Tag: Inkling

Don’t let the title fool you, Inklings party was a success and all the kids had an absolute pokeball!

It was a very busy weekend with the party, the bathroom only just being finished in time for family and friends to come round to the house after, and a nice play at the park and lunch the day after with family.

It was definitely a case of needing to put my feet up when all was said and done!

These may be my feet, and I may have knit not one but two identical pairs of these slippers, but these are actually for Rabbie as part of her slipper subscription. Alas, her last pair was nommed on by my brothers dog and that was the end of them…

That’s all for this post today, theres been a lot of things going on with the greater family and life in general which has me very worn out and not feeling all that chatty. But give it time and I’ll soon be regaling you all with random stories again!

Until next post, keep safe!

Starting total – 880

Wool used – 11 (+1)
Wool bought – 11
Wool given to me – 13
Wool gifted to others – 3
Wool handspun – 2

Total – 892 (Net difference: +12)

Its slowly, so very slowly, creeping down…

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So, as you all know, I didn’t post anything last week. It had been a very busy, but good, week, a lot of the issues that had been ongoing had been resolved – those that need to know, know, I won’t bore anyone with the details – and the Monday was a nice quiet one with a friend round doing some miniature painting with us. (Ok, I spent it cleaning models, but it counts).

So Tuesday rolls round, I’m about to put the little terrors to bed and then post on here when Inkling stood up, declared his tummy hurt and then puked. And puked. And puked.

There must be some form of eldritch magic at work because something so small can not contain that much puke. This was followed by much cleaning and a long night of puke, clean, puke, clean until pretty much time to get up for work…

It took till Friday before my littlest terror could be classed as ‘well’. He could keep down food and drink, and had some energy, but not quite his usual bouncing self which took till Sunday.

Unfortunately that same Friday, just a few days ago, I then became ill…

Hence, you got to be kitten me.

The pun game is still on, and it still ties in with this week’s knitted thing!

Cats, cats, cats! This is a close up of Covered in Cats Cowl by Marna Gilligan from her book ‘Cat Knits’.

I wanted another cowl, and I loved the colours in my 100% That Witch jumper, and I just needed to knit this cute pattern so… Perfect trinity? Oh, and as you can see, it doubles as a kitty blanket.

On that note, I shall leave you with a close up of this cutie and give you the wool count. Until next post, stay safe!

Starting total – 880

Wool used – 4 (+3)
Wool bought – 10 (+10 – bought for this year’s 100 Xmas decos)
Wool given to me – 2
Wool gifted to others – 3
Wool handspun – 2 (+1)

Total – 887 (Net difference: +7)

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To begin the year I will be sharing all the Christmas knitting I was doing and having to keep secret over the next few weeks. You get to see what I’ve been up to behind the scenes, and I get a slow dawdle of a start to the year.

Win-win, right?

Speaking of slow dawdle, I am exhausted. This weekend was a blur of going up north to visit the family, potion making, my niece’s 18th birthday party (time has been warped somehow because I swear she was only nine the other month), then pancakes and home.

Oh, and Rabbie did my hair, it’s much shorter, it’s coloured like a mermaids, and it’s awesome!!!!

A much more detailed description of the chaos that was the weekend can be found on Rabbies blog, with cute bonus photos of the ever so cute Missy!

With that said, here is my first knitted Christmas project I started, and also the last one I finished…

Helmet liners! And not just any helmet liners, but ones knit following the same 1916 knitting pattern that was spotted at the ‘through the ages’ event we went to at Duncarron many months ago. (Theres actually five that I knitted up, but I had foolishly wrapped one up before finishing the last one for the group photo)

Pattern details are: Helmet by F W Woolworth, it is a free pattern as it’s a scan from a booklet from 1916. Be warned though that knitting patterns have come a long, long, long way since this was written!

The reason behind these was that whilst at the Duncarron event, Inkling got to try on a knitted helmet liner (same pattern as above) and was so cute it was unreal. I joked that given the cost of living going up and the cost of gas and oil and electricity and, well, everything, I should make everyone their own to help combat the cold.

A month later, my family kindly reminded me of this ‘promise’ when I enquired if anyone needed any household knits (tribbles, wash cloths etc) topping up for Christmas…

I took a break between each one to work a different project, but my oh my was that a lot of garter stitch…

And with that, I shall leave you to next week.

No wool count as it’s neither gone up nor down!

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Its been an interesting week! Car had its MOT, parents night for the little terrors, gaming with some friends, meeting up with other friends for a mooch and to attend the local Pokémon Go event…

But lets backtrack a bit to explain this week’s knitting.

Parents evening. Both of mine received plenty of nice comments, and nothing really negative other than trying to get them to slow down and double check their work before handing it in. It’s a big ask for a 4 year old and an 8 year old!

One thing that became clear though was that in Inklings class they had been learning about chickens, and had been incubating eggs which had hatched…

And he’s obsessed with the fluffy things. Taking one look, I could have pocketed all four of them there and then and made a run for it.

I successfully passed my willpower roll, and jokingly mentioned it to Inkling. He searched all of my pockets, twice, just in case, and was somewhat sad that I hadn’t stolen a chick.

There was only one option.

Its based on the free pattern Spring Chick by Barbara Prime, except I made mine fluffy. Outbreak immediately claimed it as hers. Once rescued from the cat, the chick was put in my pocket for the next morning…

Inkling was super happy with his chick, and insisted he could take it to school to show it to the other chicks. In all the excitement, I realised Felix was feeling a little left out.

There was only one option. Again.

So here is chick number two. And Outbreak again. Who tried to claim this one also.

I am doing my best to ignore the urge to knit a third chick just for the cat!

Until next post, take care!

Wool Count

Starting total – 843

Wool used – 23 (2 this week)
Wool bought – 1
Wool given to me – 13
Wool gifted to others –0
Wool handspun – 1

Total – 829 (Net difference: -8)

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I would love to promise that this is the last of the fox related things, but the urge to use this knitted fur technique to make more and more is incredibly powerful!

and without further ado, fox ears:

So very cute! Although the cats seem to think that they’re either a toy just for them, or a small furry animal just begging to be pounced on…

Here you can see Outbreak “helping” within three seconds of my placing the ears in the floor for a photograph. I suspect I will need to knit them something using the same knitted fur technique I have used for the ears…

Oh, normally at this point I would link a pattern but…there isn’t one. This is me just playing around…

In other wooly news, I finally spun and plyed the Shetland fleece I have been playing with for the last few weeks – it was a challenge for myself to spin as fine as possible, as consistently as possible. Having been 2 plyed it has come out at 150m of lace weight yarn. It’s a little thinner in places, but not thicker, so it’s definitely getting there!!

No idea what it will be. However, I have plans and ideas in the works that require me to spin yarn, so more shall be spun, but with intention.

…am I the only one that think that sounded unnecessarily aggressive? Spinning with intention?

Anyhoo, very busy week at work, no gaming but Inkling did get to go to a trampoline birthday party and as he is under five, I had to go with him and ‘supervise’. The sore muscles today were worth it. Felix didn’t miss out as she got to have an adventure with Engel on the motorbike.

After so much excitement, we finished the weekend with board games and cleaning up some Battletech miniatures that the terrors are looking forward to painting.

Until next week, take care!

Wool Count

Starting total – 843

Wool used – 20 (2 this week)
Wool bought – 1
Wool given to me – 6
Wool gifted to others –0
Wool handspun – 1

Total – 831 (Net difference: -12)

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I couldn’t resist the pun…but what pun you may ask? Well, remember how I mentioned that my mum roped me into doing some knitting for her?

That there is the seventh Meret (Mystery Beret) – free pattern by Woolly Wormhead- that I have knitted for mother. And since Meret sounds like Merry….

Anyhow…shes nearly wore her last ones straight through out of sheer use. So after telling her exactly that after the mending I did on them last visit, I had to break it to her that next time, there won’t be any hat left to mend… So to prolong those precious hats, I suggested she could have a different hat for when working in the school playground which is when they get their hardest use.

She was immediately in my stash digging through the purple section to select just the right shade to match the school colour (a deep purple) and informed me she wanted two in the same pattern and alterations as the others.

And matching arm warmers, as they’re near worn through also. I did opt to do a new pattern on those though – Half-Pint Fingerless Gloves by Théa Rosenburg, another excellent free pattern – which are super quick and easy to make at least.

Two pairs of arm warmers have been knit, as well as one hat, and the second is a solid evenings worth of knitting away from being done.

In non knitting news, I have had an incredibly busy, but fun, Christmas break. There was a lot of catching up, people and p!aces where visited, games have been played and so many things have been made or built. One of which was a bat detector which Engel decided would be perfect for Felix – and I’ll hand it to her, she took to learning to solder like a duck to water! Inkling was in the mean time getting a sewing lesson from myself and, worst comes to worst, has the rudimentary skills to at least temporarily patch something together now.

Lastly for this blog post, the wool count is going to be reset, and with it, I am going to set a few goals to also try and achieve.

Wool Count

Starting total – 843

Wool used – 0
Wool bought – 0
Wool given to me – 0
Wool gifted to others –
Wool handspun – 0

Total – 843 

And my stash goals for this year are:

1 – to have no more than 1 ball of wool enter the stash to every two that leave the stash.

2 – to spin more wool – I have done a lot of dying, and have projects planned for handspun, but by the end of the year I had very little time/ energy/ spinning mojo

3 – handspun wool does not apply to the wool in vs wool out totals, as it’s stash already present, just undergoing a metamorphosis from fleece to yarn…

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Its beginning to look and feel like Christmas, and that’s been reflected in my knitting!

This is a combination of Northern Stocking by Rae Blackledge and Falling Snow Stocking by Jennifer Hoel – both are free patterns available on Ravelry.

Initially I was asked to make just the one, but the wee boy it’s destined for was sad his parents wouldn’t have one and so wouldn’t get presents either…

So I made all three them a stocking each! Oh, and although you can’t see it in the photo, the white is sparkly and adds just a bit more of a Christmas flair.

Continuing on with the Christmas theme, it was Inklings first nativity this year – he didn’t have one last year due to Covid – and I was really impressed the length the school went to make it happen. Watching him run around being a ‘naughty sheep’, you wouldn’t think he had spent over half his life in various forms of lock down.

It was a bit surreal when that thought first crossed my mind. Not quite managed to get over it, and I do worry about the impact it’s going to have on a whole generation of kids.

That’s getting pretty heavy, let’s move on swiftly!

The kids took their penguin ornaments to school this week, and Felix has informed me that next year it’s going to be polar bears. I had best get a move on with those seeing as 60 penguins weren’t enough and I had to whip up an extra 6!

Speaking of ornaments, this years one has been selected and knitted up. I wound up getting carried away and made a few extra to give to my team, but not so carried away as Engel did photographing them. You’ll have to wait till next week to see those!

Until then, keep safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 152 (1 this week!!)
Wool bought – 50
Wool given to me – 47
Wool gifted to others – 4
Wool handspun – 13

Total – 843 (Net total of 39 down!)

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Remember how two weeks ago I said:

Thats all for this week, hopefully I will either block one of my knits to show for next week, or finish a different project which has taught me the importance of paying attention and reading ahead in a pattern. Again. Twice. I mean, Inkling can totally do with 8 mittens, right?!

Well, I did block my jumper as you saw last week, and this week it’s time to come clean about the mittens.

Oh the mittens.

In short, Felix has been asking for a pair of city mitts’ like mine, but cats. She spotted the pattern Flippy Kitten Mittens by Marna Gilligan in the ‘Cats knits’ book I was recently gifted…except they were adult sized.

Inkling saw these and also demanded them.

So I had them ‘shop’ for wool in my yarn stash and pick the colours they wanted. I measured their hands and, after some debate, settled on doing Inklings first as he didn’t want the flip part that turned the wrist warmers into mittens.

Easy, right?

I cast on for the pattern, dropped needle size, tweaked the stitch count, worked some math and measured all the way and…voila! First pair done!

Except the pattern is written so you have two different coloured cats on each mitten, and each hand has a different coloured cat on top, so they’re not identical. Inkling pointed out he had requested ginger cats on the tops of both mittens.

Ok, easy enough, I just flip the colours of what I did before. Except I didn’t.

Inkling was even less amused.

And so, I knit two more pairs, painstakingly triple checking I had flipped the colours to give:

Four pairs of mittens so he has matching ginger or grey or mix matched pairs. And if he loses one, doesn’t matter, there’s seven more to go!

Life has a habit of, just when you think you can easily alter something and knock it out because you think you have enough skillpoints in your knitting skill…and you roll a critical fail instead and end up with eight mittens…

Oh, and for those curious, here Felix’s:

She wanted them to be different coloured cats, and she wanted the flip top too. See below for a view of the tops of the mittens when folded over.

In other news, it’s busy on the project front, more on that when each one is ready, and work wise it’s pretty manic, so I’ve been doing overtime. Managed another session of Cthulhtu on Friday and it’s getting tense, cannot wait till the next session to see how they’re going to get out of their current mess! And aside from a playdate with Felix’s friend today, that’s about it. Oh, and snow.

Storm Arwen has mostly avoided us, but today we’ve had a steady torrent of snow. It’s finally stopped now, but with freezing temperatures predicted tonight, I suspect a cold and frosty morning will be in order!

No wool count as no changes this week!

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Drumroll please! I would like to introduce Inklings amazing idea:

A pumpkin cat basket so Dashie can be just like the little Jack-o-cat I knitted last week!

When he told me his idea I was floored at how simple yet incredibly adorable it was. I did have to buy a wicker basket and some wool (those 14 balls last week) but it came together super quick and yeah, with Dashie in it, it’s just too cute!

There’s also a few contests I was planning on entering and this photo is definitely going to be the entry!

Hmm…does that mean I have to share any prizes I get with Inkling? And credit the 4yo with the amazing idea…?

In other news, Lockdown. (This post is all about the cats this week) He had his vet appointment on Monday and the vet was genuinely shocked at how well his tail had healed, and how well he was responding to treatment and had shown no signs of grooming it etc. (We did not to get a soft cone for him which he hated, but at least he could get into his little hidey holes and move around much more freely!)

The verdict? Despite the fact the vet was positive the tail would have to come off, he gets to keep it! Hooray! Though he has used at least one of his nine lives over this whole ordeal.

Thats all for this week, it’s a super short post I know (but a cute one) and it’s earlier than normal but that’s because of chaos that is about to ensue. More on that next week. If I survive…

Till then, stay safe and marvel at just how photogenic Dashie can be when your waving treats off camera…

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 142 (11 this week!!)
Wool bought – 49
Wool given to me – 47
Wool gifted to others – 4
Wool handspun – 11

Total – 852 (Net total of 32 down!)

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What can I say? It’s coming up to my favourite holiday and I am definitely getting in the spooky mood!

Heres one of my projects currently on the needles (I know I don’t generally share WIPs but I’m quite proud of how this MKAL has gone!)

The pattern is 100% That Witch by Brittany Westmorland – it’s a MKAL that’s currently running on Ravelry and I’m actually running two weeks behind as my needles were in another project. I’ve also deviated from the pattern in a few places (I can’t help it!) but I’m really enjoying how it’s come out so far!

Now, here’s one of my latest super cute and completed spooky knits:

Isnt this pumpkin kitty adorable?! The pattern is Jack-o-Cat by Anna Hrachovec (Mochimochiland) and is part of her Spooky Ookie Cats set – look out for more coming in the future!

Now, Mochimochiland is running a competition based on spooky photos involving her designs, and Inkling has come up with a rather amazing idea when I was taking the above photo. I’ve collected all the things I need, including 14 new balls of wool, and it’s a race against time to see if I can make his idea happen to submit it for the contest!

If not, still expect cute photos at some point in the future!

Speaking of future, I am still waiting on the go ahead for two finished knitting projects and one sewing project to share with you all…sigh…soon I hope, soon!

In other news it’s been a bit of a week. The lurgy has hit the house making small chores seem like mountains to climb, and on top of that, Lockdown came rushing in Wednesday night dripping blood everywhere. Turns out something bit his tail and it’s tooth punctured clean through it.

Emergency day off work Thursday and off to the vets for first appointment of the day – antibiotics, painkillers, anti-inflammatory meds, cone of shame and house arrest have been prescribed for my ginger trouble maker, and fingers crossed when he goes to the vets tomorrow (Monday) they will decide the wound has healed enough with no permanent nerve damage and he won’t have to get it amputated…

Not sure who would be more upset about that, myself, the kids, or him. I suspect myself mainly.

Other than some gardening and Felix going to her first sleepover (they grow so fast!) not much else has happened really. On that note, I’m going to get back to knitting Inklings amazing idea and keep an eye on Lockdown who is having a little break from his cone so he can groom himself…I don’t trust him at all however…

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 131 (1 this week!!)
Wool bought – 49
Wool given to me – 47
Wool gifted to others – 4
Wool handspun – 11

Total – 863 (Net total of 21 down! Curses! I will claw that number back!!!)

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