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Tag: Commissions

by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 7 Comments

So I have knuckled down and tibia honest with you all, it’s paid off.

I received a commission for a skeleton cat, and tooth be told, I was really looking forward to this one. The final toy is knit loosely following the free pattern grisig the cat by Julia Weiss. Tweaking was done, details added and a lot of colour changing. I did have to go back to the jawing board a few times in this one, but he was done in good time.

In other crafting news, I have narrowed down the to do list so I can focus on things one at a time. There is spinning to be done to finish some wool to nalbind myself a basket. There is a bag strap on the tablet weaving loom, mostly to work on my tension before a fun pattern, which when finished, will be used with some fabric to make some bags. I have a Hedeby braid on the marudai for Felix’s viking kit (she’s mostly working on the braid herself but I am helping) and I have finished braid to sew to my kit. Theres also a pile of mending to be done…Oh, and miniatures to paint – Sea fox clan battletech mechs first, then a list of other things to work on after, including a 28mm scale Tudor house.

It looks worse typed out than it does in my head…

In non knitting news, life has been manic. Like break neck speed manic. Hoping for a quiet weekend to catch my breath and all the things that have been put to one side until ‘later’. The mending pile falls into this category…

Anyhow, I’ll leave you with one last photo and until next week, stay safe!

Starting total – 880

Wool used – 52 (+1)
Wool bought – 24
Wool given to me – 17
Wool gifted to others – 8
Wool handspun – 2

Total – 861 (Net difference: -18)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

How can it only be March?! It has, again, been quite a week. I’m leaving it at that…

The title isn’t really a pun so much as playing on the fact that I received a commission to knit a Space Marine, a Horus Heresy Thousand Sons one to be exact. But what is that, I hear?

For those who may remember, I knit an Escher’s Sister from Necromunda a while back, and these guys are actually connected to them in part of the world building backstory…

But I digress, without further ado:

I was asked to make a chibi like version as it’s a gift for a small child. I ended up creating the whole pattern from scratch, and tweaking that even as I went along, so he is truly one of a kind.

I also had a lot of fun with all the little details, like his shoulder pads and backpack!

And on that, I will see you all next post.

Until then, stay safe!

Starting total – 880

Wool used – 7 (+1)
Wool bought – 10
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 2 Comments

A commission from a friend whom paid me in wool, and then some more wool!

This is a 40k inspired dice bag for him, he’s a Chaos Marines player, and they worship Khorne, so one side has his symbol (above) and the other…

I do love knitting dice bags, and all if them use the free pattern Cthulhu Dice Bag! by A. A. Leavitt-Reynolds for numbers. Engel created the charts for this particular bag however.

In other knitting nephew’s, I have a few knitting projects done or near done but gave just taken on a rather big undertaking so will feed you those week by week whilst I’m busy with that project.

There’s been no spinning or dying this week – I have been ripping apart the conservatory in a bid to create more space, it’s been hard work!

This weekend we’ve managed a few social distance play dates, and j am loving being with other people – i’m an introvert, but lockdown has shown me that I do need others company on occasion!

Short post today as I am shattered from all this socialising, and I’ll see you all next week with my just completed project – but no more spoilers as it’s a surprise for someone!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 83 (14 this week)
Wool bought – 18 (Up 7 as had to buy wool for the big project I’ve started)
Wool given to me – 296
Wool gifted to others – 3
Wool handspun – 10 (3 have been used!)

Total – 941 (That’s down by a net total of 7 this week! Woo!)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

Just like the title says – it’s Bad News Badger. He’s made roughly following the free pattern Rabbit and Bear by April Cromwell and is a companion piece to The Angry Badger I knit a while ago.

I had far too much fun with this guy – especially making his little tiny newspaper! He’s small enough he can sit in the palm of my hand…

In other knitting news, still working on those two big projects, interspersed with a few small ones as I’ll go insane otherwise…

Just a short one today, it’s been pretty manic as of late! Oh, except to say that after knitting the Ryder hat for Inkling, he has decided that his traffic one is the bestest hat and is now wearing that…sigh….

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 9 (2 this week!)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 0
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 695

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

Have you noticed that most couples have some cute or endearing little terms they use with one another if the other is say, in a bad mood, or being particularly excited?

For example, if myself or Engel want to be left alone, it’s described as ‘being a squeezle’ ( a No Reservations reference to a porcupine) or if one of us is being just grouchy then they’re ‘a grumpy bunny’ if all’s well then we’re ‘little/big cat’.

Well I was requested to make someone else’s version of ‘grumpy bunny’ and that is ‘angry badger’…

Think he looks angry enough? I think he looks ready to murder someone…

And a side view of him having a tantrum and destroying all the Duplo…

I’ll be honest in that I had a lot of fun with this, I’ve not knitted a badger before (this is a great free pattern Miss Barlow Badger by Jem Weston) and I have never purposefully tried to make a toy look angry before!

He went down really well, and there’s already been a request for a ‘bad news badger’ for Valentine’s, I’ll wait till closer to the time to see if that’s something that is genuinely going ahead, but it’s certainly made me laugh!

Not much in other news, well, that’s not quite true, a lot has been going on, but not the kind of stuff I talk about here. It’ll all be fine in the end, just need to remember that there is an end, and it is in sight.

Christmas has descended upon the household, did a Grinch-mas trail last week and the tree has gone up today. A bit early for myself personally but the combined puppy eyes of Felix and Inkling made me cave in.

Oh, one more thing, the wool count! Normally I pop it on the bottom of the post and leave it at that but after using one ball up these last two weeks I am now at 666! The number of the beast!

Though I keep singing ‘Knit-Knit-Knit, the stitches of the beast!’

On that note, cheerio till next week!

Wool Count

Starting total – 576

Wool used – 108 (1 this week)
Wool bought – 63
Wool given – 167 (was gifted four balls this week)
Wool gifted – 31

Total – 666 the number of the beast!

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

As mentioned area weeks ago, I’m trying to take up spinning and make my own wool. It’s slow going, mainly as I have a lot of fleece that needs washing and carding before I can try spinning, but it’s there.

One thing I need to do all this though is a drop spindle. Before going to the wool experience where I ended up picking up three, I organised a trade:


A beautiful, 3D printed drop spindle (this photo was taken before I attached the hook) in exchange for:

A little knitted replica of his recently deceased kitty, Minnie.

(Pattern used is Tortoiseshell Cat by Sally Muir and Joanna from the book Best in Show: Knit Your Own Cat)

Even though I used a pattern, the markings where all done by eye to match up, as best at I could with wool, the markings on the actual cat. I had six very cute reference photos for the job!

And even though I now have four drop spindles, this newest addition is just lovely to work with…well worth the effort! Though I don’t fancy trying to match Calico cat markings again any time soon!

In other news, I got a little table top loom for Felix, which has been surprisingly fun! She’s finished a bag on it, though I have yet to cut it off, and currently starting a wash cloth for her grandmama! Looks like creativity is running in the family! Photos will come soon once I’ve got them off the loom and all the ends weaved in.

That’s it for now, has been a very busy week at work and at home and an absolutely manic weekend with playdates, christenings and birthday parties all to attend…

Oh, and as I’ve had a few private enquiries regarding last week’s blog post, my sister’s brother in law survived the operation so it’s now just the long road to recovery. He’s not fully out of the woods yet, but definitely over the worst! And the knitted hugs went down well, and didn’t over step any boundaries, so very, very pleased with how it’s all worked out!

Wool Count

Starting total – 576

Wool used – 59 (1 used)
Wool bought – 16 (3 more, mentioned above)
Wool given – 155
Wool gifted – 31

Total – 660

Fleece bought/own – 13 lots, varying quantities…in process of being cleaned  (just three little bags left! The big fleeces have been washed!), carded and combined by sheep breed.

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

Well, motorbikes. Which is what I’ll start on then I’ll get to the butterflies.

On Friday, Engels motorbike died. We knew that she had begun to slowly mechanically deteriorate, as all things do with wear and tear and the lovely state of British roads. She was a work horse of a motorbike and did a 40 mile round commute everyday in sun, sleet and snow. So when she died, Engel was left in a rather awkward predicament or requiring a motorbike to commute to work, as he cant feasibly get there via public transport, as fast as possible but with no actual savings to get one.

Yesterday (Saturday) we called upon a few favours and managed to get someone with motorbike know how to, firstly, breathe a few more last breaths into the old motorbike, and then go with Engel to kick some tyres and find a replacement. It was a long day, and I ended up driving for a total of 4 hours (but there was lots of doggy cuddles, four huskies and a collie!), but a new lovely lady of a motorbike was found and we just have to get Engels poor workhorse of a motorbike to last a few more days until everything is in place to get the new one.

Not going into any great details, but I now have a motorbike to pay off, so I’m officially reopening commissions – since Felix was born I’ve pretty much only been making things upon request for  friends and family (and work colleagues, as Yorrick is proof of) but as of now, anyone can request one. Full details on the commissions page.

I’m curious to see what requests get made, I’ve had quite a few interesting ones in the past – life sized knitted recreations of peoples pets, items from games or movies, a knitted womb that would double as a purse… (that last one wasn’t made in the end, after it was explained to me that it was going to be a ‘congratulations on your hysterectomy’ gift, I didn’t feel it would go down well and I do like to think I have a pretty dark sense of humour)

Now, onto the butterflies!

Felix has asked for a ‘mini beasts’ birthday this year (for those wondering what a mini beast is, its now the ‘correct’ term for creepy crawlies, insects, bugs etc – schools didn’t feel it fair on the insects to cast a negative light on them by calling them creepy). Her birthday isn’t until September but I figured that insects would make nice, small, travel sized knits.

So I started with butterflies…

Using the pattern Common Blue Butterfly by Lesley Stanfield from her book 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet

I made a lot of butterflies.

But they were so good for using up scraps…

And using my hand dyed wool…

Oh, and I needed moths too!

After realising there was about 50, or maybe more, of the things I decided I had to make myself stop and choose a new insect for travel knitting. When I finish with that one, I’ll do another post like this one!

I’m going to go and get back to knitting some socks now (a very ‘normal’ knit for me I must say!) and working out which husky pattern to cast on next as a thank you for the motorbike friend…

Wool Count

Starting total – 576

Wool used – 56 (8 this week!!)
Wool bought – 13
Wool given – 155
Wool gifted – 31

Total – 660

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

So, after knitting the Cthulhu mittens for 3D printed Nerf parts, I was inspired to knit myself a “sensible” hat!

Its sensible in that this is possibly the only hat I have made for me without cat ears…and with it being fair isle, it’s so warm and cosy! A must for the recent cold snap we’ve had. The pattern is free and can be found on Ravelry, Lovecraft’s Bane – Cthulhu Hat by Lisa Wilt

Engel decided to share a photo of it with the Nerf 3D printing guy and…

Not one, but two more Cthulhu Hats were requested! One is in the colours of the Cthulhu mittens just made, and the other in khaki green and dark grey for a more muted version.

Want to see them all together?

So much Cthulhu!

On the downside, as I was casting off the rib portion on the final hat, I snapped one of my favourite dpns…such things happen, especially when working on 3mm needles, but I was not impressed!

Ah well, invoking the elder god’s do call for sacrifices to be made…

Wool Count

Starting total – 576

Wool used – 18 (2 this week!)
Wool bought – 13
Wool given – 4
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 575 (Woohoo! Finally getting the stash numbers back down!)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one 1 Comment

Yeah…I’m not 100% sure how it happened, but I ended up trading a pair of these:

For a lot of custom 3D printed Nerf parts. I suspect it’s Engels way to get round the £10 a month budget I set him…

The mittens were handed over today whilst we were meeting people for a small Nerf event, (just a bunch of loons running around a field shooting each other with Nerf blasters that’s also family friendly, so Felix and Inkling could join in) and Engel received a box of parts.

Definitely think Engel got the better end of this deal, but hey, I got to knit awesome mittens again! (These are based on the free pattern Cthulhu Mittens by Lyle Stafford, however, this pattern is for basic mittens, hence mods to make them convertible!)

In other news, we went to Chester zoo to check out the Big Cats Lego exhibit (and of course the animals) and it was awesome!!!!

But subsequently, exhausted!

Till next week!

Wool Count

Starting total – 576

Wool used – 11 (Two this week! Yes!)
Wool bought – 13
Wool given – 4
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 582 (Still up 6 balls of wool…)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

I knit you well…

At least, I think so! I was given a commission from work for a life sized skull. Couldn’t find any patterns for one, even ones to buy, so I made this guy up using photos of human skulls.

I think it’s worked out well. What do you think, Yorick?

If I was to make him again, there’s a few minor changes I would do, and I’ve noted as such on my scrawled pattern notes.

Still nothing to say, Yorick?

His mouth has been sealed I think…

Short post today, it’s been a very long week and I have a lot to be getting on with, December is always a busy month!

Till next post!

Wool Count

Starting total – 622

Wool used – 84 (no change)
Wool bought – 27
Wool given – 12
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 577

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