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Tag: Knitting

by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one 2 Comments

This week and last I have been knitting Christmas gifts. Yes. Christmas gifts. I always say I won’t do them then change my mind in December and rush, rush, rush. Seeing as I am in the limbo of lockdown, I figured I would start now.

There is one gift I can show you though…

Inklings birthday was on Monday, and like most three year old boys, he is obsessed with Paw Patrol, and Zuma is his favourite. So I knit him Zuma as part of his present. I used the free pattern Dexter the Labrador by Amanda Berry. The pup tag I just winged, but I feel it came out well!

It was a very quiet celebration this year, again because of lockdown, but at three he doesn’t understand what he missed, which was a blessing really. I suspect I was more upset than anyone else as I didn’t get to see my family from up North. Twice now this year and lockdown. Twice!

Anyhow, back to Christmas gift knitting – I’ll try and fit a few things in that I can show you or else it’ll be a rather dull couple of weeks blog post wise!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 46 (7 this week!!!)
Wool bought – 7
Wool given – 8 (Engel brought two home today as a little pick me up as he noticed the home sickness was setting in)
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 672

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

A short post today, for tomorrow we’re having a little party for Inkling who will be turning three on Monday. Engel couldn’t get the day off work so we moved his celebrations forward by a day – not that he’ll notice mind!

Its not going to be a big thing, we asked him what he wanted for a cake and what he would like for a special birthday dinner, and if he wanted to do anything in particular in the house. He wanted cupcakes (so he could lick off the frosting) Daddys pink roast beef (rare beef), and to play Paw Patrol. Oh, and balloons. But we can manage all that at least and still follow our lockdown procdures.

A lot of people gave mentioned lockdown fatigue, I certainly reached a point a few weeks ago where i just wanted life to go back to normal, this week though has been hard as I just want my family near me – I suspect its due in part to cancelling my Easter trip up North, and Inklings birthday when I would have them come visit.

Two missed chances. Two missed occasions.

All because of…

The Fearsome coronavirus ball (free pattern by Tamara Kulikova) I couldn’t resist knitting this cutie – though it has been getting thrown around the house far more than t has been admired! At least i dont have to worry abouyt the fishtank breaking when this bounces off it!

Alright, enough waffling, I have presents to get knitting – more on that next week!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 39 (3 this week)
Wool bought – 7
Wool given – 8 (Engel brought two home today as a little pick me up as he noticed the home sickness was setting in)
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 679

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

Not quite, but Yesterday the 8th of May, marked the 75th anniversary of VE day.

A little history: Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the end of World War II in Europe.

And for this big event I had knitted a whole bunch of poppies. That were never used as the event was cancelled due to Covid-19. (Pattern used was the free pattern knit flat, no-sew poppy by Suzanne Resaul)

But life continues, and my mum asked me to knit up a few baby things for a colleague who was expecting her own “little ray of sunshine” so with that to go on I made these:

Does anyone else think it screams sunshine? Managed all these in a day and posted them the following. Which was good as the little ray of sunshine arrived yesterday, 4 weeks early!

Patterns used are ‘Rainbow’ and ‘Sun’ by Sarah Keen from her book “100 little knits” and ‘Beautiful Bootees’ by Sue Whiting from the book “Cute knits for baby feet”.

I shall leave you all there, not much has really happened here apart from baking and playing and home schooling and child wrangling and adventuring and gardening…oh, and I dyed some wool and some fluff for spinning…

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 36 (1 this week)
Wool bought – 7
Wool given – 6
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 680

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

There ARE heroes!

These are based on the free pattern Nurse Mates by Esther Braithwaite and are made for family and friends who are nurses. I feel though that all those in healthcare should be given congratulations – though there’s no way in could make them all a little toy!

In other knitting news, I did something I have never done before – I steeked! For those confused, it’s when you knit an object in the round, secure it, then cut it up the middle to create a cardigan or some such.

Yes. You CUT the knitting. With scissors.

I was driven to this madness as I was knitting myself ‘Forager’ from ‘Doomsday knits’ with a slow change variegated yarn. But as it’s asymmetric, every piece had a different number of stitches, making matching the colour changes impossible.

So steek I did.

The steeking process…

The finished object! I am very pleased with it.

In non knitting news, still in lockdown. I have cracked sourdough bread (hooray) and more or less finished the bulk of ripping up and sorting the front garden (double hooray) but as always there’s plenty more to do, on top of the day to day homeschooling, child wrangling, cleaning and tidying and kitten cuddling…

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 35 (3 this week)
Wool bought – 7
Wool given – 6
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 681

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

Another gift, for a friend who is a coffee obsessed GM! The pattern is based on a free hat pattern Coffee or Death Beanie by Maria Teresa Trujillo, I just combined it with my now memorised every day dice bag pattern and voila!

We’re still in lockdown, and slowly the garden is being ripped up and redone. There’s only so fast I can go by myself whilst juggling childcare, homeschooling, cooking, cleaning and playing with cats and tiny kittens!

Knitting has, understandably, slowed down a fair bit – mostly due to lack of time, energy, or having knackered my fingers whilst gardening… But it’s ticking away in the background, don’t you all worry!

Just another short post this week – Felix is wanting me to help her play Slime Rancher on the computer and Inkling is saving Octonaut toys in a somewhat hopeful manner!

Keep safe and take care.

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

And the clocks were striking thirteen…

Ok, not quite, but I couldn’t resist. Something did happen yesterday, on a bright cold day in April, which was the addition of two new members to the family.

Please all say hello to Lockdown and Outbreak! They are 8 weeks old and adorable. Outbreak is very outgoing, into everything and itching to explore. Lockdown just wants quiet and cuddles. I feel they suit their names well!

As a thank you for the kittens, I made these:

Little ginger kittens! The patter used was Happy Family – Mother Cat & Kittens by Sue Stratford from her book ‘Knitted Cats and Kittens’

That’s all from me this week, I have adorable kittens to coo over, and beautiful cats to give love and cuddles too also.

I will say this, the world seems a lot brighter and friendlier this weekend, I hope it lasts!

Till next week!

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

I imagine all of us in lock down by now have hit that point where what patience and resilience they felt they had suddenly crumbled. It could of been a casual remark, a glimpse of a news article, unwashed dishes or the expectation to just keep on smiling despite the rising panic and fear inside.

I hit the wall. Hard. Having a shower in the middle of the day so the kids wouldn’t see me cry, hard. As such, I have banned myself from the news and severely restricted my social media to knitted toys and kitty beans.

Ignorance is strength. How the echoes of 1984 seem to be following me… (last week’s blog post ‘sanity is not statictical’ was both a Fallout 3 and 1984 reference.

Anyhow, I normally keep my blog posts light hearted, and fairly impersonal, but I feel that in these times I was going to have to take that wall away. We are all sadly human, capable of love, of friendship, of joy of living, of laughter, of curiosity, of courage, of integrity. We are not hollow. But we are vulnerable.

If I go AWOL in the next few weeks, months, whatever lays ahead with lockdown, it will be because I have decided to further hide in my cocoon with my little family and wait for all this to be over with some form of sanity intact.

That was a somewhat heavy start, so let’s move on to the more light hearted nature of my blog posts – knitting! I have been making gifts, marrying to put forward some good karma. Two more hooded cowls, the Fallout pattern from last week, have fallen off my needles. Some arm warmers too.

Pattern details are again in last week’s post.

Lastly, I made these a good few weeks ago as a present for my nephew’s hamster, he should have been given them this weekend, but the trip to visit my family up north never happened, but I still want to share it.

Little hamster houses! Well, they’re supposed to be for rats so I scaled it down a bit, but still. Free pattern Cosmic Cozy by Susie Gourlay – dead cute and fantastic for using up odds and ends!

As such, with all of the above, I have used a fair bit of wool this week!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 32 (5 this week)
Wool bought – 7
Wool given – 6
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 684

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

Lockdown is getting to me. I keep swaying between the world having turned into some dystopian future, or a strange post apocalyptic landscape, but without the zombies or rad scorpions…

I had best be appropriately attired for when venturing out to the shops then.

The pattern is “Fallout” from the book “Doomsday knits”. Seems apt for the times we live in. (Been asked by two friends to make them one each, good thing it’s a nice easy knit with an interesting construction!)

In marginally more same knitting news, I have been knitting presents!

To complete the Nerfys Law Set theres a Nerf Bag for BIL, and a hat and armwarmers for Rabbie, as she feels the cold real bad. Nerf bag is my standard pattern, the hat is my own concoction and the arm warmers are Girl Gift Mitts by Debbie Meiklejohn.

In non knitting news I have been kept busy with Felix’s homeschooling and child wrangling in general. There’s been lots of baking, carding, painting, playing and also teaching Felix to rollerblade!

Busy but fun, which is what I am focusing on rather than the scary apocalypse happening outside in the real world…

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 27 (2 this week)
Wool bought – 7
Wool given – 6 (was given three balls yesterday as a little ‘saw these and thought of you’ gift from a friend. I really needed it!
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 689

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

Seeing as we are all currently living in interesting times, I think it’s wise to focus on positive things, kind things, good things.

Free pattern Knitted Heart by Julie & The Knits

Felix’s school run a variety of things throughout the year to raise money, some gets used for new school equipment and the bulk goes into paying towards school trips so parents don’t have to pay as much. As a kid, I didn’t get to go on many school trips as they were too expensive and my mother was doing as good as she could just to make sure we had dinner on the table.

Free pattern Hearts in a Hurry by Frankie Brown – I just braided some wool into the end to turn them into bookmarks.

When I was asked to knit a few contributions for mother Day gifts, I couldn’t refuse. They gave me the wool, and I knit, and knit, and knit quite a little bundle of gifts. I was working on these last week in Disneyland – note the much smaller heart coaster that I made after going on the Tower of Terror. Clearly fear induced adrenaline affects my guage!

Yesterday was the last day Felix’s school was open, as with all schools in the UK it was to be closed in a bid to slow down the coronavirus, but they were still able to sell the hearts and raise funds.

It’s been a very long, very odd and very stressful week, so i’m leaving today’s post there.

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 25 (0 this week – not had the urge to work on much)
Wool bought – 7
Wool given – 6 (was given three balls yesterday as a little ‘saw these and thought of you’ gift from a friend. I really needed it!
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 691 

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

Well, I finished one of my big projects, or three you could argue…

It’s a bit of a joke, but my sister, her husband and I have formed a Nerf Team called ‘Nerfys Law’ (it’s a pun on Murphy’s Law, which just about sums up our luck at nerfing!)

There’s also an awesome TV show called Milo Murphys Law, and in it the main character Milo wears a striped sweater vest. So I doubled down on the geekery and made us all matching sweater vests in Nerf colours…

I’ve made one male vest following the free pattern Peter Easy by Berroco Design Team, except in the round to save on sewing, and two female vests following the free pattern Prudence Easy by Berroco Design Team, again in the round.

I love them, they are obnoxiously bright, but surprisingly warm and cosy and i’m hoping my sis and brother in law like them too!

In non knitting news, I’m just back from a sneaky girls trip to Disneyland Paris – no kids, no husband, just lots of fun and chaos. I had a ball, but I missed my terrors so badly, so pleased to be home with them. Also, as much fun as I was having, it was unnerving watching the park slowly go into lock down over Covid-19. We all left at the right time, but I know of a number of people who just arrived as we left who are in an awkward situation as the parks are now closed for the foreseeable future…

Last but not least: wool count is unchanged, haven’t done much knitting this week but haven’t bought any more wool either!

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