FO- Pasha the Penguin

I had meant to blog with abandon over the holidays (from my parent's house in Sudbury, Ontario), but I forgot the cable that allows me to get the pictures from my camera onto my parents computer. So no blogging from my end, although Jen has been doing a bang up job. So, rather than do a giant post that tries to cover everything, I'll do a few small ones over the next few days. First up: this cutie pie, Pasha.
Pattern: Pasha, from Knitty

Needles: 4 mm straights

Yarn: generic craft yarn that I keep specifically for toy knitting

Mods: When sewing up the beak, I tucked a lot of it in (meaning I sewed the seam about four rows in), so that it was pointier. If I had sewn just the seams, it would have been a thicker, rounder beak, and I'm not sure if I would have liked it as much. Also, there is the option of having a tubby penguin or a fairly svelte penguin, and I opted for svelte. Which is still pretty portly, for a penguin. Check out that profile: My stepdad specifically requested a knitted stuffy for Christmas, so he got Pasha. He has since requested two smaller penguins, and a polar bear. Presumably so that we can continue the Christmas-themed photo shoots outside in the front lawn, with the light up candy canes. Who knows, we could make a knitted version of those Christmas Coke commericals with the penguins and the polar bears.

Can I just say how much fun it is to knit stuffies? I love how quick and satisfying they are, and I find that muggles (non-knitters) are always so much more enthusiastic than they ever get over a scarf. I think it's the element of surprise- everyone expects knitters to churn out scarves.

I Hate Surprises- Unless it's a Swap!!!

I've been working on Pasha, the penguin stuffy from Knitty. It's going to be a gift for my stepdad, a gift that he requested. When he saw my tiger, he said he really wanted me to knit him a stuffed animal. So, enter Pasha: I would really like to sew up Pasha and stuff him, but I can't- I have run out of safety eyes, and my trip to Walmart (Why no, Walmart in December is not an insane zoo that should be avoided at all costs....)came up empty handed. I'm sure I can find them somewhere in the city, but I hate it when something's all knitted up and all it needs is finishing. I worry that I'll loose one of the pieces somehow.

And today in the post, a lovely present arrived!!! This was from Christine, who organized the Wes Anderson theme swap. She didn't start off as my partner, but since mine vanished, she was wonderful enough to step in and save the day. What a sweetie!! My lovely package includes:Key Lime and white chocolate cookies, 2 skeins of a lovely Life Aquatic-inspired yarn already spun into delicious little yarn cakes, a raspberry choclate bar, A mind-blowingly soft skein of Suri Alpaca, along with instrucitons for knitting a ebanie she designed! And most impressively, a fabulous red beanie inspired by Team zissou from The Life Aquatic. I wanted to do a modelled shot, but I'm in pyjamas, and I just got out of the shower, and it all seemed like too much trouble. I will show it off soon, though.

In general life news, I've recently resigned from my day job. I was offered a new one,at a different company, which I'll be starting January 3rd. The new job is more money, less work, a more prestigious positon and all that jazz. But for some reason, I've been weepy and maudlin about it. It's really quite pathetic. I had no idea I liked my job and my coworkers so much.

The other day we were supposed to meet in the boardroom for some Christmas fun- an ornament swap. but when I got there, there was a card and a gift and a cake that said, "Congratulations Julie". And for some reason, I panicked. I guess I just felt ambushed. I left the room, went to the exit stairwell of my office building, ran up 5 flights of stairs, and then sat down.

I hid in the stairwell for 45 minutes to avoid the party. Yes, you read that right- I HID FROM MY OWN FAREWELL PARTY. When I eventually snuck back to my desk, my dearest coworkers pretended nothing unusual had happened. A cup of tea and a slice of cake were at my desk, along with the gift, and a card. I eyed all of these things suspiciously (except the tea), pushed them aside, and went back to work. I drank the tea, but everything else had to wait- I wasn't ready to deal with it. I was going to get all weepy again. Eventually, I did open the card and the gift. And this is what they got me: A beautiful skein of Fleece Artist Goldielocks, already wound into a lovely yarn cake. So not only did I hide from my farewell party, I hid from yarn.