Bone Health

My doctor emphasizes the importance of healthy bones, so I made her this bone as a gift:



I followed the bone pattern by Crafty Pants!, who cleverly adapted it from Pepika's heart pattern.

My doctor liked the crochet bone so much, she invited me to make another for her puppy. I gladly sent her a second bone, which likely became a short-lived chew toy. Calci-yum!

May you and your bones have a healthy and happy new year!

Snow Love

The snowmen noggin ornaments went outside today to reconnect with their snowy roots:


By chance, they discovered the joys of winter romance:


A body made of real snow improves eye contact:


Ah yes, there is no love like snow love!

Holiday Noggins

What spells holiday cheer better than disembodied heads?

For this year's Christmas tree, I crocheted these sans-corps ornaments featuring Santa, Rudolf, a gingerbread man and two snowmen (one snowman found an ice cream cone as a prosthetic). A yarn bell sits near the tree's peak:

For the snowmen, I learned how to make french knots for their mouths, a simple stitch that will be useful for future creations:



For the gingerbread man, I originally used french knots of white yarn for the eyes, but they looked eerie for some reason. So beady eyes won over:


For Santa's beard, I used a piece of velcro to distress the white yarn until it looked fluffier:


For Rudolf, I stuffed his muzzle with an L.E.D. keychain flashlight, which lights up when pressed:


For the bell, I stuffed a real jingle bell inside its clapper. Wrapped in yarn, the bell sounds more like a rattle:


All of the noggin ornaments are captured in the video below, including Rudolf's touch-activated nose and the bell's rattle action:

May your holiday season be full of eggnog and free from disembodiment!

Sonny

Today was the first day of snow here, which is good timing for Sonny's debut:


I made this portable sun for Julia, who designed two of the books I had the honour of illustrating: "Who Discovered America?" and "Robots". Over the summer, I shared with her my hesitation about joining the world of crochet...

Along with an invitation to make her something, Julia told me that her teenage daughter--and her male & female classmates--were already using crochet and knitting for self expression. Her pep talk gave me the boost I needed to continue learning yarn-craft.

So here's to sunshine in the face of snow, and to encouragement in the face of doubt!

Woomi

I have attempted self-portraits before, such as in this illustration from wootoons.com:

What would a self-portrait look like if made from yarn? At first, this would be the grisly scene:


It took me three clumsy hours to stitch these pieces together, but this time-lapse video mercifully reduces the process to a minute:

Making Woomi from woowork on Vimeo.

His name is Woomi:



My girlfriend and I brought Woomi outside to re-enact the woowork.com banner image:



This was the first time I crocheted in public, and I felt self-conscious. I'm aware of the double-takes when a guy is seen working with yarn. My girlfriend overhears "grandma" when she's making a scarf on the bus. But those stereotypes will fade as more people of all ages and genders become interested in yarn-craft.

After-all, Woomi is far from an effeminate senior citizen: he plays basketball and practices kung-fu:



To draw a self portrait, focus on the features that make you stand apart. That same approach can be used by anyone following their artistic interests.

Music for Mom

My mom plays the piano and the harp, so I often give her birthday gifts that are adorned with music notes.

To continue the annual musical tradition, I used my new crochet abilities to make her this clef symbol:


The symbol is formed by a long narrow tube stitched together at two points, joined in the middle by a heart nose, with pipe cleaners in both ends for the curls.

My mom liked the musical crochet gift, which now hangs next to her piano with the music note floor mat near the music note wall tile above the couch with the music note throw pillows...