Still more stuff I made over the long break. (One finished item remains after this).

I finally got around to knitting the Unicorn from "Dream Toys" (A book Minnie sent me a couple years ago on the new "send a friend a book week" holiday*)



I used a variety of different yarns...one of the nice things about making toys is that you can use yarns you'd never use in a garment, either because they are too flash or because they are too expensive.

The main body is knit of Sirdar Snuggly** - just a plain, basic, baby yarn (100% acrylic). It's white with tiny dots of color on it. The hooves are an Ella Rae silk blend. The horn is Berroco Monet, which, if it's still in production when I get around to knitting that purse in SnB that was made of Noro Gemstones (which has since been discontinued), I think Monet would be the right replacement for it.

Monet is a pretty yarn but is a bit of a pain to knit with because it's "lumpy." And I'd never wear a sweater made out of it; it's a little too 80s-flashback for me.

The mane - which I hadn't bought yarn for before (I think I was half-thinking of using the leftover Ella Rae) is that Classic Elite La Gran. The mane actually necessitated a trip out to the yarn shop because when I got the unicorn done I decided that nothing that was on-hand (this was up at my folks' house) worked.

I'm glad I spent the money for the La Gran - it makes a spectacular mane and tail, very tactile and nice.

The unicorn is much larger than I imagined from the photo in the book - it is almost the size of a cat, which makes it big enough to sit comfortably on your lap:



(You can't really tell but the unicorn is sitting on my lap like a cat or a small dog. What can I say? I have allergies and can't have "real" pets).

I originally named the unicorn Sparkle, which even I admit is a dumb name (even for a unicorn). This morning I decided to go more Shakespearean and I've renamed the unicorn Eglantine (which is a type of rose that Shakespeare mentioned in at least one of his sonnets).

Yes, what toys are named DOES matter.

(*As much as I hate overhyped by stores/made up to spur on commerce holidays like Valentine's Day (in the first category) and stuff like Sweetheart Day (which I consider being in the second category), I can pretty solidly get behind "Buy a Friend a Book Week" because (a) it involves books and (b) it involves FRIENDS and not SIGNIFICANT OTHERS, and most normal people have at least one friend. So it's a lot less exclusive than the other holidays mentioned).

(**the pattern - and this is one of my pet peeves, patterns that specify yarn MASS rather than YARDAGE - called for "4,50 g balls" of some Rowan dk weight cashmere blend yarn. Which obviously has far less yardage (cashmere/wool blend weighing more than acrylic) than the Snuggly had. So I dutifully bought four balls of the Snuggly, to be sure I'd have enough - I have 2 and 2/3 or so balls left. Yeah, I know, it could be knit into a baby gift - but my cousins, who are the prime baby producers, I don't want to get into the "I'm knitting something for Baby 1" because I know when another set of cousins started on a baby, I'd be expected to knit for them...and I don't want to go down that path.

In fact, Baby 1 - Sophia, the daughter of my oldest girl-cousin and her husband - got a CD of nice lullabies. Because I'd hate to find that three sets of cousins were all expecting in the same window and I'd have to make time to knit little sweaters or whatnot. And YES, they WOULD care if one set got a knit sweater and another set got a "bought" gift.

So I'm reserving handknit baby gifts for my brother and sister in law, if they ever decide to go that route.)