by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting No Comments

Still plodding on with my blanket – having a little saga with it, but more on that when I post about it…

It’s been a fairly quiet week all in all, used up one ball of wool, done lots of work, Felix has been up to no extra mischief than normal…though the weekend should be fun, but let’s see how that goes before I go on about it!

So, when there’s not much to say or show, it’s time to hit the knitting archives of things not on this blog yet!

Today: Teapots.

I posted, back in November 2013 about my commissioned Scottish hippo teacosie but no other tea cosies have appeared on my blog. And I’ve made lots. Like dice bags, there’s a certain charm to making tea cosies…but they’re something that’s nearly obsolete to most people. I do own a pair of Teapots, but my sister Rabbie owns a whole collection…I’ll try and get a photo of it some time!

Let’s start with…

Grannies traditional tea cosie, free pattern by Keren Smith – this one is not in traditional colours (the orange and green are both UV reactive and will glow under a black light) but it’s a lovely design that never fails. I’ve made half a dozen or so in different colours for people, usually to match their kitchens!

After a few I was inspired to make this using the same pattern, just the one colour, and a few added details…

Cactus teacosie! This was a present for the father in law, who loves his cacti, and I will say now, I’ve never known a knitted thing to be used as much as this has. Everyday since February 2012, and several times a day at weekends, this gets used.

My in-laws are big tea drinkers.

And as an aside, nothing makes a knitted happier than knowing their knitting is used/loved to the point of repair. That base and the flower and the seams have all been redone several times…

Anyhow! Before I digress further, one of my own creation, for my mum this time;

She loves elephants and wanted an elephant tea cosie, but didn’t like any I showed her, so she told me to make my own up. It boggles that the woman who taught me to knit thinks I can do a better job than her (maybe on toys, but baby stuff? No way, never ever…)

And last but not least:

‘Sheepish look’  by Caroline Lowbridge. The pattern is from ‘Tea Cosies’ to which I own books and and two…again, this is a pattern I’ve made a dozen times or so – I make it for myself and before it’s even done, it gets thieved…always with permission mind you…it’s hard to say no sometimes…

Alright, hopefully next week I’ll have something new to show you all!

 

Starting total – 697 balls
Wool used – 14 (1 this update!)
Wool bought – 9

Total – 692

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

Hi all,

Apologies for the lack of a blog last week, there was an issue with the server but I’m back now!

Today myself, Engel and Felix went lambing – it was rather surreal and more of a walk in documentary type affair than the hands on experiences I’ve had with lambing in the past.

Needless to say though Felix had a ball – with much shouting of sheep! And lambs! Took a while for her to understand that baby sheep were lambs and mummy lambs were sheep, but we got there. She was very timid about petting them though.

I find it amusing that my two year old fearlessly deals with the snakes and tarantulas that we own as pets, but runs screaming because a sheep baa’d at her…

Onto knitting news, still working my way through the blanket, not sewn anything together so other than a bundle of squares there’s not much to show. I do however have line little finished project:

Yes it’s another dicebag birthday present.

And yes, it’s a star wars one too. The charts are from the free pattern ‘star wars double knit scarf‘ by Notanicedragon.

I may have to extend my circle of friends, or criteria, about making dice bags, there’s only one or two left who haven’t received the traditional gift – this troubles me as I enjoy making them far too much!

Starting total – 697 balls
Wool used – 13 (2 this update!)
Wool bought – 9

Total – 693

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one 1 Comment

Just a few things since my last blog post…

A request from someone at work who is expecting their first grandchild – it’s an adorable hooded cabled cardigan called, rather excitingly, ‘Design I’ from Sirdars Gorgeous Babies booklet. I’ve just cast on a blanket now for them also, but more on that on a later post.

Next of all, a little story.

Whilst in Edinburgh, at the museum of Scotland, Felix batted her eyelashes at Daddy and left cuddling a small triceratops.

On the bus ride home, she informed me it needed a mummy and I was going to make her it.

Can’t fault a two year olds logic sadly…

It was easy to achieve though using the triceratop pattern from ‘Knitted Dinosaurs’ by Tina Barret. Just a little bit of colour work and voila!

I must admit, the squeals of joy when I gave her it this morning made the effort well worth while!

Except, just one small detail.

She just asked for a Daddy dinosaur…

Wool Count down:

Starting total – 697 balls

Wool used – 11

Wool accidentally purchased – 9 (it was a super good offer and a really nice bright green that will make an adorable…something…)

Total – 695

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one No Comments

Felix has recently started to refer to herself and her most loved ones (mummy and daddy) as cats. It’s very cute, if not incredibly confusing to everyone not clued in on the cat craziness here.

Seriously, we’re all crazy old cat ladies, without the old part and, in the case of Engel, he’s a laddie, not a lady.

Anyhow I’ve spent the last few days in Edinburgh, seeing the family, and having lots of adventures! By the end of it, Felix’s cat family expanded to include her granny and two cousins as well – that was an interesting thing to explain to an eleven and six year old, why it was an honour too be called a cat…Granny figured it out right away.

She’s used to my crazy.

A little present my neice asked for, quite coincidentally, was ‘happy family – cats and kittens’ from the book ‘Knitted cats and kittens’ by Sue Stratford.

I also made the matching tiny mice. It went down well and sums up the trip a fair bit!

Wool Count down:
Starting total – 697 balls
Wool used – 11 (1 this week)

Total – 686

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Uncategorized No Comments

A commission from work, made loosely following the ‘dinosaur toy’ pattern from ‘nursery knits for boys’ by sirdar. He’s turned into a cutie I must admit, but I could only work on this whenever Felix wasn’t around/paying attention in case she demanded it for herself!

Slow week knitting wise really as there’s been a bit of a cold virus going through the house, and with work and everything else…yeah…tired.

In other news I’ve not been made redundant, but seeing as nearly two thirds of my department will be leaving sooni’m wondering if  that’s a good thing or not…time will tell I guess.

No wool count this week as I’ve not used up any wool, a good bit of each of the dinosaur colours has been used, but not a whole ball!

 

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

Several years ago, before Felix, I made myself a crocodile scarf (the pattern was from an old let’s knit magazine) and after wearing it that winter, it got shoved into the box of spare scarves and gloves and forgotten.

One day, looking for anything that Felix might agree to wear that was warm, she spotted the crocodile scarf and has since worn it like a shawl around herself.

It was adorable, and warm, and I never thought more about it.

The other day she got a toy cat that came with a lilac sparkly scarf with fluffy white trim. After one look at it, and a testing cuddle, she demanded the offending purple fluffy thing be removed and replaced with its own crocodile scarf.

I was about to tell her not to be silly when Engel replied ‘of course mummy will make Whiskers (the toy cat) one!’

Out came the pattern and one was made in miniature. And I have to admit, the photo bombed pictures of Felix hugging that cat wearing its scarf and squealing ‘thank you mummy! Love you!’ does make it worthwhile…but they’re for my private collection, so you’ll have to make do with the cat by itself.

He is cute with it on…

Besides this scarf, I made Engel another pair of armwarmers. Same pattern, same wool, same colours. Boring!

Quiet week otherwise. Well, a slow one. Redundancies have been announced at work so I’m playing the waiting game to see if I’ll be staying or going.

I’ve begun to stress knit…wool tension is through the roof though…

Wool Count down:
Starting total – 697 balls
Wool used – 10 (1 this week)

Total – 687

 

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Gaming, Knitting, Little one No Comments

Completely different!

A warm cosy hat for Engel! I used the free pattern ‘Leef’s Ear Flap Hat (3-color)’ by Leef Bloomenstiel, only changes were a knitted merino lining inside the hat for extra warmth and the number of stitches. The pattern says 84, Engel has a huge head. Seriously. He wears an XXL motorcycle helmet and even that’s a little snug. I increased the number of stitches for this hat to 147.

147!

But it fits, and he likes it, and I am reminded once more why I don’t knit him hats. I’ll forget in a few years and offer to make another no doubt…

Onto my other project this week!

Remember how I blogged about my obsession for dice bags? Well, Felix has clocked on that when we’re playing our RPGs that everyone (near enough) in the group has a knitted dice bag. So, she demanded her own dice bag and dice. And it had to be a full complement of dice, not just the D6’s!

Here’s the dice bag – her pick of pattern and colours.

Not surprisingly, she wanted owls. This bag actually is a cross between her mittens and her Christmas stocking. I was impressed with how well she managed to get across what she wanted!

That’s all for this week – except the wool count, three balls used again this week!

Wool Count down:
Starting total – 697 balls
Wool used – 9 (3 this week)

Total – 688

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one No Comments

Slight change of pace this week – I couldn’t leave Felix out after both myself and Engel getting armwarmers, so mittens it is!

I used the free pattern ‘Owlet‘ by Odessa Reichel – though I did end up making two pairs as the first came out large enough for a 6/7 year old! Felix can have those when she outgrows the smaller pair (pictured).

For the food item this week I actually went old school and used one of my many knitting books – Amigurimi knits by Hansi Singh. Can you guess which pattern I used? Here’s a hint:

Peas! This is probably going to be the last knitted food for a while – I will be making more, but will wait till Felix asks for them! She actually seems satisfied with the influx she’s received these past three weeks…

Last but not least:

Wool Count down:
Starting total – 697 balls
Wool used – 6 (3 this week)

Total – 691

Have a good week everyone!

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one 1 Comment

Well, I couldn’t resist. After I made Engels armwarmers last week, I got jealous of their warm merino softness…and made a pair for me…

Not the exact same as his, but a billion times cuter! Based on the free ravelry pattern ‘Foxy Mittlets for Mama Foxes‘ by Mertsu. I made them longer and added a thumb so they were a little more suited to me!

Onto other knits, lots more plasy food for Felix!

Banana! Free pattern by Kimberly Chapman. Adorable too – you can ‘peel’ the banana skin!

Made using a free Cherry knitting pattern by Linda Dawkins

And lastly, after Engel commented that Felix needed more ‘interesting’ food…

A durian fruit! They smell like rotting fresh when ripe, but apparently taste like custard…this one is based on the free knitting pattern ‘Stinky‘ by SSknits. The only difference is since I can’t crochet, I did a BlackBerry stitch outer ‘shell’. Not quite as cool as the original patterns, but good enough for me.

Felix just enjoys having things she can ‘chop’ and cook…

Wool Count down:
Starting total – 697 balls
Wool used – 3

Total – 694

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Uncategorized 1 Comment

New wool count!

Wool Count down:
Starting total – 697 balls
Wool used – 0

Total – 697

I managed to use 120 balls last year, let’s see if I can make as good a dent on the stash this year!

On that note, I made Engel a little present:

Made using the free pattern ‘Short Wave Mitts‘ by Sybil R. I don’t tend to go on about patterns themselves on my blog, but I have to say, the use of short rows on this, and several other patterns, is amazing!

More amazing? Felix asked to pick a few patterns for play food for her play kitchen! Being two I have questioned a few choices, but hey, I’m not one to judge her adorable requests!

Olives! I used the free pattern ‘Olive Tutorial‘ by Mary Jane Midge.

Fried eggs! Using the free Ravelry pattern ‘Happy Fried Egg’ by Ala Ela

I hope you all had a good 2015 and a better 2016!

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