Last Minute Christmas Knitting

I finished the little knitted toys for my kids for Christmas. It's taken me quite some time to finish these two little projects.
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for M: Yeti (adaptation of Barbara Prime's Mini Alien)
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for B: Marisol by Rachel Borello
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I think they will both love them.
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Merry Christmas! See you in the New Year!
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Lonely Mittens – A Counting Rhyme

With all the things I've needed to do to get ready for Christmas, I haven't had much knitting time. My sister sent me this poem some time ago. Her family has just received 8 mittens for Christmas, since I'm their knitting auntie! Thought you might all enjoy the poem too.


One lonely mitten, waiting for more
“Cling” goes my knitting needle down on the floor.
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Two lonely mittens, waiting for the others
Their eager boy has four smaller brothers.
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Three lonely mittens, waiting for the fourth
When it gets made, there’ll be snow forts.
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Four lonely mittens, waiting to be five
I’d better knit it quickly, keep the winter fun alive.
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Five lonely mittens finally are six
Watch three happy brothers playing snowball tricks!
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Seven lonely mittens, piled near the door
One is in the parking lot, at the grocery store.
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Eight lonely mittens, two with holes, are old
They’ll be for the snowman; he won’t mind the cold.
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Nine lonely mittens, dripping from the line
One is in a snow bank – who will say, “That’s mine”?
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Ten lonely mittens, waiting in a box
All the snow has melted, and the children play with blocks
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Nine lonely mittens, yellow, blue and red
Isn’t there another one, underneath the bed.
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Eight lonely mittens, waiting for the snow
It will not be very long before the cold winds blow.
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Seven lonely mittens, the kitten played with one
It started out in perfect shape, but now it has no thumb.
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Six lonely mittens, the children count each flake
If flakes by billions fall tonight, a record is at stake.
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Four knitting needles, silvery and quick
Make the needed mittens cozy, warm, and thick.
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Three lonely mittens, “I found one with stripes.”
If the stripes are green ones, we know that it is Mike’s.
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Two lonely mittens, sitting on a shelf
Waiting for their owner to find them for herself.
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One knitting auntie has her yearly plans
To be sure the children have warm and cozy hands.
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by Heidi Dru Kortman Breaking Barriers newsletter
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More Christmas Knitting

Christmas is only a week away and I've just finished up the last knitted gift that needs to be mailed. This will get mailed out with Edward. I don't think it will make it to it's desitination before Christmas.

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Susan B. Anderson's Elefante caught my eye quite some time ago. Rather than stripes, I decided to use a solid pink. And since I can't crochet, I knitted the ears.

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I hope E loves him. Just a few more knitted things to make for my kids before Christmas.

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Knitty - Winter 2009

I can finally show you the secret project that I used the Rowan Felted Tweed for!

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Tentacular!
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B and I had fun with a friend in a nearby park one day for the photos. I hope you all enjoy the pattern.

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Thanks to Knitty for publishing this pattern that was so much fun to design and wear and to Rowan for supplying the Felted Tweed Aran.

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No time to knit a Tentacular Scarf for your Christmas list? The prototypes are available in my Etsy shop.

Rowan Felted Tweed Aran scarf

Patons Classic Wool scarf

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I love Robots

The mittens I made for my nephew for Christmas were too small. So it's back to the knitting, because I didn't want his whole family to have new mittens, but not him. This time round, I decided to modify Grace Schnebly's Love Bytes mittens.

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I didn't want to do color work on the whole mitten, so I whipped up a generic mitten, with the robot motifs intended for the cuff, placed around the bottom of the hand. These are far more plain than the pattern intends. I will definately make a pair that follows the pattern exactly - I love the larger robot motifs too. I love how these are working out, and am quite sure this pair will fit.

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Goodbye, my Little Friend...

Today I am sad. My little cat, Thomas has been with me for 15 years. He was my baby before B was my baby. A few months before G and I were married, a friend's mom had let me know of a kitten in need of a home. When I met him he was so sociable and cuddly. I've enjoyed 15 years of furry friendship and cuddles with him and now it's time to say goodbye.

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A bit of Christmas Knitting

I've cast on a few Christmas projects for my neice and nephew. I found Little Cotton Rabbits bunny egg cosy pattern last easter and decided I'd make a cute little bunny for little J. This was a quick cute pattern and I love how the head shape turned out. I decided to knit this in the round and add a bottom and legs. This pattern is beautifully written, with detailed instructions and helpful photos. However my modifications made him look a bit disproportionate.

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A bit of internal soft scultping to squish and smoosh his shape and to force him into a sitting position makes him look a bit better.

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I love this pattern and would definately knit it again, but I would have to make some modifications to my modifications!

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Another Mitten?

My daughter stole my mittens, again. Apparently they match her coat. So I dove into my stash to find something that would make quick comfy mittens for me. And I found my lovely skein of Cashnyro Luxury that I won from Northern Light Fiber Co.

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I love how this is knitting up. It's so soft and smooshy and the colors are beautiful. This is a sportweight sock yarn that is 80% merino, 10% cashmere and 10% nylon. Northern Lights current line of Cashnyro is closer to a fingering weight: she currently has three colorways listed in her shop. .If you want a pair of mittens like mine, or some soft, smooshy socks, I'd highly recommend buying a skein (or more) of this yarn!

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Scrubbing, Snowman and Socks

I've spent the whole morning cleaning B's room. It truly was in a state of chaos and I don't think she really knew where to begin anymore. She still sleeps on the top bunk in M's room, so her bed and floor were no longer identifiable. I tidied everything away, picked up three laundry basket-fuls of clothes from the floor (don't really know if it was clean or not), made her bed, rearranged her pillows and stuffies, put about 40 books onto the shelf, found about 50 hair elastics and 100 bobby pins, tossed rough copies of about a dozen homework assignments, tossed more Halloween candy wrappers than I could count, cleaned up three candies stuck to the floor in various spots, swept and mopped her floor! It looks great! Now I'm doing the loads of laundry. I noticed that her dresser and hangers were almost completely empty. I think now that she doesn't have to make a new path to the dresser and closet (since not only can you now see the floor, but it is also clean) to put away or take out clothes, there may be a better chance of her actually using them to store her clothes.
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Completely unrelated: I finished my snowman from this kit. I am so pleased with how he turned out!
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I had some ecru roving left over after I covered the "snow balls" so I spun up a 3 ply fingering weight yarn. I really liked the way this Romney roving spun up. I ended up with 10 yards that I figured should be enough for a little scarf. I cast on 4 sts and knit in seed stitch until I ran out of yarn. I dyed the scarf green and I think it makes him look even cuter!
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And the last "S": I finished my Socktober Mystery Sock KAL.
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Through the Loops designed these beautiful socks for the KAL. I'm just in time to get in on the prizes too, if I post my FO photos before midnight tonight on the Ravelry thread. These poor socks really stalled after the Rowan Felted Tweed Aran arrived at my home. Just in case you're wondering, only 9 more sleeps until I can show you that project!
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I Finished a Pair of Mittens

I love how these mittens turned out. They are supposed to be for the gift exchange for G's work Christmas party. Although I am very tempted to keep them for myself I have decided that either I make sure I leave the party with them, or I'll have to make myself a pair!.

For the thumb:
You'll have 19 sts on a holder when you finish the hand. Tranfer these sts onto 3 dpns. Pick up 3 sts where the thumb joins the hand. Arrange the stitches so you have 8, 8, 6 stitches on your 3 dpns, the first stitch should be a knit stitch. Knit 15 rounds in k1tbl, p1 ribbing.

Decrease round 1: [k3tog through the back of the loops (k3togtbl), p1] 5 times, k1tbl, p1, 12 sts.
Decrease round 2: [k3togtbl, p1] 3 times, 6 sts

Break yarn and thread end into a darning needle. Pass the needle through each of the remaining sts and pull tight. Weave in ends.

Thanks to Eunny for the inspiration!

The Only Thing in the House is Fruit

... one large apple, two oranges, two kiwis and a few handfuls of grapes to be exact. And a bagful of spinach for my supper salad. I didn't feel like going out to get goodies for this afternoon's get together at a friend's house. And I wished I had some slightly more exciting fruit like pineapple and strawberries in the house, but alas. So I decided I needed to get a little more creative to make boring fruits look exciting.

Far more exciting that if it was all sitting on a plate, don't you think?

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What would you wear to a Parent-Teacher Interview?

A few weeks ago, Tamika, also known as Meekers Squeekers, Miss Meeky and Puppypants decided it would be fun to see the world. Well, not the whole world but more than just her corner of it. She broke off of her tie-out 3 times in one week and although I've been working on improving my fitness, I'm still not quite up to a 30 minute run around town to tire her out enough to catch her. So I decided to wait until she came home. I did go for several drives around town to see if I could spot her anywhere, especially when I could hear the dog chorus start up in various locations.


The first night, she came back around the time G and I went to bed. So we welcomed her home, gave her her nighttime cookies and thought this was an isolated incident. A few days later she was off again. And didn't come home that night. After dropping two sad kids off to school the next morning I spotted her running down our lane away from the house, so I called her and she was happy to be home.

The third time, after driving around town several times and calling her to see if she'd like a cookie I gave up again and went to bed. I hope this isn't too much info when I tell you I sleep in a comfy t-shirt. Around 2am I could hear Tamika barking her deep, low, what-are-you-doing-in-my-yard bark so I went to the back door to let her in.

I didn't turn on the porch light since I don't own a bathrobe and didn't dress for the obvious reason that I wasn't expecting to be "in public" when I let the dog in at the back door at 2am.

So I open the back door, stepped out onto the porch to grab the little runaway by the collar and as my eyes adjusted to the dark noticed my kids' teacher standing in the back yard.

"O, Hello, Ms. Teacher," said I, as though this was the most natural thing in the world to be having a conversation in my t-shirt and undies in the middle of the night, at the back door, with my crazy dog and the science teacher.

"Hi Mrs. W, I was out looking for my dog, heard barking and found yours"

"O, thank you so much for bringing her home"

We continued chatting briefly. I wished her luck finding her dog and went inside wondering if it would have been better for me to leave the dog on the porch when I first noticed her, tear back inside, find clothes, and rush back out in hopes that my naughty dog hadn't bolted again.

Can you understand why I needed to wait a few weeks to share this story? Now, I'm able to look back and laugh. Sort of.

Apparently I can't get enough of Eunny!

I finished my sister's Anemoi mittens on Friday evening. They are beautiful! Early on I was a bit worried I wouldn't have enough handspun to finish, but I ended up with more than enough. These will be on their way west shortly.

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But empty needles have a way of filling up quickly! And the thoughts of new projects have been whirling in my head even before I finished the Anemois.

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I wanted to knit another pair of mittens for the gift exchange at G's staff party. It's the sort of exchange that's a bit of a game. You draw a number out of a hat. Number 1 gets to choose any gift to unwrap. Number 2 can steal Number 1's gift, or unwrap a new one; Number three can steal Number 1 or 2's gift or choose something as yet unknown, etc... I thought of knitting these, but G nixed that being a die-hard Canucks fan. "How about something cabled," he suggested. I didn't even know he paid enough attention to my knitting to know what cable was! So I tweaked a pattern I love, Eunny's (again) Bayerishe socks to make a worsted weight mitten. I wanted these to knit up fairly quickly. I do like G's co-workers and spouses, but fingering weight mittens I reserve for those I love. These are modeled after my favorite mittens.

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Details:

Patons Classic Wool "Dark Grey Mix"

3.25mm dpns

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CO sts 56 sts.

Work 6.5cm k1tbl, p1 ribbing

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Cable set up row: *(k1tbl, p1) 6 times, k1tbl, m1 purlwise, purl into the front and back of the next st, m1, k1tbl, m1 purlwise, p, m1 purlwise, (k1tbl, p1) 6 times*. M1, place 2 markers - this will be the thumb gusset. Repeat from * to * once more [67 sts].

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Follow charts C, D and A from Eunny's Bayerishe Sock pattern, including a k1tbl between each chart. For the thumb gusset, m1 purlwise between the markers on the first round and then m1 (either purlwise or knitwise) on the inside of the each marker every following three rows, maintaining a k1tbl, p1 ribbing between the markers. Once you have 17 sts between the markers, transfer these 17 sts plus 1 on either side to a holder and CO 1 over the gap. Continue working the charts for the hand. Once you have worked 3 repeats of Chart D, follow the chart below (beginning where the row is marked "1") for the mitten decreases. Turn mitten inside out and work a 3 needle bind off.

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Maybe I should go work on my Print O' the Wave shawl now too!

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Back to the Knitting!

It's been a while since I've been able to find time to work on this pair of Anemoi's. I love this pattern, and can't find enough ways to say it. I can knit without looking at my hands when I'm just doing stockinette stitch, so I read the pattern with my eyes and follow with my fingers and find the rows just zipping by. I love the regular repeating patterns of the palm and thumb, how I know what it will look like as it knits up. And I love the organic swirls on the back of the hand, how after knitting along for several rounds I can look away from the pattern and see the swirls taking shape in my knitting.

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I forgot to repeat my mistake on this mitten in order to produce a matching pair. So I'll just have to carry on for three more rows once I've finished the patterned section so that they will at least be the same length.

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Poinsettia Ornament

This beautiful ornament is a great way to use up odds and ends of yarn. Wonderful as a decoration for a gift or to grace your Christmas tree.
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This pattern is suitable for someone who can knit in the round on double pointed needles. Other skills required are increasing and decreasing, and seaming. In addition to the small amount (approx 30 yards) of fingering weight yarn, you will also need 12 gold beads, approximately 1/4” in diameter.
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This pattern was developed for the November “Home for the Holidays” Phat Fiber box. It is also available through my Etsy shop (see the sidebar) or as a Ravelry download
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This link will redirect you to Paypal through Ravelry's shopping basket
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Tomorrow We'll Knit

Yesterday and today were spent going into the town an hour away for appointments. Sadly I wasn't able to schedule B's orthodontist appointment on the same day as G's allery testing so I was away most of the day yesterday and until noon today. This has left me with precious little knitting time, since my family would like clean clothes and food too. And maybe a clean bathroom. And some vacuuming.

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B and I make a day of it when she has her monthly ortho apt. We start with the teeth and it gets way better from there. We shop, we have lunch, we shop, shop a bit more and then head off to be home before M gets in from school. It's good mother-daughter bonding time.

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Today I wasn't going to go with G to his allergy tests, but decided at the last minute that while I don't enjoy sitting around in doctors offices, it would be much nicer for him if I went along. Plus when else do I have four hours with my hubby? They tested him for dust, mold, trees, animals, grasses, etc... We've always known G has allergies to cats and dogs, but apparently the only thing he's not allergic to is the negative control.

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The worst news of all: he's allergic to wool!

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Secret Project - Finished!

I've finished knitting the secret project at lunch today! I've still got a few ends to weave in before its photo shoot, but I expect to be able to finish those this evening. Yippee!!!
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Strangely I seemed to have less yardage in the balls of "Cassis" Rowan Felted Tweed Aran than the "Dusty" and "Soot". M suggested that maybe since this color also felt different, that my tension was different as well. It is possible, but in the end I have 16yds of "Cassis" left and approximately 27 yards of both "Dusty" and "Soot". Of the twelve balls of this yarn, two had knots, one somewhere in the middle of the ball and one within a few yards of the beginning. For the price of this yarn, I was a bit surprised by that. It feels good to have this project finished.
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I'm looking forward to the photo shoot with B. I was hoping for snow, usually very normal for this area at this time of the year, but it's not looking good. I'm also looking forward to knitting on something else tomorrow!
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Too Good to Keep to Myself

Here's a giveaway I just had to share...
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Go visit the Spindies Group on Ravelry for details on this:
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Just in time for the holiday season, we are in the gift-giving mood
soooooo we are giving away one of our Plum-Wine Artists’ Paint
Boxes loaded with 5 ounces of fibery goodness in rich plum-wine
shades, each interpreted by various Spindies Fiber Artists.
A $25 Value!

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More Temptations

I'm getting closer to finishing the secret project - I'm onto the last 3 balls of Rowan Felted Tweed Aran. And although it's very hard for me to stick to one project at a time, I'm quite proud of how I've been doing. This may make it more difficult to finish.

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When I first made the decision that I would try felting, I decided that I should order the supplies on Etsy, since the lag from ordering to the supplies arriving on my doorstep would force me to knit on the secret project. But we know how that turned out. The kit I ordered arrived early this week. But I only opened it yesterday. Now that's self discipline!

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Overall I'm quite pleased with this Snowman Felting Kit from Bear Creek Design. It is very thoroughly outfitted - with attention to detail, like ensuring that the wire for the arms have pointy ends to make them easier to push through the felted snowballs. The instruction booklet is well written and well laid out. I only wish that the natural white wool (which I do love for it's naturalness) was more of a snow white color than ecru. Regardless of this one small thing, I can't wait to put this little snowman together and enjoy him. He will look great with my snowman collection that I put out every Christmas - and some of them are ecru too.

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Edited to add: The first snowman pictured is from Bear Creek Design's Etsy shop listing - hope I didn't mislead anyone into thinking I'd made him myself!

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Lest We Forget

It's Remembrance Day in Canada. A day to remember those who have fought and fallen that we could have freedom.

Just to Break up the Monotony

I have so little to show you on the knitting front. Secret project knitting makes for very boring blogging. Perhaps I can distract you with what I plan to spin once I'm done the secret project.
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Some beautiful batts from eXtreme Spinning. Love! Love! Love! I can't wait until my wheel and I can spend some time together.
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CJ describes these as:

XSive SoX Batts for socks that sparkle and shine. Superfine merino,
bamboo, firestar and angelina have been blended smooth to create
this fun batt of softness that wears incredibly well. It also washes
easily and yet is sparkly and shiny. Navy Blue blended with Grass,
mmmmm, yummy year 'round colors that work equally well for both
sexes, young & old

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I Have No Clue how this Relates to Knitting

I was looking through a fundraiser catalogue from my kids' school this morning and found this! Totally cracked me up. Thought I'd share the laugh!

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The Secret Project

I'm progressing on the "Secret Project". I'm about a quarter into the project. Do you see the papers in the lower left? That's were the WIP is sitting. Here's what I can show you:

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It's knitted on dpns. There are already some ends woven in. And the yarn.
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Now that I've knit a bit with the Rowan Felted Tweed Aran I can give you my impressions of it. The dark grey "Soot" is considerably softer than the light grey "Dusty" and the "Cassis". The yarn definately feels felted, but the plies still separate easily enough. It's easy to break my yarn without scissors when it's time to change colors. I like that! I have a serious problem finding scissors in my house. This yarn retails for about $12 in Canada, and that is probably the biggest deterent I would have in purchasing this yarn. I'm thrifty when it comes to my hobbies. But if anyone wanted to give me more of this again, I certainly would accept it gladly and enjoy knitting with it again.

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More Felting

Just because felting is so much fun!!! I made a felted bead for B to wear. She loves unique necklaces and is always raiding my Phat Box for buttons and stitch markers to convert. I made this one for her. She loves it!

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I felted this bead from some miscellaneous brown fleece that I have kicking around. Once I was please with the shape, I covered it with the pale green and felted it quite firmly. Adding the swirl was fun and I knew B would love it. To make a hole for the chain, I stabbed successively larger dpns through the bead, beginning with a 2mm and ending with a 6mm. It seems to work quite well!

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There would be more felting, but I'm under a deadline for secret knitting. It takes precedence unless I'm getting so bored with it that I'm in danger of stabbing myself with my dpns to end the monotony of project monogamy. There is also Christmas knitting waiting in the wings that has to be done before I abandon all caution and needle felt to the exclusion of all else.

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Some Finished Yarn

I finished spinning this roving several days ago, but kept forgetting to take a pic in the daylight. So here it is!

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I've got about 400 yds, 2ply sport weight. I'm not sure what I'll make with this, but I love it!

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"Crying Over You" - Pattern now Available

The newest PogKnits pattern is now available! Initially an exclusive for Phat Fiber members, it is now available for sale for everyone!
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These onions knit up quickly in worsted weight wool. This will be a fun project if you can knit in the round, make I-cord, increase and decrease, and seam. Visit my Etsy store or download it now from Ravelry.
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This link will redirect you to Paypal through Ravelry's shopping cart.
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It's Not My Fault

I've been intrigued by needle felting for some time. Living in a small town means, however, that access to supplies for any craft is limited. This is a positive thing, if you, like me, have ADHD when it comes to crafts and always want to try something new. I find I make less impulse purchases when I have to order stuff online - something about having to pay shipping & handling always give me pause for objective evaluation of my planned purchase.

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But the arrival of my October Phat Box, started me down a slippery slope. I blame WC Mercantile's Mini Mystery Bag. She even suggested using the little bits for felting. Hmm, thought I, wonder if there are any felting needles in town. So I also blame my LYS - they had needles.

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It started with some little hearts felted onto an ecru wool felt background. Then I watched a few Youtube videos on making 3D objects.

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The mushroom sprang from my table top while the kids were out trick-or-treating. It was such a rainy and snowy and cold night that I didn't get interupted very often by cute ghosties and goblins looking for candy at my door.

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I guess, I also blame Anzula for the perfect mousy grey baby alpaca sample from the October Box. My mushroom needed a little critter to protect and the mouse was next.

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I have got to stop! I have knitting that I need to start! Secret knitting, Christmas knitting, pattern tweeking knitting.

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Keep your eyes open for more felting projects next post :P

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Hmm... Do I like this yarn?

From the time I first saw the Harlequin Girl batt from my Phat Fiber box, I knew it would be my first spin from the October Box. But how to spin it. It was a generous 1/2 oz sample, but still not enough to make much of a project from. I thought I'd do what I usually do and spin it thin and make a two or three ply from it. But then, from somewhere in the back of my brain, a little idea tried to overcome my OCD side and suggested a thick and thin yarn plied with thread.

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The whole time I spun this it just felt wrong. The whole time I plied this it just felt strange. I soaked it and thwacked it and dried it, still strange and wrong. When B saw this she said, "Whoa! That is SO not you!"

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And now...

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I love it. I just wish I'd raided B's bead stash first! My technique for this type of yarn needs some work, but for a first try I though it was good enough to post! But just so my OCD side wouldn't take a complete fit, I spun up a teensy bit of the batt thin and three plied it. Here is 12 inches of conservative yarn. I love it, too.

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October Phat Fiber Box

Some Phat Fibery love landed in my mailbox yesterday. I've been keeping myself from spinning some of these lovelies until I could get some pictures of the wonderfulness. This is probably my favorite box I've received so far. I highly recommend following the linkies to these indie artists shops and grabbing some stash enhancement for yourself. I know there are a few of these samples that I'm hoping to find full sized versions in the Phatties shops.
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My two faves are the Sheepy cell phone charm from MissPurl and the Harlequin Girl batt. I ran to my cell phone to attach the charm, only to discover that my stupid phone doesn't have an attachment spot for the charm! And only through extreme self discipline did the Harlequin Girl batt make it for its photo op.

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Harlequin Girl by KnittyAndColor

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Exteme Spinning has provided sari silk fiber. I've seen sari silk carded into black merino to beautiful effect - I might have to find some black to blend this with!
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Gorgeous Tussah Silk from Wild Orchids Yarns & Fiber
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WC Mercantile has provided a mystery grab bag of samples. I've been considering trying needle felting, this just might push me over the edge.
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Roo's Moonbeams from Moonwood Farm are the softest things ever. I think I might keep this one as a pet!
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This is a beautiful soft batt in mermaidy colors from Susan's Kitchen
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My Fair BagLady has contributed this pretty leaf stitch marker.
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M's favorite from the box: Sheepy Kitty's
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Funky Fiber Farm has provided a lovely mixed batt in bewitching colors.
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Yummy milk fiber from Feeling Sheepish
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Hampton Artistic Yarn's sample is a beautiful batt of black and white with silver sparkle.

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Giffordables "All Hallow's Eve" batt is a beautiful earthy batt that reminds me of some of the beautiful yarns Sue has posted on her blog.
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Cozy Cove Farm's "Mask of the Jester" has beautiful jewel tones

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Another of M's faves: Alaskan Sass (say that 10 times fast) Candy Mix.
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B has claimed this button from Button Adoration for another Button necklace.
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This gorgeous 3 tone baby alpaca is from Anzula

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I love the vibrant blue in the "O, Donna" sample from Alisha Goes Around
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Lot's of fun spinning to come!

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