One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

More stash busting knitting:

I found a cute cat toy pattern on Ravelry and used my stash yarn. I will have to keep these in mind for the future. I loved how the different yarns felted to different sizes. I've always just bought Cascade 220 for my general wool and/or felting needs, but that yarn took a lot longer to felt down and wasn't as nice as the Paton's. I'm sure everyone else in the knitting world knew this already. Hrm.

Wormy

My cat has an 'attack the arm' problem. Until now, I didn't know how to solve it. Then I saw a Slimey project on Ravelry. I now have the perfect 'toy' for when she tears into my arm like she hasn't been fed in three days.

Here is my wormy monster looking outside:

Here he is watching The Colbert Report:

And here's wormy looking like the inanimate puppet it is:

a bunny on its way to being real

I made a velveteen bunny. I didn't like any of the patterns I found in softy books so I decided to make my own. I think he turned out ok. I'm really happy with the fabric I found (remnants, all for under $5.00). I am still thinking about his face. I don't like the idea of a mouth but I think his personality doesn't shine at this point. I have until Easter to think about it. I am posting two pictures because I can't decide between the two.


























And here's a tocks close-up:

More toys

I'm afraid this blog is becoming "What did Rita make for her nephew this week?", and it must stop. But first, here's what I've been working on :)

I saw this cute little pattern and thought it would be a great way to use up stash yarn. He's a pretty cute little godzilla.

Second, when I made the set of felt letters back in January, I had plans on making the lower case letters as well, so I've been slowly stitching them together and now they're done. I kept all the colors the same-- the b, d, p, and q all were the same shape so they are a little hard to tell apart without the color difference. I am now wondering if I should make numbers.



Aside from these little projects, I'm still working on those darn leg warmers. It's sunny and 70 today--I'm thinking I missed out on using them this season.

A birthday present

I went to a 1st birthday party this weekend and, like all the gifts I give this little guy, I made the birthday boy something handmade. My gift is probably a little too old for him right now, but it never hurts to give fun, educational toys.

I made felt letters. I just made the upper-case alphabet for now, but have plans on making lower-case letters and numbers eventually. I made a template for all the letters, cut out felt, blanket stitched, and stuffed all the letters. I started this at the beginning of January, thinking I'd make one letter a day, but it actually went faster than I thought it would.

I made a bag from scrap fabric (using up my stash!) to hold
all the letters, with plenty of room for additional letters as I make them. I pretty much followed the instructions from happythings to make the bag. I made mine much bigger than the tutorial though and it still worked out great.

All bundled up!

A mushroom

When I saw this pattern, I just had to make one. It's pretty cute and the recipient apparently likes to shake it!

Dino

Here is a nice little dinosaur from the book Knitted Toys by Zoe Mellor - such a great book. I used the same recycled yarn that I made the EZ baby sweater with, plus some of the remnants of the $2 wool (that one skein is still going!). He's going to live with a baby boy.

And just for fun, here's what I got at my public library branch's book sale a couple of weekends ago. A Brief History of Time (!), a film book for my husband, a fun historical costume book, a catalog of beautiful paintings by an artist I hadn't heard of before, and this cool kids' book about fibers of all kinds, even Kevlar! I gave that to a coworker for her kid. I do love my library.

Works in progress

With all the snow (and snow days!) I've had this week, I've been able to work on a couple things.
I started the first item a couple of weeks ago, but it's going to take me a while. Tippi may recognize it as a suggestion for a new knit-along, but I just couldn't wait! (Not to mention, knit-alongs shouldn't take months on end, so this wasn't a good choice anyway).



It's the Tangled Yolk Cardigan from the Interweave Knits, Fall 2007 issue. I'm using the yarn it called for, Rowan Felted Tweed in ginger. My gauge was way off so instead of knitting with marginally usable size 5 needles, I had to go down to a size 3 needle! It's taking a while and the gauge is still a little wonky but I'm fine with that since the new gauge will fit me better anyway. I'm just starting the second sleeve, but after that, I get to work on the actual cabling, and maybe I can wear it in the fall!




And the second item is the "Baby's First Ball"
pattern from Knitting For Baby. Who can resist felted balls in bright colors? I'm using scrap Paton's wool--I tend to stock up on that stuff. It's somewhat cheap and great for felting small little projects.

While I wasn't knitting the Stag Bag...

I continued to work on my striped henley sweater:

I am making this up as I go so this might not make it to the final stages. I got the henley idea from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Around. I originally wanted to make a fair isle, but I don't think I'll have enough yarn. I'm using my Chaco yarn I bought at Smiley's Yarn Riot back in January:

At that price, I should have bought a lot more!

I also started knitting the Pea Pod Baby Set from Knitting Daily.
This is how far I got:
I had a horrific ball of Red Heart supersaver yarn and thought I'd use it up, but the gauge was way off so I ran out before I could work on the arms. I love this pattern though and I think the Berroco yarn I am using for the Stag Bag will work great for this pattern. I will continue to hold onto the impulse buy yarn that I have no desire to use anymore :(

Finally, here's a picture of the finished owl:

Snakey

Here's Wyatt with the snake I finally finished, from Knitted Toys by Zoe Mellor. It's made in Cotton-Ease; he's about 4 feet long and is very soft & squishy.

And here's a quick bathmat I'm making to use up the three huge skeins of Sugar 'n Creme I impulse-bought a few weeks ago (so cheap!). I'm using it six-stranded here. It's a nice natural color with pink, purple, and blue flecks. If there is any left over I will make a dishrag or two.

Weekend Update

I had high hopes of sitting down and reading the last Harry Potter book this weekend, but then decided that I enjoy savoring books. That decision gave me a lot of time to reorganize my yarn stash--sadly, since my moratorium on yarn buying was lifted I really haven't bought anything, and yet my yarn stash hasn't gone anywhere either. I posted earlier about making some washcloths and here's one I made this weekend (using up one skein of Sugar'nCream):
I will probably be making more--they're fun and fast and I really need more washcloths. The pattern is the Stepped Ridge pattern from Dishcloth Botique.

I also (almost) finished this guy:
He still needs eyes and a scarf but I didn't have any matching Red Heart Soft yarn in a color I liked. I got this pattern from Lucinda Guy's book And So To Bed... I thought the pattern was rather confusing and totally wrong in some parts, but with a little thought, I figured out what it meant. This was a lesson in seams. I've never stitched purl seams before. It was good practice. On the bright side, because I made that mushroom sweater, the insartia part was really easy. And I did not make this owl because of Harry Potter...it was just a cute toy!