KCBW Day 4

Today's topic was supposed to be a "Where are they now" discussion, but since I give most of my knits away, I've lost track of most of them.  Never mind the fact that since I knit lots of baby gifts, I expect that many of them have probably been outgrown and either passed on, or stored away for future use.  So instead, I'm pulling out the wildcard topic - Embellishments.

 Generally, I would say I'm a minimalist when it comes to knitting design.  I like straight lines, smooth yarns, and limited additions of fringe, bobbles, etc.  In some projects, however, a little bit of embellishment is the perfect thing to take the project from nice but average, to really amazing.

Like on this little cupcake that I made for a friend's birthday last year.  It started as a chocolate cupcake with pink icing.  A crochet border and a few beads later, and its a proper birthday cupcake.


Another time, I wanted to make a stuffed toy for my little nephew, who was in and out of hospital a lot during his first year (he's much better now, thanks to the great doctors at CHEO).  I pulled out my pattern books, and decided to make him a little elephant.

According to the pattern, you just embroider the face and then you're done.  But this elephant needed something more...

so I added a little I cord, and a miniature (and heavily modified) tomten jacket, and voila:

The quiet, unassuming little elephant became the obstreperous Dr. Igor, who came all the way from Russia to watch out for little Emmett! :)  (because everyone needs an obstreperous elephant looking out for them, obviously!)

I've used little knitted embellishments on lots of projects.  This bunting looked pretty plain before I added a few flowers, and a couple of leafy closures:

Another time, I took one plain grey sweater (a February Baby, minus the lace), plus a few knit flowers...

 +

...and made one very cute little girl's sweater!

Other times, its as simple as adding some fun buttons.  This one was inspired by a kid's rhyme...

"Slugs and snails, and puppy dogs' tails, that's what little boys are made of"

None of these embellishments were very hard to make (or find, in the case of the buttons!) - some had patterns, some I just made up on the fly (When's the last time you saw a pattern for a stethoscope!).  Try it out for yourself some time - remember, anybody can knit a sweater, but its how you finish it that makes it special.  :)