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Category: Knitting

by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

The 1984 quotes are still going strong! This one is about repair. Why?

Because of this cutie. (Demi Octopus by Jennifer Wang – the octopus itself is the free pattern).

One of my work colleagues has a favourite hat. But it had been worn that much it had developed a hole. He showed me it, asking for options and after going over what I could realistically do, including the dreaded darning, he decided to have a little fun with it.

The octopus is deliberately almost exactly the colour of the hat for he wants people to have to do a double take.

This conversation took place the day before lockdown started and was the first finished project of lockdown for myself. I’ve held off and held off on posting this as I wanted to give it to him before showing it off to the world, but as I am potentially be furloughed for another two months…

(I have offered to post it to him, but with the hot weather he is happy to wait for now until we see each other in person)I have had to resist the urge to knit a dozen more of these cuties I’ll be honest!!!

In other knitting news, I have been knitting more Christmas gifts and also a secret project. More on that next week.

In non knitting news, I have finished tearing up and redoing the garden! Apart from painting the fences. And cutting the grass. But the actual hard part is all done! Woo hoo!!!

What to tackle next…

Hope your all staying safe and enjoying the hot weather (I myself am fighting with the cats to get a spot on the cold slate floor in the kitchen as I don’t enjoy the heat…)

\no wool count this week as nothing has gone up or down despite the sheer amount of knitting I have done lately!

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one 2 Comments

This week and last I have been knitting Christmas gifts. Yes. Christmas gifts. I always say I won’t do them then change my mind in December and rush, rush, rush. Seeing as I am in the limbo of lockdown, I figured I would start now.

There is one gift I can show you though…

Inklings birthday was on Monday, and like most three year old boys, he is obsessed with Paw Patrol, and Zuma is his favourite. So I knit him Zuma as part of his present. I used the free pattern Dexter the Labrador by Amanda Berry. The pup tag I just winged, but I feel it came out well!

It was a very quiet celebration this year, again because of lockdown, but at three he doesn’t understand what he missed, which was a blessing really. I suspect I was more upset than anyone else as I didn’t get to see my family from up North. Twice now this year and lockdown. Twice!

Anyhow, back to Christmas gift knitting – I’ll try and fit a few things in that I can show you or else it’ll be a rather dull couple of weeks blog post wise!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 46 (7 this week!!!)
Wool bought – 7
Wool given – 8 (Engel brought two home today as a little pick me up as he noticed the home sickness was setting in)
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 672

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

A short post today, for tomorrow we’re having a little party for Inkling who will be turning three on Monday. Engel couldn’t get the day off work so we moved his celebrations forward by a day – not that he’ll notice mind!

Its not going to be a big thing, we asked him what he wanted for a cake and what he would like for a special birthday dinner, and if he wanted to do anything in particular in the house. He wanted cupcakes (so he could lick off the frosting) Daddys pink roast beef (rare beef), and to play Paw Patrol. Oh, and balloons. But we can manage all that at least and still follow our lockdown procdures.

A lot of people gave mentioned lockdown fatigue, I certainly reached a point a few weeks ago where i just wanted life to go back to normal, this week though has been hard as I just want my family near me – I suspect its due in part to cancelling my Easter trip up North, and Inklings birthday when I would have them come visit.

Two missed chances. Two missed occasions.

All because of…

The Fearsome coronavirus ball (free pattern by Tamara Kulikova) I couldn’t resist knitting this cutie – though it has been getting thrown around the house far more than t has been admired! At least i dont have to worry abouyt the fishtank breaking when this bounces off it!

Alright, enough waffling, I have presents to get knitting – more on that next week!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 39 (3 this week)
Wool bought – 7
Wool given – 8 (Engel brought two home today as a little pick me up as he noticed the home sickness was setting in)
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 679

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

Not quite, but Yesterday the 8th of May, marked the 75th anniversary of VE day.

A little history: Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the end of World War II in Europe.

And for this big event I had knitted a whole bunch of poppies. That were never used as the event was cancelled due to Covid-19. (Pattern used was the free pattern knit flat, no-sew poppy by Suzanne Resaul)

But life continues, and my mum asked me to knit up a few baby things for a colleague who was expecting her own “little ray of sunshine” so with that to go on I made these:

Does anyone else think it screams sunshine? Managed all these in a day and posted them the following. Which was good as the little ray of sunshine arrived yesterday, 4 weeks early!

Patterns used are ‘Rainbow’ and ‘Sun’ by Sarah Keen from her book “100 little knits” and ‘Beautiful Bootees’ by Sue Whiting from the book “Cute knits for baby feet”.

I shall leave you all there, not much has really happened here apart from baking and playing and home schooling and child wrangling and adventuring and gardening…oh, and I dyed some wool and some fluff for spinning…

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 36 (1 this week)
Wool bought – 7
Wool given – 6
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 680

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

There ARE heroes!

These are based on the free pattern Nurse Mates by Esther Braithwaite and are made for family and friends who are nurses. I feel though that all those in healthcare should be given congratulations – though there’s no way in could make them all a little toy!

In other knitting news, I did something I have never done before – I steeked! For those confused, it’s when you knit an object in the round, secure it, then cut it up the middle to create a cardigan or some such.

Yes. You CUT the knitting. With scissors.

I was driven to this madness as I was knitting myself ‘Forager’ from ‘Doomsday knits’ with a slow change variegated yarn. But as it’s asymmetric, every piece had a different number of stitches, making matching the colour changes impossible.

So steek I did.

The steeking process…

The finished object! I am very pleased with it.

In non knitting news, still in lockdown. I have cracked sourdough bread (hooray) and more or less finished the bulk of ripping up and sorting the front garden (double hooray) but as always there’s plenty more to do, on top of the day to day homeschooling, child wrangling, cleaning and tidying and kitten cuddling…

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 35 (3 this week)
Wool bought – 7
Wool given – 6
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 681

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

Another gift, for a friend who is a coffee obsessed GM! The pattern is based on a free hat pattern Coffee or Death Beanie by Maria Teresa Trujillo, I just combined it with my now memorised every day dice bag pattern and voila!

We’re still in lockdown, and slowly the garden is being ripped up and redone. There’s only so fast I can go by myself whilst juggling childcare, homeschooling, cooking, cleaning and playing with cats and tiny kittens!

Knitting has, understandably, slowed down a fair bit – mostly due to lack of time, energy, or having knackered my fingers whilst gardening… But it’s ticking away in the background, don’t you all worry!

Just another short post this week – Felix is wanting me to help her play Slime Rancher on the computer and Inkling is saving Octonaut toys in a somewhat hopeful manner!

Keep safe and take care.

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

And the clocks were striking thirteen…

Ok, not quite, but I couldn’t resist. Something did happen yesterday, on a bright cold day in April, which was the addition of two new members to the family.

Please all say hello to Lockdown and Outbreak! They are 8 weeks old and adorable. Outbreak is very outgoing, into everything and itching to explore. Lockdown just wants quiet and cuddles. I feel they suit their names well!

As a thank you for the kittens, I made these:

Little ginger kittens! The patter used was Happy Family – Mother Cat & Kittens by Sue Stratford from her book ‘Knitted Cats and Kittens’

That’s all from me this week, I have adorable kittens to coo over, and beautiful cats to give love and cuddles too also.

I will say this, the world seems a lot brighter and friendlier this weekend, I hope it lasts!

Till next week!

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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 2 Comments

Lockdown is getting to me. I keep swaying between the world having turned into some dystopian future, or a strange post apocalyptic landscape, but without the zombies or rad scorpions…

I had best be appropriately attired for when venturing out to the shops then.

The pattern is “Fallout” from the book “Doomsday knits”. Seems apt for the times we live in. (Been asked by two friends to make them one each, good thing it’s a nice easy knit with an interesting construction!)

In marginally more same knitting news, I have been knitting presents!

To complete the Nerfys Law Set theres a Nerf Bag for BIL, and a hat and armwarmers for Rabbie, as she feels the cold real bad. Nerf bag is my standard pattern, the hat is my own concoction and the arm warmers are Girl Gift Mitts by Debbie Meiklejohn.

In non knitting news I have been kept busy with Felix’s homeschooling and child wrangling in general. There’s been lots of baking, carding, painting, playing and also teaching Felix to rollerblade!

Busy but fun, which is what I am focusing on rather than the scary apocalypse happening outside in the real world…

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 27 (2 this week)
Wool bought – 7
Wool given – 6 (was given three balls yesterday as a little ‘saw these and thought of you’ gift from a friend. I really needed it!
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 689

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

So, last post I mentioned that we live in interesting times. Since then interesting has moved on to insane. We’re in lock down, not allowed out the house more than once a day, no work myself (unless there’s an emergency lab sample) Engel working from home, Felix is now being homeschooled as the schools are closed…

Its…strange. I’ve managed a surprising amount between home schooling Felix and wrangling Inkling – gutted the conservatory, started a sour dough culture, lots of carding my sheep fleece, a handful of odd jobs that were being left until I had ‘5 minutes spare’…

I have also managed some knitting too!

This is Morris. He’s a combination of two patterns – Alley Cat and Ginger Tom both by Sue Stratford from her book ‘Knitted Cats and Kittens’. Morris happens to be Engels Pathfinder character – he’s a Cat-folk engineer. (I keep calling him a technomage and keep getting told no). Much like my Kobold Barbarian Reyth, I will get round to making some clothing for this guy. Just not sure quite what yet…

And a nice one of his back as I just winged the striping!

In other knitting news, I have finished off a lot of little bits, which I will post next week/later. No wool in or out so will skip the wool count this week, again.

And in non knitting news, the world has gone mad, I’m just staying inside and following the rules to do my bit, but otherwise avoiding all the crazy I can. The terrors are loving having all the mummy attention but not sure when novelty will turn into annoyance…

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