Reminiscing

Here are a few photos to capture some of the things I've been up to lately:

An afghan gift for an upcoming family wedding; I distinctly remember starting it during the last season of Downton Abbey, this past January - when it was cold enough to want to have something large and heavy weighing down on me:

Yarn is KnitPicks Brava; pattern is from Vanna's Afghans All Over the House.

Years ago, when my grandma was still alive, I had asked her with disbelief about how in the heck to make a pompom.  She hauled out some yarn, wound it in a frenzy around a little round device, produced a perfect little white pompom, tied the whole mess together, and then presented it to me with a flourish:

I was intimidated beyond description until only recently, when I really wanted to top some of the preemie hats with pompoms.  I debated using Grandma's white pompom, then decided it was better to keep it for my own inspiration.  The little blue pompom maker has seen lots of action since then!

Lastly, I wanted to make a fun gift for my voice teacher, who loves tulips.  What better than a couple of little felted bowls:

Yarn is random bits of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride; pattern is Felted Tulip Bowl.

I'm off to more finishing, so I hope to have more fun stories to tell soon!!