by RoxyPosted on Posted in Cats, Knitting, Little one, Uncategorized 2 Comments

First of all, Happy Easter for all those who celebrate it – for me it’s an excuse for lots of yummy chocolate!

So, onto the post. I was given the Super-Scary Mochimochi book for mother’s day (it’s awesome) as I’ve been making quite a few Anna Hrachovecs patterns lately. Like a little child I looked through it going I’ll make myself this one then this one and, oh, I need at least three of those…

Then the following conversation took place:

Engel: It’s been a while since you made me something
Me: It’s only been a few months.
Engel: Feels longer…
Me: Look, I’ll check Ravelry and get you an exact date. (Cue frantic typing) Ah. I made you armwarmers last.
Engel: Much appreciated armwarmers.
Me: In December 2015.
Engel: (somehow holding up the Super-Scary Mochimochi book that had been on my lap mere  a seconds before, on the sarcophacat page) Can i haz?
Me: Let’s go pick out some wool…

Here’s the finished result (Felix helped wrapped him, all the while telling me I was going to make her a smaller one, in blue)

And here it is naked! Couldn’t resist a photo of the actual knitted item. Unlike the pattern I was made to knit him legs – both Engel and Felix insisted the extra limbs were necessary because ‘How else will he walk?’

It’s a mummified cat!

Which, by the way, should not be casually mentioned when knitting at work to fellow colleagues who now think I’m insane rather than just a little mad.

But come on, who doesn’t want a cute mummified cat? It’s proven a useful teaching aid about the process of mummification and canopic jars to Felix!

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 32 (Just one this week – I’ve been very busy with work and getting Felix’s new room sorted out so the baby can have her old one)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 49 (Felix felt I needed a treat, so she and daddy got me three balls of wool, aww!)
Wool gifted – 16

Total – 651 (Just one more to use up to get back to the starting total!!!!!)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one, Updates 2 Comments

Went swimming one day, over the hills and far away, mama duck said ‘quack quack come back’ but they were all eaten by a crocodile…Wait a second…

Look! There’s that pesky crocodile again!

I gave in and knit Felix those ducks she wanted to keep her crocodile ‘company’ in the pond. The crocodile number has increased as well, there’s two helping control livestock…

For those curious, I tweaked the free Tiny Chickens by Anna Hrachovec to make these guys. Easy to do, just lots of colour changes!

Speaking of colour changes…

Yeah…I know I said I was 99% sure I would never make another, what with the 156 colour changes but…I did. This is my second Elmer the Elephant now, and again, it’s made using the ‘Eddie the Elephant’ pattern by Ann Franklin from the May 2015 edition of ‘Love Knitting for Baby’s. Engel came up with a method for working out the colour changes so they are more uniform but still rather random, does it look any better or more like Elmer?

Felix had a friend’s birthday coming up (it was on Saturday) and I know the gran is particularly fond of my knitted toys so…Yeah. One cuddly toy and Elmer the Elephant treasury and sorted!

Though this time, I really am sure I won’t be making more.

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 31 (2 more since last post)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 49 (Felix felt I needed a treat, so she and daddy got me three balls of wool, aww!)
Wool gifted – 16

Total – 652 (Curses! I’ll never get back to my starting total at this rate!!!!!)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one, Uncategorized 2 Comments

As mentioned last post, everything got put on hold so I could whip up a knight costume for Felix with just six evenings to do it in.

(Super short version: Felix school having Royal Banquet, gave a weeks notice, Felix chose knight from options of knight, prince or princess, unable to find costume Friday, decided to make one)

So did I do it? Do the knights of Ni say Ni?

All the knitted parts are free knitting patterns:

Helmet by Geraldine Allemand

Knitted Chainmail Hauberk for a Young Knight by Kara Shallenberg

Knitted Lace Belt by Anna Waites

The sword was made by Engel, painted and tinfoiled by Felix, and the sheild was made by me, painted and decorated by Felix. Never show a three year old a Google search on knights sheilds – she wanted to do them all! Settled on four colours, split into quarters with bats on it (thank goodness for bulk buying post Halloween craft packs) and little red bead eyes.

The Royal Banquet was a success, as far as I could get out of Felix (getting information from three year olds is like getting blood out of a stone, unless it’s a secret, in which case they’ll tell everyone! Prime example: Mummy! I got you a mother’s day present! It’s a surprise! It’s chocolate oranges!)

She was the only girl dressed as a knight, all the rest were princesses, and all bar one boy was a knight, the one boy who wasn’t came in his uniform and was apparently very sad, so Felix gave him a hug.

Engel did however teach her that knights say “Ni!”… Sometimes I question his parenting skills​…

After all that excitement I did manage to finish another project and mostly done another, but I’ll go over those next week as I am pretty exhausted from a rather fun packed weekend!

Till next week.

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 29 (2 more since last post)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 46
Wool gifted – 16

Total – 651 (So, so close to getting back to that starting total!)

 

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Gaming, Knitting, Little one, Uncategorized 1 Comment

Hi all,

Long story short:

Recieved a letter from Felix’s nursery class Thursday evening saying they were having a ‘royal banquet’ and encouraged the children to dress as princesses, princes or knights that following Thursday.

I looked at Felix, she looked at me, I hesitated then began the question ‘What would you -’

‘A knight! And I can save dragons!’

Ok. Went to the shops Friday. Nothing. Checked Amazon, lots of knight costumes but Felix sized? Nope.

Start the countdown, it’s time to make a knight costume with…six evenings in total to do it? Three left as of now?

All projects on hold, and its another ‘from the archives!’ for all of you! This time round: Sackboy. I imagine most people have played, or at least have seen Little Big Planet being played. Sackboy is the star of the show.

In 2009 when this pattern came out, Engel was games testing Little Big Planet, and I thought it would be cute for him to have one.

Pattern is Sackboy by Alan Dart – and came with a simply knitting magazine back in 2009.

I later made him a trenchcoat and shotgun, unfortunately never photographed, when I realised the abuse the poor guy was getting at Engels work. It seems people who test games, hate the games they test.

Oh well.

I’ve made a dozen or so plain ones, but also two more fun versions:

Dr Who – based on the 10th doctor, played by Tom Baker, and that scarf! I actually made a 1/20th to scale version of it for this little guy.

And lastly, a ninja!

Cause ninjas are awesome.

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 27 (2 since last post)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 46
Wool gifted – 16

Total – 653 (So, so close to getting back to that starting total!)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Cats, Knitting, Little one 2 Comments

Let’s start with that pesky crocodile!

Photographic evidence of him prowling around the farms livestock… Felix has actually been having a ball playing with him as part of her farm, though she now insists that I need to knit some tiny ducks to keep him company in the pond.

Company, eh? More like snacks…

Anyhow, cuteness aside, I just finished another little project:

A pair of ‘magic mittens’ – I’ll get to the story in a moment, details first. The mitten pattern is a free Ravelry download called The World’s Simplest Mittens by tincanknits – and it’s true to its name.  There’s schematics for different sizes of mittens in all different weights, and it’s clear and concise. Definitely a keeper of a pattern. The elephant chart itself is from another free pattern – Elephant Hat – Child Size by Kathleen Taylor.

Story time now. My bosses little one, and Felix’s ‘best friend’ has really bad eczema. And of course, it itches. As a sufferer of eczema myself, I know just how hard it is not to scratch. She’s three. She wakes up looking like she’s been butchered in the mornings from scratching so much.

So, Magic Mittens it is! Lightweight cotton mittens in the colours she picked out with an animal of her choosing on them, and ties that can be double knitted so she won’t be able to pull the blasted things off.

I was made to wear wooly mittens as a child. In summer. These are a much kinder alternative! Fingers crossed they’ll help – if she can stop scratching long enough for her cream to work…

And last but not least: St Gertrude’s Day.

On March 17th, also known as St Patrick’s Day, it happens to be St Gertrude’s Day too. She is the patron saint of cats, gardeners and mental health. When we fostered cats, as we never knew their actual ages let alone dates of birth, it became habit to celebrate all the cats birthday on St Gertrude’s Day. This year, even though we know Dashi’s birthday, we still don’t know Crumble’s (we reckon she’s getting on for eight years old now!) so the tradition continues.

Felix was particularly happy to help celebrate the cats birthday, there was presents and special cat came too – tuna cake with salmon paste ‘frosting’.

I personally think yuck, but Engel happily ate one of the spares and went on the prowl for more. Not that the cats lefts much in the end!

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 25 (1 since last post)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 46
Wool gifted – 16

Total – 655 (So close to getting back to that starting total!)

 

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one 2 Comments

So after all those chickens (there was more knitted, I didn’t actually know how many there are now, but Felix has claimed a number for her little farm) I felt it was time to knit Inklings (baby to be) first knitted toy.

After I got Felix to agree to let me.

What did she want? A crocodile for her farm.

Well, i’m not one to discourage creativity, and with all the animals she has there really should be a way to help control population numbers…A crocodile was knitted.

I regret nothing with this photo, it’s the circle of life! Anyhow, pattern used is ‘Baby Gators’ by Anna Hrachovec from her book ‘Knitted Mochimochi’.

Crocodile done, I could cast on for Inklings first toy.

What was that sweetie? You want six crocodiles like in the picture in the book?

…

Yeah…There isn’t six, yet, but they make a nice work and out and about project so eventually there will be no doubt. At home though, I did actually cast on for Inklings first hand knitted toy, and even finished it too in just four evenings!

One and a half of those four evenings was hand sewing all those blue spots btw.

Anyhow! Here is a blue ringed octopus (they do exist in real life) and I must admit I am really quite smitten with him! The basic octopus pattern is ‘Octopus’ by Hansi Singh from her book ‘Amigurimi Knits’. I am resisting the urge to knit a whole bunch of these guys, considering the outcome there was surprisingly little work!

Well, back to knitting crocodiles for the time being whilst I decide on my next project.

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 24 (2 since last post)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 46
Wool gifted – 16

Total – 656 (So close to getting back to that starting total!)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one 1 Comment

As I hinted last post, I really did knit some chickens!

A story first, my neice is moving house (she’s 12, and leaving the only home she’s known, it’s been a big deal) and to make matters worse, she’s had to rehome nearly all her pet chickens.

So I thought she may like a few knitted ones that could go with her anywhere.

Tiny chickens! So small they fit into an egg box! (I’ve based these guys on Anna Hrachovecs pattern ‘Tiny Chickens’ from her book ‘Teeny Tiny Mochimochi’, though it is available for free on her website…)

The only problem is, they breed. I mean, I only meant to knit six and then there was thirty…And seeing as all of them found homes, I will be knitting more as Felix adores them…

So, I was going to give these to my neice yesterday as I was up in Scotland to visit the family and the awesome Auntie Rabbie had organised an Otter Cuddle Party for Felix (she is obsessed with otters, and asked if she could have one)

The food was amazing, and the kids all went swimming, and there was a magic show (Felix was enthralled) and it was a fantastic day.

However, it occured to me on Friday, about 20 hours before the party, that my neice and nephew wouldn’t be so good sharing the chickens I had knit them. (It was three each, or seeing as I had a small army, I could have given them six each easily enough…But…)

Cue chickens from 7 million years ago! Based very loosely on the chicken pattern (I didn’t have time for anything else) I managed to whip these guys out with half an hour to spare.

Never. Again.

Apart from the fact Felix now wants her own set…

They all went down well though, so I’m pleased!

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 22 (2 since last post)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 46
Wool gifted – 16 (I’m working on my wool karma here! Rabbie is making a patchwork baby blanket for the baby to be and I decided to help by purging my wool)

Total – 658 (Almost at the starting total!)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Cats, Knitting, Little one 4 Comments

After having knit the baby to be a blanket, Felix asked me to knit her something with the rest of the green wool. Having knit the snake and the baby blanket in said green wool, I was getting a bit fed up of it, but I couldn’t say no to her request.

So after having a look, it was settled on a cat jumper.

Then Engel took an interest and declared she and the baby to be should have matching jumpers. Yes. The dreaded matching jumpers.

Seeing his eager happy face, and then Felix’s excited face (she is too young to understand the horror of matching jumpers, so we can excuse her) I caved in.

I knew there wouldn’t be enough green to do both, but with a few tweaks and some blue…

This is Felix’s creation. It’s based on the free Ravelry pattern ‘Cat’s Meow Pullover‘ by Amy Bahrt. Minus the striped sleeves. And the cat had to be black, not ginger, so that it was a Dashie cat jumper. Dashie is Felix’s cat.

And this is baby to be’s creation. It’s based on the free Ravelry pattern ‘Children’s Bear Sweater’ also by Amy Bahrt. Except I took the bear off and put the cat on instead. And also, no stripy sleeves.

You can tell where I ran out of green, but I had already intended on a blue button flap (another addition of mine to the pattern to make getting it on baby to be easier) so it wasn’t a huge loss.

For playing chicken with wool, I didn’t come out too badly.

But that green is no more, so my next project can’t be green! Mwahahaha!!!!!!

Hmm…Speaking of chickens, I may just make those next…

Wool count:

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 20 (6 since last post)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 46

Total – 676

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one 1 Comment

I realised when looking through the archives that I never posted Felix’s baby blanket that I made whilst I was pregnant:

It’s knit using the pattern ‘Embroidered baby blanket’ from Kitty Knits: Projects for Cats and their People (a Christmas gift from Rabbie long, long ago that keeps getting loved and used) by Donna Druchunas.

Donna actually got in touch with me via Ravelry when I posted it! I was really happy she complimented it.

Anyhow, the purple blanket was made over three years ago, and now this one:

Was finished just last week. It’s a lot brighter in real life, more of a lime green. Felix chose the wool, so I shall blame her, though it was nice knitting something so bright with the days being so dark and grey!

So, what does this mean? It means Felix has a brother on the way, and in the spirit of fairness, I made them the same baby blanket. (I will not deny that I actually really like this pattern – simple enough for baby brain, complex enough you don’t have the urge to throw it out the window). It also means that there will be more baby knits no doubt in the near future.

That’s all for today’s post!

Wool count:

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 14 (3 since last post)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 46

Total – 682

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Uncategorized 1 Comment

There’s really not much to say or show knitting wise or life wise – lots of working and chores and a baby blanket that’s taking an age to knit is all.

So I present to you, From the Archives – It’s cold!

Ok, so not so much a theme as a response to the temperature but it is cold.

As the temperature drops, I instinctively start making a cocoon for myself out of blankets and hot water bottles. I keep hoping to emerge as a beautiful butterfly come spring, but the best I can manage is a moth…

So blankets first. I’ve posted my ten stitch blanket before. And my chunky bright green weekend TV lapghan.

Here is my ‘Knitted Blanket of Awesome’. Done on 5mm needles, no pattern and primarily a giant stash busting project as well as desperately needed sofa throw/blanket back in 2011.

And lastly for the blankets, my pride and joy: Free pattern A Recipe for Fish by April Broken.

lt took 2 years to complete (namely because I kept abandoning it for months at a time and the moment the weather got warm) but I did manage to complete it just in time for my wedding, and subsequent honeymoon in Aberdeenshire. It was needed. There’s 375 fish in there, for those curious.

On to the hot water bottles:

I’ve already posted my Aperture Science hot water bottle cosie, but I haven’t shown you:

The hot water bottle pattern is based on the free pattern EXFOLIATE! Dalek Cloth by Penwiper – I put the image (tweaked to be in colour) on a hot water bottle cosie pattern I made up as I was going along. The tiny matching Dalek? He’s based on another free pattern, Dalek Egg Cosy by Lyles Knit.

Speaking of Daleks, I have made this guy…

Back in 2008. He was huge! Used the free pattern EXTERMIKNIT! by Penwiper for him.

Thats all for today – keep warm guys!

Wool count:

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 11 (4 this week)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 46

Total – 685

…

Ok, no one’s going to just let 46 balls of wool slide into the wool count, I was given a work friends Mrs wool oddment stash – she knits blankets and jumpers, so all those odd balls of wool, partially used balls etc, kind of sit there, not doing an awful lot. She was clearing her stash and as I’m primarily a toy knitter who only uses a bit of a ball here, a bit of a ball there, she figured I’d like them in my stash.

I won’t deny that this is a very true fact, and I’ll just have to knit extra hard this year to bring the wool count back down. At least it hasn’t hit 700! Yet.

 

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