Wow, you're all thinking,  another picture of yarn in a bowl.  Certainly she can come up with something different to post about than more yarn.

Well, actually, I probably could. But at this point, I don't think of this as a bowl of pastel yarn, I think of it as Elijah, Otto and Sophie (from top to bottom).  A good friend of mine is expecting her second son to arrive in the next couple of months, and while I would love to knit the impending arrival something similar to what I made for his older brother, I decided that it might be nice to make the new little guy something that was special and all his own. 

I haven't made very many toys.  Z got a Baby Bobbi Bear and a Doddy and my nephew received Celestine, but those are the only three I've ever started and finished.  Generally, when I've tried to knit toys, I find them kind of fiddly and get frustrated when joins and closures don't look as clean as I want them to.  But after watching Z with her ball and after knitting Celestine and realizing that it's very important to have a pretty tight gauge, I've been thinking about giving it another try.  And Ysolde's adorable little creatures kept popping back into my browser.

So, Monday night, I purchased all the patterns, ordered the yarn and was pleasantly surprised when it showed up lightning fast and the colors were what I expected them to be.  Because I'm knitting for a little boy, I tried to select colors that fit into a little boy's palette -- except for the white.  Otto is a polar bear, and I just couldn't see that one in any other color.  Fortunately, this is Cashsoft Baby and the yarn is machine washable, so all the toys will be able to get a bath here and there when they need them and will still be incredibly soft. 

The other big reason I'm posting that yarn picture is because it's a commitment -- I will get these toys done before the child is too old to be interested in them!    

To all of you in the States, may you have a lovely long Labor Day weekend (I will be enjoying mine in Ann Arbor with a Georgia Reuben from Zingerman's and the company of family).  To everyone else, I wish you a lovely weekend as well, even if it's only two days instead of three. 

At long last I can unveil my most significant amigurumi project yet!  This is Conroy, a fierce, but really friendly dragon -- the pattern is on Craftster, and I found him via Ravelry.  You may remember that my sister-in-law loves dragons (the original "Here There Be Dragons" socks were made for her).  So, in addition to the Hemlock Ring Blanket, I wanted to make my beautiful new nephew a toy and guardian symbol.  This Amigurumi project was definitely more complicated than anything I had done previously, but it was still do-able with my modest crochet skills. 

He's been complete for quite some time, but because he was meant to be a special surprise gift (dragons seem to like to make sure their guardian roles will be accepted before they make grand public announcements) he didn't make it up onto the blog after I finished him.  And then, of course, since I wasn't feeling well the night he was packed up to head down to Houston, I forgot to take any pictures of him.  Fortunately, my dad snapped a few photos of him stretching out his wings in the sun after his trip from the north country.

Conroy is made up of quite a few pieces, making him a toy with moving arms and legs.  I encourage you to check out the link to the project to see the pieces and the construction process.  Probably the hardest part for me was embroidering on his eyes.  Since my nephew is a brand new human I didn't want Conroy to have any parts that could be chewed off and ingested by accident.  But my free hand embroidery skills are weak, and I haven't done much embroidery on a crochet surface, which complicates the process a little bit.

He was constructed using Lion Brand Vanna's Choice acrylic yarn and stuffed with acrylic polyfil so that he could be washed if necessary.  Ms. Z picked out the colors (I showed her the yarn and asked her which one she liked best) since I wanted her to have a hand in the project as well. 

This is a fun project and the instructions are very good.  I am always pleasantly surprised when something that probably took a long time to write out as a pattern is available for free.  Of all the dragon patterns I found on the web, for free and for payment, this one was certainly the nicest.

My understanding from my brother is that Conroy was a big hit, so my only disappointment was not being there when he announced his intentions to be my nephews winged buddy.  I hope he has a long and happy future looking out for the sweetest little nephew ever -- and that he is a constant reminder that even though his Ciocia* is far away, she is with him in spirit.