Dear John

My father came home with a plan Wednesday after an afternoon watching a soccer match with his pub buddies at the local Britannia Arms.  One of his friends is a tea drinker.  The Brit serves tea in a 4-cup pot that's often cold by the third or fourth cup.  Dad decided to recruit me to make a teapot cozy for the pub.

The whole process was a bit backward.  First we picked up the yarn he wanted and a hook, then we stopped by the pub and borrowed one of their pots and last we looked up a pattern for me to base my work off of.  Needless to say, the yarn wasn't what the pattern wanted, the hook wasn't exactly what the pattern or yarn wanted and the pattern wasn't exactly what I wanted.

I decided to use some of the leftover yarn from the Tweedle twins to give the piece a second (and third, and fourth) color.  The red was done 3dc with a K-10.5/6.5mm hook.  The zebra was done 5dc+1ch with an F-5/3.75mm hook.  The top row of red was done 2dc with the K hook.  The lid piece started with 6dc of the red in a magic circle and ended with 5dc+1ch of the zebra.

The button to keep the back bit under the handle was stolen from the odds and ends button container my mother has and sewn on until the thread I cut ran out.  It's got some sort of coat of arms on it.  My father decided on it because it looked "British."

He was asleep with I put the finished product in his lap.  I think he wrapped it up and will be taking it back to the Brit tomorrow, if he's feeling well enough.

Cthulhu Plush

A while back, one of my minions at my library job wanted help with a pattern she'd found.  I told her sure, since I was fairly confident in my crocheting, or at least my ability to fake it til I make it.  Turns out it was a little Lovecraftian cthulhu plush, with a very useful pattern full of tips and tricks.  She had a date mix-up and ended up being unable to learn that week, and by time we were able to sit down together, I had a good handful of the little buggers done.

I made the first one, a medley of greens.  I made a blue one to try again.  My housemates all wanted one.  So I made a hot pink one.  And a purple one.  Then an orange one.  And a fuzzy pale green one for a holiday gift exchange.  A tiny red one (the yarn was too small for the hook, so I had to downsize).  Finals were upon me but I managed to churn out another green one.  And finally, during my late-night shift at work, the yellow one.

At home before the holidays, I made another fuzzy pale green one and two black, white and grey ones I've deemed the twins.  Kinda want to name them Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.  But that's up to their owners.

Each came out of the mass of yarn I accumulated a month or so ago, when the local McMenamin's had an antique rummage sale and I got a whole mess for $10.  The only "special" one was the orange, as its recipient brought me the orange for the body and the neon green/brown for the wings.  They take no more than 3 hours maximum to make, and the effect on supplies is negligible.

I followed the pattern on all but the yellow, where I started with a magic circle of 12 double crochet rather than 6 single crochet, as they tend to have cone heads.  Used an F5/3.75mm hook on all but the red one, which used a 3 in what I believe are lace hooks.  Yarn, fiber fill and 9mm solid black shank-back eyes from Jo-Ann's.

Adorable little buggers, if I do say so myself.

Happy holidays from the whole cthulhu family.