More Sparkles!

I had so much sparkly alpaca left over that I decided to knit another pair of wristies. I wasn't particularly happy with the stockinette ruffle, so for this pair, I cast on 84 stitches, and did k3p3 for the ruffle. Then, I did k3tog then transitioned to the k2p2 arm part. I like them OK, but I think that it is toooooo ruffly. Should I knit them again, I'll k6p6 for the ruffle, and I think that this will be a really nice compromise between the flat stockinette ruffle and the flutey k3p3 ruffle.

Thank you, Emma, for being such a nice model!

I knit these wristies for my friend, Allie. I knit THIS for her little grandson.

This little bunny is too cute! I found the pattern here, Heartstringsfiberarts.com Bunny

She was very easy to make, and she only takes a little bit of yarn and a little bit of fiberfill. I knitted the 6 inch square while attending the Pueblo Symphony - does this make me a completely mannerless boor that I knit at the symphony? We had wonderful seats, right up close to the front (where the light was great, lol) and I cast on as soon as we took our seats, and I ran out of yarn right as the last ovations were heard. Perfect timing!

I ran out of yarn just one row shy of completion. I had to wait until I got home to work in the ends of the wristies, cut off the excess, splice the bits together to have enough to cast off! Then, I washed and blocked the square, and took another look at the pattern, and had a sinking feeling. I still needed yarn for the EARS! Well, as it turns out, the very first thing I did when spinning this fiber was to knit a tiny swatch to see if the yarn was coming out OK for knitting the wristies. I also had a tiny bit of fluff left over - so I spun the fluff, unraveled the swatch and had just enough for the ears. Yay!

So, this photo shows you what you can knit out of two ounces of alpaca and angelina - enough for two pairs of wristies, one bunny and about 8 inches left over. I don't like to cut so close to the emergency zone. As it is, I had to spin a bit more "plain" alpaca in order to have something which which to do the sewing. I figured that it was OK to sew it up with non-sparkly yarn. I also used my plain alpaca for the little needle-felted tail.

A word of advice - don't stuff the bunny's body too tightly. I used to sew animal figures out of woven fabric, and I always thought that they were so much cuter if they were stuffed tightly. Well, with this knitted fabric, the bunny's body just kept accepting more and more fiberfill. It wasn't until I had her all sewed up and tied and everything that I noticed that her body was really too large for her little head. She stretched!

All in all, these were such fun! The wristies were completely brainless activities, and the bunny was just plain old FUN. Get yourself a ball of something exotic, or better yet, spin it yourself, and knit one or both of these projects.

Enjoy!
Rosemary
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