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)