Tag: Wool count

A lot like Christmas, or, as much as it can in my house! The advent stockings are up and full of person specific treats, the stockings are waiting for their gifts to go inside, all the cute handmade decorations cover the house and the tree has made a very early appearance for us.

Every year I make a decoration, to commemorate something about that year. And this year? Well, it could only be one thing:

Yep. The coronavirus. This is made following the free pattern Fearsome coronavirus ball by Tamara Kulikov. Strangely enough, it’s one of the few decorations that could almost pass as an actual Christmas decoration. I mean, it does look like a bauble, just a bit…

There’s been a lot of knitting as I bit off far more than I could chew when agreeing to the kids demands for little decorations for their class mates rather than the horror of trying to make them write out Christmas cards…

I didn’t realise that would mean knitting 60 of the cursed things…at least it’s let me use up 5 small balls of green scraps! Hopefully I will be done by next week and show those off then!

Till then, keep safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 151 (5 this week)
Wool bought – 28
Wool given to me – 318
Wool gifted to others – 8
Wool handspun – 16

Total – 902

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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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There are many things I have missed since the beginning of the first lock down. The freedom to visit friends. Family. Day trips. Having spur of the moment adventures…

But something I am really missing? Hugs.

Quite a lot of people I know are missing this simple act of human interaction, and it’s something I have wanted to give people quite badly in these times of strangeness and hardship.

But seeing as I can’t give physical hugs, I shall give knitted ones! Nothing will stop me from sharing my hugs to those who need them!

These are based on the free pattern Social Distance Hug by Korri Wass .

Aside from knitting hugs and being sentimental, it’s mainly been work, housework, schoolwork, and Pokémon over here. I have reinstalled Pokémon Go on my phone, to get Pokémon for Felix for her game on the Switch, and now I remember why I got rid of it in the first place…

It’s addictive and eats into my knitting time!

But I…gotta gotta gotta catch ’em all! Gotta catch ’em all, Pokémon!

There’s not much else to say for this week, Christmas is coming but no one is feeling particularly festive here, and I think we all know already it’s going to be a strange one…

Till next week, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 141 (1 this week)
Wool bought – 28
Wool given to me – 318
Wool gifted to others – 8
Wool handspun – 16

Total – 911

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So this month’s Wildknitting challenge was Australia, the Great Barrier Reef and more specifically, sharks! I opted to do a trade again, and rather than go for the obvious option of a cuddly toy, I decided to have a bit of a play.

First I googled how shark skin looked under a microscope…

And then I looked for a stitch pattern that resembled it, with luck, I found a hat pattern that had the perfect one on it! And free too! Zinnia Dahlia by Petra Hoy – I worked the slipped stitches in a metallic grey and the rest in a soft grey wool to give…

As well as a hat, I did a matching cowl, and to make it extra shark like, added teeth! Here’s the finished result.

I’m pretty happy with the result, and the slipped stitch pattern definitely has potential for a few future projects. But those will be a long time off as I have a very long list of projects to get in with in the mean time!

So until next week, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 140 (1 this week)
Wool bought – 28
Wool given to me – 318
Wool gifted to others – 8
Wool handspun – 16

Total – 912

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Pokémon mania has spread through the house at an alarming rate thanks to this Switch game. There’s been lengthy discussions of Pokémon evolution, strengths, weaknesses and battle tactics over dinner, and outbreaks of the Pokerap and the classic opening theme throughout the day.

Felix got the game for her birthday, and within a fortnight of her having it, had jumped to the top reading band at school, so aside from the nostalgic elements of the classic 150 Pokémon for us as parents, it has dramatically helped her reading.

As a reward for doing so well at school, I asked if she wanted anything and…she wanted me to knit a new hat. An Eevee hat. So, for those who don’t know what that is:

This adorable little critter which is her starting Pokémon in the game. I couldn’t resist such a cute challenge, and so:

We have the ears on top of the hat and the fluffy ruff is a keyhole scarf attached to the back of the hat! I think it’s ‘super effective’! And to show it on something, here it is on a cuddly toy cthulhu which was the only thing it would fit on that was at hand…

Obviously it is far cuter on Felix! The only issue is, Inkling now wants a Pokémon hat too, but is having problems deciding just which one he wants…

Till next week, stay safe everyone!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 139 (1 this week)
Wool bought – 28
Wool given to me – 318
Wool gifted to others – 8
Wool handspun – 16

Total – 913

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After the jealousy Crumble, Queen of the kitties in this house, showed towards the knitted Siamese flamingo float kitties, it was decided she needed her own knitted version.

But it wasn’t going to be as simple as just digging out some wool and following the pattern, oh no, Crumble needed, after also showing jealousy at the special Missy colourway that I dyed and hand spun, she needed her own tiny Crumble in her own Crumble colourway hand spun.

I only filled one bobbin with single ply, took it off on the ballwinder then made a 2 ply from that to create just one skein – that’s all I would need for one tiny knitted Crumble, right?

Engel commented that he couldn’t wait for his tiny Crumble for his desk at work. So, two tiny Crumbles.

Then Rabbis commented that the Crumble wool was just the perfect match of her friends mums cat who is going through a really hard time and maybe I could…?

And so, two Crumbles and a look a like where knitted in hands-on Crumble inspired wool and put into little boxes also knit from hand spun.

The Queen herself seemed somewhat surprised at the sudden appearance of so many tiny versions of herself, but they all received her sniff of approval. (For those asking, she is doing much better after her little fright and there’s been no long lasting restriction of movement to her back leg. She is still on double dinners though, and loving it).

Oh, and never let it be said that I don’t block! In this instance, Duplo blocks where just what was needed!

I have already begun spinning some wool (Suffolk texel dyed in beetroot and some more dyed with fresh coffee) to start getting ready for the next invasion of tiny kitties – Lockdown and Outbreak inspired ones!

In other knitting news, I finished a rather large challenge yesterday but need to get some good photos first – so you can see that next week!

In non knitting news, we did a Halloween trail today! My enthusiasm to life has increased drastically knowing that I can still have my Halloween – it’ll be different, like everything has been in 2020 – but it’s not cancelled!!!

Till next week, stay safe.

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 136 (3 this week)
Wool bought – 28 (There was a ‘yarncident’ and I ‘accidentally’ bought an adorable hand dyed mini skeins set to make myself something cute! 10 mini skeins in total)
Wool given to me – 303 (gained two, as well as half an old project and two bottles of cider as a thank you for repairing a person’s favourite hat…with some embellishment of course!)
Wool gifted to others – 8
Wool handspun – 16 (Up 1 with the Crumble wool)

Total – 901 (no change…)

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A rare siting in my knitting repertoire – plain, basic, sensible knitting. With Inkling starting nursery, which attached to the school Felix goes to, he is required to wear the school uniform. Unfortunately he didn’t want to wear Felix’s old school cardigans, and didn’t want to wear the jumpers, so I knit him a pair of sweater vests in the correct bottle green…

(Made following the free pattern 6-Stitch Plait Unisex Vest For Kids by Ratchadawan Chambers)

I actually made three of these, the first one I somehow mucked up my gauge swatch (I suspect I used the wrong needle) and the whole thing was just too small…but attempts two and three are perfect – a good year or twos growing room in them!

And I can’t make for Inkling and not Felix. She thankfully didn’t want any new cardigans and instead pointed out a pattern she had previously spotted in my Revelry library:

Yep, an adorable snake cowl to match her snake hat! This pattern is Snake Coil Cowl by Ariel Woods and is currently free, so if you want it, grab it now before it becomes a paid for pattern!

I’ve got a few more knitting and spinning projects in the go right now, and hopefully I’ll focus on one and get something more fun done for next week. Seeing as we are in local lockdown, I imagine my distractions should be a bit less in the coming weeks…though I have been running Cthulhu Invictus on Skype and that’s been a lot of fun, but being GM takes a lot of time and prepwork! That reminds me, one of the gaming guys has given me a knitting challenge, so I’ll have to see how that goes…

And speaking of challenges, I joined in on the wild challenge on Instagram – first stop is Africa with a theme of flamingos! Now to decide just which flamingo themed thing to knit…

Till next week, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 122 (4 this week)
Wool bought – 28 (There was a ‘yarncident’ and I ‘accidentally’ bought an adorable hand dyed mini skeins set to make myself something cute! 10 mini skeins in total)
Wool given to me – 301
Wool gifted to others – 7
Wool handspun – 15 (4 have been used! 5 gifted)

Total – 913

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Cutting a long story short, two things have been on the cards for a while. A family friendly console that is fully supported (Curse you Wii!) and a birthday party for Felix. With the current situation regarding the plague, it as decided fairly early on that Felix would not be having her big class party. So what to do?

Rewind a few weeks when we were visiting family and Felix was introduced to her auntie and uncles Switch and promptly fell in love. Inkling, despite being 3, could even join in the games and play them (with all the baby settings on, but he didn’t need to know that). I had a go, Engel too, and yeah, it was pretty much decided that when we get a console, it would be the Switch.

Which brings me back to the present. The money saved on not having a big party paid for the majority of a Switch, and Felix quickly agreed to having one or two friends round for pizza and a Switch party. This is taking place next week, so if there’s no post, they’ve probably sacrificed me to an Eldritch Terror.

They grow up so fast…

But come on, it’s not a party organised by me without some cute knitted element! And so I took these Mario kart images:

And turned them into:

Mario Kart party bags! Each one unique with a variety of symbols! There is nowhere near that many invited, just so you all know, it’s to give the kids a choice so as to reduce the chance of a fight breaking out. And so the parents reminiscing of days long past can swipe one too…

If I haven’t been sacrificed to an Eldritch Terror, I’ll share my latest spinning triumph with you all next week. If not, Engel should have finished performing the necromancy ritual for the week after.

Until then, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 118 (3 this week)
Wool bought – 18
Wool given to me – 301
Wool gifted to others – 7
Wool handspun – 15 (4 have been used! 5 gifted)

Total – 907

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Which is your favourite? The Scottie or the Westie dog?

I think they themselves quite like the other!

These cuties are knit following the free pattern Tiny Scottie Dog by Sue Stratford. I am on a mission to reduce all my craft stashes in a bid to make room and get more organised. I had a set of 30 bone buttons and recorded they would look rather fetching on little dogs.

So there are 15 Westies and 15 Scottie dogs!

Now what to use up next in the stashes…

I am currently working on Felix’s birthday bags, and a school vest for Inkling. The bags are cute and will definitely make an appearance, the vests…we’ll see how slow a week we have when they’re done!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 115 (8 this week)
Wool bought – 18
Wool given to me – 301
Wool gifted to others – 7
Wool handspun – 15 (4 have been used! 5 gifted)

Total – 910

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Jack the Jackalope, close relation to Jacob the deer! So close, I used the same pattern and more of the same first lot of handspun!

Like Jacob, I am really proud of this guy – and they’re looking great on the wall together! I have the urge to knit more heads now though!

In other news, I’ve been doing school knits, not much spinning, lots of work and a bit too much Animal Crossing. It’s just so addictive!

Short post this week as I’m ripping the house apart in preparation for Felix’s 7th birthday – due to Covid she isn’t having her usual class party, so we’re having a class mate of two round for a Switch party and one is staying for a sleepover. The house isn’t ready for this level of chaos!!!

Till next week, stay safe guys!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 107 (5 this week)
Wool bought – 18
Wool given to me – 301
Wool gifted to others – 7
Wool handspun – 15 (4 have been used! 5 gifted)

Total – 918

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