birthday birds

The funny thing about Dave's gift to me this year is that it included another Arne and Carlos book! He apparently likes them, too because I got their "Favorite Designs" book that is essentially like a greatest hits album. I also got floral wire and outdoor paint, which took me a beat to realize why... Birds! Dave has sat with me while I watched some of their videos on all the things you can do with their knitted bird pattern. He must have especially liked the one where they showed how to make and paint the legs because he's offered to make some legs for me with the wire and paint. So cool! He's the best. 

Of course that means that the first thing I was making out of the book was a bird. It was surprisingly easy and I can tell this will become habit forming. It's a great way to use up short leftovers - it took me just over 20 yards and a couple of hours to make this first bird. It is going to be my little bird avatar.

They are so stinkin' cute. I was having so much fun with this little guy once it was done. DJ Birdbrain? 

And of course one bird avatar deserves another... one for Dave! I was pretty proud of myself, I actually knitted the second one from memory. The way the pattern is written makes it really easy to think section by section and remember how the increases and decreases go. Again, so cute. This one is a little bit bigger because I used slightly bigger needles - they were handy and the smaller ones were put away. The nice thing is that it doesn't really matter what the gauge is as long as the filling doesn't show through once it's stuffed - a true improvisational project.

Last night I got to sit and knit to my heart's content, a wonderful two bird birthday evening starting with Dave's bird and ending with this larger guy with a red cap. The flock is growing!