I was doing some perusing on Etsy and thought I’d share my finds with you! I love looking at bookish things, and with the holidays coming up, maybe you’ll see the perfect something for someone!

Sold by JunqueInTheTrunque, this pillow has the page from a mid-1900s cloth book. You can also convo her to request something specific, and she’ll see what she can find!

I love Icelandic Poppies, and poppies on a reading pillow?! Sold! Sold by susanskeepsake.

Aren’t these bookends adorable? Nextdoortoheaven makes them.

I just love this. Found it at hilariagalleries’ shop.

Zombie Limericks??!! Can we say WINNER for a stocking stuffer?!

A Gotta Read necklace! So cute! There’s also one for Word Nerd. LOL.

How can you go wrong with these for $1.75? Sold by beanforest.

Ahahaha!! So awesome. Bookity, I love you.

An upcycled necklace by RespectYourMother.

There’s also a really cool bookmark that I’m buying for a friend who reads this so I can’t show it to you yet. I’ll show it to you once I’ve given it to her, though!

My friend got pregnant so I wanted to knit/crochet everything I could for her. This friend was the recipient of the amigurumi giraffe. That giraffe was a HIT at the baby shower. A little boy picked it up, held it in front of his face, kissed it and then hugged it. He put it down for about an hour but then went back and picked it up and just held it tucked under his arm. I think I lactated.

Unfortunately, this blanket wasn’t completed by the time her baby shower rolled around, so I wrapped it up on the needles, let her look at it and made her give it back. I gave it to her this past Monday (two days ago), which was her due date, and she’s getting really close to going into labor as of today. Yay for getting the gift done before the baby arrived!

Anyway, I knew I wanted to make a blanket, and some experienced knitters recommended the feather and fan stitch. I found a quick and easy feather and fan pattern in a booklet that promised I could whip out a baby blanket in 8 hours.

I decided that I wanted something that she could wash but that was natural fibers. I settled on a wool/nylon blend that’s washable and dryable. This yarn is a sock yarn so I used two yarns held together.

It’s a petty easy stitch, but I had to cast on 121 stitches and it still didn’t end up being as big as I wanted.

It ended up being 20 x 32 inches. It’s not as big as a receiving blanket, but good for things like the car seat and throwing over the mom’s shoulder when holding the baby.

You can see the front and back here. The front is on the right and the back is on the left. The pattern is lovely from either side, and if you look at the pictures that show the scalloped edge, well, the pattern automatically scallops both edges. I knitted straight and that’s what happened. Isn’t that cool!

The blanket’s really soft; it’ll be perfect for the bebe.

The tension throughout the blanket is fantastic. I was really pleased with myself (my husband said, “Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back!”) since this is only my third knitting project.

Are you working on any crafy projects?

This project is only my second crochet project and I’m very pleased with how it turned out.

Amigurumi is the “art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals.” I found this pattern on the Lion Brand website long before I ever took up crocheting (it’s a free pattern, but you’ll need to sign up for an account in order to get the pattern). I thought it was cute enough that I should learn to crochet just so I could make this giraffe.

Since this was my first project, I stuffed it to the point that it’s solid. Solid like a bowling pin. I’d already stitched the body up when I realized it would have been nice if it was a little softer. Oh well. Isn’t that what a baby’s mouth is for?

I followed the pattern exactly, all the way to the end when I had to crochet the horns (you crochet everything separately). You end up with 8 stitches that you have to decrease down to 4, and I was finding that I had gaps in my stitches (which I didn’t like) and I was having a hard time finding those four stitches in order to crochet the bottom part of the horns. So instead of decreasing to 4 stitches, I only decreased to 6. That made it so that I didn’t have any gaps in the stitches and crocheting those few rows was much easier with 6 stitches than it was with 4. Maybe this is something that will get easier the longer I crochet.

This giraffe worked up really quickly. If I’d had more time to devote to it, it probably could have been done in a week or two.

I’m trishc on Ravelry if you want to be friends!

What projects have you been working on lately?

I started knitting in July 2008. I was going to visit some relatives and had decided now was a good time to start knitting. My friend had gifted me with some lovely knitting needles for my birthday, I had a magazine with instructions in the back that I’d picked up somewhere, and I had yarn from when I’d used some Knifty Knitters.

My first project was this blanket:

I started it that same weekend at my relatives’ house. I had my aunt take me to a craft store where I bought the circular needles and yarn I needed. My aunt helped me with the problem of knitting on the wrong side (oops!), and after that I was off! It took me four or five months to complete this afghan, but I love it. It’s warm, it’s stretchy, it’s pretty, and it’s perfect (until I point out all the imperfections ).

I completed at least one scarf after that blanket, but then found out in January that my friend was pregnant. I can’t tell you how many baby showers I’ve been to where someone made something for the baby and I was so completely envious that someone could create something with their hands. Obvs, the first thing I thought of when my friend said she was pregnant was, “What can I make for the baby?!”

I go to a knitting group on the first and third Wednesdays, and I told them about the upcoming baby and how I wanted to make something. They gave me some great ideas, and I showed them this hat and how I wished I could make it but it was crocheted and I can’t crochet. One of the ladies awesomely offered to show me how to crochet since the hat uses very basic crochet stitches, so one night she showed me how to double crochet (I already knew how to chain), triple crochet, and how to crochet into a loop, and I was off! This was the hat I crocheted:

If you look on the left side of the hat, there’ s a little flower that was also crocheted and attached on to the hat. I gave that hat to another friend who had just had a baby.

Unfortunately, it turns out my friend is having a BOY (which I didn’t know when I started crocheting these very girly hats), so this bright pink hat will be going to another friend who I KNOW is having a girl:

This is a different yarn than the light pink one. This one is a baby cashmerino. It ruffled up better than the light pink one. The light pink one is a cotton, and while it looks really cute, the ruffle wasn’t as pronounced as I was hoping it would be.

Below is a scarf I knitted that I think is super cute. It’s my favorite scarf right now. It has ruffles on the bottom. RUFFLES!

I’m currently working on two projects, both of them most likely for my friend who’s having the boy: a toy giraffe that I’m crocheting (that’s coming out super cute!) and a blanket that I’m knitting in the feather and fan stitch. I’ll be sure to post pictures when they’re completed!

Do you do anything crafty? What are you working on right now?

Edited to add: My Ravelry username is trishc, if anyone is also on Ravelry!