110: exotic urchin

I've been finishing hats like a woman possessed. The first was last Saturday, when I took time that I should have used to mark exams to knit furiously and joyfully through a handspun Urchin. Sophie gave me this Studio Loo skein called Violet Fiction for a housewarming/birthday present. You may remember the yarn when it used to be this:

Now it's this:

Reaction is mixed, by which I mean everyone loves it but my mom, who hates it with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. I think she's just jealous.

111: beanie redux

The second hat is part of my attempt to use my knitting for social good instead of just relaxation, practice, artistry, cheap gifts, etc. It's a Boy Beanie from the Happy Hooker in variegated Patons Classic Merino called Jungle. The contrasting green is the Lemongrass Lion's Brand Wool left over from my mittens. It's going to a local homeless shelter/soup kitchen, where it will hopefully clothe one of the visitors.

112: Queen Bee hat

The third hat was done before the second, but needed embellishment. It's a Bzzz Hat for Queen Bees out of Sn'B Nation. The yarn is Headwater Wool Marupe that I picked up at the DKC Knitter's Frolic last spring with the change I found in my pockets. I've been dreaming about this hat for a long time. I've got a bit of a thing for bees, and this will eventually be a set with a scarf and possible wristwarmers. The bee buttons aren't that great, but they get the job done. I found them at the local Michael's.

113: belly dance socklets

This isn't a hat, although I finished it in the midst of my binge. They're little socklets to wear during my belly dancing class for a bit of slippage on turns. Why buy ballet flats or (ugh) cut up other socks when you can spend a few hours making small colourful tubes? I knit these while marking exams, and finished them minutes before beginning class last week.

114: kara

Also not a hat. It's an amigurumi carrot that I decided to do after an argument with Blake, in which he insisted on orange hot chocolate for my in-process toy cup. Instead of such an abomination, I made a carrot. The pattern is my own, although it's way too simple to need one. All I did was make a circle, crochet a tube, and start decreasing. When I thought it was too short, I did a plain row, then kept decreasing. It took a bit of finagling to make the tip, and I don't know that I followed any recognized crochet technique other than "givin'r," but the end result is quite pleasing, with that purposely frayed end coming off there. The orange is Sugar n' Cream worsted cotton, and the green top is more Lemongrass Lion's Wool, which I attached and chained until I felt like stopping. Then I picked up the other end and chained that too. The result is marvellously eccentric, dready leaves. The mouth is the same yarn. They eyes are 8 mm safety eyes. Tremendously fun, tremendously simple. Her name is Kara, after a girl in Blake's class. Kara the carrot.

115 & 116: cupcake & chocolate cup

The reason that I had to make Kara was because I was in the midst of making these guys for the Jakaitis kids. It's K8rs' birthday party on Saturday, and we decided to make a cupcake and a cup of hot chocolate for her and her brother to play with. They are a mix of Sugar n' Cream cotton, Butterfly cotton, and Cool Spun cotton, with fun mail order safety eyes and beads from Michael's. Do they look like sprinkles to you?

There are still a few more pictures hanging around, but I am totally knackered, so they'll have to wait. And I'm almost done another urchin!

Labels: birthday, blake, crochet, drunken knitters, fo, friends, gifties, knitty, snb

One of my co-workers wanted to get back into knitting by making a simple toy. I showed her Knitty and she was off. Unfortunately, she couldn't quite get the hang of the pattern she picked: Bubby. So she bequeathed me the yarn and her pattern print out. Three months later, Bubby was born.

I'm not sure I like him - he's kind of floppy and awkward - but the Boy has taken to him as a stuffed bear representation of himself, so there's that. And I get to give him away - there's that too.

Bonus craftiness:

Today my mom was asking me when I was going to get a new lunchbag for my son, who started full-day school this year. I've been pretty frustrated with the ones I find at the various stores - so I decided to take my courage in my hands and make one.

The pattern is the tote bag from Bend the Rules Sewing. I like the result, but I found the instructions a bit complex for a total newbie like myself, and I had to pick out the lining seams twice. Also, there's a misprint in the fabric requirements, which caused me to cut out more for the straps than I needed. Still, it's an awesome bag. It even has his name tag in it, so no other fashionable kid can walk off with it. I'm happy.

Labels: baby, blake, fo, sew, toy

Consumed with the cuteness of amigurumi crochet, I used some of my honourarium from Knitty to buy a set of tiny ami patterns. This was a big step for me; I tend to be comically cheap about patterns (more so than for other knitting gear) and I've paid for maybe 6 patterns in my entire crafty career. But I figured that since the money was virtual, why not spend it virtually?

I ordered the pattern in late afternoon, and it arrived after Blake fell asleep. As soon as he woke up, he wanted to see the picture. I showed him the pattern.

"Make that cookie for me," he demanded. And I, feeling the close of summer vacation hot on my heels, decided to indulge him while I could. So we rummaged through my stash, finding brown and white and pink but no vanilla-type colour. Blake refused to consider the possibility of a chocolate cookie. He picked up some leftover grey yarn and, despite my pleas for a more edible colour, his cookie colour scheme was chosen.

He sat down to watch me. "Find something else to do," I ordered. "This is going to take a while." He ignored me, watching my hands slowly crochet the cookie into being. He got into my lap. He played with my stash of safety eyes. He lay on the floor and kicked my chair. Finally, he left to play a few rounds of Toy Story Memory.

And thus a weird amigurami cookie was born of a morning. Blake is completely, totally smitten. It hasn't left his hand since I finished it. Now he's demanding more from the set. Secretly I can't wait.

Labels: blake, crochet, embroidery, fo, toy

I wanted to finish my mystery knit for Blake this Easter, but it's not going to happen. Instead I put the boots to myself and did the final bit of sewing required to make this hood functional. Dinosaurs laid eggs; eggs are an important part of Easter celebrations (on the pagan side); therefore this is logical. Kinda.

you may notice that blake is not the model in this pic

It's a dinosaur hood from a pattern at Moth Heaven. This one was done up in the Peace Fleece left over from Blake's Accordion Sweater: yummy hemlock & shaba greens. My friend Esther made Blake some shaba green mittens much earlier in the season, so this hood completes his reptile ensemble.

And why is the Boy wearing it? Because Blake hates all my handknits for a few days. I've come to accept it.

Labels: blake, easter, fo

More stashbusting, this time for Hugs for Homeless Animals. In the course of making this blanket I finished my last ball of blue Patons chunky acrylic from my first project and had to raid the "teach other people to knit" stash I have at Bat Masterson High (a.k.a. work) just so I can have a square instead of a strip. But half-way through we had a crisis, and so...

...with the other end of the ball, I started a top-down hat with the navy, modeled on a hat knit for my brother in the 70's and in heavy rotation on Blake's head until it was lost a few weeks ago at the grocery store. This took very little time, yet it stalled when I had to raid the work stash again for some powder blue...

...that allowed me to finish the blanket, since I used up so much navy on the hat! Phew!

meet the new hat, same as the old hat

I should also mention that Drea very kindly crocheted an edging around the finished blankie at the March Knit Night Out. It gives the square a finished look, rather than a "random crap from my stash" look. She ended up granny squarin' the powder blue, so she took it home at the end of the night. You don't say no to the Queen of the Grannies.

they're more fraternal than identical

Labels: bat masterson, blake, fo, knitting for peace, stash

This is why I need deadlines. As soon as I decided to give Blake his robot for Valentine's Day, it went from completely knit, no finishing to completely finished in 2 nights.

check out the love between boy & robot!

It's the Jess Hutch pattern in Lamb's Pride Worsted. I had a brainwave during finishing, and instead of knitting, felting & attaching appliqués to the front, I dug through my buttons to find some excellent remnants. The heart button is my absolute fave - the Boy used the name Heart Shaped Robots for a music project once, and I knew that our robot would have to have a heart on it somewhere. I also used some of the safety eyes I ordered a few months ago, since Blake is past the swallowing everything phase (I hope).

His name, Ro-Bert (or more formally, the title of this entry 81:Ro-Bert), is a reference to our imaginary second son, Bert.

This was such a satisfying project to finish. When the Boy saw it for the first time he said, "our family is complete." Hee.

bert watches the snow day develop

Labels: blake, embroidery, fo, naknisewmo, repeats, toy

I'm done! Another victory for NaKniSewMo!

This was supposed to be for Blake's birthday (cough*mutter*cough), but I had trouble working up the nerve to install the zipper. I did it the way I do anything pesky: pin the crap out of it, go very slow, and check progress all the time. And lo! It turned out okay.

It's an Accordion, knit from Peace Fleece in three colours (hemlock, shaba, ancient fern). The main knitting was done in time for his birthday, as was the sewing up. If not for the zipper, he'd have been wearing it long since. And plus, since it's comically oversized, he'll be wearing it for some time to come!

And no, he doesn't always look like he's been caught out by paperazzi. Just when I'm trying to get him still for a pic.

Labels: birthday, blake, fo, naknisewmo

My second kim-gnomey hat is DONE! I was feeling ill this past weekend, so I was doing a lot of compensatory knitting. I whipped through a button hole bag in less than 24-hours, and giddy with my success, I immediately cast on for this hat.

This has been in the planning stages for a long time. I made a red one last year for Demi, and it turned out so well that I bought another gnomey colourway of Manos del Uruguay within the month. It's been sitting in a lovely little cake since then, waiting for me to get cold.

We still have a few days left before he'll need this hat; until then I can admire my own ability to protect my son from the elements with only a few sticks & some string.

the gnome in a tree, with his awful clashing jacket & sesame street scarf

Labels: blake, fo, repeats

Instead of purchasing a big honking hunk of sugar, I knit my child a chocolate bunny for Easter from Jess Hutch's pattern. I was lucky that this project had a quick turn-around time, so I couldn't procrastinate the scary scary finishing. I just don't have such a good record with finishing toys.

Yarn: brown Paton Classic Merino (bought for Henry Rollins' pants) and two colours of green Galway (sitting in my stash a year because one day I'm going to get over my finishing guilt about my other bag and make Meema's marsupial bag). This project features the most embroidery I've done on a project since the lippity lippity hat. I don't think that the sewing machines who do satin stitch need to worry about the scrap yard quite yet.

Reactions range from, "you could sell this!" (Theresa) to "it's just like the golliwogs your great grandmother used to make." (my grandmother. And no, it most certainly is not!)

Labels: blake, easter, fo, toy