I am not sure that I would consider a man wise—one who drapes and binds his camel with fancy bits that do nothing to make a subservient life more pleasant for the poor creature. But as these camels, every one of them a star-chaser, were dressed by kings, then the shining baubles and shimmering cords and bells and beads might be considered, if not natural, at least appropriate and seemly.
So here are the camels (Alan Dart design), every one guaranteed to have at least one terrible knitter flaw, for your viewing pleasure. I am trying to figure out which one I love the best, but I cannot do it——any more than I can figure out which of my horses or dogs or children is the dearest.
Here they are, the whole gaggle. Or were, before they were subjected to decoration.
I am not sure they look happy about the whole thing. But then, they have no eyes, so it’s hard to tell.
But here they are after: eyes and bridles and saddles and hoopla.
Evidently, I can’t tell which are my favorite photographs of them, either.
I just love the way they look, corralled in that basket.
Yep. I shot every possible angle.
I kept expecting them to start wiggling around and leaping out.
So, here they are one at a time. Yes, I realize that this is not a very deep and philosophical entry. And aren’t you glad. Which do you prefer – too many words, or too many images? And which camel do YOU think is worth reproducing?
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
#13
#14
#15
#16
Ha. I bet you can’t choose just one either.
The beautiful Chaz
Nope! I love them all!! Just like my famiy! XXXOOO
See? Exactement!!
I love ALL of them, of course–the basket of camels is a DELIGHT. #12 is my little white camel, of course, but I also LOVE the way #8 turned out!!
Now, I have to go look and see which one is 8.
What could #3 be thinking about? Hmmmm? Such a quizzical tilt of her head.
I think she might have just caught a slip of one of Mikey’s guitar pieces wafting down from some window. Or maybe she’s wondering if she turned off the oven – or maybe she thought she heard someone call her name?
Me, that was me calling her name. Telling her that she is as wonderful as she thinks she is, and that I do, truly, love her. :)
She did have that look to her -
My favorite of these would be the little white one, too. But the best one lives in WV now! He will be shaking up one of my favorite creches this coming Christmas season. For now he is simply ruling the mantle and keeping an eye on the crazy cats!
Aren’t you happy to have this whole flock clothed and ready for adventure?
Yes, I am. I WUV them, if I may be so silly. But if there is any adventure, seatbelts will be required.
#s 2, 9, and 14. And 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, and 16. You created *16* of these magical creatures?! Holy smokes. So much love and skill went into these darlings, and I just LOVE them. And now I think back to other wonders that you have crafted and quite often there are MANY. How on earth do you do that? And now I’m giggling, because Littlest came over, saw the gussied up crew, pointed and issued an order. “Make that!” Okay then.
Well, first I try something. And it, to my amazement, the something turns out decently – or perhaps even (gasp) moderately well, then I want to try another yarn/fabric/colorway/size. And then I realize it didn’t take me that long to do (only four nights, maybe???) I can’t stop myself from trying everything. And then, there’s the desire to learn to come to some level of mastery, which I never actually do – but understanding of the process, yes. And at that point, I know I could make one of (whatever thing) at the drop of a hat, if I wanted to do it again. Which is not actually true, as I tend to forget the delicate details of processes once I move on to the next. I thought of you the whole time I was doing them, actually.
How I love Littlest – she has her stuff together.
Oh, the forgetting of details – how well I understand. I do that each and every time that I make something. I am positive I’ll remember the nuances, because that is what repetition does – makes it automatic, right? Ha ha. I’ve taken to making notes lately, but blast those notes that get stored in elusive safe places. Then if I do manage to find them, I am dismayed to discover that I wrote in some kind of indecipherable code. What is up with that? Too busy caught up in the creative flow to stop and write things down properly.
But I must disagree with your assessment of your skill level. You DO achieve mastery. No question about it. Then you photograph them so wonderfully. Just look at all those autumn leaf riches that your star-chasing (*love* that) herd gets to frolic through. That is something that only the eye and heart of an artist – a master artist – sees. Just sayin’.
That’s the way it is for me with software, too. Like, I’m not looking forward to trying to publish another book. And I write tutorials for myself – which doesn’t help if I lose them or if I forget to read them. And besides, when you write like that, it’s from the standpoint of assumptions that seemed so basic, it never occurred to you to write down – but that made you cry at the beginning the last time because you didn’t know where to start. Okay. Now I’m making myself anxious.
Now I know for sure you love me. We give great credit to the idiots we love.
I’m putting up Christmas lights today. While New Jersey is preparing for an eleven foot storm serge, we are having the last few warm days of autumn. And I am NOT going to freeze my hands off this year. I just won’t turn them on till December.
You make me laugh. We, Littlest and I, had to look at more camels. My orders from her have expanded.
“Make dressed-up camels!”
Yeah. She knows how to get bang for her buck. And buck-necked (naked, not neck-ed) camels really are short a bauble or two.
Ohhh, they are SO cute. So sweet and quizzical and cute. NOT haughty at all, I’m glad to say, though I thought all camels had to be. My favorites are #4 (his dear little star blanket!) and #8 (his tiny dangling bells!). But even more, I love the whole herd of them, marching along solemnly in your header. I wish I knew how to make such things! I would festoon my whole Christmas tree with baby camels. And stars!
The children refer to you as “our guest author” now, as in, “Remember when our guest author came?” We had such a great time. We love you!
And I love you like my own. I am SO proud of what you’ve done with the kids and your life, Marilyn. I couldn’t be prouder if you were my own daughter, so I’m adopting you. And the books came the very next day, so one is coming to you next time you see my little face!!
What do you mean “choose one worth reproducing”? They are all worth reproducing! They are all so cute! I’m not sure that you should split them up!
But I can’t keep them all. Sob
Oh my, I could never choose! They are all so adorable. That looks like a lot of love went into making these sweet camels. I once knit a toy elf that was about the same size as one of those camels, and it took me forever! I’m not a fast knitter. Now, I can’t look at it without thinking about what I was doing when I was making him, usually sitting in the waiting area at karate class. I love how a knitting project can bring me back to a different time and place. Do each of these camels do that for you?
No. They don’t have situational stories. It’s just G and I, watching a little TV at night so that I can focus on only TWO things at once – which is sad huh? They should each have a story. But they do each have a little bit of soul, I think.
OMG. They turned out so great!!!
YIPEE!! I don’t know that they are any more charming than a certain woman’s whimsical dogs, though -
I thought they were cute BEFORE!! But the decorations make them adorable. Part of me wants to say, “You can’t possibly be thinking of KEEPING them all for YOURSELF, could you? How greedy!” And part of me wants to say, “You can’t possibly be thinking of PARTING with any of them, could you? Think how sad and lonely they would be.” Unless, of course, they were going to a house with a LOT of other stuffed and homemade animals…I mean, not that I know of any houses like that.
Laughing. And I so need to laugh in the morning, with the stupid dreams I keep having.
I love them all!!
definately love 2 and 8 the most though :)
Thanks, Hanna Banana!!
Oh how delightful!! I came to catch up and got a whole caravan…..I so love your camels and no I can’t pick just one either ! Kristen they are all totally gorgeous :-)
I think that no 3 has a cheeky grin though! Xx
And I believe that you are one of my pet experts on cheeky!!
:-)
Grief! I’m glad I already chose! It was hard enough when they were naked!!! Now that you’ve clothed them………. Bells and whistles and coins baby!! :D
You are personally responsible for the baubles. They’d have gone nearly plain had it not been for your orders – so that got me started on the dangles and the rest. Now I have enough trims to last a lifetime – costly little hobby, mine, building a stash of almost everything -
I love mine best!
And the rich feeling of the basket full of festive camels is wonderful. How many other times in my life will that sentence ever apply?
If I have anything to do with it, probably never again. One basket of festive camels is enough for a lifetime.
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