Button-Eyed Whale

This is a whale I crocheted for my friend Sharhesa! I think it's really cute, probably because of the button eyes.

This whale was not too difficult to make; it's made amigurumi style, which is so fun and easy once you get the hang of it. Almost every stitch is either a plain single crochet or an increase or decrease. Except for the area at the base of the tail where I used half-double crochet on the bottom and a technique called short rows on the top to make the tail curve up.

If you want to learn these stitches, check out Amigurumi by Elizabeth Doherty.

Pattern: my own

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

These cookies are amazing. Ever had those one kind of girl scout cookies? Yeah, me neither. Well, these are better anyway, so you don't need to feel like you're missing out.

COOKIES

1/2 c butter

1/2 c peanut butter

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c brown sugar

1 t vanilla

1 egg

3/4 c flour

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1/4 t baking powder

1 c oats (I used old fashioned oats and pulsed them in the blender a couple times.)

1. Cream the butter (melty), peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add the egg and then beat it!

2. In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Then combine wet and dry ingredients. Add oats and mix it all up nice!

3. Put spoonfuls of dough on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for ten minutes.

4. Once the cookies cool, fill them with frosting!

FROSTING

3 T butter

1 c powdered sugar

1/2 c peanut butter

2 1/2 T cream

1. Mix all that stuff together! (Hopefully you didn't need that step.)

If We Had No Moon

At the Library, we have a DVD titled If We Had No Moon. I was shelf-reading (a wonderfully engrossing activity where one reads the spine labels and makes sure materials are shelved correctly) when a woman began looking at the DVDs over my shoulder. She was talking- possibly to me, more likely to anyone who'd listen- and I was saying things like, "hm!" and "oh?" so as not to be rude while simultaneously trying not to start a conversation. This is where If We Had No Moon comes in: she suddenly exclaimed, "that's funny!" and pulled the DVD from the shelf.

"I mean, duh," she said, to no one in particular, "if we had no moon, we'd all be dead!"

Carnivorous Plant Mittens

These were made for my dad's wife, Kelly, for Christmas. My favorite part, although biologically inaccurate, is the teeth. Currently, they seem to be digesting a plastic spider.

Pattern: adapted from Stitch and Bitch Nation's Alligator Mittens.

The Weasel

Dinosaurs

Library Cred

Fair Isle Hat

This hat is my first successful attempt at fair isle knitting! It was my dad's Christmas present.

Pattern: my own

Poinsettia Floppy Hat

(Scully and I model the floppy hat.)

Every Christmas and birthday my mom has asked me to knit her a hat, and every year, despite taking her head measurement, I make her a hat that doesn't fit. Finally, I decided to make her an enormous floppy hat.

It's classy, like a beret, but with a giant poinsettia!

According to mom, when she wore her hat to work, one of her students asked her what was growing on her head. And this is why I worry about the American educational system...

Pattern: my own

Johnny Danger Plush

This is a crochet version of the comic hero, Johnny Danger! I made him for my dad for Father's Day. He has pose-able pipe-cleaner legs and a removable helmet complete with skull decal!

Pattern: my own