Gumball Machine!

I've been very busy for many weeks now getting ready for the Bloomington Handmade Market. This will be my second year at the BHM, which is one of the best local craft shows of the year. Besides being furiously busy making stock to sell, I've been putting a lot of thought into how to display my things in an attractive way.

Last week, I decided that I had to have a gumball machine. I was looking at the brightly colored felted bouncy balls I'd just finished, and thinking how much they looked like gumballs in the1-gallon glass jar I stored them in. I started looking into getting a gumball machine, searching Craigslist and sending out a request on Freecycle. It turns out that they're not that uncommon, and that you can buy one for around $25-80.

I also had this vague notion that I'd seen a gumball machine in my grandparents' basement. I debated for a while whether or not I ought to call and ask, since it sounded crazy and I didn't want to confuse my grandmother with such an oddball request. I mean, how would that conversation go? "Hi Mom-Mom! I was wondering if you happen to have a gumball machine sitting around your house?" Finally I decided on sending an e-mail, and to my surprise, they did find a gumball machine in their basement!

They didn't know where it came from and they didn't have a key to open it up, but they said I was welcome to have it and any change inside. This morning I took it to a locksmith, and within a couple hours the lock had been picked and I had a new key to open it up.

Inside was a card from the Lions Club, a 10 cent sticker, one lonely leftover chiclet...

And 352 dimes! Enough to cover the cost of the locksmith and leave $11.99 profit! The shiniest of the dimes were from 1988, so I'm guessing it's been in my grandparents basement for 20 or more years.

Of course, the best part is that now I have a really fun way to display my bouncy balls at the Handmade Market in just over two weeks! The balls come in three sizes, and are $2 for the small balls, $4 for the medium, and $6 for the large. They make awesome stocking stuffers for both kids and pets.

By the way, when the Handmade Market is over, I'm going to make another batch of felted bouncy balls and use the gumball machine to decorate Annie and Laurel's room. Gumballs make everyone smile.

A Chameleon and Egg

Lizards come from eggs too! This Chameleon is the newest reversible toy in my collection, and is made out of more hand-dyed recycled yarns.

He has the amazing ability of camouflaging himself to the ball of yarn he was knit from!

Even the egg can camouflage itself! (On very select backgrounds anyway).

Suggested Retail: $16.00. Come see it in person at the Bloomington Handmade Market this weekend!

Tropical Fish Egg Toy

Here's a new reversible egg toy! This tropical fish showcases a couple of my hand-dyed recycled yarns, and was a lot of fun to design.

Since fish eggs are transparent, I thought about knitting the egg with fishing line. Deciding that would be difficult and likely to be wonky-shaped, I ended up using a white cotton (recycled) yarn which gives a nice transparent effect. It also keeps the nice soft kid-friendliness of this toy intact.

Swish!

Fish kisses!

Suggested retail: $16.00

A Platypus

Platypodes are amazing animals. They have bills like ducks, webbed feet, beaver tails, lay leathery reptilian eggs, lactate, and can shoot venom from their feet! There are so many weird facts about platypodes that you'll just have to look them up yourself. I've always been fascinated by the crazy creatures, and couldn't wait to knit one for my reversible egg toy collection.

My biologist husband and I had a lot of reading platypodes while I was working on knitting this toy. The weirdest fact we read is that, although they do produce milk, they lack teats with which to dispense milk to their infants. Instead, the mother platypus secrets milk from glands in her skin. That milk pools up and the babies lap up the milk from the mother's skin. Isn't that wild?

Apparently, when European scientists discovered platypodes a British researcher named W.H. Caldwell sent a wire back to Britain reading simply "Monotremes oviparous, ovum meroblastic" In other words, Platypodes lay eggs and those eggs are reptilian in nature. That incredibly nerdy telegram really amused Collin and me. My knitted egg isn't very leathery or reptilian, but it is nice and yellow like platypus eggs!

In case you're curious, the brown and yellow yarns are recycled yarns, unraveled from a lovely rayon-cashmere-wool blend sweater. The black feet and face are knit with handspun naturally black wool.

... And there you have it. One of the strangest creatures God ever created. And it can be yours for just $16.00! Come check it out at the Bloomington Handmade Market on November 6th.

A Phoenix Hen

While taking a break from the species specific birds I've been knitting, I thought I'd knit a fun imaginary bird from the recycled verigated yarns that I've dyed. Therefore, I present to you: A Phoenix Hen. Now, I realize that this doesn't look much like a crazy firey bird, nor like the breed of chicken. Nevertheless, I thought the overall effect looked kind of like what might be the result of a phoenix marrying a chicken. Very cute, if a little odd.

This Phoenix-Hen comes from a robin-blue colored egg.

In this case, the cool blue tones are deceptive. Crack open the egg, and you'll find a firey-red bird!

"Well, my father was a phoenix, and my mother was a hen. But I'm ok with that now."

Suggested Retail: $16.00. This bird will be for sale at the Bloomington Handmade Market on November 6th, come check it out!

Felted Bouncy Balls

For over two months I've been working like crazy to get ready for my first big show - the Bloomington Handmade Market. I've got a ton of cool stuff finished and sitting in my work room, waiting to be photographed and labeled. Since the show is just a week away, I've forced myself to stop creating and get some of that logistical work done. First up: Felted bouncy balls!

These balls were a great way to showcase some of my beautiful hand-painted recycled yarns. They feel a lot like tennis balls, are lovely to hold yet still bounce excellently. My 14-month-old baby loves to play with them!

A whole gallon of bouncing fun!

These bouncy balls are a really amazing deal, and are perfect for stocking stuffers!

Large: $6.00 Medium: $4.00 Small: $2.00

Felted Angora Rabbits

My garden is being overrun with rabbits!

Many years ago, I knit a toy rabbit for one of my younger siblings. It was really cute, but a lot of work to knit on fine gauge needles. Then I saw a version of this stuffed bunny in a book, based on that same pattern, but sewn from a felted angora sweater. Perfect! I found a white angora/wool sweater which had already been shrunk at Goodwill, took it apart, dyed some of it with tea and some with pink lemonade, and created this herd of rabbits.

Each rabbit is stitched with love, and stuffed with lusciously soft mohair roving.

This white rabbit is the only one with a detailed face. I thought I'd see what colored eyes and a nose looked like. I liked them, but not any more than the plain version. That, and the fact that I broke my felting needle on this rabbit made my decision to leave the other bunnies unadorned an easy one.

You really have to feel these bunnies to appreciate how soft they are.

Suggested Retail: $8.00 each.

Turtle Cousins

Finally, a reversible egg that isn't a bird! Here are my first two turtles reversibles. Aren't they fun?

When I come back to making animals in a few weeks I'm sure I'll be making some more, as well as some other reptiles and amphibians. Plus, I still want to make a platypus.

Suggested Retail: $16.00. The turtle with the brown shell pattern will be available at the Paper Crane in Bloomington on and after October 15th.

American Bluebird

The latest in my series of species-specific bird/egg toys is this beautiful American Bluebird. I think he might be my favorite bird so far. He's got a red breast and a little white underbelly which you can barely see in these pictures.

I really need to take a break from knitting birds, partly because I'm running out of creative ideas for photographing them. (Also because I have so many other cool ideas for other projects that I can't wait to put up here as soon as I get through all my bird orders!)

This egg is in a pastel teal that coordinates beautifully with his outer coat.

Suggested Retail: $16.00. This bluebird will be available for sale in Bloomington at the Paper Crane on and after October 15.

Little Yellow Chick

I just dropped of a batch of new items at a local art store that will be opening up in Mid-October. That's right, The Paper Crane at 401 W 6th St will be selling some of my items! Not only is it local, it's just down the street from me! I hope you'll all check them out on or after their Grand Opening on October 15th.

Anyway, one of the items I dropped off was this baby chicken. Although in the picture above, he's still hiding in his brown egg. But clearly, there is something different about that egg...

Whoa! I guess that egg hid in the nest a little too long.

Ahhh. It feels good to be out of my shell.

Time to take off and flyyyyyyy!

*Crash* Oops. Ouch. That kinda hurt.

I'm ok, I'm ok! Time to take off and see the world. This chick is on the lam!

(Actually, this chick in in a box at the Paper Crane awaiting the grand opening. But you can go visit him in his new home. Or I can make you a new chick by special order.)

Suggested Retail: $16.00

The Ugly Duckling

"He is not handsome, but he is a thoroughly good creature, and he swims as beautifully as any of the others. I think I might venture even to add that I think he will improve as he goes on, or perhaps that he may grow smaller. He was too long in the egg, and so he has not come out with a very good figure."

-Mother Duck, The Ugly Duckling, Hans Christian Anderson

A friend of mine asked if I could make an "Ugly Duckling" because it is her son's favorite story and they would enjoy being able to act it out with a toy cygnet. A "cygnet" is, of course, a baby swan. In this case, however, I think the description "Ugly Duckling" works pretty well. He's very ungainly, but still kind of cute in his ugliness. The egg (above and below) is made from a green-gray-brown heather yarn which looks very much like a swan egg.

The egg blends in with the rocks on the shore line.

Poor lonely little bird.

The Ugly Duckling hid in a clump of grass so that the ducks wouldn't peck him and the hunters wouldn't shoot him.

Then, one day, the ugly duckling saw some birds he'd never seen before. Oh, if only he could look more like them instead of being such an ugly creature.

...Someday...

Finally, he grew into a graceful adult swan. "He thought of how he had been pursued and scorned, and now he heard them all say that he was the most beautiful of all beautiful birds... saying with exultation in his heart, 'I never dreamt of so much happiness when I was the Ugly Duckling!'"

-H.C.A.

Suggested Retail: $16.00