Tag: Hat

Yep, its more clawsome cat puns this week! They’re just too purrfect to resist!

I’m still juggling numerous crafts at the moment, but with the cold snap we’ve recently had, and the one about to start any minute now… I decided to finally finish my warm wooly cat set.

We’ve had the cowl, we’ve had the arm warmers, we now have the hat!

I was going to spread this out over two posts, but didn’t think seeing the same design in the same wool but as a different shape would be all hat interesting fur you all. So we will skip straight to the fun part – the pompom.

So, the hat needed something when I finished knitting it, and the pattern ( Slouchy Cat Hat by Marna Gilligan from her book Cat Knits) recommends a pompom in all the colours used to knit the hat.

Too busy.

Straight up solid colour pompom?

Too boring.

I mentioned this to Felix who immediately told me it should be a cat pompom! At first I was about to say no and then I paw-sed and remembered a certain pattern in a different book that calls for fluffy wool to make a ball like cat…

That pattern happened to be Fluff Balls by Sue Stratford from her book Knitted Cats and Kittens. I changed the fluffy wool for knitting the purple in loop stitch before cutting and letting Felix brush it for extra fluffiness.

Subsequently, I have worn this hat twice as Felix claimed it as hers and it has barely left her head since…

Even though I have lost my hat, I’m feline happy with the final result, and having finished this winter set. But what to work on next? So many crafts, so many possible projects, not enough time…

I mean, I only have a nalbinding project or three I want to start, another spinning project I want to begin, a tablet weave partially warped on my loom, one knitting project on the needles and three more already lined up, a sewing project involving 12 bags, a hand sewing project involving mine and the kids viking kit…

Plus some needle felting and natural dying, oh, and a weaving experiment…

…yeah, I need a lot more time…

Until next post, stay safe.

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 4 (Up by two!)
Wool bought – 2
Wool given to me – 1
Wool gifted to others – 0
Wool handspun – 6

Total – 846 (Net difference: +5)

Yep, still feeling im-paw-sible that I’m going to make a good dent in the stash this year…

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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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You know the christening shawl I shared last week? The little one who it’s for is referred to as Gnome.

You gnome what is about to happen, cause I will keep making puns till the cows come gnome if I can get away with it!

The featured knit of this week is knit following the free pattern: The Scrappy Gnome Hat by Melody Lisa and was super quick on 9mm needles. Truth be gnome, I was so deep in the knit gnome with the christening shawl I had forgotten Engels request to sneak in a gnome hat too. So a quick knit was a win in that regard!

That, and I was desperate to knit with anything that wasn’t lace weight or white by that point!

As you can see here the gnome hat is lovingly modelled by Snorlax as he was the only thing with the correct head size on hand. Since this photo, we now have a second Snorlax – a squish mallow one! To go with my Gengar and Inklings Pikachu.

Theres not much else to say right now…there’s been a lot going on, but nothing I’m willing to share…

Oh well, perhaps I will have more to say next post! Until then, stay safe!

Starting total – 880

Wool used – 24 (+3)
Wool bought – 13 (+2, but needed for the new large project)
Wool given to me – 13
Wool gifted to others – 3
Wool handspun – 2

Total – 881 (Net difference: +1)

So close to breaking even with the start of the year! Can I make it for next post?!

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I am loving my puns this year!

Following on from my last Christmas knits post, we have a pair of berets. These where knit for those who didn’t receive one of the helmet liners I knit.

First up we have:

This beautiful pattern is a free pattern, Béret Généreux by Isabelle Allard. The background is a blue/purple marled yarn, and the grey is actually a dark grey to white yarn, but with such a small area being knit up, you can’t really tell…

Secondly, another gorgeous free pattern, Gramma K’s Fair Isle Tam by Kathleen Taylor. Knit with a plain black wool background and a fairly quick blue to purple gradient wool.

I really enjoy knitting fair isle, especially little patterns like these where I can play with the colours, so I had a lot more fun knitting these than the helmet liners! Although if I was told to wear one, it would be the helmet liner – my ears have to be kept warm after all!

In non knitting news, it has been a decidedly less eventful week this week. Still tired, but a lot less stressed, and that’s the main thing. There’s been lots of non knitting crafting going on as well, which I will share in a few weeks once I have managed to retrieve all the bits from the kids for a few good photos!

On that note, I will bid you farewell until next post. Until then, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 880

Wool used – 1
Wool bought – 0
Wool given to me – 2
Wool gifted to others – 2 (sharing the wooly love)
Wool handspun – 0

Total – 879 (Net difference: -1)

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I am tired. With a capital T.

Other descriptions of my current state could be bone tired, sleepy, sluggish, weary, worn out, needing to hit the hay, burning the candle at both ends…

My mother came to visit this weekend, and after a somewhat traumatic journey, she arrived as I was helping out the school fete on the teddy tombola. Fun was had, teddies where won, and off home with very giddy children. Saturday saw us at Lowther castle, where my sister Rabbie and I had hatched a surprise for our mum, my two and the nephew.

Surprised they were, and the crazy running and frolicking for 6 hours made the 2 hour there and 2 hour back drive worth while.

Sunday was spent desperately trying to get the house in order before my mum went home and suddenly it was Monday with work then family visit to the dentist…

But amidst the chaos, I was able to give nephew his belated birthday present, and right now, it suits my mood perfectly!

Snorlax , the sleeping pokemon, is his favourite pokemon. Knowing this, I couldn’t help but knit his own Snorlax hat as well as a cute little Snorlax toy! I modified Ginger Tom by Sue Stratford from her book ‘knitted Cats’ to create him, and I’m pretty pleased with the outcome!

Now, I am off to go be a Snorlax myself, until next week, stay safe!

(No Wool Count as no changes)

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I think I can safely say, with complete honesty, in both heart and mind, that I am burned out.

Or as Engels current favourite T-Shirt says, Error 404, out of Meow-tivation…

Which actually ties into the only thing I’ve managed to work on and finish:

The pattern used for the hat is a free pattern – Two by Two by Anne Gagnon – which makes for a lovely, stretchy hat that can fit both a little head as well as a big head. Apart from Engel. I had to add extra stitches.

And once more, I find myself writing a blog post where I lament knitting a hat for his giant XXL motorcycle helmet sized head and how I won’t knit another again…until forget and knit him one regardless.

I added my generic fluffy ears on top and he finally has a masculine hat, with cat ears, that actually fits him just right…

And on that note, I bid you farewell until next week, when I will hopefully have my Meow-tivation back again…

Stay safe!

Starting total – 843

Wool used – 34 (1 since last post)
Wool bought – 23
Wool given to me – 16
Wool gifted to others – 1
Wool handspun – 3

Total – 851 (Net difference: +7 – still working on this!)

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I don’t think anyone is too surprised that my next project after the foxymitts was going to be a foxyhat!

Apologies for the awful photo, the lighting has been awful as it’s been nothing but rain all week!

The hat itself is based on the free pattern The Hubby Hat by Anna Johanna and the ears are an experiment of mine. They’re very cute, so I may needs to knit another set to put onto a headband! And maybe a tail…

It’s amazing what loop stitch, scissors and a comb can achieve!

Other than that, it’s been a quiet week. Still recovering from Covid, my fun zombie apocalypse adventure last weekend, and work and life in general…

Until next week, take care!

Wool Count

Starting total – 843

Wool used – 17 (2 this week)
Wool bought – 1
Wool given to me – 6
Wool gifted to others –
Wool handspun – 0

Total – 845 (Net difference: -10)

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A very good friend of a very good friend is currently undergoing chemotherapy, and I’m not sure what else to really do to help, so I knit her a hat.

But not any hat! A one of a kind, super soft, purple and black bat hat!

I used the numbers and shaping from Slouchy Cat Hat by Marna Gilligan from her book Cat Knits. The charts are ‘winged’!

Apologies for the photo quality, I literally finished casting off and weaving in the ends at work and dropped it off to her on the way to run some errands before going home.

I’ve been told it fits perfect and she’s very happy, and especially giving the current cold snap, it’s been more than needed!

Thats all this week – it’s been a busy one, overtime at work, visiting friends, a belated leaving do for a number of us from the last place and poor Engel was roped into helping a guy from my new workplace fit heated grips onto his motorbike.

(I have promised him a special treat and an IOU, so don’t worry!)

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 150 (2 this week!!)
Wool bought – 50
Wool given to me – 47
Wool gifted to others – 4
Wool handspun – 13

Total – 845 (Net total of 37 down!)

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The weather has been bitterly cold as of late, to the point the duck pond near us has completely frozen over. As such, I have been going through our stock of tea like crazy!

It’s been a quiet week all told. Work is quiet, so much so near all of us are on part time furlough – feels strange only doing three day weeks but I imagine I will quickly enjoy it! It will also give me a chance to do all those jobs round the house I have put off all winter, as it’s been too cold or wet…

Chinese New year, usually a big occasion, was also quiet. Felix, upon seeing her red envelope, was initially excited, before stating “Oh, it’s lockdown. There won’t be the dragon parade or dancing lions”. After speaking with Rabbie, it was decided that if there is no official dragon parade, then we will have our own! It’s amazing what Engel can produce with cardboard, fabric and a glue gun! The kids decorated his creation, and with some red fabric, we had our own parade!

It was chaos, and there was more falling over laughing than parading, but it was so nice to hear laughter! There was also Skype calls with both Engels family, and my own, and it was actually really nice.

Felix’s best friends birthday is today, and we arranged a small meeting at the park to exchange presents and let the kids fun around. The cold kept the visit short, and we all welcomed hot showers, fluffy pyjamas and tea when we got in!

Which leads me to this week’s knitting news – part of the gift given today!

A striped butterfly hat and a tiny cup and saucer with milk and a biscuit. The latter part of that gift was actually a request she had given me three times so I figured her birthday was the perfect time to cave and make her it!

The pattern for the cup and saucer is Teacup and Saucer by Sarah Keen from her book ‘100 Little Knitted Projects’ and the cookie is a free mochimochi land pattern!

That’s all for this week, until next, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 14 (1 this week)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given to me – 0
Wool gifted to others – 0
Wool handspun – 4

Total – 887

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Yeah, I gave in and made Inkling his own Pokémon hat, and he insisted on Meowth. I tried, so very hard, to get him to pick a host of ones I thought would look far cuter but…no.

Here is the finished hat next to a cuddly toy version of Meowth. I will admit it did come out cute! I made it using my own generic hat pattern and then just winged the rest to give something approximating the proportions and shapes I wanted.

He’s smitten with it, so my job is done! Or at least, I thought it was until Engel informed me that I definitely owe him a few hats and if the kids have Pokémon ones, he wants a Pokémon one too.

I spoke with the kids and in under three seconds it has been agreed that a Snorlax would suit him the best, so keep an eye out for that!

In other news work has been manic, and Christmas is creeping into the house, so much so I gave in and put the tree up today as the terrors had asked for it at least three dozen times…does bring colour to the house! I will share photos of it and this year’s decoration next week once I have rearranged all the decorations once the terrors are in bed…

Till next week, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 146 (4 this week)
Wool bought – 28
Wool given to me – 318
Wool gifted to others – 8
Wool handspun – 16

Total – 907

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