bath puppets

OK- I finished up the bath puppets today. Having a project like this has definitely helped. The knitting was finished a few days ago and I did then faces yesterday and today. One of the especially fun parts about this project was the trip the kids and I took to them Button Emporium in downtown Portland. This was an amazing shop filled with buttons and ribbons. We went there on a Wednesday so we could also check out the downtown Farmers Market (for apples!), a few of the food carts (for tacos, frozen yogurt and a Jarritos [one of Samuel's favorite drinks]) and the art supply store (for paints). We took an extra side trip to one of our favorite toy stores, Finnegans, and a short walk up to Stumptown for some coffee. It was a fine day in the city by any measure.

The pattern for these bath puppets is from Kids Knitting by Melanie Falick.



Here they all are. Two owls and three cats. The purple and pink cottons were the yarns that I hand dyed years ago. They were knit double stranded with #8 needles at 4 stitches/inch in garter stitch. The yellow is some leftover Patagonia chunky cotton from two summers ago and was knit with one strand at 7 stitches/2 inches, also on #8 needles. I used various scrap yarn for the face. {I almost think the variegated yarns' coloring detracts from the faces and might decide to use solid yarns if I do these again. Part of the appeal of the project, though, for me, was using up some of the cotton in my stash and this was what I currently had on hand in large enough quantities.} The yellow guy with the teal mouth and purple eyes is my personal favorite and will be staying with me {grin}.