knitting by bicycle.

Say that 3 times fast!

A few weeks ago, a little adorable kid decided to have a birthday. This is the same adorable kid that came on the bike tour from Pittsburgh to Leesburg, in the care of his parents. He’s a spectacular little thing…and I don’t usually like kids!

Anyways, his birthday came around and so did the birthday of his best friend, causing a 2 year old birthday brunch celebration to be had out in West Philadelphia. Holy moly, where there a lot of little kiddos there!

Not wanting to arrive empty handed, I whipped up (yes, quite literally since these take just a couple of hours to make) 2 kiwi birds to gift on the birthday kids.

Using only stashed yarn (who doesn’t love that) and fabric scraps as stuffing, in a day and a half, these cuties were born.

I first saw the pattern on Ravelry and queued it immediately. I mean, how could you not. Of course, as my queue keeps growing, I tend to cast on for wearable things instead of toys and whimsy that part of me would rather me making.

I didn’t have any real problems with the pattern, except that sometimes working with DPNs on such few stitches can be a bit finicky. I only used size 5 needles, instead of size 7 for the body and size 5 for the beak and legs. I liked the fabric it was making and, for some reason, trying to use the size 7 DPN was too finicky for my liking.

So, one bird for each kid. Matchy enough, but different enough too. Oh. And appropriately labeled.

……………
Pattern: Crazy Kiwis by Hannah Kaminsky aka Bittersweet (blog link | ravelry link
Cast on: July 23, 2009
Cast off: July 24, 2009
Needles: Size 5 (3.75mm) DPNs
Yarns: Light blue = Araucania Nature Wool Solids (used less than ~.5 skein)
Teal = Cascade 220 Heathers, colorway 4009 (used less than ~.5 skein)
Yellowy Green (beaks and legs) = KnittyDirtyGirl Worsted in Intergalactic cabbage (used just a wee bit)
Mods: used only size 5 needles. stuffed with scrap fabric. embroidery thread for eyes. used scrap fabric and embroidery thread for name labels on bird tooshies.