and loves pooling so I had a lot of fun watching the colors change instead of worrying about how they were changing. I was going to make them a simple k4 p2 rib but I got bored after a couple of rows and threw in some cables. She loves them so we're all happy.
I asked Felix to model Johnny's new hat. I used my basic Johnny Cap pattern with some stranded colorwork and (what you can't see) a ribbed top that spirals nicely. Whipped it out in one night of fun tv watching. Saw a movie with Robert Duvall infatuated with tango. Tango is good entertainment.
8 comments:
The unicorn is adorable. I am also intrigued by the movie. I am going straight to Netflix from here, to see if they have it. Thanks for the tip!
I love the unicorn, especially her beautiful hair! I like the pooling on the socks too.
What a magical unicorn and a very lucky little girl! I too want to see that movie now (just watched the trailer)....my recommendation for the year is also a movie I watched just the other night..."Once"....it's so lovely and also full of accents!
Eliza is so lucky to be the recipient of your little unicorn. It's so cute and has so many nice little details.
I'm so impressed that you manage to knit gifts while under the weight of deadlines. I'm still only partway through the sweater I promised my mom!
Hope your holidays were good. :)
Thank you so much for reminding me about The Science of Sleep - need to put that one on the top o' the queue. I love hearing the back story or inspiration. Wonderful handmade gifts!
I love all the knit gifts - awesome unicorn! And Fee looks adorable. He has such a great face - very unique and expressive.
oh your unicorn looks so great. i love the knobby knees. makes me want to be 6 again.
wow! what a lucky Eliza Bee and I think its perfect for her. I was so inspired when I saw Science of Sleep I had anxiety over it. That movie is amazing!
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