Adventures in Little things that bring happiness

Ok - so a few days ago I decided I was going to leave my knitting comfort zone and make a stuffed animal. I had yet to find a pattern book that called to me like a Siren in the night, but finally I found it! Amigurumi Animal Friends is that book. So wonderfully simple, yet so painfully adorable. I also love that it uses all skills needed to make pretty much any animal that the heart desires rather than just the 9 featured in the book.
So- with pattern in hand I bravely started on my new project. What resulted was so much better than I ever could have imagined. Our neighborhood now has a new friend. His name is Sketch and is a wompy little owl that really likes adventures. This works out well as so do we. Alas - I present to you, Adventures in Little Things that Bring Happiness: A picture history of Sketch's first days

From the first day Sketch was around We just knew he was a curious sort. He spent a while gazing longingly out the window, breathing in the fresh air and hoping that someday he too would get to go out into the world and see all that it has to offer. We were a bit worried at first, since he is made of wool; wool does not take kindly to wood chips.

So he helped me sort socks (since the girls both rejected my offer to let them help). Turns out Sketch dislikes sorting socks as much as I do. The socks are still in a pile unsorted. We moved to the office (also known as my "room of awesomeness") 'cause he was curious about his beginnings.

He saw a little bit of my yarn stash and got really excited about the possibility of a new friend that he could share his adventures with. Little does Sketch know... that's not even the half of it.

Since it was nice out, Soph decided that the park would be a good place to do some school. All of us thought it would be pretty lousy to leave Sketch home on his first day with us; we brought him to the park with the promise that he would avoid the wood chips. Soph taught him subtraction, it was a win win.

After school was somewhat completed and our friends came to the park Soph thought it would be nice to share the joy of swinging with Sketch. Due to his small stature and her fear of dropping him in the pit of doom (read as wood chips), she wrapped him up and coddled him while swinging gently so he wouldn't fall.

It started to get chilly at the park, so we went to our friend Kristine's house. (She is the wonderful soul who taught me how to knit and is now my enabler in all things wool and knitting) Sketch had a serious case of "Stash Envy". Not that I can blame him; I'm jealous too. He had a nice time cuddling with the alpaca, merino and all the other goodies that live in Kristine's cabinet of amazement.

Sketch was unaware of the concept of "fiber", since I don't know how to spin. He's a bit upset that I don't have a fiber stash.

Sketch was pretty hungry. I let him have some of my Chicken Curry from Noodle Bar and needless to say the poor bird is addicted. We're all pretty addicted to Noodle Bar, so we don't judge.

Sketch was curious as to what I was doing on the computer. Conveniently Sketch agrees with me and thinks knitting sweaters is scary. It has been decided that I will stick to smaller projects so that I may actually finish them. (I think he just wants more clothes and friends, but that's just me)

During the night, I finished up Soph's animal. I can only imagine Sketch's excitement when he woke up to find that he had a new little friend. (Please note- I realize that owls are nocturnal, Sketch and I are both quasi nocturnal so it's ok - we would both be entirely nocturnal but realize most good adventures require daylight)

Sketch's next day began much like his first.

We went to the park to do some science. Sketch was really curious about what was going on but had a bad feeling about the dirty water from our sink or float experiment. He steered clear until the water was dumped and then got a little closer to check it out.

The park is always more enjoyable with some sweet tunes. Turns out Sketch likes Florence and the Machine too - I knew I liked this bird.

After seeing all the awesome wools and nice cotton/wool blends in the stashes Sketch thought that maybe he should try his hand at knitting. Little guy learned the hard way that knitting is pretty hard when you don't have thumbs... or fingers for that matter. He did enjoy how wonderful the Alpaca felt though.

Then along came his new friend Gordie. Sketch was very displeased when Gordie got all up in his wool and started cramping his style. They will have to learn how to play nice.

He then tried to abscond with Kristine's awesome owl pencil case (used for knitting supplies... what else?) He didn't get very far.

He then went on safari.

He learned about the importance of caffeine and recycling. Both are very important for survival.

When he saw the cherry blossoms he was drawn to them. He felt very at home in the tree, but discovered that pollen makes him sneeze. (I feel ya Sketch)

Since he had so much fun swinging yesterday, he thought he should give it a go on his own. Turns out it's hard to pump your legs on a swing when you're a little owl. He hung in there though.

And lastly -

He played a game of tags with Bee and her friend Elle. I do believe it is now time to head to Monarch Knitting. I think we both may be in heaven.