A Collaboration

Phew, it's been a busy start to the week! Work was a bit busier than usual yesterday and included the news of an unexpected immediate resignation in my group, so I'm hoping for a calmer day today.

We had a really nice weekend, even if it went too quickly (as it usually does), and it was highlighted by a party for my nephew's birthday -- he turned 2 last week. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law recently moved into a new house that has a nice backyard, and the weather cooperated to allow them to have a small gathering of family and a few friends outside. Everyone there was vaccinated, too, other than the handful of kids who are still too young (Rainbow was by far the oldest one there). The highlight was probably a massive water balloon fight that started out being for the kids and ended up with most of the adults involved in trying to soak each other.

We took some more traditional gifts (toys, a book), but Rainbow really wanted to give her cousin something handmade, and she asked me to help her with it so it would be done in time. She had dug through one of my stash bins and pulled out several partial skeins in shades of blue -- including one that was from a cardigan I knit for her when she was little and that she has since passed on to my nephew! I helped her get started on a "solid" granny square, and she asked me to make an amigurumi animal head to attach to make it a lovey or woobie or whatever you want to call it. I think it turned out very cute:

I used the head of a bear pattern from Zoomigurumi, one of six books in the series that I won in an Instagram giveaway. I opted to embroider the face to make it safer for a kid who is still putting almost everything in his mouth but otherwise followed the pattern exactly (or at least tried to -- I'm still new to this and likely made a mistake or two!). After I had stuffed it and closed it up, I sewed it on well to the center of the blanket. I can identify most of the yarns used here -- from the outside in is Madelinetosh in Robin's Egg, Well Water, Betty Draper's Blues, and Lapis, and I think the darkest blue at the center is Cascade 220 Superwash Paints in Sapphire Seas.

When my nephew opened this gift at his party, he was nonplussed, but that was pretty much his reaction to most if not all of his gifts. My sister-in-law said he'd love it, though, and reported the next day that he slept with it that night. And then yesterday my brother-in-law texted us this photo:

I think it's safe to say that it was a successful collaboration and a great gift!