by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one, Uncategorized 2 Comments

Every year, since…2007 I have made a decoration for my Christmas tree.

2007: The one to start it all, a tiny santa hat for the top of the tree. No pattern used, just kind of winged it with what I had on hand.

2008: Pattern is Advent Tree: Sugar Mouse by Alan Dart – to mark the fact that the flat I was living in (a very old listed building) had mice in the walls, and under the floors, and in the ceilings…

2009: Pattern is Advent Tree: Marzipan Pig by Alan Dart – to commemorate the swine flu, I was also doing my first job after uni which was QC checking the swine flu vaccine vaccine.

2010: Another pattern I winged, a guinea pig in a test tube (ok, a pot for holding swabs, but close enough) as I was onto my second job, which was a mix of sales and microbiological testing. My favourite client was a guinea pig farm – I got to cuddle 200+ baby guinea pigs!!!

2011: Based on the free pattern Beans the Cat by Linda Dawkins, this is Crumble the cat, the first cat we fostered. Also our first pet cat as she was deemed unhomable due to the many issues she had with people and food (she was treated badly before we got her)

2012: Based on the free pattern Rose pins by Sarah Kim Tenbuecken – a set of four tiny roses in the same colours as my wedding bouquet (yep, decided to get married in the same year the world was supposed to end) Interestingly, I made these again as actual hair pins in 2016

2013: Free pattern Tiny Onesies! by Akaemi Barnett – to mark the birth of Felix (right) and the other was for my bosses daughter, also born 2013, 6 weeks after Felix. (This is also the first decoration I actually posted on the blog in real time!)

2014: Free pattern Tiny Train Knitting Pattern by Diane Stobbart – marking Felix’s first birthday being held at a miniature railway.

2015: Free pattern Oisin owl by Pauline Gallagher – to match the owls on Felix’s stocking

2016: Based in the free pattern Phoenix and Dragon Finger Puppets by carinbrat – tweaked the wings, turned the puppet into a body…nothing too major. This red dragon is to represent Wales, as we had our first proper little family holiday there.

2017: Free pattern Tiny Onesies! by Akaemi Barnett – to mark the birth of Inkling, it only seemed fitting to do the same as I did for Felix back in 2013! They’re even both made with the same ball of white sparkly wool.

I wonder what 2018 will be?

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 149 (1 since the last post)
Wool bought – 51
Wool given – 135
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 624

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

Quick post for some quick knits!

We have egg cosies! My dad actually asked for these, well, he commented that they would be a great addition to Christmas day breakfast, which is good enough as asking when around me!

Free pattern can be found at 0-569 Christmas serviette ring by DROPS design (scroll down to find it under the serviette ring pattern)

And another Christmas stocking (different pattern to the last set I knitted) for the child minder, it’s going to have some home made edible goodies in there as well.

Free pattern used was Stranded Christmas Stocking by Ajeng Sitoresmi – and as stated, you can work on it whilst watching TV (Ok, Disney movies, hey, it’s that time of year!)

Till next post!

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 148 (2 since the last post)
Wool bought – 51
Wool given – 135
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 625

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one, Uncategorized 3 Comments

Yeah…I may have watched a lot of Pokémon recently…

Anyhow, first of all, Pip. My niece is collecting the whole Pusheen family, but the newest addition, little brother Pip, isn’t available in a soft toy form, so for her birthday, she asked me to make her Pip. Not one to disappoint…

Based on the pattern Tiny and Stripy by Sue Stratford from her book ‘Knitted Cats and Kittens’ – I followed the pattern more or less as written, except I used loop stitch then cut the loops at the end to make it super fluffy.

Awesome. Super.

Except you can’t make one (my niece) without making for the other (nephew) it’s only fair. And he’s really into Pokémon right now, so…

I used the free pattern pokeball pokemon toy by Emma Whittle, super quick and super easy.

After Felix pinched it for the eighth time to throw at various things and yelling ‘I choose you!’ or ‘I’ll catch you!’ I realised two things.

One: Felix wasn’t going to let me give away this pokeball.

Two: I made Pip for my nieces birthday. Not her Christmas. I don’t have to make my nephew something until his birthday, and even then only if he wants something.

So Felix is tucked up in bed with her pokeball.

After throwing it at her daddy a good dozen times to catch him, I don’t think he was too amused when I said to her that she was trying to catch a Snorlax…

Anyhow, still have that big project on the needles (keep picking up and putting it down as I start and finish other projects) and I have a few more little ones to do as well…

Including this year’s Christmas decoration!

Till next week.

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 146 (3 since the last post)
Wool bought – 51 (2 balls of white DK as I’m almost out, and I surprisingly enough use a lot of white…)
Wool given – 135
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 627

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

Hi All,

Apologies for not posting anything last week – I decided to start a second big project and had nothing to really show without digging through the archives, and with everything going on at the moment…yeah…didn’t happen.

However! I have a finished a project (three technically) and an amusing anecdote to make up for it!

So, I was talking with Engel about what to do for our friends Christmas presents, they’re about to move into their own house, and it’s a pretty big thing, but what to do? What to make? What did they need? What was their colour scheme? (It’s grey and white)

After a bit we decided on personalized Christmas stockings – they could hold the presents, be used year in and out, would serve as a nice reminder and it didn’t really matter if they matched the decor or not as it was a Christmas decoration.

Me: They need to look really nice and traditional, classy.

Engel: They should have Drop Bears on them!

Me: I said classy.

Engel: Drop Bears wearing monocles!

Me: Which part of ‘traditional and classy’ did you not understand?

Engel: But Drop Bears!

As you can see, I went for snowflakes, not Drop Bears. (I used the free pattern Northern Stocking by Rae Blackledge, and also sparkly wool – so pretty!)

Now back to my original big project, though there’s a few little ones I could quickly sneak in…ah, procrastination…

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 143 (4 since the last post)
Wool bought – 51 (2 balls of white DK as I’m almost out, and j surprisingly enough use a lot of white…)
Wool given – 135
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 630

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one 2 Comments

Just spent about forty minutes trying to work out why I couldn’t login to write this week’s blog post…after mithering Engel he managed to fix it in under five minutes…

Something about my . htaccess file…?

Anyhow, because did that I’ve pretty much forgotten what I was going to write about. I have no new finished projects to show this week as I’m working on another big one and have had next to zero time to actually do any knitting… There’s a lot to do in the run up, to the run up before the mad rush before Christmas. (If that made sense to you then you know exactly what I’m getting at)

Ah, now I remember!

Ok, Christmas, no new projects but I did find two old ones that never got put online anywhere! And they’re both cute quick Christmas knits as well!

This is a particularly cute free pattern – Snowman Christmas Ornament by Barbara Breiter – that uses up any old oddments of wool, and which Felix helped decorate with beads and glue!

This is also another cute free knitting pattern – Christmas tree by Baiba Dzelme – and again one Felix helped with (she glued the buttons on which I secured afterwards with thread) and topped with a little bell!

Hopefully I’ll have something new to show next week!

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 139 (1 this post)
Wool bought – 49
Wool given – 135
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 632

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one, Uncategorized 1 Comment

To be eaten…

The Christmas reference is because of this:

Inklings very own Christmas stocking (based on free pattern: Pet Love Christmas Stocking by Sarah Hood, incorporating the free Bunnies Chart by Sylvia Leake and the fish chart from Kitty Placemat by Donna Druchunas from her book Kitty Knits: Projects for cats and their people.)

Two years ago, I knit Christmas stockings for myself, Engel and Felix all based on the pet love Christmas stocking (you can have a look at those here if you want) and it only seemed right to include Inkling in on this tradition.

I had to guess his favourite animals, it’s kind of hard when he’s not quite 6 months old yet – I went for rabbits as he squeals when he sees them on the TV, and he loves watching the goldfish in the fish tank, so fish it was.

So, the being eaten reference is because of this:

Yup. It’s Shub-Niggurath (The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young). I mentioned on a previous post that after knitting the Stubborn Goat I wanted to make one, but not the thousand young so nope, not happening.

Two weeks of pester power and here s/he is, Shub-Niggurath (used the free pattern Fester The Whole Goat by Jenny Stacey again for this one)

There will not be any young. Especially not a thousand of them.

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 138 (3 this post)
Wool bought – 49
Wool given – 135
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 633

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one 1 Comment

I’m not talking about ice cream, Raspberry Ripple is the name of the colours way of the lace wool I’ve been using on the big project I’ve been mentioning in the last few posts.

This week, I’ve managed not to get side tracked (it was hard) and managed to push on and finish a lace shawl!

I used the Birch Leaf Shawl (aka Bottom-Up Birch) by Susan Gutperl (it’s a free pattern and fantastic if you don’t know how many yards of wool you have!) The photo above shows it being blocked, I managed to get it to 140cm across and 76cm tall! Though I can’t take all the credit, Engel is actually really, really good at blocking. I suspect it’s the engineer in him making sure everything is just so, he did ask what the tolerances were on knitting, but I suspect that’s his new job affecting him…

That’s a close up of the lace pattern – can you see the leaves going left to right? And you can see why the colour way is called Raspberry Ripple!

Unfortunately I don’t have a better photo of the finished product – it’s been very grey and wet here, and as it’s a Christmas present for the MIL I’ve squirreled it away in the present box now. I don’t usually make such elaborate gifts for Christmas presents but she’s helped out a lot since Inkling has been born, so I wanted too give her something especially nice and pretty as a bit of a thank you.

That’s all really, just back from a Moana themed party that Felix was invited to, so we’re all going to go practice the hula some more! Or possibly the hokey cokey?

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 135 (1 this post – but it was a ball of lace weight yarn!)
Wool bought – 49
Wool given – 135
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 636 (I’m going to give up trying to get below 600 this year…)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Cats, Knitting, Little one 1 Comment

This is Halloween, this is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween!

Can you tell I like Halloween?

I’ve had a lot of fun this week, Felix is now at the right age where she can get stuck into various crafts and make decorations and actually feel part of the whole celebration process. We’ve both also done a fair bit of baking – she wanted to carve pumpkins and I refuse to let food go to waste, so there was pumpkin shaped pumpkin bread rolls and sugar free pumpkin cupcakes (for Engel) and I still have more than half a kilo left of pumpkin puree still…

We all went and did the Manchester Halloweekend trick or treat trail, meeting count Dracula, bride of Frankenstein, a witch, a mummy and a skeleton juggling pineapples…? There was also a haunted maze and giant tentacles on top of the House of Fraser – a few of my gaming friends came along as well and we spent far too much time pretending to pass/fail sanity checks against the eldritch horror breaking free into our realm…

So much fun.

But also a lot of knitting. Again, a few little projects and one big project, which is still ongoing as it’s boring and I keep getting distracted by little projects…

Halloween themed first!

Felix was dressed as a vampire (again) this year, wearing an awesome costume her aunty made her, but Felix wanted Daddy’s toy cat (they have a time share on him, much to Engel’s bemusement) to dress up as a vampire to. So without further ado:

Phineas in his matching vampire costume. It’s a little jumper and separate cloak. During my photoshoot with Phineas, Ziggy decided to join in…

So Count Phineas took revenge:

I have far too much fun…no pattern for this one as I just winged it in the needles.

In other knitting news, there have been babies, so there have been little knitted presents!

This is made using the free pattern Polar Bear by The Knit Cafe Toronto – only I did a mummy and baby brown bear…this was for in laws friends newest grandson.

Then there’s this little fishy, another free pattern – Frida the Fish / Francis the Fish by Lion Brand Yarn – which I’ve now made for the fourth time.

And for the older brother, Pokemon Poke Ball Knit Hat by Vicki Mann (free pattern) curiously, Skully modelled a different pokeball hat in the same post as the previous goldfish given above, funny coincidence!

Alright, that’s all for the post today. Hope to get a good push on the big project done and finally get it off the needles! Let’s see how long it takes for me to procrastinate and/or get distracted…

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 134 (3 this post!)
Wool bought – 49
Wool given – 135
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 637 (Will I get below 600 this year?)

P.S. in other news Engel has taken up brewing and is trying to convince me to knit some fermentation vessel cosies, it may be sleep deprivation, or the sheer lack of interest in my other project, but they sound tempting. I could knit them to look like little wooden barrels, or have cute little motifs knitted into them…

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one, Uncategorized 2 Comments

When Felix was very little, I knitted her a Cthulhu (my very own pattern too) and kept meaning to knit one for Inkling.

Well procrastinate no more, here is the cute tiny Elder God in all his tentacular glory!

After knitting Cthulhu I decided that whilst I was on a roll I’d try another free Lovecraftian pattern I had spied previously:

The Great Race of Yith by Samantha Lynn – I omitted the pipe cleaners and beads the pattern calls for to make it more baby chewing friendly.

(I was going to knit just one, but you can’t have a race with just one!)

The Yith are one of the lesser known Lovecraftian creations, but Inkling seems to enjoy swinging them by their various appendages…

Also this week (I was on a knitting roll! Though I did ignore my big project) my mum requested I make The Stubborn Goat, as another teaching aid.

Made using the free pattern Fester The Whole Goat by Jenny Stacey

I am now debating knitting Shub-Niggurath (The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young) since I’m on a Lovecraft inspired knitting kick…

Then Felix said Id have to knit a thousand baby goats. That idea has now been shelved…

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 131 (6 this post!)
Wool bought – 49
Wool given – 135
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 640 (Will I get below 600 this year?)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting, Little one, Uncategorized No Comments

Let’s get the sad news over with first.

My wool count. I screwed it up royally about two and a bit months back and only just realised. I typed out this post, went to do the wool count, looked at the numbers and thought ‘wait a minute…’

Yeah…a number of weeks ago I was given 80 balls of wool from Engel’s grandma, well, I forgot to add that to the overall count. I also, on two occasions afterwards, mucked up the number of balls used and the number of balls bought.

So what does this mean? It means the rather proud achievement of getting my wool stash below 600 (566 to be exact) was wrong. Very wrong. I have 639.

I was off by 73 balls of wool. I could actually cry. Especially as I got wool this week as a little pat on my back for doing so well…

Sigh…I’ve gone back and fixed the totals in my blog, and changed some of the content to accurately reflect the numbers…

The despair part of this post aside, I did manage a fair bit of knitting this week, even taking into account a small family holiday to see the Blackpool Illuminations! My small project turned into a larger for two reasons.

Reason 1: I wound up knitting two:

(Pattern is Little Miss Widow by Anna Hrachovec from her book ‘Super-Scary Mochimochi’. There’s so many awesome patterns in that book…)

Reason 2: The hairband was liked so much I wound up knitting a further three.

The reasoning for this was Felix wanted the spider one, so I agreed, and it actually stayed in, so I knit two in her school colours – bottle green and lemon yellow. The childminder she visits liked them so much she asked if she too could have one. So another spider was knit and a more sensible one also, in red, which Felix says is her favourite colour…

So my quick little project took much longer than I planned and my big project has barely been touched.

Oh well. I have another little project (actually, three) which I will start Monday alongside my big project.

Hopefully this time I won’t be side tracked!

Wool count

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 125 (0 this post, only used parts of balls of wool)
Wool bought – 49 (7 from my Blackpool trip, at least I was good and resisted all the 10 packs of wool…)
Wool given – 135
Wool gifted – 59

Total – 646 (Getting dangerously near that starting total again)

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