A little elephant for a little person..

So one of my neighbours had a baby recently, and I decided it would be fun to make a cuddly toy, and what could be more fun than an elephant...
I decided on this pattern, Flo, published in Knitty, one of Franklin Habit's stitches in time series.
It took a while to realise that the pieces i'd knitted together really were going to make an elephant, but lo they did!

Without the ears Flo looked remarkably like an anteater.. but thankfully the ears made all the difference. I wasn't a big fan of the tail in the pattern, so I used i-cord with 4 stitches to make a tail and looped (and tied) the tail of the yarn round the end of the tail, then snipped to make the strings at the end.

I also decided to have a bit of fun so I could send a picture to a friend, see below.. and yes this gives you a good insight into some of the stupid things that I find funny!



I'm not sure how much the recipient (who's only 11 weeks old) liked Flo, particularly as it's half her size, so seems huge, but her parents certainly liked Flo and for now, that's what counts!

I'm very happy with the finished product, but I think I wouldn't bother making a seamed elephant again.. Next time I have the urge to make an elephant, I think either crochet, or something like Elijah by Ysolda Teague (less like a real elephant, but equally cute). 

Flo is ravelled here for those that want to have a look.

Rhabarber Kuchen

It was time for done baking, and armed with an armful of rhubarb and a shiny new German baking book "Heimweh-Küche - Backen “ I set to making Rhabarber Kuchen...

It's a very straightforward recipe but very very satisfying, the fruit is just coated in jam with no other sugar, leading to very juicy and sour fruit, which contrasts well with the sweet cake.

I was very happy with the result and look forward to trying more of the recipes!
 

Long time no post...

Happy new year!
Just a quick post to say that though i've been absent from the blogosphere, I haven't been as idle on the knitting front!

I hope to be back to posting a bit more frequently and to show you the mittens i've been busy knitting... the Lauriel cardigan that's nearly done, amongst a bunch of other projects! I need to take some pictures first though, so please bear with me!

Sock club 2011 wasn't a great success.. it turns out that i'm a bit too busy to knit a pair of socks each month and have time for work and other knitting. I did end up with about 6 pairs though, so still not bad going! I don't think i'll repeat the experiment this year, though I do plan to knit more socks for myself, and now I have some of these which might make my sock knitting a little quicker, as there's no changing needles, or adjusting the cable when doing magic loop. We'll see how they go!

Anyhow, A happy and healthy new(ish) year to all, and hopefully i'll have some pictures of FOs to show soon!