Ornaments and Chistmas Lights

          There's a cold front blowing in that's supposed to drop the temperatures here to the 40s and 30s and bring rain to boot, so Mom and I are going to spend today inside putting up the Christmas decorations. (and baking cookies)


    After many tries and several site changes I finally got a good picture of all three of my knitted roosters. It was almost impossible to get a photo that wasn't too far away and still showed their pretty tail feathers and the rest of them, at the same time.

      I ended up having to get my mom to hold a branch from or tree while I took a photo. And spreading a bunch of gauzy fabric under my window with some between the roosters and my window to make the sunlight less harsh.    

   As you can see the black rooster in the picture has green eyes. He is a Christmas present for my mom and she said she wanted it to have green eyes. Unless someone orders a custom color the black roosters will have yellow eyes.  After this I will also be gluing an extra long tail feather she found while feeding the roosters onto mom's rooster. She was born in the year of the rooster so this is a good luck charm for her, too.   

 Here's a link to the listing: https://www.etsy.com/listing/169909098/rooster-ornament?

                  Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Colorful Boucle Cowls

I've got a new listing! It's my 43rd. And like everything else in my shop ships for free within  the US if ordered before midnight 12/4/13 using Promo code FREESHIPPING.

I love this cowl. Unlike my feather and fan stich cowl it only takes about 6 hours to knit. Last time it took 8, and about 20 extra rows. It was like a horror movie I kept knitting and knitting but it didn't get any bigger. I think I was knitting too tightly. I'm giving a couple to my mother and will be keeping a few of the prototypes for myself. Anyway here's the listing:

These boucle hand knitted cowls come in a verity of colors to fit any skin tone or color preference. Buy one for everyone on your list (and don't forget yourself). 

  Each cowl is 10" square and knit so that it stretches to be worn fashionably loose, but still fits snugly against your face and neck when things get chilly. Stylish, functional, and oh so soft. A truly unique gift; Due to the nature of variegated yarn no two cowls will look exactly the same. Each cowl is signed with a small 'J'.
    Available in A Lighter Shade of Green (green and cream), Turquoise Sea, Ocean Blue (mix of light and dark blue), Berry Purple, Fade to Black (shades of white, grey and black), A Forest of Green (different shades of green), Cosmic Colors(black with stripes of different colors), and Magenta Pomegranate.   
  They are made in a smoke free environment from a soft 88% acrylic and 12% nylon blend yarn that feels wonderful against your skin. Hand wash and dry flat.

Click here to order your own: https://www.etsy.com/listing/171658076/colorful-boucle-cowl


Note: Last Tuesday I told you I was making pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, and green bean casserole for Thanksgiving. I didn't burn anything! The cranberry sauce was good. And I mixed two different pie recipes to made a good pie. With enough pumpkin left to make three more pies. The green bean casserole was pretty good, but it was just frozen green beans, mushroom soup and onions.

               Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day! 

Rooster Ornament

     After a week long hiatus I'm back, sort of. Thanks to copious amounts of orange juice I'm not as congested, but I'm still getting chills and fevers and have developed a cough. My brain is a little  better, but unfortunately still isn't 100%. I am afraid to look at what I wrote last week. I was having trouble reading, not to mention writing, and wasn't making that much sense when talking. But am a little better.

   Anyway... I had most of the rooster finished last week all he needed to have his wings sewn on and for his tail feathers to be picked out and glued in. It drove me a little crazy-er, but I finally finished him.

   I sure wasn't which one to make first, until I saw the gold and black swirling Red Heart Fiesta yarn in my stash. I think it looks like a Golden Wyandotte which is why I crochet him a pea comb.
  The Pattern is a modification of my chick pattern with a comb, wattles, and an ornament loop crocheted on and of course feathers glued in. I used foam balls instead of stuffing, because it will hold it's shape better. I think they are perfect for Christmas and will be great for Chinese New Year. Which is a couple of year from now.
 
  Each rooster is 4" (10.16cm) tall from comb to bottom, 2.75" (6.985cm) wide, about 3.75" (9.525cm) from his beak to start of tail, and dangles 4.75" (12.065cm) from the ornament hook(included).
  Each rooster has 7 rooster tail feathers (from my own farm raised roosters) securely glued into place, is hand knitted out of 100% acrylic yarn and has a foam ball in the body and one in the head to keep their shape. Made in a smoke free environment.
  The pictures are of the Gold and Black version, but they are available in Gold and Black, Black, and Red. I will post pictures of the others soon.
  No two roosters will look exactly alike. Each is signed with a small 'J' on the bottom. Custom orders are available but I am limited to the color feathers I have on hand.    
  *This is not a toy. Allowing children or pets to play with a rooster ornament may result in damage to rooster and possible harm to pet or child.
     Here is a link to the listing so you can buy your own: https://www.etsy.com/listing/169909098/rooster-ornament


            Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!     

Horace Horse

   I've added a new stuffed animal to my listings. Horace the horse, named for one of the lead characters in 'The Ranger's Apprentice' series. (a great series of books by the way.) I decided to work on a pattern for a knitted horse because 2014 is the year of the horse, I couldn't find a pendent I liked, and I cannot make a horse out of polymer clay.

   It took me about fourteen hours to make Horace, most of that time was either spent holding up one of his body parts and asking my mother 'This looks like something, right?' or going back and fixing something I didn't like. I'm hoping the second one won't take as long. I'm shooting for nine hours, that's an hour more than Roxi Rabbit, but there is a lot more involved in making Horace so nine might be doable.

   I learned to make a loop stich for his mane, but I'm not very good at it, yet, that's one of the reasons Horace has the longest processing time of all my items. Hopefully I can lower that as I get better at making him. For some reason tassels, like pompoms, are hard for me to make. I don't know if there is some trick to it or if I just naturally bad at it. Not that that stops me. I sew the base of the tail to secure all the threads. Otherwise it falls a part if you pull on one of the threads.

  This horse doll is about 10 1/2" (26.67cm) when sitting up, not counting his ears, and is 8" (20.32cm) at the shoulder when on all fours. (It takes a bit of work to make him stand like that.) He is one and a half feet (31.75cm) tall if you count the ears. Horace's body is 4" (10.16cm) wide. His legs are 4 1/2" (11.43cm) long and 1 1/2" (3.81cm) wide. His luxurious, black tail is about 8" (20.32cm) long at longest point.
   Here is a link to the listing: https://www.etsy.com/listing/163016552/horace-horse
He ships everywhere. 
   Every horse is unique; yours may not look exactly as pictured. Each is signed with a brown J on the seat.
   Horace is latte brown with a black mane and tail, but custom colors are available.

  Mom thinks he looks like a buffalo on all fours, so I guess I'm half way to a buffalo toy. And 90% of the way to a unicorn or a Pegasus.  It took a bit of work to make him able to stand on all fours while still being able to move his legs, but I really wanted him to be able to. Some of my favorite stuffed animals growing up were ones that were like that.



                 
                             Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!