Just a quickie drop-in to share some photos and projects with you. It’s funny, I usually dive deep to find things to post about, but this week I have tons to post about and not a lot of time.

First, I wanted to share this FREE pattern of mine: the Pill(ow) Popper, courtesy of Caron. The pillow is made with a few skeins of Vickie Howell’s Sheep(ish) and it was pure fun to design it. Vickie requested wanted a retro modern pillow and the yarn is so smooth and has such strong stitch definition that I knew I wanted to do bobbles. I also knew I wanted to start in the middle, for two reasons. One, I like to avoid foundation chains as much as the next hooker. Two, I know *a lot* of crocheters don’t swatch (tsk tsk!!) and this way it’s easier to stop when you achieve the desired size for your pillow–this one is sized for a 16 incher. I started with the whole thing being bobbled but quickly realized I would run out of yarn, so I futzed with it and came up with this rendition, which I absolutely love. I like that the bobbles create these diagonal lines that are punctuated by the tuft of the grey crocheted button. Make this one, it’s fun and inexpensive and fun and fun. And if you like bobbles as much as I do, be sure to check out my Artichoke Hat and Cherry Cordial Scarf pattern PDFs.

In other orange news, I may have started something over at Yarnivore. I think my coworker (and knitter extraordinaire) Wendy has gone over the crochet edge making birdies using my Bird Mobile pattern from Little Crochet (see more info on how in this post). She showed me all of her birdies at work today, there are at least 20 of them and they look GREAT! She said she got about 11 of them from one skein of Noro Silk Garden sock, including tassels and winding off bits of less desirable colors. I would stage an intervention soon except that I’m thrilled that my evil plan is working and have no problem with her hooking away. Plus, she still does plenty of the knitting. Be sure to check out a few of her sock patterns on Ravelry (I’m told there are more to come!).

And for my last update on the orange theme, I’ve been trying to gain speed on this can’t-tell-you-about-it-just-yet tang orange project (made with the wonderful Cascade Pure Pima, delish!) but every time I get going this happens.

In case you’re wondering, this is closer to the true color of the yarn.

Side snorgler view. It’s a good thing he’s cute, but dang, I feel like my productivity is definitely suffering. Oh well. It’s hard to say no to him.

What color is on your radar right now?