Tag: Mittens

The very next knitting project…not quite the same ring as the actual song, but it’ll do.

Remember how just a few weeks (ok, start of January) I knit a lovely pair of cat mittens for Engel? Well, he decided they were too big.

Ok, they’re wool, I’ll felt them.

They barely shrunk in the washing machine.

Ok, must be treated wool, I’ll felt it by hand.

The black decided it was not colour resistant at the temperature needed to begin felting.

Hmm. New pair of mittens it was.

Please excuse the photograph, I had to pry these off Engel to get this quick snapshot!

And for those curious, the original cat mittens have found themselves a good home to a fellow cat loving friend with much,much larger hands than Engel. They fit their new owner like a glove. Pun intended.

In other knitting news, I received a knitting kit for a cuddly toy. More on that later, let’s just say though that there is an amusing story behind it. But it does mean my stash has grown by 7 balls of fluffy wool…I debated adding this to my total, but feel I should as I will want to count the used wool as it leaves my stash…

As such, my wool count looks like this now:

Wool Count

Starting total – 843

Wool used – 21 (1 this week)
Wool bought – 1
Wool given to me – 13 (7 in the knitting kit)
Wool gifted to others –0
Wool handspun – 1

Total – 831 (Net difference: -6)

Theres still more than twice out than what’s gone in, which I am going to take as a victory!

Theres isn’t much else to say for this week, some grand plans went awry, but we made the most of the weekend, and even begun sowing the first wave of seeds! I’m hoping for a good year of vegetables!

Till next week, stay safe!

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Hi All,

I have very much recovered from the plague, and the majority of the household has too, I am however suffering from being an absolute nutter, but that’s all self inflicted.

Lets start with the knitting. After finishing Engels recent cat mittens, I had a case of the green eyed monster.

Or should I say green eyed fox?

Pattern is Foxy mittens by JennyPenny from her book ‘Winter Knits from Scandinavia’, and a huge thanks to Ratman99 and Rabbie for helping take this photo even as it was snowing!

These are knit on 2mm needles and had to be done only when I could concentrate. I managed to fail to flip the image whilst watching Avengers: End game…and realised after 15 rows…sigh…

But they are worth it! However, they need a matching hat…

Speaking of future knitting projects, unfortunately Rabbie was unable to knit the wool I spun for her the other year – knitting has never quite agreed with her hands, and the dual textures of mildly treated and heavily treated wool was too much for them. So I am more than happily taking on her project it’s a 1940s I spired cardigan, and compared to recent projects, is a nice, mindless, breeze of a knit for me!

It also means my wool count has increased by six balls of wool. Four now as I have knitted up two.

In non knitting news, Ratman99 and myself did a mad dash trip up north to Scotland, crashed at Rabbies, participated in Terminal Infection (nerf and zombies in a shopping centre!!!) and finished it off with celebrating Missys, my most favourite niece, and the most well behaved dog, adoptaversery! I cannot believe she has been part of the family for 8 years….

Unsurprisingly, I am absolutely beat now. Terminal Infection was amazing, the zombies were in character at all times and just amazing, and with the nice shiny floors of a shopping center, I could drop down and knee slide past the opposite team to flip over or acquire targets! And of course, the Nerfys Law Nerf team gear was out and worn with pride!

We looked silly, and expected lots of comments saying such, and there was plenty, but there were far more compliments on the actual work and thought that went into it all. I won’t lie, I felt incredibly happy and flattered about it all by the end! Even if I did get two proper zombie scares during the night, and a countless number of little frights!

Today, I ache. And after a long day of work, I am ready for curling up on the sofa with my kitties and my knitting!

Till next week, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 843

Wool used – 15 (2 this week)
Wool bought – 1
Wool given to me – 6
Wool gifted to others –
Wool handspun – 0

Total – 847 (Net difference: -8)

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It’s going to be a fairly quick post today as last week was…well, it was a week…not for me, personally, but I hadn’t realised how many of my friends trust me enough to relieve all their emotions onto…

So without further ado…

I finally knit Engel his mittens! He chose Missy C by JennyPenny from her book ‘Winter Knits from Scandinavia’ and not gonna lie, these are amazing! The whole book has gorgeous patterns and, sneak preview, I’ve got another of those patterns on the needles right now for me!

Of course, however, I couldn’t resist a few tweaks, and turned the mittens into convertible city mitts!

In other knitting news, the polar bear garrison has begun, photos as and when I have no other FO’s to share,but with a target of 80,it’s going to be my ‘out the house’ project for quite some time…

That’s all for this week, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 843

Wool used – 1
Wool bought – 1
Wool given to me – 0
Wool gifted to others –
Wool handspun – 0

Total – 843 (Net difference: 0)

The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed I have bought a ball of wool despite saying two had to go out for every one in. Well…it was an emergency. I found myself having to wait for a few hours in a cafe with no knitting! And so, poor Engel was dragged around until a wool shop was located and I could buy some wool and needles…oops!

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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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This week’s blog title definitely has two meanings. The fun one is to do with my most recently completed knitting project, the other…

Last week, lockdown fatigue had really, really set in. It was literally at the point where I felt like I was just dragging myself through each day, one day after the other after the other…the mantra of ‘Just keep going, just keep going’ playing in my head.

But the restrictions here have begun to ease, last Sunday our little family went an hour and a half down south to meet up with our friends and their parents dog and we had an amazing day at their local reservoir/water park – there was lots of new scenery, big play parks, a tiny train…it was amazing.

And exhausting. I am not a sociable creature by habit, but we are a sociable species, and finally getting that social contact…yeah, I was tired.

So this low followed by this exhausting high led to their being no blog post last week. As such, we are having not just one, or two, but three finished products to show off!

These are made following the free pattern 19 Fishes on a Mitten by Magdalena Svanberg, except I added extra length so there’s 24 on these.

The idea of this whole set came into being after Engel bought be some of Siobhan Crafts hand dyed mini skeins all based on fish, I looked at them and knew they had to be made into a gift for Rabbie. She did marine biology at university, she does diving still, and her love of all things that live in the seas, oceans, rivers and lakes is astounding.

This crazy bright creation follows Alternating Current by Alex Tinsley from the book ‘Doomsday Knits’ – I followed the pattern pretty much except I used 3.5mm needles rather than the recommended 5mm due to the wool weight.

Another reason Rabbie deserves all the cosy warm Knits’ is that she feels cold. Painfully feels it. I often joke she’s a lizard, but I do feel for her. So this satisfies my mother like instinct to swaddle her in all the hand Knits!

Another free pattern, Fishies by Jackie Ziegler – I was determined to use every scrap of this wool!

This weekend I’m seeing the same friends I saw last week, only they’re driving up to us. I’m excited about this, but no where near as much as the fact that I am finally allowed to see my sis again! Next week we’re meeting up and I can’t wait to give her all these warm and cuddly things I have made, and let her know everyone she wears them that she’s appreciated and how much I miss her.

This pandemic has taught me a lot of things. I am a much stronger person than I ever thought I would be, I am capable of being a teacher, a mum, a wife, a friend, a sister, an entertainer, a crafter, a story teller, a games master, and more than I could list in here. It’s also taught me that I can’t survive alone. I can be a mother and a wife, but I need the husband and father. I can be a sister, a daughter, but I need family. I can be a friend, but I need them too. When presented with the unknown, I fill it with as much as I can to make it seem less scary, and I burn out because of it. But most importantly:

All any of us can do really, is to just keep swimming. We’ll get there, wherever there is.

Till next week, take care.

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 63 (13 this fortnight)
Wool bought – 3 (needed more black DK)
Wool given to me – 21
Wool gifted to others – 1
Wool handspun – 8

Total – 865

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Hello all, I hope you have had a fairly nice run up to the end of the year, regardless of what you cekebrate. Christmas here was surprisingly pleasant. I received some bad news at the very start of the morning, but other than that, it went smoothly.

Felix and Inkling are both at that age where they get swept up in Christmas and everything has that magic to it than only exists when you are small and young. And it was infectious. It was exactly what myself and Engel needed.

Because of all the changing rules and regulations, we kept it pretty simple, and have one set of friends over, and they too definitely needed the same dose of Christmas magic from the kids as we did!

It was one of their birthdays just a few days prior, so I knitted him up a little gift, which in my tired and exhausted brain from a last final push at work to complete a hell of a lot of work in a tiny time frame, may have drove my work colleagues mad…

Shark mittens!!! (Free pattern Puppet Mittens by Debbi Parker, there’s a bunch of animals so well worth a look) and because my brain was running on fumes, I did a tiny shark finger puppet.

Baby shark, doo doo de doo…baby shark doo doo de doo…and I have a mummy and daddy shark too so was giggling inanely to myself at my desk in work playing with them and breaking into song when people looked over at me…

I would like to point out that it wasn’t just me who was losing the plot completely, a lot of us where! They just didn’t see the brilliance of the shark mittens and song combined…

In other news, I had a chance to get my spinning wheel out and did a little bit of spinnjng. It had been too long since I managed to indulge myself with it! So one new ball of wool! But I also used a ball in my current project.

I’ll go into more detail in that at a later date, for now, I have festive chaos to return to!

Keep safe everyone!

Wool Count

Starting total – 704

Wool used – 156 (2 this week)
Wool bought – 28
Wool given to me – 318
Wool gifted to others – 8
Wool handspun – 17

Total – 898 

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Yeah…I’m not 100% sure how it happened, but I ended up trading a pair of these:

For a lot of custom 3D printed Nerf parts. I suspect it’s Engels way to get round the £10 a month budget I set him…

The mittens were handed over today whilst we were meeting people for a small Nerf event, (just a bunch of loons running around a field shooting each other with Nerf blasters that’s also family friendly, so Felix and Inkling could join in) and Engel received a box of parts.

Definitely think Engel got the better end of this deal, but hey, I got to knit awesome mittens again! (These are based on the free pattern Cthulhu Mittens by Lyle Stafford, however, this pattern is for basic mittens, hence mods to make them convertible!)

In other news, we went to Chester zoo to check out the Big Cats Lego exhibit (and of course the animals) and it was awesome!!!!

But subsequently, exhausted!

Till next week!

Wool Count

Starting total – 576

Wool used – 11 (Two this week! Yes!)
Wool bought – 13
Wool given – 4
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 582 (Still up 6 balls of wool…)

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I’m having a very strong sense of déjà vu…

But at least this post has no pesky crocodiles!

First of all, happy St Gertrude’s! As I mentioned last year, this is the day we celebrate our cats birthdays. Though with the ‘Beast from the East 2.0’ our festive spirits have been somewhat dampened as the cats are all in a huge sulk as they have the snow!

Onto the magic mittens, as I mentioned last time I made them, my friends little one has eczema and, after her eczema developed an infection from scratching during the night whilst her previous magic mittens where in the wash…

Well, I couldn’t have that!

Pattern used was once again, the amazing free pattern The World’s Simplest Mittens by tincanknits, these are knit in the next size so there’s growing room. And when they’re in the wash…

A second pair!

The patterns where picked by my friends little one, anything to help her wear them!

Wool count:

Starting total – 622

Wool used – 26 (3 this week!)
Wool bought – 4
Wool given – 5
Wool gifted – 0

Total – 602

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Let’s start with that pesky crocodile!

Photographic evidence of him prowling around the farms livestock… Felix has actually been having a ball playing with him as part of her farm, though she now insists that I need to knit some tiny ducks to keep him company in the pond.

Company, eh? More like snacks…

Anyhow, cuteness aside, I just finished another little project:

A pair of ‘magic mittens’ – I’ll get to the story in a moment, details first. The mitten pattern is a free Ravelry download called The World’s Simplest Mittens by tincanknits – and it’s true to its name.  There’s schematics for different sizes of mittens in all different weights, and it’s clear and concise. Definitely a keeper of a pattern. The elephant chart itself is from another free pattern – Elephant Hat – Child Size by Kathleen Taylor.

Story time now. My bosses little one, and Felix’s ‘best friend’ has really bad eczema. And of course, it itches. As a sufferer of eczema myself, I know just how hard it is not to scratch. She’s three. She wakes up looking like she’s been butchered in the mornings from scratching so much.

So, Magic Mittens it is! Lightweight cotton mittens in the colours she picked out with an animal of her choosing on them, and ties that can be double knitted so she won’t be able to pull the blasted things off.

I was made to wear wooly mittens as a child. In summer. These are a much kinder alternative! Fingers crossed they’ll help – if she can stop scratching long enough for her cream to work…

And last but not least: St Gertrude’s Day.

On March 17th, also known as St Patrick’s Day, it happens to be St Gertrude’s Day too. She is the patron saint of cats, gardeners and mental health. When we fostered cats, as we never knew their actual ages let alone dates of birth, it became habit to celebrate all the cats birthday on St Gertrude’s Day. This year, even though we know Dashi’s birthday, we still don’t know Crumble’s (we reckon she’s getting on for eight years old now!) so the tradition continues.

Felix was particularly happy to help celebrate the cats birthday, there was presents and special cat came too – tuna cake with salmon paste ‘frosting’.

I personally think yuck, but Engel happily ate one of the spares and went on the prowl for more. Not that the cats lefts much in the end!

Starting total – 650

Wool used – 25 (1 since last post)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given – 46
Wool gifted – 16

Total – 655 (So close to getting back to that starting total!)

 

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Cthuhlu phtang!

This time last year I posted about how awesome my friends are. How they all donned on cat ears and played Cathuhlu all just for my birthday.

They out did themselves this year, and I have to say, my friends are more than awesome, they’re amazing!

I mean seriously, look at this cake!

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It’s the Necronomicon, as a cake!

It’s not the first amazing cake that particular friend of mine has made for my birthday, two years ago, it was this tentacular beauty!

Tentacle Cake 2~2

In case you haven’t all guessed, I’m obsessed with Cthuhlu. I’ve read all of H. P. Lovecrafts mythos stories, own numerous RPGs (Call of Cathuhlu, Delta Green, The Laundry, as well as numerous source books) I even created my own knitted Cthuhlu pattern!

It also happens to be my literally just now finished project:

Cthuhlu mittens!

This is based on the free Ravelry download Cthulhu Mittens by Lyle Stafford. I changed mine so that I can, let’s say, rather than pet Crumble with mittens:

I could…

Scritch her with my fingers instead!

I sense more mittens in my future as I had a lot of fun with these, but there are other projects to be done first…so many projects, so little time…

In other news, I went to the pop up knitting show in Port Sunlight (as it was pouring with rain, good ol’ British weather!) And accidentally bought myself a very nice little ball of wool that was positively singing to be a shawl. So that is what it shall be.

And that is what will be in my needles next!

Starting total – 697

Wool used – 91
Wool bought – 10
Wool given – 4

Total – 620

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