Giddy up and swappin'

I saw the pattern for a stick horse (hobby horse) in the Interweave Knits Gifts book and thought it would be great for the little grandmunchkins to have one. I thought it would spark creativity and active play. I'm not sure they achieved either of those things for the grandmunchkins but they did both for me. That is if you think knitting is active play. I happen to think that it's a great active play for a 50 something grandmother. I finished three of them and the fourth is currently in progress. They are basically a huge sock that gets felted down to size. I knit one of them in an evening and a day. The ears are a bit big and the first two look a bit more like donkeys than horses so I sized down the ears a bit on the princess pony. The full details are on my ravelry page. I gave the kiddos their horses while we were camping so there was too much going on for them to take much interest in them. We'll see as time progresses if I got more enjoyment out of knitting them than the kids did in playing with them.

I joined yet another swap in the Itty Bitty group on ravelry. This is such a great group to swap with and they've become virtual friends through the swaps. This swap is a three month swap Teddy Bear Picnic swap. The first package was to be a kit for some part of the picnic. The elements can be sewn, knit, or bought and has to include a bear, a tea set, a blanket, and food. At least one element has to be knit or be a kit for a pattern from the Itty Bitty books. I sent mine out and I was so excited about sending it out before the deadline (I'm always late) that I forgot to get a picture! My kit included a tote bag, stitch markers, bamboo needles, yarn, and note pad to make the finger food in Itty Bitty toys. I also included a teddy bear quilt that matched the tote bag to sit on while stitching. The bag and quilt were from leftover fabric from other projects so it was a good use of fabric.

My swap package arrived while we were camping and is the kit to make the tea set using Tahki cotton classic. I spied this pattern a while back and almost bought it so I was pretty excited my swap partner included it. The bag and stitch markers she made and I'm pretty excited about both.

I can't wait to see what the next package holds. This was such a fun one to receive!