animals

You are currently browsing articles tagged animals.

monster stuffie supplies, wool felt, buttons, zippers

This started out as a project to make monster stuffies. The boy and I had done some sketches several months ago, so I pulled those out and made patterns. The girl and I pulled out colors and colors of wool and rayon felt, the jar of buttons, snaps, zippers and other odds and ends. The original idea called for using a functioning zipper for the mouth which would create a belly pocket. This took a little thinking but it wasn’t all that hard. I had hoped this would be easy enough for the kids to do a lot of the work. The wool felt is pretty thick to sew through so they did parts of it but some of it was just too hard. We stuffed the bodies lightly with poly pellets and wool stuffing.

We each made one stuffie and it turned out that we each chose a different one of the three patterns I had made. The girl stayed true to the original monster theme but the boy’s morphed into a caricature of Spider-Man and mine turned zoomorphic and became an owl. For some reason we have had a lot of owl “sightings” lately—Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (an excellent movie by the way), a non-fiction book about owls from the library, the kids have been hooting at the neighborhood owls, and when we went to get the girl her first backpack, she chose one with a cute forest scene, complete with . . . owls.

Happy Monster:
monster stuffie character wool felt button eyes and zipper mouth

Intense Superhero:
Spider-Man inspired zipper pocket stuffie

Silly Owl:
wool felt hand sewn owl stuffie with zipper pocket belly

This was a fun project and I think we’ll make more of these to give away as gifts. I’d particularly like to find some patterned wool to turn into felt to use on these stuffies.

Tags: , ,

Look what came in the mail! All the way from England!

sushi cat custom poster

A one-of-a-kind picture of our cats Duke and Lila romping with the famous Sushi Cat, from the adorable arcade style game by Armor Games. The reaction from the kids was pretty funny.

“Aww, it’s Sushi Cat.”
“Wait, who’s that?”
“Hey, it’s Duke and Lila.”
“But . . . how?!”

JimP, the video game artist who created Sushi Cat, admired the felt Sushi Cats I made for the kids at Christmas so I sent him one of his own. He created this adorable poster incorporating stylized portraits of our cats as a thank you.

Thank you, JimP!

Tags: ,

This is actually from a few weeks ago but I hadn’t gotten around to posting it. The girl likes to work with polymer clay on occasion. Usually I’m pretty strict about making a sketch first, otherwise she is apt to just cut it up into pieces and well, it’s not clay-dough. This time I didn’t ask her to sketch but we did discuss what she wanted to make. I helped make sure things were sturdy and fairly well attached but she did most of the work. I was amused to watch her put the legs on her cat just the same way she draws them, in a straight row instead of two by two!

5 year old's drawing of animal with long tail

The pet, as she referred to the cat she made.

polymer clay cat kid art child

And the pet owner, as she referred to the girl with blue hair. I made the feet so she would stand up on her own like the cat.

polymer clay cat and girl by five year old

Tags: , ,

I’m doing my first test knitting. Am I qualified for that? I don’t know but I volunteered. This is one of those kinds of projects that you probably have to have kids to appreciate. It’s not necessarily the warmest or most practical winter hat, but I think it’s going to be very popular at school.

Knitting Ninja’s Shark Hat – new version to be released soon on Ravelry.

Pictures below of my version. There were some parts I was unclear on so it could be I got some things wrong but it’s still awfully cute and definitely wearable. Nom, nom, nom. I think I’ll be making more of these.

hand knitted shark hat

And surprise, surprise, girly girl thought it was the best thing in the world. She begged to wear it to school (sorry, not yet) and chased her brother around the house wearing it.

knitting ninja's shark hat pattern hand knitted shark hat with button eyes

Tags: ,

Area farms that make maple syrup open their gates to the public on the last weekend in March around here. This was the first year that we were able to make the timing work. Having recently watched a horse movie, we chose to visit the Cooper farm where they raise miniature horses, creamy white Charolais cattle, and a number of exotic birds as well as tapping their maple trees and keeping bees. The air was crisp but sunny and we enjoyed the walk around the farm squishing our boots through the Maine mud and ending up in the warm, steaming sugaring house, drinking in the smells of wood smoke and maple sap cooking down into syrup. A sampling of maple syrup drizzled ice cream provided the happy ending. We brought home powdered maple sugar, some maple cotton candy (the only kind of cotton candy worth eating), and local honey.

miniature horse

pheasants, peacocks and chickens

IMG_9696

running jumping on shrink wrapped hay bales

IMG_9702

Tags: ,

The boy’s class had an Arctic Celebration this evening complete with readers’ theater, songs, artwork, games and snacks, and surprise—snow—so appropriate to the theme and late March in Maine.

handmade cookie cutter polar bear

I had volunteered to bring something baked and at the last minute (not a surprise) I decided that I just had to make polar bear shaped shortbread. Had to. A piece of aluminum roof flashing, a pair of pliers and a few minutes of careful bending yielded a serviceable cookie cutter in a graphically simple shape of a polar bear reminiscent of Inuit sculpture. The boy helped me make the simple shortbread dough and we had just enough time to bake the bears before heading off through the snow to see his classmates and their families at the school.

Tags: , ,

The boy recently told me that he wanted to be a “builder” when he grew up, just like me. He then looked at his dad thoughtfully and said encouragingly, “You can be a builder when you grow up too Dad.” Poor Dad. I explained that Daddy builds things too but you can’t always see them.

A lego steampunk land-airship with boiler in the back.

lego boat with wheels

A collaborative Sculpey white tailed deer mostly done by the girl, with a little help from her brother and me. This was probably inspired by a recent trip to L.L. Bean where they have lots of native-to-Maine animal taxidermy on display. The plastic rhinestone eyes are the really old kind that had to be set with prongs. It didn’t occur to me that they might be heat sensitive, oops. Luckily the time in the oven only caused them to become less shiny and softer looking, a happy accident.

Sculpey deer with blue rhinestone eyes

They make so many things that I don’t always get pictures of everything but these were two things they particularly asked me to photograph. They set the scene themselves with the shiny snowflake papered box which they also made out of leftover Christmas wrapping.

Tags: , ,

Spunky Eclectic ceramic travel mug sheep

Hand-painted with cute sheep by Amy King. I met her as Spunky Eclectic, fiber woman. Who knew she also paints and throws pottery? The great thing about this mug is that it’s ceramic so it goes in the microwave to reheat that tea I can never seem to finish before it gets cold. And the heavy ceramic and tight-fitting travel lid helps the contents stay warm longer whether I’m out or at home. It’s generously sized but not too big either. Wash, rinse, reuse.

Tags:

No, not that kind.

This is for wearing when you are taking care of bunnies. My parents now have three angora rabbits and my mother was wanting some sort of apron/smock to protect her clothes. I’m pretty sure she wanted it to be long sleeved somehow and long enough to cover her lap but not too hot to wear in the summer and easy to go on over a jacket in the winter. The space where the bunnies live is only somewhat climate-controlled.

The fabric needed to be something tough but slick, something that could stand up to the occasional clawed foot but slick enough to shed or at least not attract stray fur. I also thought it would be easiest if there was no hardware—no buttons or snaps, etc. So I used some leftover nylon or acetate lining material that is extremely lightweight but tightly woven and not likely to attract fur. I cut the collar and cuffs off an old knit shirt to re-use. I cut the long sleeves loose and gathered them into the knit cuff. I made the neckhole in a similar fashion. The threaded elastic through the cutaway back allows for arm movement but helps to keep the long front from flying away. Or at least that was the intent. That part still needs work. It could probably use some pockets as well. I have some alternate ideas but I was at a point where I needed to make a full-size draft to see how it actually worked. Here’s my mother trying out the bunny suit . . . bunny smock?

angora rabbit

high no back smock

Tags: ,

. . . especially in wool felt. The kids have fallen into ridiculously giggling mushy love with a cute little video game called Sushi Cat. They’ve been playing it on Rich’s iPhone. The game is very simple, sort of like pinball or pachinko. You drop the cat from the top of the screen and he eats any sushi in his way as he rolls and bounces to the bottom. I was already contemplating making the kids a Sushi Cat stuffie when I came across these sushi shaped erasers in the dollar aisle. Who knew? That sealed the deal and I sat up late one night stitching to get a pair of these done. You never see the cat’s tail in the game so I had to make that up myself. I decided it needed to be bouncy and springy!

handmade hand sewn wool felt sushi cat sushi erasers

I’m still hoping that their interest in things Japanese lately will eventually lead to eating more Japanese foods besides Ramen noodles.

Tags: ,

The animal: Alpaca named Xena. Lives right here in Maine and I got to meet her and see her home: the most amazingly clean farm ever. The first thing that struck me was how consistent the shearing was on each animal. Like a work of art.

shorn alpaca

The fleece: Four pounds of it, minimal VM, a fair amount of dust but well skirted and easy to clean. Alpaca fleece does not contain lanolin as sheep fleece does. I had an interesting time unfolding this out of the bag as it wanted to drift apart. For now I have carefully put it back in the bag until I can come up with a plan on how best to wash it. The second picture shows a single unwashed lock, 4″+ staple length.

raw alpaca fleece

lock of raw alpaca fiber unwashed

The fiber: Lacking fiber combs, I used a hair pick to comb through the washed and dried lock, preparing it to spin. Now I understand the difference between commercially prepared top and hand combed top.

washed and combed alpaca lock fleece fiber spindle

The spinning: Hand spun and andean plied into a lace weight/light fingering yarn, about 20wpi I think.

laceweight alpaca single yarn hand spindle andean plying bracelet lace weight single into two ply yarn two-ply alpaca yarn handspun laceweight

The finished yarn: about 6 yards out of one lock. I did weigh it but I don’t remember how much it weighed. Oops. Deliciously soft and pleasantly springy.

two ply hand spindled alpaca lace weight light fingering yarn mini skein

I plan on blending some of this alpaca fiber with angora from my parents’ rabbits. I may also try dyeing some of it. I want to use the brown as an accent somehow to remind me of cute Xena’s spot. Perhaps a little scarf with a single large circle of brown?

Tags: , ,

We like to watch the squirrels—playing outside, in a favorite movie UP, in a funny book, Scaredy Squirrel. The boy asked me to knit a squirrel for him. I was already aware of this cute pattern, Ultimate Squirrel, by Bri of RomanSock who designs the most adorable crocheted animals. They are realistic in a cute way. Since I have enjoyed reading her blog I thought it only fitting to buy her pattern. (Plug: Bri has a new book out, available on Amazon, called Super-Super Cute Crochet, filled with unusual animals.)

I used handspun brown wool approved of by the boy, two round black buttons dug out of the button jar by the boy, and one of my secret make-stuff supplies—those plastic covered wire twisties that keep all plastic toys in a stranglehold inside their plastic-windowed boxes. I’m not usually a fan of plastic but in this case, I like these weird things. (My mother covets them too.) They are far sturdier than craft pipe cleaners or the ordinary bread bag wire twisties. I did have a few problems with the pattern, probably mostly due to the fact that I am apparently incapable of counting higher than 4. There could have been more direction on the stuffing and sewing but I would probably have done it my own way anyway so not a problem for me. The hardest part was the brushing technique since all I had to use was the giant wool carders! I’m sure a dog brush would work much better.

brushed crochet squirrel amigurumi and knit and crocheted acorns

The boy checked on my progress daily and was delighted with the final outcome. Here is his very own crocheted squirrel with some acorns I made months ago, fittingly inspired by another RomanSock pattern, a much larger acorn bag. My acorns are a combination of knit and crochet using some very early hand dyed and spun yarns. And yes, I will be making this pattern again, little sister is not pleased that she did not get a squirrel too. I may make her a chipmunk just for variety.

brushed crochet squirrel using RomanSock's pattern for Ultimate Squirrel

Nom, nom, nom, nom.

Tags: , , ,

last remnants of snow in the shade
last patch of snow in the shade

bulb shoots poking up through the soil
bulb sprouts poking up through the soil

our neighbor’s cat lazing in the sun
cat lazing in the sun

newfallen and weathered pine cones brought home to grace our table
newfallen and weathered pine cones

two drakes chasing a hen on the river, not interested in our bread crumb offerings
two drakes chasing a hen ducks on the water

It’s too soon to say we’ll have no more snow this year but there are certainly signs of spring all around. The birds are noisier, the squirrels are running for fun, dogs are out with their people, deer have been spotted slipping through the neighborhood. We are spending more time outside, pretending that our bare hands are not too cold to throw the ball one more time before the sun goes down.

Tags: , ,

IMG_7221

Actually this is the baby gribble but the details are much easier to see. They are round and fuzzy with long pointy ears and a long snout with which to suck up ants and other bugs. Adult gribbles are solid green and have little stubby legs. I wish I could remember the other details of the habits of the gribble, it was a comical story told to me by the girl with large gestures and lots of giggling.

Here is my interpretation in polymer clay (with direction from the girl of course). Maybe I should attempt it in Fun Fur instead.

polymer clay gribble creature

The artist with an adult gribble—blue ant half way up the snout. Watch out!

IMG_7225

Tags: , , ,

cats sleeping on fabric

Cats. Sleeping on my project. Too cute to bother them. Alright, I have made a little progress on the drapes but not much. Somehow I’ve gotten sidetracked. Yes, it was spinning. 2oz. out of the pound of oatmeal BFL that I’ve been working off of became this fingering weight cabled four ply. And if you don’t know what that means, it’s okay, that might not be the right term. But it’s nicely round and shiny, smooth and strong. Probably make good sock heels.

cabled four ply oatmeal BFL handspun yarn

Tags: ,

« Older entries