A Ribbeting Tale

I type this on a cold froggy morning, autumn finally drawing in with crunchy leaves underfoot and the promise of warm blankets and hot drinks when inside…

You’ll need to frogive me, this is my favourite time of the year, I hope I didn’t leave you susponded for too long there!

For those who follow the amazing Rabbie, you’ll know that she mentioned making a tiny lab coat in exchange for help making bird skulls and bones.

…

Out of context, we both sound toadally insane.

Anyway…

Many moons ago, years now in fact, I knit the Reliability Raptor for the team I was in at my work, as they sorely needed some motivation and something positive to focus on. Since moving team, I keep getting reminded that I needed to make them a better, more awesome, mascot.

I couldn’t just hop to it as I was undecided. The Analysis Ant? Oh, the Analysis Armadillo!

Nope. The people knew what they wanted.

The Quality Quail? The Failure Fish? The Laboratory Labrador?

Nope. No matter the compondium of ideas, the team knew what they wanted and well, you have to give the people what they want.

Meet Fibbit, The FA Frog. The reason? We have a tool called the FIB (Focused Ion Beam) that can make cuts in devices smaller than the width of a human hair, to allow us to look inside at the structures and work out just why they failed.

And despite telling the requesters repeatedly that this isn’t a magic tool that gives answers at the press of a button…

FIB it!

FIB it!

Fibbit!

And thus, we now have Fibbit. He got a full induction on his first day, and even a pass was made for him. I can’t share all these for reasons, but I do have permission to show this cute photo of him chilling in the edge of the FIB.

So thank you Rabbie, for helping create the best, toadally awesome, mascot!

And with that, I shall hop to it myself and catch you all next post!

Wool Count

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 81 (3 used)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 15
Wool bought – 27
Wool given to me – 37
Wool gifted to others – 2
Wool handspun – 11

Total – 850 (Net difference: +9)

Plaid to meet you

Sew happy to be sharing knot just a finished project, but a pattern!

Sort of.

Its a patchy situation, I recommend you thread lightly.

On to the knitting part

Sew and behold, my Yumyan Hammerpaw inspired bag! Yes, I have knit a plaid dice bag, an actual Yumyan Hammerpaw and now, a plaid tote bag complete with a Yumyan Hammerpaw twist to it. This is the last in a series of Timbercat inspired gifts for Timbercat. Will need to decide a new theme for his next birthday!

Oh, and I know knot everyone will believe me, but I even lined this bag!

Sew, onto the pattern now.

Here it is! Link also available via the free patterns tab!

The reason I have been sew uncertain with this pattern is that its knot a pattern. Its a chart. Although I have included the details and rough recipes of the two bags I knit using said chart.

And thats all for today. I am quilty as charged of being knackered, sew leaving it at a short post.

Until the next one, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 83 (5 used)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 15
Wool bought – 27
Wool given to me – 37
Wool gifted to others – 2
Wool handspun – 11

Total – 848 (Net difference: +7)

Zombodie has gone and done it…

Its a plague.

An infestation.

Its…getting out of hand?

This photo of this little Zombie hand (Free pattern Zombie Arms by Elizabeth Pierre) was my intention. Then during a gaming session, it just grew arms and…more hands…

Four in fact. Two were promptly stolen and the other two, of corpse, went to work with me for a little Halloween mayhem.

Took a few hours, but the infection was found, isolated, then there was an outbreak. They were found again but as of typing this, one has managed to escape and is crawling in the wild, ready to…pounce? lend a hand?

Hopefully get a laugh, which was the whole point of the en-cadavar. I am dead-icated to trying to bring some humour to life, or at least the undead in this case, around me.

In non knitting news, I visited my family up north and, although the drive was a bit braining, it was amazing. Lots of fun, lots of laughter, no one died, amazing.

And with that, I’m gonna take a brain check and see you all next post, till then, stay safe and don’t get infected by any zombies!

Wool Count

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 78 (2 used)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 15
Wool bought – 27
Wool given to me – 37
Wool gifted to others – 2
Wool handspun – 11

Total – 853 (Net difference: +12)

A thneed to knit a thneed

“Sir! You are crazy with greed. There is no one on earth that would buy that fool Thneed!”

Perhaps not buy, but me? I thneeded to knit one. Why? Blame Rabbie.

Although she will blame a Ticktock of a sleeved shawl.

“It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become.”

Which, upon watching it, goes from a sleeved shawl to a scarf to a cowl to a sleeved scarf or sleeved cowl, a hood and even a little top…

“It’s a shirt. It’s a sock. It’s a glove. It’s a hat.”

Yeah… I call a thneed when I see one.

“A Thneed’s a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need.”

And you know who thneeds that thneed the most? The very someone who showed me that tick tock? Who happens to have Reynard’s and has icicles for fingers even in summer? Yep, Rabbie. And she deserves a treat in thneed form. So to the woolservatory I went…

“And I first saw the trees! The Truffula trees! The bright-colored tufts of the Truffula trees! Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze.”

…ok, change the word tree to wool and I totally suddenly feel called out. Moving on. I opted for a slow colour changing wool, in muted rainbow colours.

And the stitch pattern?

“He’ll tell you, perhaps . . . if you’re willing to pay.”

Its Dropped! by Arlene’s World of Lace, and like a lot of what I like to post, its a free pattern. The edging is another free pattern, the originally named Lace Edging 2 by Knitting Fool. I went for short colour changing grey to compliment the brighter rainbow yarn. Rainbows on a cloudy day as I kept saying.

The finished thneed, complete with cuffs, was thoroughly tested and it does indeed turn from a sleeved shawl which can go from a scarf to a cowl to a sleeved scarf or sleeved cowl, a hood and even a little top. I don’t have any final photos of the thneed in its all its various forms, but I think that fits with the image of a thneed, as we all know, its whatever you need.

I gave the thneed to Rabbie when I met her at Alton Towers, and as she was thanking me, she was already winding it on and snuggling into its colourful squishiness…

“I felt a great leaping of joy in my heart.”

Hmm…I should have asked if it was Truffula tree soft…

And with that:

“Get over here fast! Take the road to North Nitch. Turn left at Weehawken. Sharp right at South Stitch.”

Until the next post, stay safe.

“I am the Knitter who speaks for the wool, which I seem to have so very many bags full!”

Wool Count

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 76 (3 used)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 15
Wool bought – 27
Wool given to me – 37
Wool gifted to others – 2
Wool handspun – 11

Total – 855 (Net difference: +14)

Life is gourd and then you pie

Tis the spooky season, and I kicked it off the best way possible – Scarefest at Alton Towers with my sister Rabbie and her husband.

And you had better be-leaf it, we tree had a blast.

It was exactly what I needed to help get my knitting motivation going again, starting with Rabbie’s slipper subscription:

Made following the free pattern Nola’s Slippers by Nola Miller – I love this pattern as it just eats up odds and ends and, after Rabbie jokingly let me loose on the actual scraps pile, ended up with the craziest slippers ever.

Even if she doens’t like them, I know she will wear them to death as she lives in slippers.

But before I -fall- down that particular rabbit hole, and yes, I know thats a-corny, lets get to the big project I wanted to show today.

This is my new Autumn Wreath. Its a mixed media, and multi person project. Felix made the needle felted fox and acorns, and Inkling made the needle felted squirrels for me. There’s brown alpaca, black Hebridean and beetroot dyed Jacobs fleece in this, as well as a range of wool types for the leaves.

Speaking of, would you be-leaf it, another free pattern – Autumn Acorns and Oak Leaves by Amanda Berry was used for those leaves.

This was one of those projects that just kept sprouting…leaves and roots I guess. I needed something to balance the fox, I needed more leaves, I need more colours… I tapped into my Valkyries Craft coven three times to help decide on placement but, finally, its done.

And I am actually a little sad that its place in the window is currently being taken by my Halloween wreaths. Next month it will get a chance to shine.

Want to know what’s made me more sad? Devastated in fact? Just looked at the first of two highschools today as Felix will begin highschool next year… She’s too little! Too sweet! My little baby is growing up too fast!

If anyone comes across either a time machine or a device that stops time, let me know. Asking for a friend.

With that, I will call this post done and I’ll catch you next post. Untill then, stay safe.

Wool Count

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 73
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 15
Wool bought – 27
Wool given to me – 37
Wool gifted to others – 2
Wool handspun – 11

Total – 858 (Net difference: +17 – no change this week.)

Ray of sunshine

Trying not to get too hopeful, lest I salmon Sod’s Law, but the immediate future is looking eel-ly fun with a few shenanigans planned with Rabbie.

But I wont start ray-ving about those until they’ve happened.

Swimming along now…

Let me shoal you my latest project!

I wanted to knit some-fin aquatic themed to go inside some-fin for someone. Both my kids immediately declared it needed to be a manta ray.

This little cutie is knit following the pattern Ray by Sachiyo Ishii from her book ‘Mini Knitted Ocean’.

Doesn’t he look so cute and happy? There was just one problem…

Someone has clearly been eating all the frys…

Even if he had been skinny, the plan for this guy was doomed to fail. So instead, he is off to the bag of things to use/gift at a later date.

And you know what? That’s ok. I eel-ly enjoyed knitting this guy and would like to make more of the cuties from that book.

With that, I’ll be fin-ishing this post. Just a very quick, short update on knitting and knitting only.

…

OK, there was a trip to Abakan’s and my wool collection has grown by ten. I only bought four, but Felix picked up four for a set of gloves and a cowl and my friend gave me two to knit some Viking cheat socks for her.

With that, till next time, may fins go along swimmingly for you!

…

Just keep knitting, just keep knitting…

Wool Count

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 73 (1 used)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 15
Wool bought – 27 (+4)
Wool given to me – 37 (+6)
Wool gifted to others – 2
Wool handspun – 11

Total – 858 (Net difference: +17)

Lets cut a rug!

This particular project was a real floor-midable opponent, not gonna lie! But be-floor I get tangled up in all the excitement, lets start at the beginning.

Several months ago, Engel came back with an interesting charity shop find – a latch hook rug. I explained to him, then to Felix and Inkling, what it was, how it was used, and what kind of things could be made.

Felix took to it immediately and has made a few pieces herself. Inking likes to pick it up and put it down, but he can quite confidently just get on with it,

So what did I do? Well, as a lover of the crafty yet thrifty ways people of ye olde times used to get around anything and everything, I have a particular soft spot for rag rugs.

There’s something very pretty about people taking the scraps and odds and ends of one thing, to turn it into something useful and practical and generally of pretty designs and colour placement.

And so, latch hook in one hand, an anti slip mat which was no longer used in the other, I tackled my yarn scraps. And that of a few friends. And all those tiny odds and ends balls of wool I had in the stash (hence the high numbers of ‘wool used’ the past few months) and go to work.

Its mad. Its crazy. There is no order. No pattern. It just is. And I love it. Its scrap-tacular!

Its especially amazing on the somewhat cold laminate floor for my bare toes first thing in the morning!

At some point I will make another – a true scrap rug – which should probably take me a few years to makes if I resist the urge to stash bust again. And that one will go on the other side of the bed. Or where this one is as Felix and Inkling have been making attempts to steal it for their own rooms…

I’ve already lost two rugs to them! I wont lose a third!

(Can you tell I’m fraying at the edges about the thought of my toes being cold again?)

In other news, the car shenanigans are about done – just need to source a few parts to finish having her repaired as the insurance decided she wasn’t worth saving despite being structurally sound and without the crazy amounts of extras they had listed, came well below the percentage that would typically be classed as a write off.

And I know for a fact that they would have sold her for scrap, just to repair her and then sell on for a profit…grr…

Now this, this is making me unravel. But, its almost all done, just need to keep calm and rug on.

Until next time, stay as safe as a bug in a rug!

Wool Count

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 72 (1 used – black DK)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 15
Wool bought – 23 (+1 as i needed more black DK)
Wool given to me – 31
Wool gifted to others – 2
Wool handspun – 11

Total – 849 (Net difference: +8)

Pining for the Fjords…

Its with some re-leaf to say that things are beginning to be oak-y. And I’m happy with oak-y. oak-y is a lovely breath of fresh air compared to the mountains and chasms the past bit has felt like.

Update schedule may or may not get patchy – if I have something to share, I’ll share, and I’ll continue branching out with the non knitting creations too.

This week though, is a knitting project. A finished one. And with just over tree months to spare!

All 100 trees have been decorated, have their tree trunks knit and are all sewn together. Thank you for all who were rooting for these!

And yes, it is a bit of a copse out, but I had been putting off the sewing of these for a month.

I’ve tree-ly enjoyed the kids being able to help out so much with these as well. Felix may have done more decoration sewing than Inkling, but he diligently cut out 100 sets of ‘tinsel’ and picked which trees got which kind. I wonder what I’ll have chosen for next year and how much more they can help with that!

…

Actually, Felix may not want them next year as she will be in Big School come next Christmas…

Nope! I’m going back to being a mushroom on that thought! I don’t want to get all sappy now.

Moving on…

The Viking show season has wrapped up for the year, and I have passed a grand total of five tests, which I have been told is very impressive. Going to try for two more and a second kit by the end of next year and get my next level in the society!

I passed basic combat on Thursday where I ended up being hit with axes, swords, spears, two hand spears, a Dane Axe, javelins and arrows. They’re all blunt and the blows are mostly pulled but I was run to the point I was ready to drop… And I miraculously passed despite flinching at the Dane Axe coming down on me! (I shoved my shield in the way and side stepped frantically, so it was classed as a parry.)

And on that note, this rather sleepy Viking is going to leaf it at that and until next time, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 72 (1 used)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 15
Wool bought – 22
Wool given to me – 31
Wool gifted to others – 2
Wool handspun – 11

Total – 848 (Net difference: +5)

Out on a lamb

As ewe all know, I have quite the wool stash. I also have quite the stash of fleece too. Plus all the spinning and needle felting accessories to ewes said fleece.

Small problem is, as its not a very ordinary hobby, so whenever anyone comes across fleece, they snap it up and give it to me against my wool. Which is lovely, and generous, but also means i have seven alpaca fleeces and five Romney cross fleeces in the woolservatory. There is also two foot stools full (if only that was three bags) in the living room, and another alpaca and maybe six, seven more Romney cross fleeces in the attic.

Its insulation and I’m sticking to that exc-ewes. Engel feels that he has been fleeced with this hobby he initially encouraged.

But lets herd this conversation baa-ck to the topic at hoof.

During an impromptu day trip to Wales to go crabbing I spotted a wool / fleece / spinning shop. I hoofed it in and bought some brake and drive baa-nds and a tension spring for the wheel. Treated myself to a bobbin too. Whilst there, I petted the wool, the fleece, the sheep skins, the…vegan…sheep…skins…?

Yes. Vegan sheep skin.

Upon investigation, this ‘sheepskin’ was actually a large piece of felt with a sheep fleece carefully needle felted into it.

Hmm…and thats when the idea of making my own began to form.

Not gonna lie, this was a project and a half. First I tried making flat felt. Turns out, alpaca is a baa-d choice for that.

Once I had made a mat of some description with bits and bobs and ends of various sheep breeds, with Felix’s and Inklings help, we started needle felting the alpaca into it. Some patches took well to this, some…not so much.

I ended up digging out a large piece of felt, and baa-cked the mat we had made on to that and then needle felted the alpaca.

This worked. It took a long time and between us three we broke all but one of my needle felting needles, but we did it.

Is it good? Sort of. Patches wool need reinforced again later as and when they crop up. Some patches are very fluffy, some less so. It is however very soft, and at a glance, passes as a sheep skin.

Was it a good stash buster? Yes. I emptied half of one of the foot stools on the mat, and the alpaca fleece remnants now fit into that space freeing up some space in the woolservatory.

Wool I make another? Not sure. I guess if I have need to I would, and I certainly know what not to do to make it an easier experience.

Lamb I glad I did it? Yes, 100%. I proved to myself I cud do it, with trial and error, but I managed. And that’s what matters – setting a challenge and managing it, even if was by the fleece of my sheep!

Until next time, stay safe! Don’t let anything baa-d happen to ewe all!

Wool Count

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 71 (1 used)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 15
Wool bought – 22
Wool given to me – 31
Wool gifted to others – 2
Wool handspun – 11

Total – 847 (Net difference: +6)

Under Avest

Ever felt like a project your working on is more punishment than pleasure?

Yeah… That was the FILs birthday vest for me.

Sew, before I unravel this thread, lets start at the beginning.

In July 2021, I knitted a vest for my FIL out of wool that was frogged from a sweater (no waist wool even then) I had knit him a few years prior. Yes, this story has gone round more times than the washing machine already. Anyway. I ended up knitting three vests – one for him and matching ones for Felix and Inkling. Jump forward to the beginning of 2024…

For sweater or worse, all the 2020s have been challenging for everyone, and my FIL has had a few health issues (thankfully nothing serious-serious, the tests have ruled the worst out) but subsequently he’s lost a bit of weight. A lot of weight. And he approached me, whilst wearing his vest, to say that it was the only thing in his wardrobe that he liked to wear as it fitted him. Could I make another?

He has never asked me to knit for him before, and given the situation, of course I said yes.

I asked what colour? What style? And he told me he wanted exactly the same as he already had, but in blue…

…

Here is an in-progress knit from 2021 of his vest. Please note the lovely delicate cables and the blue colouration.

There was a pause, just a moment, before he continued with ‘the purple is nice, but I think a blue would suit more of the clothing I have’. I am meanwhile having flashbacks to the “purple hotel” from Blackpool where everyone in the family all agreed it was purple despite being blue.

As an aside, my FIL is colour blind, I know this, his family do, we all do, and yet it never fails to amaze me how everyone just agrees with him even when the colour isn’t what he thinks it is.

Hesitantly, I agreed to blue, then made him wait as I brought out all my blue wool. After a few moments of him poking a few ‘purples’ out of the way, he settled on ‘blue’.

Told you this was quite the yarn to unravel.

Skip forward eight months and…yeah…finally finishing the neck and arm holes…

I just didn’t enjoy this. I have knit three blue sweaters of this exact pattern already. I have knit two dark green vests of a very similar pattern. I have even knitted a neon orange and navy blue vest.

But yet I carried on, ironing a path through the wrinkles of other more tempting projects…

And there it is, the long and short of a project I just didn’t want to work on. A ‘blue-blue’ cabled vest. Pattern is a free Ravelry download by Dad’s Cabled Vest by Ira Dearing.

He’ll be receiving this at the weekend as a birthday gift. I’m hoping he doesn’t ask me for another, I would much prefer to knit him some ‘blue’ socks…

And with that epic tale, I shall bid you farewell until the next post.

Wool Count

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 70 (2 used)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 15
Wool bought – 22
Wool given to me – 31
Wool gifted to others – 2
Wool handspun – 11

Total – 848 (Net difference: +7)