The Clanger

In case anyone’s been wondering, I did actually finish the Clanger by Christmas 🙂 It had been knitted up for a while, it was the assembly that took time… It was more work putting him together than I’d expected, the ears and feet especially were a bit fiddly. Felt, cardboard and chenille sticks to hold the shape. The ears from the original pattern looked a bit weird, so I made up some new ones, a little rounder. I think he looks great, my mother was very happy and impressed when she got him 🙂

Okay, if you are related to me in any way, don’t read this!

It’s about your Christmas presents, you see… Not that I think any of my family reads this blog anyway, they don’t usually read English stuff. However, my mother checks my Flickr page now and then, so it’s best to be on the safe side. It would be bad to ruin the surprises. First, a few non-present projects:

A crocheted gingerbread house. It’s tiny, only 7cm high and 8cm long! The house itself is actually Tunisian crochet, because I want the walls to be as thick and sturdy as possible. Not quite sure I succeeded, it looks kind of floppy. Maybe I need cardboard walls after all. I guess I’ll see after I crochet some snow and decorations and a bottom for the house. I got the idea to make the house from Pysselkiisen’s blog, where she posted a pattern for a crocheted gingerbread house. You can see the original pattern for the house here (in Swedish) 🙂

Another thing I’ve been working on lately are these tiny Tunisian crochet coin purses. To be honest I just wanted to try out some color combinations, but I have no patience for making stuff for no purpose. Today I sewed one together and put a button on and everything 🙂 *Proud* I think I’ve said it before, but I hate sewing on buttons. Anyway, I’m quite pleased with them 🙂

This is the second attempt at the wristwarmers for my cousin, and this time they are big enough to be felted. However, I’m not sure I want to give them away, as I found another pattern I’d like to try. You can see the pattern here (also in Swedish). I want to make them in black and white, possibly with mohair instead of regular yarn.

Finally I have also started to knit a Clanger (this is the nose) for my mother. In case you don’t know, The Clangers is an animated TV series made in the seventies, about some pink (knitted) aliens on a blue planet, and they whistle when they talk. Very cute 🙂 I am too young to have seen them on TV, but my mother watched the show when she was little, and she remembers them. I’m not sure if she knows that they are pink, because in Norway the show was aired in black and white, at least the first episodes. So now I’m knitting a Clanger from a pattern I found here, and I have ordered the complete series on dvd to give my mother for Christmas 🙂 I feel like I’ve been quite inventive with some of the presents this year, I hope I can keep it up for the rest of the family.