Tag: Tribbles

Thankfully, no, it’s no where near Christmas time. However, having left Christmas knits until December…never fun…

Also, this particular item needs to be done before December!

They are Inklings very own advent calendar! (He was rather jealous christmas just gone that he didn’t have one and Felix did…) Pattern is my go to free pattern for advent calenders – Christmas Stockings by Amanda Berry. So cute, easy and versatile!

Going to have to say though, knitting Christmas things when we were having unseasonably warm weather is just wrong!

In other knitting news, my tribble infestation has resurfaced, and mutated into a rather interesting form…

They’re bath tribbles! (Or scrubbies, or puffs or puffles, no one seems to quite agree on what they’re actually called…)

As you can see, the very large mummy tribble has given birth to eleven sturdy baby tribbles, and a little runt…Felix has claimed the runt for her toy kitchen and Engel has claimed the mummy as it’s so big he can actually scrub his own back…

I’ve based these on the free pattern Tribble by Abigail – 1870pearl, but worked in stockinette and using ruffle wool.

Been a busy week at work and today was at Foamfest, Britain’s first Nerf convention – it was good, lots of ideas of what can be done to the Nerf blasters to make them more awesome, be it internal modifications or paint jobs!

That’s all for now, have a good weekend everyone!

Wool Count

Starting total – 576

Wool used – 16 (1 this week!)
Wool bought – 13
Wool given – 4
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 577 (Just one more ball to go before I break even!)

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About a decade ago I knit a green night cap (it was vaguely supposed to be based on Links hat from The Legend of Zelda, but I was winging the pattern whilst taking turns playing the game, so take that as you will)

Anyhow, I have thick hair, so in the winter months after I’ve washed it at night, I pop on my hat and go to bed (yes, I know going to bed with wet hair is supposed to give you a cold, no, it doesn’t actually give you one and no, I won’t hairdryer it as the only times I tried took an hour and it was still damp in places).

This past winter, Felix had taken to stealing my hat when she had her hair washed, and I would steal it back when I washed mine. A few weeks ago she pointed at a t-shirt Engel was wearing and stated ”I want a red night hat like that!’

The t-shirt happened to be a Wychwood brewery Hobgoblin T-shirt (the classic ‘lagerboy’ one).

After we explained that the red hat was a hobgoblin hat, it was agreed that she would return my green one in exchange for her own hobgoblin hat.

Its a bit big, but she’ll grow into it (I know I generally don’t post photos with people in, but I wanted to get one showing the drape and Felix refused to let me put it on anything else!). Made using the free pattern Oblio’s Cap by Emily Anna Bingham – very easy pattern to follow, and a pretty quick, simple knit all things considered.

Which is good, as Engel has pointed out that there are more Hobgoblin beers, in fact, the King-goblin would suit him, and wouldn’t Inkling look adorable in the IPA Hobgoblin hat?…

Guess what my next knits are?

As an aside, last May I posted that I had discovered some Tribbles in my wool stash, and despite attempts of extermination, found more not once, but twice!

Well, sadly, the originally caught specimens are showing their age, and one has also passed on through the wooly gates…so I went to see if there were any survivors lurking in the wool stash…

Yep. Found six more!

Till next week!

Wool count:

Starting total – 622

Wool used – 43 (1 since last post)
Wool bought – 6
Wool given – 5
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 587

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Ignore the title. I may be a little giddy and/or sleep deprived!

But! There is a reason for it!

Here’s the Octopus:

Its a wash cloth for Inkling – using the free pattern: Baby Octopus Cloth by Elaine Fitzpatrick. Believe it or not, this pattern and the wool had been picked out before Inkling was born, I just haven’t gotten round to knitting it until now! He’s been eating finger foods and desperately needed something that could scrub all the food off him in the shower!

And now for the pussy:

Free pattern Attachable Rainbow Kitty Ears by Saphy kun. I spotted these on Ravelry a while ago and knew I had to knit Engel a set, particularly for when he’s playing violent computer games and/or doing online gaming with our friends.

They have been used, not sure if it’s because he can’t get them off the headphones (they do have buttons so can be removed) or if he likes having the cat ears on himself…

Also this week, I finally sorted through my wool stash (this occurs every year or so to some extent) this time I’ve segregated it by colour and each ball is bagged with any matching friends of the same kind and dye lot. The lone balls of wool are put together with the other lone balls of wool of that colour group (so they don’t get sad and lonely) and now I can tell at a glance what wool is best for the size of project I’m doing. This will hopefully get me to focus on using up the odds and ends of my stash! And also future yarn purchases – I know what colours I have lots of, and not so much, so hopefully I’ll buy what I need, not what I want!

I don’t believe that either, but I can hope!

Oh, also, whilst I was sorting my wool out, these scampered out:

Yes. More tribbles. A  red subspecies of the pink mutant variant discovered, only two have been captured and sent for further study up North…

Early post this week as my sister is coming to visit and it’s going to be awesome!!! But before the fun and games start, I need to tidy up all the toys everywhere – it’s amazing how much mess two children, three cats and a husband can make in the blink of an eye…

Starting total – 622

Wool used – 11 (2 this week)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 5 (I mentioned to Engel I only had one ball of black DK wool, he brought home four more for me! And I didn’t even ask him to!)
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 613

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I bought Felix ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ as a ‘congratulations on being a big sister’ present when Inkling was born, after she had watched the short film adaption on Netflix. I was surprised that we didn’t already have a  a copy as I’m a lover of books and have been actively trying to pass that love on.

Once bought and given, I thought it’d be nice for her to have a knitted set to go with the book, but she’ll be earning each bit for being good as opposed to it being more presents.

And on that train of thought, picked up another two books as gifts and plan to make knitted sets for those as well…cause why not?

Because I’m insane more like…

First of all, the Hungry Caterpillar!

This guy is based on the free pattern Caterpillar by Kimberly Chapman. I knitted bobbles for the feet into the body rather than later adding i-cord legs.

I even managed to get the apples done too this week!

I used the free pattern Apple Knitting Pattern by Linda Dawkins for these!

And on other knitting news (lots to show this week!) I discovered my tribble problem wasn’t under control after all…

A pink mutant varient was discovered lurking under the kitchen sink, all five have been captured, sterilised and sent off for further study… (MIL was rather taken with the captured blue ones I had, so felt it best to let her have these pink ones) Free pattern – Tribble by Abigail – 1870pearl.

Wool count!

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 60 (1 since last post – lots of knitting but not many whole balls used.)
Wool bought – 33
Wool given – 49
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 613

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Happy local yarn shop day! And happy free comic book day! I did both, so I have a stack of free comics to peruse and there may have been some wool purchased…but it’s part of a karmic balance I did earlier on!

However, let us first start with the cake part of this post:

Engel is diabetic, so can’t have sugar and we’ve explained this to Felix a few times now, but the other night, after eating all her dinner, she got a post dinner treat, as did Engel and I.

She then clicked that we were all eating the same thing, to which we explained that this was sugar free, therefore daddy could have it too. This led on to explaining about ‘special chocolate’ and ‘special jelly’ etc (in this instance, it was sugar free jelly)

So Felix asked about special cake, to which we had to then explain it was hard to buy as not many companies made it, and fewer shops stocked such items.

After thinking for a bit, Felix asked me if we could make one. So we did. (Not the ‘now’ she demanded which was ten minutes before bed, but one was made at seven the following morning!)

Cake recipe used: sugar free spiced carrot cake

Frosting used: sugar free butter cream icing

I have it on good authority that it was very tasty, Engel is currently hoarding it like a dragon with a stack of treasure…

Alright, on to the tribbles part of the post!

Over the years, I’ve compared my wool stash to tribbles a few times, even made some comics about it:

Just realised that these are over five years old…I don’t draw anymore, but if you want to look at more terrible but amusing doodles of mine they’re on my extinct Deviantart drawing account (I have two, one for knitting and one for drawing)

Anyhow…I joined a stash busting group on Ravelry, joked about my wool/tribbles collection, decided to pattern search tribble (why not) and discovered Tribble by Abigail – 1870pearl. Its a knitted scrubber. Here’s mine:

So seeing as I’m sure my wool stash is actually part tribble, I figured I’d make a tribble out of it and, if it proved useful, I’d make a small hoard.

If it’s a wash out (ha, see what I did there?) Then I’d throw it in the washing machine and Felix can have it for her toy kitchen.

Win-win!

They bred.

So, those wool purchased and karmic wool stash switch I mentioned at the start of the blog?

I had Sisterix over for a play date (her terror is a year older than Felix, so they had a ball, and we had a wooly playdate too, and both the other halves talked computers, so they had fun. Three playdates in all!) I had a good look at her stash a few weeks ago, and a demonstration of her knitting machine, and a look at all her crocheted toys!

I adore her crocheted Vlad the bat! (Pattern is lalylala VLAD the vampire bat by Lydia Tresselt)

So this time, she got to look at my stash and…well, with the size of it, we didn’t get much further than that. After a bit of thought, I pointed her in the direction of my cotton which I barely/rarely use and my good stash karma began!

It made me laugh, her partner kept asking how much swag she was bringing back. First one carrier bag, then another and then I just went and got a giant IKEA bag. I think he may have been a little speechless by the point…

Now after my little trip out today, my karma balance stands at being ten less balls than I started. I gave up 43, and came home with 33. And seeing the deals that were available, I could easily have walked away with three times that…

So, wool count!

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 41 (2 this week!)
Wool bought – 33
Wool given – 49
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 632

I’m never going to get to 600 at this rate…ah well, I’ll console myself by cuddling my new wool purchases!

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Twenty four balls of wool used, twenty four balls of wool knit, we take a ball, we knit it all, twenty four balls of wool used up!

Only six hundred and sixty ball of wool to go!

Insanity aside, it’s been busy since my last post. I’m now in the process of changing jobs, my love for Rockband being awakened, knitting, work itself, a massive spring clean and lastly I spent a week’s break in Wales with Engel and Felix.

A brief summary is thus:

Three railways – one diesel (Welsh highland heritage), two steam (Ffestiniog and Talyllyn) – all narrowguage, three beaches, two harbours, one failed attempt at crabbing (Felix dropped her crab line into the sea), several successful rock pooling attempts (caught four fish, a dozen crabs and a live clam), a swimming pool, rabbit farm and sea zoo, plus a brief look at where they make seasalt.

It’s been busy.

But good.

I doubt anyone is really interested (except Rabbie) on a blow by blow account of my trip, so my summary I hope will suffice.

Onto the knitting!

Another little knitted extra for person at my work who is pregnant with a little girl.

Something Felix, my little one, adored when she was tiny was a little Scamp snuggly (I think alike people call them lovelys?) A little fabric square with an animal head.

Hopefully this one will be loved too!

Worked top down from the head and then onto the blanket from the centre out, finishing with a picot bind off. Seeing as my cat Crumble refused to move as I was finishing it, I took a photo of it on her.

And a firm favourite – pattern is Cat-ears Hat by Donna Druchunas, from ‘Kitty Knits: Projects for cats and their people’ – a very used and loved Christmas present from Rabbie, many, many moons ago!

“But that hasn’t used up twenty four balls of wool” I hear you say, why no, it hasn’t. The two projects above used up four. The other twenty is from cat ears and tails as I blitz my way through my fluffy/fuzzy wool collection.

Engel has been helping me on this crusade by knitting the cat tails with as small knitting machine we got Felix.

She’s made a few too.

It really is that easy to use.

I’ll take a photo of them all when I finish, there’s still fluffy/fuzzy wool left (I suspect it’s breeding, and related to Tribbles)

Well, that’s all for today, still sorting out the post holiday stuff that needs doing…

Starting total – 697 balls
Wool used – 46 (24 balls used up this week!)
Wool bought – 9

Total – 660

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