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Tag: Armwarmers

by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 5 Comments

Not gonna lie, 2023 was a hard year. 2024 hasn’t gotten off to a purrfect start either. There’s been a death in the wider family and its very much caused us all to go to ground.

I did manage a trip up North though, and first footed Rabbies door on New Years Day. And whilst quiet, it was a good visit. Both my terrors now have their own Viking kit and I have so much hand sewing to be getting on with its purr-etty insane…but so worth it as they look so cute!!!

But hand sewing doesn’t really lend much content to the blog, which is my next point, its gonna be pretty quiet on here for a little bit. Partly due to content and partly due to the desire to hide under a blanket and try this whole new year thing again at some point in February. Maybe. March looks pretty promising…

Modified version of Kitten Mittens by Marna Gilligan from her book Cat Knits. Made to match my cowl and one day I will make the matching hat too. Purr-omise.

One thing that I will be continuing into 2024, is the puns. I have a feline that a few groans have resounded at that, but I love them, they’re just purr-fect for a little bit of humour!

In other news, poor OwlLady and Timbercat made the fatal mistake of deciding to help me organise and recount my wool stash. I don’t know who was more horrified at the sheer quantity of wool, but I unearthed a few treasures I had forgotten which I am looking forward to using. Soon hopefully. Maybe. More importantly, my total came to 30 less than what I thought I had! Some did sneak off though in OwlLadys bag…and one in Timbercats…

So with that, I shall present my new wool count totals! Stay safe, and may you have the 2024 you desire!

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 0
Wool bought – 0
Wool given to me – 0
Wool gifted to others – 0
Wool handspun – 0

Total – 841 (Net difference: 0)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

Ah, Halloween, the most wonderful time of the fear. (Yes, I got a pun in the title and one in the first sentence, I know every trick (and treat) in the book for eerie-sistible puns!) Its been a clawsome Halloween for me this year – the decorations where up on the first of October, giving the house that spooky festive feel…and to start with a scream, there was a sneaky trip to Alton Towers with my good fiend Timbercat. We had timed it just right for all the Scarefest decorations and also got on all the big rides, twice! This was swiftly followed by what was going to mark the highlight of Spooktober:

Disneyland Paris, with Rabbie, at the start of the Halloween season!

(I highly recommend reading Rabbies blogpost on this one as she summarised things really nicely.)

Our journey there was a string of cat-astrophes, and I definitely felt like we were cursed at one point, but we made it. And not gonna lie, when I walked through those gates and saw those boo-tiful pumpkins, I may have cried tears of relief and joy…

But before I spin any more yarns, let me show you the point of this tail:

Not only did we rock our Cheshire Cat Disney bounding outfits the whole time we were there, not only did we get loads of paw-some compliments from staff, characters and other tourists alike, but guys, look, we got to meet the cat himself, the one and only, The Cheshire Cat!!!

To clarify just why this is crazy clawsome – he’s not a usual character, and they only brought him out for a few days, so it was a complete fluke in regards to him even being there! Was it worth waiting for an hour in the queue?

Yes, yes it was.

There were wild meet and greets – and a few job offers too for this pair of ghouls. Gaston offered us to be his wenches, Cruella her newest fashion designers, The Evil Queen her new tailors, and Maleficent, well, she thought we would make great mousers. We survived meeting the Queen of Hearts with our heads intact, made it to the Avenger Academy and bantered with Thor, but sadly Lok only gave us a regal wave… There were the rides (we did them all, and the good ones twice), and some incredibly good food. Although Rabbie did not look amused at my black ice cream! I suspect she felt it was more trick than treat…

Fangs for the crazy adventure, Rabbie, it was a howling good time.

When we got back, there was much spooky crafting, axe throwing with work, then it was time to get the family party startled with Halloween festivities in Stockport and then the Manchester Halloweekend the next day.

The whole thing was a graveyard smash (the monster mash).

I am looking forward to slowing down a little this month, and try and focus on just one craft at a time to make some visible progress. And as Rabbie commented last week, to just enjoy the process start to finish.

And with that note, until next time, stay safe, and if it’s your cup of witches brew, stay spooky!

Starting total – 880

Wool used – 51 (+1)
Wool bought – 24
Wool given to me – 17
Wool gifted to others – 8
Wool handspun – 2

Total – 862 (Net difference: -17)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

Not bored of the puns yet!

This one is from last month really, but Felix had been invited to sleepover at her besties as part of her birthday celebrations. I had asked weeks before if there was anything in particular she might like as a gift, and Felix kept shrugging.

We settled on a D&D style starter game as Felix’s bestie has been enquiring about RPGs and has seen D&D in various films and media, so…well, who can resist the urge to spread the geekery?

Two nights before the sleepover, Felix informed me that her bestie was wanting arm warmers. But they had to look awesome. And be green. And be cotton or some such fibre as her bestie was having eczema issues…

I shopped the stash, and found some beautiful deep green silk yarn and, after a brief consultation with Felix, it was decided.

Its a modified version of the free pattern Dragon Scale Gauntlets by Annemarie Pearson – all I did was remove a portion of the stitches from the underside, and use a smaller needle to get them fitting little 10 year old wrists.

Oh, I did ask Felix why she waited until the last minute to tell me about these, her response was ‘but you said to tell you when I thought of something.’

I mean, I did. Hence, the flameous last words…

Alright, its been a reasonably quiet week this week, a few little things, some major stress that has now been resolved, and compared to the rest of this year, that’s a win.

The only thing really left to say this week is that I did a bit of wool shopping for mothers day, but I was good! I only bought one thing for the stash, an its actually needed for a gift I’m going to knit.

I mean, what’s one cone of nearly 3km of lace weight yarn?

Starting total – 880

Wool used – 8 (+1)
Wool bought – 11 (+1)
Wool given to me – 2
Wool gifted to others – 3
Wool handspun – 2

Total – 884 (Net difference: +4)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

Who doesn’t love a good pun?

As I said last post, we will slowly work on catching up on all the Christmas knits so that I can have a fairly relaxed start to the year, knit wise at least.

The start of my year has not been relaxing. It has been one thing after another after another.

Its also why I didn’t post yesterday, if I did it would literally have gone:

Me: Bad weekend. Here. Photos.

Photos.

Me: Here, details.

Me: Done now. Take care.

Which would have been a somewhat poor post…not that this one will be much better as I am tired! Things have been fixed/improved, so the stress is easing, but I am still worn out.

Enough babble. This week we are going to look at cowls!

As a thank you for a wonderful weekend away, I decided to knit a little gift for the hosts. This first set is Duotone Cowl by Orange Flower Yarn, a free pattern, and even though it’s for the man of the house, Girl Gift Mitts by Debbie Meiklejohn knit to match.

Its a great pattern, very easy, lends well to stripes and with it being ribbed, fits everyone from my skinny wrists to manly shovel hands!

And for the lady of the house, Lizard Ridge Cowl by Janis Witkins, also a free pattern, and knit in Hufflepuff colours. Again, a pair of Girl Gift Mitts to match!

These were both cowl patterns I wanted to try, so I was more than happy to knit these as gifts.

Right, until next post, take care!

Wool Count

Starting total – 880

Wool used – 1 (Woo!)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given to me – 2 (so very pretty balls of wool too!)
Wool gifted to others – 0
Wool handspun – 0

Total – 881 (Net difference: +1)

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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, Updates 2 Comments

I admit, I just love the word commonsensical, but it summarises this past knit I’ve been saving, as well as what I currently have on the needles.

Yep, commonsensical means practical, and in this case that means arm warmers, which given the current awful weather is very practical indeed!

Pattern used is a free one: Fingerless Gloves “Leaves” by Valentina Georgieva and the reason behind it is also relatively straightforward.

During the last visit from my mum, she dug out and commented on how I had so many lovely pairs of armwarmers, perhaps I could part with a few?

No chance. I politely declined and instead offered to make her a pair. Another pair.’ I’ve previously made her three pairs and she’s ‘borrowed’ another pair, so she isn’t lacking in them!

In non knitting news, this weekend Rabbie and Missy came to visit and we went to a very soggy dog fest. My sister summarises the whole thing perfectly on her blog, so I suggest those curious go there and read it!

After all the soggy doggy cuddles and countless loads of laundry, I’m exhausted, so going to call this post quits, but not before the wool count!

I’m so happy the total keeps going down!

Wool Count

Starting total – 576

Wool used – 48 (2 this week!!)
Wool bought – 13
Wool given – 155
Wool gifted – 31

Total – 668

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

In preparation for a trip to Disneyland Paris we’ve been working through classic Disney movies with the little terrors, and Engel, as he hasn’t actually seen most of them, but anyway!

One of the first ones we’ve watched was the classic 1951 Alice in Wonderland and immediately Felix fell in love with the Cheshire cat. Inkling seemed particularly fond of the dodo and the walrus, but to each their own. During the movie, Felix reminded me that I had promised to knit her a new hat this year, and she knew just what she wanted…

Made this based on the free pattern: Matilda’s Eary Hat by Thelma Egberts. And to go with it…

Cheshire cat arm warmers of adorableness!

Made these following the free pattern mini mitts by jessi koontz. Inkling fell in love with them so…

Aviator arm warmers of adorableness!

These are made in the smaller size and with a length of icord to go between them so he doesn’t lose them…

Well, it’s been a busy week with work and family visiting, so I shall leave it at that!

Wool Count

Starting total – 576

Wool used – 5 (Another one bites the dust!)
Wool bought – 2
Wool given – 0
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 573

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

Heh, I’ve been reading way too many nursery rhymes…

Let me explain the reason for this particular blog post. I don’t know when it started exactly, but somewhere between me finishing primary school and Felix starting (ok, she’s at nursery school, but close enough! She wears a wee uniform and everything!) it’s become a thing to give teachers presents on the last day of school.

Rather than the shops recommended chocolates or tat, I opted to knit them little something’s instead because…well, it’s what I do!

So, the owl first:

Pattern used is Oisin owl by Pauline Gallagher. When Felix first started she kept insisting one of her teachers was ‘Mrs Owl’. For months we heard about Mrs Owl and, come parents evening, we discovered that Mrs Owl was actually Mrs Powell.

Couldn’t resist making her an owl though.

And the caterpillar?

I’m on a roll with these guys…once again, the pattern used is the free pattern Caterpillar by Kimberly Chapman, with the same modifications mentioned in my previous post.

You’ll also note this caterpillar is wearing a scarf. This is because it’s for Mrs Scarf. And no, that is her actual name, though we did initially think Felix must have misheard that one too! A bit more effort was put into this one as she’s recently announced she’s pregnant, and well, it’ll be cute for her little one to be.

Right, back to knitting food for –

Oh wait, other things to be knit!

A FOURTH meret hat (free pattern Meret (Mystery Beret) by Woolly Wormhead) as my mum decided to steal the one meant for my aunt, so I whipped up another one for my aunt. Plain black this time, but it’s an angora/silk/wool blend so oh so snuggly…

Anyhow, as my mum stole the other hat, she cheekily asked for matching armwarmers (she does work in a playground which is a wind tunnel, in Scotland, so I can’t begrudge her too much as the stolen hat was way warmer than the others…)

Free pattern Camp Out Fingerless Mitts by tante ehm, I’ve made them before for mum and as she likes and wears though, went for the same pattern again. Was playing yarn chicken, hence the stripes!

Right, now back to knitting all that food!

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 63 (3 since last post)
Wool bought – 33
Wool given – 49
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 610

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Gaming, Knitting 1 Comment

Today is Engels birthday, so this weekend (a bank holiday weekend at that) has been filled with much fun and games. Saturday was a quiet family day, mooching about the local village, enjoying the good weather as well as people who hate the heat can do.

Yesterday we had a ‘sushi sunday’ (£1.20 a plate sushi!) And after being thoroughly stuffed, kicked off a new Call of Cthuhlu campaign, but with the twist of introducing the Laundry. (Think secret government department that covers up and contains all mythos related events, but with classic British Beurocracy, red tape, HR, and so much paperwork to be completed in triplicate that it really is easier to just buy your own stationary than use the stationary cupboard at work)

It was awesome, can’t say much as despite being an estimated 2-3 hour campaign, it took six last night and put on hold till the next gaming session as everyones character in game  has turned into paranoid wrecks. It’s hilarious, and reminds me why I go through the effort of preparing gaming sessions.

Ah, but this is a knitting blog primarily, and so to knitting it is. It’s been a slow week project wise as I was at Centre Parks at the weekend, started my old-new job on Monday and am getting back into the swing of that again, plus shaking off a stinking cold, and prepping for gaming chaos. I’ve also been nose deep reading Eldritch Chrome – think cyberpunk Cthuhlu. So…yeah…

Cat ear project on temporary hiatus as I work out logistics with the remaining mishmash of fluffy wool.

After getting annoyed at not having a bag on me for the shopping, again, (we pay for bags down here now, and I have so many decent shopping bags that I begrudge buying more!) So made myself this:

It’s a little fox purse to attach to my bag and has two little shopping bags inside, so I’ll always have them on me!

It’s a cute fit, right? And also a little thing I threw together out of my own head, so no pattern reference.

Hmm. Wonder if it’s worth writing out and posting as a freebie pattern here…

Anyhow! A little story for the next one.

A long time ago (several years) my mum ‘borrowed’ a pair of my armwarmers, and well, the only way I’m getting those back is if I replace them…

She was bought a number of balls of wool from New Lanark a few years ago which I made a jumper with. And two hats. (And another in sparkly cotton) And there was a bit leftover.

So now it’s arm warmers!

Free Ravelry pattern Camp Out Fingerless Mitts by tante ehm. Super cute and easy!

No wool used up this week (sadly) but I’m just happy I actually finished a few things!

Starting total – 697 balls

Wool used – 68
Wool bought – 9
Wool given – 4

Total – 642

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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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