Here Kitty, Kitty!

Cute right?  Would you be surprised to know that these little kitties are crocheted using only single crochet?  The shape comes from increasing or decreasing the number of stitches in a round.

You can find Nekoyama's free pattern for these beauties HERE.

This is one of the reasons I enjoy making toys.  yes, I may have to count my stitches, but I can let muscle memory take over and I don't have to think much farther than 1-2-3-4-increase. 

My other reason for enjoying toy making?  Giving them away!  These babies are on their way to my friend Swati's house...

Interestingly, most of the toys I make end up going to adults.  Although my grandsons get whatever they want from Gramma, it's the grown ups who love an excuse to "play" again.

Whether it's a geeky fandom or just something that makes us smile and feel happy... we all deserve a little playtime.

Speaking of playtime, Steve and I had fun last week trying to decide what should go into these "shaker" eggs. 

Yes, that mental image of us running around the house putting various things inside a plastic egg and shaking it is completely accurate!  It was an interesting experiment to see if something we thought would make an interesting noise actually did, and it was more difficult than you might think!

Here's what we came up with: nuts, plastic pellets, a nickel, a jingle bell, glass beads, and a large paper clip.

Each makes a fairly unique sound, and I think perhaps we had more fun with them than our two year old grandson, but that's how the egg rolls.  (I crack myself up with the yolks.  Haha!)

Hope you find a way to play today. Whether it's simply running around with your eyes closed in the park or making someone laugh... it's the best medicine!