Stressful

I started a pair of fingerless mittens - you know, a nice, easy, no-attention-required project - but with a sick spouse at home (stressful), and the sister and her two pre-schoolers visiting from overseas (busy), the mittens turned out to be a disaster. The cast-on and gauge on the thumbs were too tight. I didn't have the energy to frog them - just ripped them off the needles and trashed 'em.


I've been able to sew a bit. Here is one of the four crab claws I made for my kids and the nephew.

My kids each wanted a claw so that they could pretend to be Davy Jones from the latest pirates movie, and my nephew needed two claws as he likes to walk sideways and snap his paws, imitating a crab. The challenge was finding fabric that would be stiff enough to retain the claw shape, but not so stiff that it'd be impossible to manipulate. I found an upholstery remnant that fit the bill.

The only yarn-based thing I've been able to complete in the last four weeks or so is this simple crocheted bird (pattern here). I got mixed up on the instructions for the tail, so I just ignored them and did the tail portion as regular stitches, rather than through the front or back loops as called for in the pattern. It made a nice birdie shape, so I'm happy with it. I winged the wings and tail (no pun intended). The beak and feet are pieces of felt, stuck on with a glue gun (gasp!) because I've been too exhausted to embroider/knit/crochet/sew them.