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Tag: Hungry Caterpillar

by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one 2 Comments

Inkling turned one on Friday, and I can honestly say I have no idea where the year has gone. I swear time moves faster the older you get!

We had a BBQ for him on Saturday (Hungry Caterpiller themed due to Inkling being nicknamed as such due to his bottomless appetite- he actually gets separated at nursery from the others during meal times as he steals the other kids food!) and it was great – gorgeous weather, tasty food, and great company. Unfortunately, not everyone could make it (to be fair, most had good excuses, like being in Australia, looking at you Rabbie!)

Something that has changed since I was little, is that kids get party bags when they go to someone’s party, and on this note, it was decided that since Inkling was a kid, there needed to be party bags.

But adults don’t need bubble wands and sweeties (ok, they do, but that’s not the point!) and with the Hungry Caterpillar theme…

A caterpillar! Based on the free pattern Easter Egg Toys by Kimberly Chapman.

And for the bag, a cocoon! Based on my own free pattern! Just reduced by a third in size.

And a beautiful butterfly to finish it off! Based on the pattern Common Blue Butterfly by Lesley Stanfield from her book ‘100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet’.

I, umm, did make too many though…oh well! They looked cute strung up with some ivy Felix helped make!

Wool count:

Starting total – 622

Wool used – 42 (5 since last post)
Wool bought – 6
Wool given – 5
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 588

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

I’m sure most of the world knows this but the UK was not by both ‘The Beast from the East’ and Storm Emma this past week. Unlike my family up North, we only got a few inches of snow over the course of the week – enough to stop Engel going to work on the motorbike (he did manage to ride in it the first three days, but after a lucky miss, I insisted he didn’t try again) but not enough to stop me going back to work.

Sigh.

It wasn’t a bad first week of work, but I was ready to go home, curl up in a blanket with a hot water bottle and a stack of chocolate and not leave my nest for the immediate future…

Felix did however have a ball – she got to make snow cats and finally have that snowball fight she spent all winter asking for. Inkling in the other hand… yeah… he’s not a fan of this strange, cold, wet, white stuff!

The weather aside (I am a true Brit and can discuss the weather for several hours, it’s a cultural thing) I have two completed projects to share this week!

First of all:

Yep, it’s another chunky Wayfarer! (Pattern by Jen Lucas from the book ‘Doomsday Knits: Projects for the Apocalypse and After’) I literally had this on the moment it was cast off the needles! So warm and cosy…

And project number two:

I made one of these for Felix when she was tiny, and it felt fitting to make one for Isaac. I did hers in the colours of the rainbow, but for him, well, it’s a running joke that he is in fact the Hungry Caterpillar! Made using several free patterns – the alphabet series by Frankie Brown on Ravelry.

So aside from the weather, starting back to work and a little bit of knitting, there’s not much else to say at the moment. I’ve started reading through the Achtung Cthulhu rules and setting, so don’t be too surprised if more random lovecraftian things start to crop up!

Oh, and on the Pokémon hand puppet front, both Felix and Engel are trying to convince me to make ALL of them. I will say now that there is no way I’m doing all 800+ of them!!!!

Maybe just a few more favourites…

Wool count:

Starting total – 622

Wool used – 23 (5 this week!)
Wool bought – 4
Wool given – 5
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 605 (So near my 600 ball goal!)

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

The knit project for this week is exactly what it says on the blog post title.

Elmer and friends:

Left to right: Generic grey elephant, Wilbur, Elmer and Rosie

I made these based on the free Lion Brand Yarn pattern Sweet Mini Elephant – Rosie is the only one knit as written, but in smaller needles, the rest are worked in multiples of 5 stitches where possible. Oh, and the tallest is just three inches tall! So tiny elephants!

Unlike my previous Elmer’s I would willingly knit these again – which is good as I suspect I’ll be making more as presents!

This set will be making its way up to Scotland to the school my mum works at – like the Hungry caterpillar set and the stubborn goat, they’ll be used as teaching aids with the autistic children she works with.

Knitting aside, I’ve been brushing up on the rules for ‘No Thank you Evil!’ – an RPG aimed at introducing kids as young as 4 into the world of role playing. My sister, her husband and their furbaby Missy are coming to visit and we’re going to give it s trial run before I try playing it with Felix – get all the bugs worked out first!

I think this may be the only game however that, as I read the rules and the setting, I actually want to be a player! There’s just so much scope, you can literally be anything!

Engel has broken the character generation system already. His creation? An incorporeal ghost cat who travels through time with his companion Syphilis who has the ability ’embiggen’ so can turn into a giant raging monster.

After I sighed at him, he grinned and declared that actually, he wanted his character to be Syphilis.

Trying not to kill him, I enquired how he planned to communicate with the other players. His response: With a series of awkward rashes.

I’ll leave it at that for today.

Starting total – 622

Wool used – 9 (2 this week)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 1
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 614

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

Not much to say or show this week, it’s been busy, lots of tidying and cleaning and some family dramas and today I was looking after my friends little one. So definitely busy. And there’s still a lot to do, especially before I go back to work end of February.

Sigh…

But let’s not dwell on that just yet.

Knitting news! I have finished the other two fat caterpillars!

And those tubby lepidopterans mark the end, finally, of the Hungry caterpillar set. Finally. Hopefully.

Please let it be the end…

In other knitting news, I have two big projects I’ve been working on and off for a while and I’m going to try and concentrate on finishing those. Part of me wants to get how long it’ll take until I break and cast on something else, the rest of me is determined to actually finding these projects so I don’t have to look at them anymore…

Till next week.

Wool count:

Starting total – 622

Wool used – 1
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 0
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 621

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one 1 Comment

May this year bring health and happiness to us all!

Despite the fact that Inkling was born, this has not been a very great year, not as bad as 2016, but still not a great year. Fingers crossed things turn round for 2018!

But your not here to read my woes, your here for the knitting! And I do not disappoint!

Several months ago I started the great Very Hungry Caterpillar Set (X 3) and declared it finished at the start of September. One set went to Felix, the second to the school my mother works at (as a teaching aid for the autistic children she works with) and the third…hasn’t been homed. But that’s a different story.

Anyway, Felix immediately asked why there was no fat caterpillar, I put it down to her just wanting everything and she already had a caterpillar, she didn’t need the fat one.

Then I asked my mum for feedback from the school. About fifty kids had played with it, and loved it.

Every. Single. Kid. Wanted. A. Fat. Caterpillar.

All. Of. Them.

So, not to disappoint, I’ve reluctantly gone ahead to make the fat caterpillar.

It’s a monster.

No, you can’t really appreciate the fatness of this caterpillar. Let’s compare it to the original caterpillar.

He could eat 4 of the small caterpillars for breakfast – and he would still be hungry!

Joking aside, I’ve winged this pattern out of thin air, and still need to make another two for the other sets, but I couldn’t resist sharing it with you all, especially as no doubt a lot of us probably felt like the small caterpillar at the start of the festive season and a lot more like the fat one by the end of it!

Lastly, start of a new year, so the wool count gets refreshed! I did manage to use three balls of wool since last post and Felix bought me a ball for my Christmas, so with that in mind, the wool count looks like this:

Starting total – 622

Wool used – 0
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 0
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 622

Have a good year everyone!

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

It’s the end of an era! Ok, not quite, but I have been working on the Hungry Caterpillar project since the end of June, that’s two and a half months!

For someone used to not really spending more than a week on something, that’s a very, very long time.

But without further ado:

That there, is all three sets laid out. Even I have to admit it’s pretty impressive when you see it like that. You will also notice that there are cocoons in that photo!

Like the salami, I couldn’t find a pattern in my books or online, so I made one. You can find it in the free patterns page or just click here!

And now onto something completely different.

But what? Nothing to do with the metamorphosis of a caterpillar, or any form of food item that’s for sure.

Hmm…

Cute Halloween knit, Christmas presents, a little something for me, or a little something for Felix or Inkling…?

Wool count:

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 98 (9 since last post!)
Wool bought – 33
Wool given – 131
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 657

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

So, let’s show off the only thing I have to show this week: Butterflies!

For these guys, I used the free pattern: Metamorphosis part II – the Butterfly by ChemKnits. You’ll notice that each of these, unlike the other Hungry Caterpillar set items, are all different. I had three different wools I could use for the wings, so decided to make one butterfly per different wool. (I couldn’t decide basically). Then did body colour to match. My favourite is the left one, though Engel likes the one on the right! Felix settled on the middle one as it was the first one to be made.

I’m currently working on the cocoon, though I’m having to make up my own pattern for this one, if it turns out well I’ll post it online. Hopefully it will at least meet the demands set by my three (four in just over three weeks!) year old gremlin…

That’s all for now, there’s a cold going through the house so I’m going to make lemon tea and curl up in a blanket nest and relish the few hours of quiet I have before bed…

Wool count:

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 89 (9 since last post!)
Wool bought – 33
Wool given – 131
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 666 (Mwahahah!!!!!)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Cats, Gaming, Knitting, Little one 3 Comments

Hi all! Been enjoying my bank holiday weekend by doing more birthday stuff! Meeting up with some friends and gaming with other friends as well, even managed to sneak in a trip to my LYS and found a ball of wool that was whispering…just one! And once I get through my queue of knits I know exactly what it’s going to be!

Now if only I could say the same for the rest of the wool I have…

On that note, on to my finished knitting! Still ploughing on with the Hungry Caterpillar sets, and this week I have made:

Muffins! Ok, they’re really actually a modified version of the free pattern: Divine Cupcakes by Maiya Becker – I worked K2P2 rib on the cake bottom to make the cupcake wrapper (increasing an extra two sts in the base to do so) then doubled the number of knit rows called for in the frosting to make it taller.

Oddly enough, I really wanted to make these so was glad to finally get them on the needles! I worked the free pattern: knitted watermelon by Elaine Simper double stranded to give a more textured/mottled appearance particularly in the watermelon flesh.

Oops, appears Ziggy decided to photobomb me here! (Actually that reminds me of an amusing fact, one of the reasons we got Ziggy was Engel wanted a boy kitty. Took Ziggy to the vets to be vaccinated and the vet rather worriedly informed me, in a hushed voice so Felix wouldn’t overhear, that she was very sorry but he was a she. I couldn’t stop laughing for nearly 20 minutes…)

Anyhow.

And on Sunday he ate through a nice big leaf. Again, double stranded for more colour variation and I used the free cloth pattern: Leaf Cloth Trio by Theresa L. Jones, I used Leaf 3 as I like that it both curved and had veins.

When I was working on the leaves, Felix asked me yet again to knit the caterpillar egg from the beginning of the book, to which it responded that no, it would be so small it would be lost instantly. She then countered my argument by stating the egg could be sewn onto its own little leaf, then it won’t get lost.

I worry that she’s out smarting me and she’s not even four. Not that it’s difficult to do that, but still.

So without further ado:

A little egg on a little leaf. The leaf is made using yet another free pattern: Woodland Wreath, Leaves by Frankie Brown. The egg is simply a little bobble I knitted up and sewn on afterwards.

Alright, that’s enough typing for now, I have butterflies, cocoons and fish to get knitting.

Wool count:

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 80 (7 since last post)
Wool bought – 34
Wool given – 131
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 675

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

Lollipops:

The pattern is ‘Lollipop’ by Sarah Keen from her book 100 Little Knitted Projects

Cherry Pie

These where made with the free pattern: Piece O’ Cherry Pie by Jennifer Tallapaneni

Sausages

These where made with the free pattern: Very Vegan Sausages by Emily Anna Bingham.

In knitting news, I was given Engels grandmother’s (Felix and Inklings Great Grandma) old knitting stash. Once I sifted through it and split the useable from the mohair (allergic) I was left with eighty 10-50g balls of wool. Yes. Eighty.

There goes the wool count again.

I was also given two lovely balls of alpaca wool for my birthday, I feel no guilt as in my mind they’re already knitted into toy alpacas! I will have my own herd of alpacas! They will be miniature and cuddly and require no feeding or cleaning, but I shall have a herd of them!

Mwahahah!!!!!!

You may have guessed that it’s been a long weekend of celebrating, it’s been behind awesome and I may be shattered, but worth it!

Till next week (hopefully I’ll have another productive week of knitting to show you!)

Wool count:

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 73 (6 since last post)
Wool bought – 33
Wool given – 131
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 682

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Patterns 2 Comments

Apologies for the lack of updates lately, I’ve had family visiting, holiday in the Lakes (I highly recommend the ‘Wheres Peter Rabbit?’ show – the puppets are beautiful!) then more family visiting!

But, I have finally finished the next part of the Hungry Caterpillar sets! The salami!

In order to get a salami I liked, I created my own pattern, which is available here for free!

This one took a few trial and errors – colour mostly, then how I wanted to do the ‘slice’ but I got there in the end. Enjoy!

Short post today as I have a lot to do!

Wool count:

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 67 (0 since last post)
Wool bought – 33
Wool given – 49
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 606

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