Friday yarn roundup

Or, things I saw on the internets that made me go, "OooOOOOOOOooh!" this week.

Wintertime Mice

I stumbled across these sweet-as-sugar amigurmui mice and literally gasped out loud. The cuteness! Oh, the cuteness! It's fascinating to me the way some people just have a knack for taking a great pattern and making it even more fantastic by selecting the most perfect yarns and colour palettes. My Beloved routinely tells me that I have a habit of making sketchy colour choices (there was, for example, the great butterscotch kitchen incident of '06), so I'm awed by those who have a good feel for colour and colour combinations. Without help.

The only issue with the wintertime mice is that the blog where they live is written in another language. Luckily there's a link to the original home of these adorable mice embedded in the mystery blog. So thank you to Amigurumi To Go for the incredible mouse pattern that I will absolutely be making...as soon as I check with My Beloved to find out what colours I should be using.

Rosy Tea Cozy

I have been wanting a tea cozy for ages. I've gone and gotten myself hooked on Barry's Irish Tea (which has spoiled me for all other tea for the rest of eternity), and now need a tea cozy to go with my habit.

This crocheted stunner is definitely one I'd consider making, although Louise over at Tea at Weasel's frankensteined it together using a couple of different patterns and adjusted it to fit her tiny teapot. But the inspiration is still really all that matters, right? And her English garden cozy is about as inspiring as it gets (just don't tell the makers of my Irish tea).

Fabulous Fox and Cat

I think these tiny knitted pillows from over at Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky! also made me gasp, because look at the cute! I grew up with a tuxedo cat who had a mask just like these two little guys, and I can absolutely see one of these made up in black and white to match my old Petey. They'd be super cute Christmas tree ornaments for cat lovers too (even though I think one is meant to be a fox).

I'm pretty excited that this is labeled a beginners project, although admittedly the thought of doing colour changes is a little daunting. I once sat slack-jawed watching a friend knit the most beautiful but terrifyingly intricate Nordic-style mittens with what looked like toothpicks (but were really tiny double pointed needles, she explained). That memory sits in the back of my head whenever I see a knitted pattern that comes with any sort of chart.

But my fear of knitted colour changes feels like manageable one to overcome. I should work on that. Maybe with this pattern...

Celtic Afghan

My mom knit a gorgeous, cream coloured, tassel bedecked afghan for me when I was in my teens. Cables and bobbles and diamonds and all manner of intricate work went into that gorgeous blanket, which I still have--and use! She also whipped up a manly knitted afghan for My Beloved the first Christmas we were together (it also still gets regular use--we keep our house kind of on the chilly side).

So when I saw this crocheted afghan from Lion Brand Yarns I was flabbergasted. I know nice afghans, and this is a niiiiiiiice afghan. As a crocheter who secretly longs to be a better knitter, I love the fact that this blanket looks knitted. It's not often you see such convincing cable work on a crocheted item. Kudos to whoever designed this masterpiece!

And that's the kind of week it's been. 

Now bring on the weekend!

Enjoy!