It snowed 7 inches between 4:00 p.m. and midnight last night and hubby got stuck in traffic for 4 hours on his way home from work. We lost power, no more than 10 minutes after I pulled dinner out of the oven, but it was restored somewhere around 1 a.m. (the heat kicking back on woke me up). 

So, since we got a snow day from work, I have some unexpected free time! And while the hubby is being so sweet and shoveling all the snow off the driveway, I get to show you some of my latest creations! By the way, Molly, the 5 month old kitten makes crocheting a bit difficult, but extremely interesting. She loves to tug on that dangling yarn! Never a dull moment around here.

Molly and Rug
Molly likes the rug, but she likes the pink scrap of yarn even more. I don't have a picture of the rug without a kitty, but you can get the gist of it. I made the rug with Lion Brand WoolEase, so it's very soft and fluffy!
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Here's the rug again, this time Oliver wanted to be the model.
One of my co-workers just had her birthday and she really likes pigs. So I made her a little piggy. I am actually quite impressed with myself, this is the first amigurumi project I have made where I created my own pattern for it. And I think it turned out quite nicely! I think my favorite part is the tail, you can't see it very well in the pictures, but it twists just enough to look like a real piglet's tail. The ears were the hardest to figure out, and I made a lot before I settled on the final design. 
I'll leave you with some kitty pictures. I've been organizing my office and put an empty basket on my desk. I will probably eventually use it for my yarn stash, but Oliver is loving it being empty for now. Also, Molly really enjoys the camera. As I was taking pictures, she kept wanting to know what that light was and kept trying to attack it. 
 
The monkey I was working on last post is finished! I made him along with his chocolate brother over the past couple days and am now crafting a giraffe, this time reading the directions correctly  (he is actually coming along quite nicely). 


Here are a few shots of the monkeys.
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The brown/chocolate monkey I made as a prize for one of the middle school girls in my Bible study. My mom and I teach the 6th grade girls Bible study on Wednesday evenings, and my mom has come up with this thing called "Memorize For a Prize". This is where we give the girls a couple of verses or a passage from the Bible and if they can come back in the following weeks and recite what we gave them, they win a prize. Hopefully the prizes will encourage them to hide God's word in their hearts (Psalm 119:11).


Now I'm off to figuring out what verses are next in the Memorize For a Prize series. . .
 
I am still alive! Although, sometimes I believe my brain would beg to differ (just ask my husband... haha).


I have been a bit busy with life, which, in this case, is also known as not taking the time to organize my thoughts enough to write a paragraph, let alone a blog post. That being said, today's blog will be about a bit of what I've been up to these last two and a half weeks. 


About two weeks ago, I decided to teach myself how to read crocheting instructions. I found some patterns that I really liked and, with some online help, started figuring out amigurumi animals. (Amigurumi is the Japanese art of crocheting or knitting dolls and other toys). I started with this Snowy Owl, pictured below.
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Then, I found a pattern for a Bumble Bee. I think he turned out quite adorable!
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Next, came Mr. Giraffe. It appears as if I may have misread/mis-stitched his neck... it's just a mite too thick. But I do believe that gives him character! (The next one will, hopefully, be slightly more proportionate!)
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The amigurumi I have most recently finished is this handsome little Elephant. Who says Elephants can't be blue?
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I am currently finishing up a sweet little monkey, and then will tackle the rest of the zoo. 


I hope you enjoyed the photo blog, as the following blogs may very well be made up mostly of photos. Thanks for taking time to read my ramblings!