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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

Following on from last week’s Octocat, I have made something even bigger and better using the same pattern as a base.

Meet Cathulhu!

His body is based on the pattern Octopuss by Bethany Hendrickson and his wings are from Tarragon the Gentle Dragon by Knit-a- Zoo. Both are free patterns.

Cathilhu is a mash up between H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu and our fluffy feline overlords, cats. I actually have the Cathulhu core rulebooks to run RPGs as cats battling eldritch terrors…it’s all good fun!

Here he is with a mug for scale so you can see just how big he is!

As you can see, I’m a fan of Cathulhu!

In non knitting news I went to Wales yesterday with a friend to another friends who had managed to procure 70kgs of fleece. A few hours of sorting, identifying and bagging, and I have 8 lovely fleeces to add to the collection. Four are Romleys, three are Texel/Cheviot crosses and one could be either or but I need to properly lay it out to figure out which.

It’s the first time I’ve really been out properly since lockdown began, and socialised (maintaining social distancing of course, my friend in Wales is in the danger list so requires shielding) and I am exhausted from it!

Was a great day though! I am going to have to really ramp up the washing and carding and spinning of all this fleece though before Engel realises just quite how much I have!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 66 (3 this week)
Wool bought – 11
Wool given to me – 296
Wool gifted to others – 3
Wool handspun – 6

Total – 947 (it’s going to take years to get this down to a reasonable level… Good thing I love this hobby so much!)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

A friend of mine does a bonfire/Halloween fancy dress party every year, and after being rescheduled several times, finally happened last night. The theme this year? Lovecraftian Horror!

After much debate, I settled on myself and Engel being cultists of Shub Niggurath, (Black Goat of the Wood with a Thousand Spawn) and Felix and Inkling went as two of the said spawn.

Rabbie did me a huge favour in putting together a pair of awesome cultists robes (that double up as jedi robes and wanderers of the apocalypse robes) Edit: just linked to her blog post about the cultists robes and it made me laugh, I took my two to a cthulhu themed party, complete with bonfire, and she’s taken the fur baby to Santa Paws…

Anyhow, so all I had to do was whip up four pairs of hats with horns! Which I started monday. Oops.

Managed it more or less and super pleased with the outcome!

These are made based on the pattern Skull by Vanessa Mooncie from her book “Monster Hats: 15 Scary Head-Warmers to Knit”

Ready for the full effect?

I’ve positioned it so you can see inside the cloak and see all the eyes of the other 998 spawn yet to be summoned. Felix wore her knitted sheep costume from a long time ago, plus hat, and Inkling had his bear costume on, with goat horn hat rather than bear hat.

All in all, we made for an adorable family set! I’m also pleased to say a lot of people also turned up dressed, and there was an amazing Hastur and a good number of people with that ‘Innsmouth Look’ about them!

Will leave it at that, see you all next week!

Wool Count

Starting total – 576

Wool used – 107 (2 this week)
Wool bought – 63
Wool given – 167 (was gifted four balls this week)
Wool gifted – 31

Total – 667 (If I use one more ball, it’ll be the number of the beast! Or would that be knit of the beast?)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Gaming, Knitting 1 Comment

Look who I’ve now found in my cat mint!

Its Miss Mittens, sister of Miss Moppet and Tom Kitten, Daughter of Tabitha Twitchit!

I really need to move that cat mint…

As with Miss Moppet, I’ve done a variation of the Tom Kitten pattern by Alan Dart with a few tweaks and additions. I’ll be knitting her and her sister little pinafores like the ones they wear in the Tale of Tom Kitten, but they’ll have to wait as I have a few bits to squeeze in and do first! They’re probably also the last Beatrix Potter related knits I’ll be doing for a bit, I have a lot of projects I want to work on and could do with a change of pace!

But don’t worry, I still intend to make them all!

Just a short post this week as I am shattered – it’s been a long week at work, the terrors have been particularly terrifying, I was at the Assemblage 23 gig on Friday (it was down the tiniest, darkest, dingiest alley ever!) which was awesome – particularly the second support act, ‘Rainland’ (formally Analog Angel) – Glasweigian EBM for the win! Makes a homesick Scot happy to hear! And I’ve been running Achtung Cthulhu! this weekend too.

I may have overestimated just how much I could fit into a weekend! A good 10 hour sleep and I’ll be as right as rain again I’m sure! It’s just getting 10 hours of sleep that’s difficult…

Wool count:

Starting total – 622

Wool used – 58 (1 since last post)
Wool bought – 8
Wool given – 6 (1 as a birthday present!)
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 578 

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

Its a very short, slightly belated post today. Yesterday I was at a very good friends wedding, it was an amazing day and beautiful hardly describes it. The venue, the bride, the vows, the food…all beautiful.

And of course, Inkling had to fit the part! At the very last minute I decided he needed a little bow tie to go with his waistcoat:

Based on the free pattern Erika’s Knit Bow by loareknits – its super quick, super simple and super adorable.

The other thing to note, and I shouldn’t have been surprised really seeing as the friend who got married is the friend who requested several cthulhus and matching dice bags, but I bumped into a few Americans who, after spotting Inkling cuddling his knitted cthulhu, exclaimed ‘your the lady that knit the cthulhus!’

I love it when things like that happen! (I had been busy admiring the detail in one of the girls knitted shawls prior to this, still debating what pattern was used…pretty sure it was a Birch Leaf motif…)

Anyhow! Two big projects on the go, very nearly finished one and almost finished the other so hopefully you’ll see those next week!

Oh, ended up buying wool this week as I didn’t have enough in a colour I needed. I could not for the life of me get hold of said colour in straight up acrylic and DK weight (kids toy, gotta be sturdy and machine washable) and it took five shops (two of them large craft stores) to find what I needed! ‘Sadly’ it only came in packs of two, oh well!

Wool count:

Starting total – 622

Wool used – 36 (3 since last post)
Wool bought – 6 (2 since last post)
Wool given – 5
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 594 (Net loss of 1)

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

Belated Easter post, apologies! I was visiting the family up North and we had an absolute ball (Rabbie documented it over at her blog) but when we got back it was straight in to work and gaming prep and time ran away from me!

I do have two completed knits to show you though from then:

I did indeed make Mr McGregor’s sack, as suggested last post, and it was quite fun putting all the bunnies and the lettuce inside it!

And I also whipped up a Baby Bunny Hat (free pattern by Rebecca Lennox) so that Inkling could join in with the festivities. He is definitely bunny mad and squeals when he sees them!

There’s been no new completed knits really since then!

As I said above, I’ve been preparing another game, this time it’s Achtung Cthulhu! In case you haven’t guessed by now, I really enjoy running games in the Cthulhu universe, and Achtung Cthulhu! is set during WW2 and I’ll say now that it doesn’t disappoint.

Though there have been half a dozen instances of people wanting weapons that don’t actually exist just yet…and we’ve only played about three hours!

Till next week where I should hopefully have more to show you!

Wool count:

Starting total – 622

Wool used – 33 (2 since last post)
Wool bought – 4
Wool given – 5
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 595

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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 Knitting, Little one, Uncategorized 1 Comment

To be eaten…

The Christmas reference is because of this:

Inklings very own Christmas stocking (based on free pattern: Pet Love Christmas Stocking by Sarah Hood, incorporating the free Bunnies Chart by Sylvia Leake and the fish chart from Kitty Placemat by Donna Druchunas from her book Kitty Knits: Projects for cats and their people.)

Two years ago, I knit Christmas stockings for myself, Engel and Felix all based on the pet love Christmas stocking (you can have a look at those here if you want) and it only seemed right to include Inkling in on this tradition.

I had to guess his favourite animals, it’s kind of hard when he’s not quite 6 months old yet – I went for rabbits as he squeals when he sees them on the TV, and he loves watching the goldfish in the fish tank, so fish it was.

So, the being eaten reference is because of this:

Yup. It’s Shub-Niggurath (The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young). I mentioned on a previous post that after knitting the Stubborn Goat I wanted to make one, but not the thousand young so nope, not happening.

Two weeks of pester power and here s/he is, Shub-Niggurath (used the free pattern Fester The Whole Goat by Jenny Stacey again for this one)

There will not be any young. Especially not a thousand of them.

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 138 (3 this post)
Wool bought – 49
Wool given – 135
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 633

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

This is Halloween, this is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween!

Can you tell I like Halloween?

I’ve had a lot of fun this week, Felix is now at the right age where she can get stuck into various crafts and make decorations and actually feel part of the whole celebration process. We’ve both also done a fair bit of baking – she wanted to carve pumpkins and I refuse to let food go to waste, so there was pumpkin shaped pumpkin bread rolls and sugar free pumpkin cupcakes (for Engel) and I still have more than half a kilo left of pumpkin puree still…

We all went and did the Manchester Halloweekend trick or treat trail, meeting count Dracula, bride of Frankenstein, a witch, a mummy and a skeleton juggling pineapples…? There was also a haunted maze and giant tentacles on top of the House of Fraser – a few of my gaming friends came along as well and we spent far too much time pretending to pass/fail sanity checks against the eldritch horror breaking free into our realm…

So much fun.

But also a lot of knitting. Again, a few little projects and one big project, which is still ongoing as it’s boring and I keep getting distracted by little projects…

Halloween themed first!

Felix was dressed as a vampire (again) this year, wearing an awesome costume her aunty made her, but Felix wanted Daddy’s toy cat (they have a time share on him, much to Engel’s bemusement) to dress up as a vampire to. So without further ado:

Phineas in his matching vampire costume. It’s a little jumper and separate cloak. During my photoshoot with Phineas, Ziggy decided to join in…

So Count Phineas took revenge:

I have far too much fun…no pattern for this one as I just winged it in the needles.

In other knitting news, there have been babies, so there have been little knitted presents!

This is made using the free pattern Polar Bear by The Knit Cafe Toronto – only I did a mummy and baby brown bear…this was for in laws friends newest grandson.

Then there’s this little fishy, another free pattern – Frida the Fish / Francis the Fish by Lion Brand Yarn – which I’ve now made for the fourth time.

And for the older brother, Pokemon Poke Ball Knit Hat by Vicki Mann (free pattern) curiously, Skully modelled a different pokeball hat in the same post as the previous goldfish given above, funny coincidence!

Alright, that’s all for the post today. Hope to get a good push on the big project done and finally get it off the needles! Let’s see how long it takes for me to procrastinate and/or get distracted…

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 134 (3 this post!)
Wool bought – 49
Wool given – 135
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 637 (Will I get below 600 this year?)

P.S. in other news Engel has taken up brewing and is trying to convince me to knit some fermentation vessel cosies, it may be sleep deprivation, or the sheer lack of interest in my other project, but they sound tempting. I could knit them to look like little wooden barrels, or have cute little motifs knitted into them…

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

When Felix was very little, I knitted her a Cthulhu (my very own pattern too) and kept meaning to knit one for Inkling.

Well procrastinate no more, here is the cute tiny Elder God in all his tentacular glory!

After knitting Cthulhu I decided that whilst I was on a roll I’d try another free Lovecraftian pattern I had spied previously:

The Great Race of Yith by Samantha Lynn – I omitted the pipe cleaners and beads the pattern calls for to make it more baby chewing friendly.

(I was going to knit just one, but you can’t have a race with just one!)

The Yith are one of the lesser known Lovecraftian creations, but Inkling seems to enjoy swinging them by their various appendages…

Also this week (I was on a knitting roll! Though I did ignore my big project) my mum requested I make The Stubborn Goat, as another teaching aid.

Made using the free pattern Fester The Whole Goat by Jenny Stacey

I am now debating knitting Shub-Niggurath (The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young) since I’m on a Lovecraft inspired knitting kick…

Then Felix said Id have to knit a thousand baby goats. That idea has now been shelved…

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 131 (6 this post!)
Wool bought – 49
Wool given – 135
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 640 (Will I get below 600 this year?)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Cats, Gaming, Knitting, Uncategorized No Comments

Cthuhlu phtang!

This time last year I posted about how awesome my friends are. How they all donned on cat ears and played Cathuhlu all just for my birthday.

They out did themselves this year, and I have to say, my friends are more than awesome, they’re amazing!

I mean seriously, look at this cake!

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It’s the Necronomicon, as a cake!

It’s not the first amazing cake that particular friend of mine has made for my birthday, two years ago, it was this tentacular beauty!

Tentacle Cake 2~2

In case you haven’t all guessed, I’m obsessed with Cthuhlu. I’ve read all of H. P. Lovecrafts mythos stories, own numerous RPGs (Call of Cathuhlu, Delta Green, The Laundry, as well as numerous source books) I even created my own knitted Cthuhlu pattern!

It also happens to be my literally just now finished project:

Cthuhlu mittens!

This is based on the free Ravelry download Cthulhu Mittens by Lyle Stafford. I changed mine so that I can, let’s say, rather than pet Crumble with mittens:

I could…

Scritch her with my fingers instead!

I sense more mittens in my future as I had a lot of fun with these, but there are other projects to be done first…so many projects, so little time…

In other news, I went to the pop up knitting show in Port Sunlight (as it was pouring with rain, good ol’ British weather!) And accidentally bought myself a very nice little ball of wool that was positively singing to be a shawl. So that is what it shall be.

And that is what will be in my needles next!

Starting total – 697

Wool used – 91
Wool bought – 10
Wool given – 4

Total – 620

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