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)
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)
I’ll be starting this post by recounting a tale that goes back to the start of the third week of July when lockdown was beginning to be lifted. My little family unit of terrors met up with some good friends at Ash End House Children’s Farm. The sun was shining, the kids got to run around and see animals, I may have hugged a few sheep and it was a fantastic day that ended with ice cream. And two whole angora fleece. But that’s a different story.
Whilst we were wandering around the big field where the various animals were out chilling, we started to collect feathers for our good friend. Then random odds and ends of wool fleece that was stuck to fences etc. Then a good few handfuls of reindeer fur – the poor mite was mid moult and scratching at everything to help him shed, so I ‘helped’ and nabbed good few handfuls of incredibly soft but short hairs.
The challenge: can you spin reindeer? The answer is, if blended with the random wool scraps collected on that trip…
Yes. Yes you can. It may look like rough string, but that’s incredibly soft and squishy…and of course if I’ve made wool, I had to knit it!
Combined with some handspun Jacobs, there was just enough for two rather stocky sheep! One for me, and one for our good friends to mark the great day out.
And following from there, in my quest to reduce my wool stash, I was determined to finish every last bit of gold from the golden peaches and made these guys:
They’re plotting about what to do with that Jason fellow and his so called Argonauts…
All the sheep are made following the free pattern FellowSheep by Anna Hrachovec (also known as the wonderful creator of MochiMochi Land!)
Lastly, speaking of my wool stash, I used five this week, haven’t had a chance to spin any more and was pleased that it was going down a good bit for the first time in ages…then Engel brought home five balls of ‘plant fiber’ wools. Two hemp, two recycled cotton and one jute. The jute will be cat toys, the cotton probably wash clothes and the hemp is a very nice green similar to the one Felix wears as her school uniform…
Best get knitting I guess! Except…we got a Switch. And I got Animal crossing. My knitting time has taken a nose dive…
Wool Count
Starting total – 704
Wool used – 102 (5 this week) Wool bought – 18 Wool given to me – 301 (Up 5) Wool gifted to others – 7 Wool handspun – 15 (4 have been used! 5 gifted)
Lockdown is getting to me. I keep swaying between the world having turned into some dystopian future, or a strange post apocalyptic landscape, but without the zombies or rad scorpions…
I had best be appropriately attired for when venturing out to the shops then.
The pattern is “Fallout” from the book “Doomsday knits”. Seems apt for the times we live in. (Been asked by two friends to make them one each, good thing it’s a nice easy knit with an interesting construction!)
In marginally more same knitting news, I have been knitting presents!
To complete the Nerfys Law Set theres a Nerf Bag for BIL, and a hat and armwarmers for Rabbie, as she feels the cold real bad. Nerf bag is my standard pattern, the hat is my own concoction and the arm warmers are Girl Gift Mitts by Debbie Meiklejohn.
In non knitting news I have been kept busy with Felix’s homeschooling and child wrangling in general. There’s been lots of baking, carding, painting, playing and also teaching Felix to rollerblade!
Busy but fun, which is what I am focusing on rather than the scary apocalypse happening outside in the real world…
Wool Count
Starting total – 704
Wool used – 27 (2 this week) Wool bought – 7 Wool given – 6 (was given three balls yesterday as a little ‘saw these and thought of you’ gift from a friend. I really needed it! Wool gifted – 0
So, last post I mentioned that we live in interesting times. Since then interesting has moved on to insane. We’re in lock down, not allowed out the house more than once a day, no work myself (unless there’s an emergency lab sample) Engel working from home, Felix is now being homeschooled as the schools are closed…
Its…strange. I’ve managed a surprising amount between home schooling Felix and wrangling Inkling – gutted the conservatory, started a sour dough culture, lots of carding my sheep fleece, a handful of odd jobs that were being left until I had ‘5 minutes spare’…
I have also managed some knitting too!
This is Morris. He’s a combination of two patterns – Alley Cat and Ginger Tom both by Sue Stratford from her book ‘Knitted Cats and Kittens’. Morris happens to be Engels Pathfinder character – he’s a Cat-folk engineer. (I keep calling him a technomage and keep getting told no). Much like my Kobold Barbarian Reyth, I will get round to making some clothing for this guy. Just not sure quite what yet…
And a nice one of his back as I just winged the striping!
In other knitting news, I have finished off a lot of little bits, which I will post next week/later. No wool in or out so will skip the wool count this week, again.
And in non knitting news, the world has gone mad, I’m just staying inside and following the rules to do my bit, but otherwise avoiding all the crazy I can. The terrors are loving having all the mummy attention but not sure when novelty will turn into annoyance…
Something that isn’t hats! But what exactly is it?
Is it a llama? Is it an alpaca? We can all definitely agree it’s cute! Pattern for the actual critter is a free Ravelry download – Flounce the Fluffy Alpaca by Tabitha Rose – and I just winged a blanket and teeny tiny pom-pom detailing!
I made this cutie as a thank you to a fellow yarnie work colleague who crochets as opposed to knits, and gifted me a cone of the fluffy wool as it wouldn’t behave for her crochet hooks! I made it yield to the knitting needles!
(The llama unleashed game was Engel giving me a random ‘saw this and thought of you’ gift, squee!)
That’s all today, Inklings had a stomach bug start of this week that rivals THAT scene from the exorcist, and after one day of peace, Felix has now started…when will it end?!
Wool Count
Starting total – 704
Wool used – 15 (2 this week!) Wool bought – 0 Wool given – 0 Wool gifted – 0
I promise I am knitting things besides hats! Honest!
This week we had a request for a snake hat, identical to Felixs and, rather interestingly, Felix turned up from school with a ‘pattern’ one of her best friends had designed for a hat get herself.
Felix gave me the puppy eyes. I rssisted. Them the pout. I caved.
Blue brim, brown background, lion on the side, and a pom pom on top. Check, check, check and check! The lion chart used was a freebie – Lion Chart by Kyra Alvey.
And to show them together:
Snakes and lions oh my!
Not long back from a family Nerf event – feeling rather stiff and sore do going to call this post quits and try and unlock my muscles with a toasty hot shower!
Wool Count
Starting total – 704
Wool used – 13 (4 this week!) Wool bought – 0 Wool given – 0 Wool gifted – 0
Happy new year everyone! May it be happier and healthier than last year!
Since my last post, I finished up three projects – a snake hat for Felix, a cosie for the in-laws and a teeny tiny knitted jumper, as I keep getting asked by someone to make them a jumper and, no, just no.
The tea cosie is based on the free pattern Mug and French Press Jacket by MK Carroll, as you can see in the photo, it’s a glass teapot with a very, very short spout and I figured having the bottom covered was better than the top!
The jumper is made following the free pattern Mini Sweater Ornament with Cables by Emily5446 – very cute, very well written pattern and I have a jumper that’s about 4 cm tall!
As for 2020, I have finished my first project just yesterday! Maleficent!
This pattern is based on Dragons by King Cole Ltd – though I had to tweak it a fair bit and add a lot of extra details to turn it into Maleficent! The reason for this is that every year I knit a Christmas decoration, and for 2019 I planned to knit a Mickey mouse head to mark our first proper family holiday to Disneyland Paris!
Except Felix told me no, I had to knit Maleficent. I argued that I wouldn’t get all the detail into an ornament, to which I was told not to make an ornament, but a dragon big enough to sit on top of the tree!
Engels oh so helpful in put to this was ”if you knit an even bigger one it could sit under the tree and guard the presents!”
So Maleficent it was, and at a hefty 60cm long she’ll either be taking the whole top of the tree, or hoarding the presents beneath – we’ll have to wait till next year to find out!
Till next week!
Wool Count
Starting total – 704
Wool used – 2 Wool bought – 0 Wool given – 0 Wool gifted – 0
Total – 702
I feel I had best explain why my wool count has gotten so much bigger – I was given quite a few balls for Christmas (Inkling gave me two yellow balls and informed me that one was a digger and the other a bulldozer, hmm, I suspect he’s learning from Felix) and I ripped out a few old finished projects that weren’t being used, so that wool has gone back into the wool stash. I also bought four balls of bright orange in order to make a project I have planned! This year, I really do hope to finish with 600 or less!
It’s been one hell of a week. Fortnight actually. Home stuff, stuff that doesn’t belong on here, but needless to say it’s pretty much killed what little festive spirit i’ve had.
Seriously, I have felt festive for two hours this year. Which in turn makes it hard to create the magic for Felix and Inkling. I think I’ve managed – they’re eagerly counting down the days and it’s getting harder and harder to settle them at night!
The tree is up, the decorations out, presents squirrelled away everywhere…yep…even if I don’t feel it, it’s nearly here…
Even if I haven’t been feeling it, I have been cracking on with Christmas knitting! Though I had said I wouldn’t make any this year…
In order to not be eaten by the Yule Cat, you must receive something warm and wooly. I showed Felix a bunch of patterns and without looking at them, she informed me I was to make her a snake jumper. When I sarcastically asked her if there was a specific snake she had in mind, she replied cobra…and that it had to be a green jumper…sigh…
The jumper is based on Heart Sweater from the book ‘Cool knits for kids’ by Kate Gunn & Robyn Macdonald. I used the snake charts from the free pattern Swing-Snakes by Tina13.
And if I make something for Felix, I make something for Inkling! He chose the free pattern traffic by Amy Bahrt, insisting on a red car. Then I found the matching Traffic Hat and yeah…
But wait, there’s more!
My new gaming group are obsessed with Pokémon, and with the new sword and shield game out, have sorted themselves into teams of Pokémon type to have battles with their other friends. There was talk of team colours and then I saw this free pattern on Ravelry (Dawn/Hikari Pokéball hat in 2 variations by Mina Janssen) and I knew I had to make them.
So, top left is bug, top right is ghost, bottom left is poison and bottom right is dragon.
There’s other things in the works too, but you won’t be finding out about those until next year, so until then, have a good festive season!
Wool Count
Starting total – 576
Wool used – 112 (3 this week) Wool bought – 63 Wool given – 167 Wool gifted – 31
Even though it’s early (for us) the pleading eyes of Felix and Inkling have led to the Christmas tree being put up, the decorations festooned around the house, and the Christmas knits are falling off the needles.
If only I had more hands and time to work on all the things I want made for Christmas…
One project that I have finished however was a request from Felix. She wanted to give everyone in her class both a present and card. After a bit of negotiation, we agreed to a small Christmas tree decoration for each child and no cards.
I suggested candy canes, as they are quick and easy and cute, but what did she want?
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