I was just perusing the Toronto Craft Alert website and found my Simpson’s Donut had been featured back in July!
My donut on Toronto Craft Alert
This cold/flu thing I have still has a grip on me. I only had a fever for about a half a day, but the sore throat is going on four days and my sinuses are stuffed solid. Oh woe is me. Anyway, this was a nice little pick me up, even if it was only discovered 3 and a half months late!
Cupcakes and a donut
One of the small knitting projects I’ve been doing periodically over the last few weeks are knitted cupcakes. I originally started making them one night before going to visit an out of town friend, hoping to give them to her daughter, but I only got one done, and it seemed weird to gift just one. I had hoped to do three, but didn’t get that far. Now I’m just doing them for fun. They’re super cute, and I have lots of these “sprinkle” beads, in a wide variety of colours, to use up, and this is the perfect scrap yarn project.
Knitted donut
Then I thought, hey, why not donuts? And so now I have one of those, too. I was showing these to my coworker and he suggested I do a Simpson’s style donut, so I think that’s next.
Pink cupcake
The cupcakes are from a free pattern by Eva McDonald. I made some modifications though. In the first (knitted) round of frosting colour I make a stitch every three stitches so that there is a bit more of a muffin-top to the cupcake. Then I do an extra round of decreasing later on. I also have yet to make one of hers that includes the cherry. I have also filled the base of mine with a bit of cheesecloth bundle filled with lentils, instead of the plastic bottle base, as she describes.
The donut is a free pattern by Dorien. Love this pattern – it turned out great, and it would also work very well as baby toys, if you left off the beading.
I’ve been knitting up a storm the last couple of weeks, and I think a lot of it has to do with a sudden infatuation with hats. They make for nearly instant gratification projects, since they can be completed in as little as one weekend. I have to thank Michelle for this sudden spurt of hat-making, since it pretty much started with her “another green hat.”
Felted cloche
Technically, this hat actually started some time ago, after I saw the film Changeling (I just adore the clothing of the 1920s, even though the style would not flatter my curves one bit). I had a stash of Patons Classic Wool Merino on hand that I was purposefully saving to try out on a felting project. The St. Vincent Cloche by Fawn Pea was the perfect match.
It’s a super simple knit; the only reason it took me a few months was because I had to put it on hold and order more yarn in the peacock blue because I was sure I didn’t have enough (the unfelted version of the hat was huge). In the end I actually only needed a few yards of the new ball – I probably could have gotten away without it.
Hat band and slit detail
This was the first time I had tried felting using our front load washing machine. I’d heard that it can take more runs through these types of machines to make it work. I tried the first round on a normal setting with hot water, and the hat only felted a small amount. So the next round I put the washer on the “sanitary” setting, for extra heat, and holy smokes – it almost came out too small! In the end the hat just fits!
There are some creases I need to figure out how to smooth out, and I’m not sure how to fix those. I’m also not certain how I should fasten the hat band to the hat itself, but I think I need to, so that it doesn’t shift all over the place. But overall, as a first felted project in my current machine: it turned out pretty sweet!
Currently on the needles: you guessed it — another hat! Foliage, from Knitty Fall 2007, to be exact!
Time for a couple FOs. I had some knitted goodies up my sleeve as Christmas gifts for a couple of my coworkers, but because of the ridiculous streak of bad luck I’ve had over the last month, I didn’t end up being able to gift them until I got back to work last week.
Baz the Barbarian
I have added a new recruit to my miniature viking army – meet Baz. This hat (designed by Becky Veverka but with horns redesigned by moi) has become so popular I now have two requests for adult versions. I didn’t have my camera with me before I gifted off the hat, so Baz’s mommy took these awesome shots. She is a fabulous photographer, and a terrific designer too. For even more hilarious cuteness, check this out.
Baz the Barbarian
Next up is a wonky little hooty owl, the pattern for which I bought this summer from Hansigurumi’s Etsy shop. I’d never made an anigurumi toy before, so I was a bit unprepared for the amount of assembly, and how interdependent all the parts are. So you can see his left “horn” doesn’t quite stick up they way it should, and that his left eye disc is a bit off kilter. I made a slight modification of the design in that I filled his bottom half with lentils to give him some weight in his bum. I had some problems with him “pooping” lentils, and had to seal up some small holes, but overall he turned out pretty good.
Horned owl
This was for my buddy Larissa who adores owls. She is completely in love with him, despite his wonkiness.
Magnus in the Baby Yoda Sweater
It’s time for a FO! Actually I finished this project quite quickly, back in October, but I didn’t want to post it because it was a Christmas prezzie for my not-so-wee nephew, Magnus (almost four months old). I searched around for a pattern for a baby sweater that would have some room to grow with him, since it’s kind of one of my golden rules to avoid knitting anything too rigid in the way of clothes for kids, because it just doesn’t last. The Baby Yoda Sweater by Cari Luna seemed like the perfect match. Not only is it designed to “grow” with the child, it looks just like Yoda’s robe. How cool is that?
What he really thinks of it
Now I give kudos to all knitwear designers, because I have trouble writing out instructions for even the simplest of designs, even if I get it straight in my head what I’m doing. It has to do with the whole translation of what I see in 3D in my mind’s eye to written instructions on paper – I get myself all turned around, every time. But I think this design could use some improvements. Firstly, the back and the two front panels are all worked separately and need to be sewn together. And then the sleeves are worked flat and seamed. Overall, I think all the sewing really causes the garment to lose some real estate, and in the end, this sweater, which is supposed to fit up to 6 months, is already too small. Especially in the very narrow sleeves, which I widened at the wrist (but forgot to write down how much).
Baby Yoda Sweater FO
The Baby Yoda Sweater FO
Anyhoo, it was still a hit and even if it is too tight on Magnus, it will work for another bambino down the road. I do have to say that this was the first time I used the superwash Dream in Color “Classy” which is a delight to knit with, and I just adore this colourway, called “Cocoa Kiss”.
We’re off to Portland and Seattle for the week, so blog posts will be minimal, but I’m sure I’ll have lots of yummy photos when I get back!
Despite my lack of posts this week I assure you, I’ve been crazy busy, but mostly with work. This week was one of our biggest fundraising events of the year — one that runs over a series of days and is made up of a few events. I’m hoping that now that it’s over, life will settle into a manageable pace again.
So it’s even more important to keep myself knitting, to keep me sane, and to keep me feeling like amongst all the work commitments I’m still doing a little something for me. Or rather, to satisfy me. Because I’m actually working on something for someone else, but it’s lots of fun.
Christmas stocking for Magnus
Stranded colourwork
About a month ago my sister-in-law asked me if I would make a stocking for my nephew’s first Christmas. We looked at various patterns on Ravelry and she chose stocking #5 from Diane Soucy’s Easy Christmas Stocking #277. However, to put my hands on the pattern I had to order it by phone from a tiny yarn shop in Nova Scotia, and wait for it in the post.
After some charting and a few false starts I’m now well into the upper part of the stocking. I used the alphabet chart on the Knitting Pure & Simple website to chart out Magnus’s name, with one stitch between letters, but I soon discovered that if I wanted to knit in the letters, rather than embroider them on later as the website suggests, I needed to make the stocking a bit bigger, to accommodate for space between the beginning and ending of each name (I made the stocking double sided to allow me to work it in the round). “Magnus” takes up 30 stitches and the full stocking calls to cast on 60 stitches, so I added 12 stitches which creates a break of 6 stitches in between each side. I’ll have to compensate later in the heel and toe, but I think it should be straightforward.
I’ve also been asked to make one for my brother, but we’ll have to see how much time is left before Christmas arrives, to see if I can get both done with time to spare!
I’m slowly building an army of baby vikings. The Baby Viking Helmet I made for Super Cal’s first birthday was such a hit I’ve had a few requests (from the pattern Viking Hat by Becky Veverka). This one, which I created using Mission Falls 1824 wool (in #008 Earth, #015 Putty, #013 Curry and #002 Stone), is for my coworker’s godson, and it was an opportunity for me to perfect my horn alterations, and I think I have them down now. Writing out what I did was terribly painful and tells me I’m probably not destined to become a designer of things knitted. If anyone tries this out and runs into trouble or something in the pattern doesn’t jive, please tell me so I can fix it (both here, and on my Ravelry page). I also need a better hat model (i.e. less lumpy) for photography!
Baby Viking Helmet #2
Baby Viking Helmet #2, horn detail
Follow hat making instructions in the original pattern by Becky Veverka (I leave out the earflaps as well).
Directions for my version of the horns (make 2):
Continue decreasing in this way until your last 4 stitches. Draw last four stitches together using needle & thread. Sew up the seam using mattress stitch, drawing it up nice and tight to help shape the horn. Stuff the horns and sew onto hat with gold coloured yarn.
Yesterday we celebrated Super Cal’s first birthday. I made him his own viking hat, from the pattern Viking Hat by Becky Veverka. I’ve been planning this hat for quite a while, knowing it was perfect and would be a hit, and I’ve had it finished for a couple months now. I was really worried it would be too big for him, by a lot, since I modified the pattern which is designed for 3 to 9 month olds, but actually its only a little bit too big, so it will fit him for a while.
Wee Pillager
Where's my longship?
Anyway, the hat was a hit and everyone loved it. Super Cal, who apparently isn’t really into hats, even left it on for a while!
Our friend Cass says that someday when he buys a house, he wants to have a pumpkin patch. No amount of cajoling from Chris and I can convince him that you kinda need a field to have a pumpkin patch, that every reasonable gardener knows that you don’t just get “a” pumpkin from a patch. So in jest, I knitted him his own miniature patch.
Knitted Pumpkin Patch
With Blue Sky Alpacas sport weight yarn (soooo soft!) I made these in various sizes, starting by working in the flat and adding increases every other stitch or every two stitches as needed to try to make different shapes for each of the pumpkins, always trying to end with a division of 8 stitches (the leaves are started by adding a green stitch every eighth stitch). The pumpkins are started flat and then when they reach the widest point, joined and worked with dpns in the round. The smallest pumpkin is 48 stitches at his widest point, the biggest is 56 stitches wide.
The leaves I did like Ann Norling’s Kids Fruit Cap, which has you doing the decreases fairly late, because its a hat. For a different effect with each pumpkin I just decreased every stitch early, or later, or every other stitch, to add more or less green.
Finishing: just sew up the side until there is a coin-sized hole for adding a bit of stuffing for the top. The bottom I filled with green lentils to give them weight, which helps them sit nicely.
Finally, the corkscrew vine piece was done by casting on a large number of stitches (I didn’t count). Row 1: knit; Row 2: increase 3 stitches for every stitch (knit into front, then back, then front again); Row 3: bind off.
Knitted Pumpkin Patch
I’ve managed to whip up a few little FO’s over the last few weeks which I’ve finally gifted so I can post about. One is Calorimetry (how on Earth are you supposed to pronounce that?) from Knitty for my friend Alice. This colourway was just right for her and her amazingly curly reddish hair, which she always has piled up in a gorgeously haphazard updo.
Calorimetry
The yarn is Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Spirit, in #511. It’s just perfect for fall. I think if I make this for myself though, which I’m considering, I’ll make it narrower. I tried it on and it felt pretty wide, but when Alice gave it a try she looked amazing. Happy B-Day Alice!
Calorimetry
Next up is a pumpkin hat, from the Kids Fruit Cap pattern series by Ann Norling, which can be customized to make anything from a strawberry to a raspberry to whatever kind of fruit hat you like. This is for my new baby nephew. Hopefully I’ll have a nice shot of him wearing it this fall.
Pumpkin Hat
I made this using Blue Sky Alpacas Sport Weight yarn which I had left over after making Lovable Teddy. It’s a beautifully luxurious yarn that I’ve fallen totally in love with after making all three of the Lovable Toys.