When I was in high school, my bio teacher crocheted a bunch of creatures for the class to sort into a classification system for their species. The idea always stuck with me and during a teaching science methods class I had an idea. I figured that I could make my own version of the creatures and adapt them for younger grades. 
And so my aliens were born! They are extremely easy to make. They are either knitted as squares or rectangles and folded in various ways.




Above are Bonnie, Fred and Nella (left to right). I named them so that my students wouldn't fight over what to name them.


Above is Tallulah, Vern and Normie (left to right)


Above is Sookie, Greg, Walter-Dean, and Angelina (left to right)


Above we have Zasimos and Low (left to right)

I used these guys in the classroom and the students LOVED it. Over 5 days the aliens "moved" to spots around the room and the students kept track of how many aliens were at 6 individual spots. Then they graphed the data on a line graph and did a little alien census. These little guys were a hit and I began to think of other ways that the aliens could be put into the classroom.
I also decided to switch Low out because he was a little too big for classroom purposes. So I made Wheelie:

Isn't s/he cute?!

I wasn't sure where this project should go: knitting forum or ceramics forum. But I figured since 59% of the time spent making this thing WAS the time I spent knitting, it should go here!

For a final project in my ceramics class, I decided to incorporate my passion for knitting into it. I knitted a swatch with a loose gage and then dipped it into casting slip (liquid clay) and when I fired it, the yarn burned out and I was left wit a knitted clay shell!

This was from my first round of tests I did for the final project. the other piece did not make it into the low fire. 



When we held it up after it came out of the kiln, I thought it would look nice as a wall hanging so with much difficulty, we drilled a hole into it and found a nice white ribbon to hang it up with. Its going to be a Christmas present for my mum this year.

The pictures don't really give it justice. I had to use my phone's camera. But here is a close up.

There's probably five more of these puppies that are waiting to get fired. I played with texture and different types of yarn on most of them. They'll be posted sometime next semester.
I got to say that I'm quite proud of this experiment. If you really want to go "wow" google "Helen Gilmore knitted ceramics". I was inspired from her work and she managed to get a freaking TEAPOT to come out with this technique!

I had recently taught a pal how to knit and she took to it like a fish to water.(after an hour or two of cursing ) Since then she's made about fourteen scarves in garter stitch and can crank them out like none other.
But I've been noticing my friend was carrying her projects around in plastic bags! (yuch!!!) And so I decided to knit this:


It is made out of Lionsbrand Homespun in a lovely baby blue. It was very easy, done in stockinette stitch save for the strap which was done in garter. I lined it with fabric and sewed a little pocket inside for any tapestry needles or cableing needles if she decides to be bold and go further.

 
And here is the back.


It seemed a little small but it is an ideal fit for a new knitter. The pattern is my own, a modest attempt at designing. Most of my projects end up having some type of quirk that make them unique and this bag is one of them.
I worked on it on and off between classwork for about two months and took it with me on spring break to work on. Ironically, I knitted this infront of my friend. She knew that the piece was for her but she had no clue what. And it drove her crazy!!! Needless to say everyone (including her mother) knew what it was and she did not. Her guesses ranged from a sweater to a hat.

Needless to say, Maddie adored it. This is her above showing it off for the camera.
Sorry about the sideways pics. I'm not sure how to make them turn sideways.

wowza! This little guy is Beaker.




I made him for my Little from a co-ed fraternity we're in. He was made in Febuary but my little only just recieved him because well, Beaker wanted to travel!

So I took him on spring break to Hershey with my pal Maddie.  Although the rides weren't working at Hershey Park, we were able to get on this one indoor ride at the information complex. Naturally, Beaker wanted to go too.


We found creative ways of measuring how tall a person was for the rides and decided to see how Beaker measured up.


We also ran into the father of modern psychology! Dr. Freud and Howard Gardner themselves!! Beaker is a stickler for celebs, so we took a pic!



My Little did get him eventually,  and absolutely loved him...although Beaker could not stop talking about his travels...
He was made with two different colors of Lionsbrand Microspun knit together on a 10inch needle and then his legs were icorded. He was inspired from a crochet project in Knitit magazine and improvised from there.