Threading lightly

One of the things I was sew excited about last year, was that the terrors made soap. Just your basic melt and pour, but still.

They where both just so pleased with themselves that they made a thing, a useful thing! Many, many useful things…

I was also sew very relieved that my idea of making small pawprint shaped soap was agreed upon and they came out sew in-thread-ibly cute. It was agreed immediately that these would be the Christmas gifts from the kids to family and clothe friends.

A list was made, it was checked twice, and being Christmas, well, it didn’t matter too much if they were naughty or nice…

I bought the correct number of little vacuum packed face cloths (the kind you open, put in water, and the little block turns into a towel) and that, was that.

Until Suds Law came into affect.

First, it was a gift that was supposed to be shipped over with plenty of time got stuck in Japan. There was just shy of two weeks to go, sew ok, time to initiate the button plan:

If plushie Doraemon cant get over from Japan, she can have Doraemon wash cloths and paw print soap fitted in pretty well with robot cats… These were a very quick and rough modification of Melon Dishcloth by Lily / Sugar’n Cream (free pattern), and for once, I had to go for a dive into OwlLadys stash to better colour match the cotton to the characters.

Alright, a week and a bit, just, to spare.

Suds Law, again.

I fully intended to put together another gift, and despite the brief interlude to knit the afore mentioned washcloths, I should have had time. Apart from the recipients other half mucking about holiday dates and her ending up finishing work and leaving a good few days earlier than planned.

So, button plan to the button plan:

Another wash cloth and soap. A…nod to her love of coffee and cats.

Its a good thing knitting is very much my thread and butter… This was another roughly modified free pattern: Coffee Tea or Therapy Dishcloth by Carla Becker – super cute, lots of possibilities for modifying it more in the future, potentially a nice little cotton scrap burner on the side…

Whilst this was going on, Suds Law was striking again. Another two gifts needed for some Battletech lovers after initial present plans fell through and the hunt for something else was initiated.

Feeling in-thread-ibly pinned down with time and responsibility at this point, I asked Timbercat for ideas despite not even knowing who the gifts were even for.

Sew glad I did, he was stitches ahead of me in terms of great ideas.

Battletech = Hexagons = Hexagon wash cloths!

(More soap had actually been made by this point, and by the end there was none left)

A pattern was found and a pair knit, in teal cotton with a different contrast so they can be told apart.

(Photo will be here soon, just wait)

And then once more, Suds Law struck.

I got a Christmas present from another Battletech lover and immeidatly felt guilty that they hadn’t made it onto any of my gift lists. So a third cloth was knit and the ends sewn in on Christmas Eve.

I do actually really like the red and yellow (his Pathfinder characters colours). This was knit following Outside-In Hexagon by FireCats Design (Another free design) with no modifications.

I was clean out of time.

And that was it, done!

Suds Law can go jump of a pier and wash itself…

Ok, I’m washed out now with the fabric puns…

However, and this is no fabric-ation, as part of my ‘don’t put things off’ resolution this year, I got the sewing machine out and did the entire mend pile. Including changing out zippers!

Whilst there, I also made a bundle of drawstring bags – some are for a board game, ‘Mlem’, one for my RPG ‘Magical Kitties’ tokens (I’m working my little terrors towards Cthulhu, but baby steps – or kitty paws?) and also two bags for arrow blanks – one for OwlLady and the other for the viking group kit.

I even went and draped my spinning wheel to create a mock up cover for it to give to Rabbie. (Hi Rabbie! You’re the bestest for this!) Who is going to do something quite awesome with it, way above my skill level, and I genuinely can’t wait to see how it’s going to turn out!

In not so great news, Papa Nurgle has visited this house and made us all quite unwell in turn. I’m the last to get ill but it has knocked me back pretty bad as his little Nurglings have gotten into my chest and are playing havoc with my asthma…

We have also had snow. And sledging. And I helped someone from work move, which resulted in over three and a half hours of driving in snow and ferrying things back and forth…

As such, I have had very little in me to do any knitting, I have however made a good stab at Felix’s latch hook rug! (She realised she had taken in too ambitious a project, and rather than abandon it, asked for me to help. I feel this is a valuable lesson, and a good show of character for her to admit she needs help rather than ignoring it.)

With that, I will leave you with the wool count, stay safe till next post!

Wool Count

Starting total – 790

Wool used – 3 (+1)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 0
Wool bought – 0
Wool given to me – 0
Wool gifted to others – 0
Wool handspun – 0

Total – 787 (Net difference: -3)

The Gloves are Off!

I mentioned last year that I asked people what they wanted me to make for Christmas, and aside the fun seat belt covers, the rest was all fingerless gloves! And an XXL wash cloth, but that’s a different story.

Different people gave me different variations of what it is they were thinking of and, well, when push came to glove, I got the needles out and did my best!

My mum, very Henry Ford of her, wanted fingerless gloves, any kind would do so long as they were black. Before this, I had seen the OwlLady knitted a twisted rib hat and I wanted to give the technique a go, and well, as long as they were black right?

These are the Twisted Reversible Mitts by Littletheorem (free pattern) in black. I actually really enjoyed this technique – super simple, but very effective. My mum gloved them too as they were very squishy and cosy and, of course, for her one and only request of being black in colour.

My Nephew on the other hand was a lot more precise with what he wanted. He has fallen head over heels in glove with anime, all different kinds. And what he really wanted was Assassination Classroom gloves.

Haven’t seen this one personally but the moment I googled it I knew exactly what he was after.

With yellow, I knit Don’t skid, honey! by Justyna Lorkowska (another free pattern) and then put a small bit of white felt which was handily lurking in the stash, and then filled in the detail with some black wool. He was mitten with these! Well worth the effort!

And lastly, Rabbie. The best of all requests was given to myself for her arm warmers: Dealers choice.

I immediately knew I wanted to knit a pair to match her thneed, muted rainbow with dark stormclouds, and well, not gonna lie, it was pretty handy to dig out all the wool to create my own blend as I was inspired to do the same for those seat belt covers…and beep beep rainbow sheep…

These are by far my favourite of the gloves. And I have been told that they fit like, well, like a glove. I followed the Camp Out Fingerless Mitts by tante ehm pattern (more free patterns!) and just had some fun with the colours.

Next week will be a run through of the last of the Christmas knits and then it will be back to the usual chaos. Speaking of which, I want to really focus this year on doing all the little craft jobs/tasks which I keep meaning to do, just later. So unless I have a really good excuse, it will be now, or at the very least shortly, rather than later.

Baby steps.

It means that the knitting content may become even less, but like last year, I’ll share my other things instead.

And with that, the very first wool count of the year! My starting total has increased, but they were gifts or very useful purchases for planned projects (another goal for myself, no buying wool unless its telling me what it wants to be). I also aim to have less than I started with, but I also aim to do a fair bit of spinning this year, so even if I end up with more, as long as the bulk of it is my own hand spun yarn, I’ll be pretty pleased. I intend to keep a firm grip on it this year!

Wool Count

Starting total – 790

Wool used – 2 (woo!)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 0
Wool bought – 0
Wool given to me – 0
Wool gifted to others – 0
Wool handspun – 0

Total – 788 (Net difference: -2)

Cheeses for the Meeses

Another year, and un-brie-lievably, another cheese day! After the food induced comas from the past two years, I decided to make the grate decision to instead provide the (non alcoholic, this is at work after all) drinks.

And well, what feta to go with drinks, than bottle toppers?

Answer: Mice on cheese bottle toppers!

This is a free pattern, but not on Ravelry. It can brie found at: This link here!

I was as cheesed as punch with how well these went down, with people claiming dibs on their favourites brie-fore the event even brie-gan!

Using my cheddar judgment, that’s the only photo I’ll brie sharing of the Cheese Day shenanigans. As was said repeatedly throughout the whole thing, what happens at Cheese Day, stays at Cheese Day.

After my cheese induced nap, the weekend kicked off with the first of several mini Christmases as well as Cthulhu, were its all getting a bit slicey.

Speaking of Cthulhu, the requested work one shot, self written and titled ‘A Cthulhumas Carol’, went so much feta than I hoped for. It started very serious, like the original Charles Dickens story, then descended into a Muppets Christmas Carol, complete with the players brie-ing rat like clerks (Rowan Ratkinson and Daniel Ratcliffe are still my fav two pun names) and Bob Cratchit had a distinct Innsmouth look to him…

I think I’m going to brie roped into another Christmas RPG one shot for next year. I wonder what gaming system to use for that…

Any-whey…

Timbercat and OwlLady both helped with the wool count this year, and after putting some wool in the charity shop pile, a few as gifts to Timbercat and OwlLady for helping with the wool count, and defining a new definition of when a ball brie-comes a scrap, the final total was significantly feta than what I finished on!

And brie-ing dragged kicking and screaming into the modern era, Timbercat created a spreadsheet with a full wool inventory, and a tracking system for wool going in and out. There’s even going to brie a graph to show how its going throughout the year!

How long do we all think it’s going to take me to break it?

And with that, Happy Holidays and I wish you all a good, safe and happy new year.

Till next year!

Wool Count

Starting total – 787

Wool used – 0
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 0
Wool bought – 0
Wool given to me – 0
Wool gifted to others – 0
Wool handspun – 0

Total – 787 (Net difference: 0)

Totor-y Adorable!

Have you ever had a totor-y awesome idea, a sudden spark of the imagination, then reality turns round and goes, yeah, you don’t have time for that?

But as Baron Humbert Von Gikkingen, from The Cat Returns, puts it, ‘Always believe in yourself. Do this, and no matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear.’

So believe in myself I did.

That Totor-y awesome idea? To knit little Totoros for the new Jarl and his kids. This idea came to me Sunday night and I needed them Tuesday afternoon and I had a full day of work Monday and Tuesday.

Talk about last minute…

After the first Totoro I knew they had to be smaller, so I tweaked a different pattern and boom, teeny tiny Totoros!

How do they all look?

Bigger totoro is based loosely on the free pattern Five Little Bunnies by Laura Bain

Tiny Totoros are based on the free pattern Tiny Chickens by Anna Hrachovec (Mochimochi to the win!)

And, well, I couldn’t resist…I really wanted one for myself. Actually, I wanted the whole family.

All the Mochimochi pattern, just fewer stitches and rows to reduce the size.

Genuinely chuffed with these, as was the Jarl and his kids.

Totor-y worth it.

Anyone else doing any last minute creations?

Until the next post, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 98 (2 used)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 15
Wool bought – 36 (+9 – it was black DK, I always need black DK!)
Wool given to me – 37
Wool gifted to others – 2
Wool handspun – 15

Total – 846 (Net difference: +5)

Against my Wool

I like to knit. And I like to give gifts.

I like to give knitted gifts to those knit worthy. Of all sheeps and sizes.

And often I do lamb-ent at a partic-ewe-larly cute or pretty knit leaving my possession after hours of work, but generally it’s with the knowledge I can just make another if I really want to.

I rarely do.

Howoolver. This knit has gen-ewe-inely split opinions regarding gifting it, and due to its scrap busting nature of mixed yarns, some of which are entirely ewe-d, it can’t be recreated exactly.

Its also been sheep-napped numerous times by n-ewe-merous people, and I have to hunt it down and get it back each time.

What’s worse, I want to be a sheep napper too.

Meet ‘Beep Beep Rainbow Sheep’. (Bobble Sheep Pillow In Partridge by Purl Soho, free pattern) Knitted to match my nieces seat belt covers and to act as a cushion or pillow or cuddly companion in her car. Complete with removable cushion and made of machine washable wool for any accidents that may occur.

The name is Timbercats fault as he taught my terrors ‘Beep Beep, I’m a sheep’. There’s a story, but a later date for that one. And every time they see it, they declare Beep Beep Rainbow Sheep then steal it. A number of my friends have too.

The photo doesn’t capture its squishy cuddliness and soft, unspoken desire to be snuggled which it just exudes.

Can ewe tell I want it too?

I’ve told myself I can knit another. I can knit many. I could do bright rainbow, greytone rainbow, all different natural colours or even with my handspun but… I don’t know.

I guess wool have to wait till after Christmas to see if Beep Beep Rainbow Sheep makes it to my niece or not.

…

Anyone willing to go out on a lamb and thinks sheep’ll be happy with a tiny knitted sheep she can hang from the rear-view mirror instead?

In other news, I have wrote my ‘A Cthulhumas Carol’ oneshot for work and looking forward to being very firmly on the naughty list after having a slaying time that night with my players.

Other than that, it’s the ewe-sual Christmas mayhem and madness. I hope everyone else is doing well with their own holiday chaos, whichever that may be!

Till next post, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 96 (5 used)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 15
Wool bought – 27
Wool given to me – 37
Wool gifted to others – 2
Wool handspun – 15

Total – 840 (Net difference: -1)

Woo! I have gone under my starting total!!!! Insert all the happy cat dancing GIFs cause woo!

No Holds Car-red

A little while ago I posted on the family chat that I was planning on knitting everyone a little something for christmas, did anyone have any requests? I got all the usual requests, more or less, but then my niece asked me for something quite specific…

She has learned to drive, and has her own car, but wanted seat belt cosies like I have in my car to stop the belt rubbing into your collarbone etc. I was auto-ley delighted by this request, even more so when the scope was ‘you have free reign, just pick something that will match the car’.

Immediately, it was a drive of activity.

I’ve been on a bit of a rainbow kick since the thneed for Rabbie, and I just couldn’t resist seeing if I could create my own pastel rainbow blend. What do you think?

And dont fret my gears, the buttons car all mismatched on purpose. Namely because I didn’t have 25 of any one kind that fitted in the button stash. Yes, there is a button stash. And a wool one. And a fabric one. And a fleece one…

Give me a brake, this is my main hobby!

Moving swiftly on…

In other news, I did a prehistoric textile course with Sally Pointer, Felix came as well as she is a big fan and it was an amazing day. We learned two and three ply cordage, netting, carved needles out of antler and even got to have a go at sprang!

Sprang is a kind of braided weaving that only has the warp, no weft. It also worked both the bottom and top of the piece as you manipulate the threads. Absolutely mind boggling but also very fun!

When I clear my schedule I’m going to give it a proper play.

Speaking of, it’s that time of year where everything has gone mad. Presents to wrap, projects to work on for all the family, house to clean (boo) and also time to give the place a proper sort out.

I’ve also been voluntold to run a Christmas themed cthulhu one shot at my works board game club. (Running a single Christmas RPG seems to be tradition now). Couldn’t find any that was right so…well…I’m reading the classic Christmas Carol, making notes, cross referencing with the Muppets Christmas Carol (because it’s the best version) and my tome of cthulhu mythos beasts, monsters and elder gods…

The players are going to have a slaying time with this one.

Till next post, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 91 (4 used)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 15
Wool bought – 27
Wool given to me – 37
Wool gifted to others – 2
Wool handspun – 15

Total – 845 (Net difference: +4)

Enjoy every meow-ment

A good few weeks ago, Felix and I went to Abakan’s. It was a paws-itively fun day, with the main reason to go get fabric fur a few projects, but…you cant go and not look at the wool.

Thats just hiss-terical thinking.

Felix fell in love with some fabric, the aurora borealis above a forest, (which the a-meow-sing Rabbie turned into a housecoat fur her) and then she spotted some wool in the sale section.

Felix is, sadly, no longer a little child. She has grown and grown and grown this past year, and matured at an outstanding rate. Although we are getting the early signs of the terrible teens cropping up…although at 11 she does fall into tweenager territory… Because of all this, I have been encouraging her to branch out and start picking the clothing she likes, wear the colours and patterns so that she’s feline happy.

All that to say, she spotted some wool and fell in love with the colours. She bought the wool, with her own money, then handed me it with a smile and proceeded to go ‘Mummy…’

Remember the cats cowl, hat and arm warmers I knit a while ago? Well, she has frequently stolen the arm warmers and hat but left the cowl which is oversized on me as its ‘just too big’…

Meow Felix has one that fits her just right. And with the remaining wool, I made some cute stripy arm warmers so I can at least get mine back… I may try and colour match these and make another hat so I can rescue mine as well…

She thinks they’re paw-some, and is very much the cat that got the cream.

I do hope that as she grows older, she’ll still want my hand knitted things. But rather than worrying about that, I’m choosing to enjoy the meow-ments right meow.

Until next time, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 87 (6 used)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 15
Wool bought – 27
Wool given to me – 37 (+1 from the MIL)
Wool gifted to others – 2
Wool handspun – 15 (+4, the urge to sit and spin took over!)

Total – 849 (Net difference: +8)

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)