Christmas Yarn Baubles

 

Like every good crafter, each year I vow to make my own Christmas decorations and each year I fail. Miserably. 

Not this year though! Even though I one day want to make cute fairisle baubles, these were quick and easy; and with no bias at all, pretty cute!

I made these at a recent WI meet up (Women's Institute for those not from the UK). Once a month we have a crafty night, separate from the main monthly meeting and try and cover different topics. Last month was Papercraft, the month before Pumpkin Carving and before that I led a Crochet Granny Square evening. This month was all about baubles. There were different methods such as layering felt to make a acorn looking one, a patchwork one or yarn. Obviously I was going to do the yarn one (mainly because I didn't have any material or felt for the first two types!). 

It was easy. Pin the yarn into a polystyrene ball (easily available from eBay or a craft shop like HobbyCraft). Wrap the yarn around the ball until

You can't see the polystyrene anymore and then pin the yarn again! Super easy! If you need a quick fix for some missing yarn on the tree then this is so handy. I doubled up the yarn to make multicoloured ones. Some in cream/red, some in cream/gold. 

Next year I'm definitely going to have some fairisle ones! (Don't hold your breath though!)

Baby Hat & Booties

It's been AGES since I last posted!  Life's been a bit crazy since my boy moved back to the UK.  For those of you who don't know, he's been living in LA since 2010 so it' crazy exciting that he's back!! It's just all starting to settle down now which means I have more time for crafting...woohoo!

To no surprise, another one of my friends had a baby last month and I went to see them on Monday.  I didn't have time to go shopping, so I had to frantically buy some yarn online hoping it would be supersoft and thankfully it was!  I ended up choosing Red Heart Soft Baby Steps which is 100% acrylic and aran weight. It is really soft and has a lovely sheen to it.

I searched for patterns on Ravelry for booties and a hat using aran/worsted weight yarn.  I decided on the Basic Beanie by Busy Mom Designs.  It looked like it needed a little something so I made a flower for it that I found through another pattern (click here for pattern).  It was super easy to make; I decided to use a 6mm/G hook so it crocheted up a little smaller with tighter stitches.

Next...the booties!  Having made the flower for the hat, I knew I had to put some on the booties too so they were all cute and matching!  The pattern I used for the booties were Cute Baby Boots Crochet Pattern by Teri Crews.  The flower I made up with a pretty simple design:

ch5, join with slip stitch.
*sc, ch1, 3dc, ch1, sc* in each stitch.

That's it!  I was really pleased with how these turned out.  I haven't made anything for a 0-3 month baby in such a long time that I forgot how teeny tiny they were!

I just blue Tobias Fünke

Tobias Fünke.  Everyone's favourite blue never nude.  

This was a pretty esoteric project and only those of you who watch Arrested Development will understand why this man is blue and wearing cutoffs!

It was my boy's birthday a few weeks ago and I was struggling to find him a present.  The man has everything he wants and doesn't need anything.  So I thought of everything that he liked and Arrested Development - specifically a blue Tobias Fünke - sprang to mind.  *Internal monologue* "How awesome would it be to make him a little Tobias?!"  And so my next project was decided.

I didn't have to look too far for some blue yarn.  I had some left over from a vest that I'd made for my Mum a couple of months ago, it's handy being a yarn hoarder!

I wanted to make a moveable Tobias, so he could do awesome poses for the camera (as the one above).  So as I was making the doll I had to keep in mind that I'd be putting in a wire skeleton inside.  I decided to start with the legs, join them together, continue and continue into body and up to the shoulders.  Along the way I inserted the wire and put stuffing in.  I went onto the neck, made the head and arms separately then sewed them all together.  Next came the fun bit...making the cut offs!!

I needed an old pair of jeans for the cut offs so visited a few charity shops for a cheap pair.  I wasn't too successful, but then I saw a Cancer Research shop and OMG THEY WERE HAVING A FIRE....sale.  Well, kinda, they had a section where everything was £1 which was pretty cool as they had a pair of jeans in the exact shade I wanted and the hem was already frayed!

I fashioned a pattern for the cutoffs using ordinary paper and sewed it all together, it was such a perfect fit that they stayed up by themselves!  Then I made him some glasses out of wire and embroidered hair, eyebrows and a moustache.  I tried doing some eyes and a mouth but it just made him look a demented so I decided to omit those in the end.  

Seeing as I had a less than a week to make Tobias, I think I did a pretty good job.  It could have been better if I had more time to think it through, but I'm still pleased with him :)

Santorini

No, not the idyllic holiday destination in Greece. Instead, this amazingly gorgeous drool-worthy jumper pattern in Rowan's latest knitting and crochet magazine (Number 53). I saw the picture on their website and completely fell in love with it. So much so, I went out and bought the magazine with no real intention of making it - but to perve over the pictures like a teenage boy reading Playboy. The more I looked, the more I had to have it. And when a particular online yarn store had a 15% discount on all Rowan yarns, I took this as a sign to make it. 

Only a couple of minor problems though:

1. I've never knitted an adult jumper before. 

2. I've only ever done basic intarsia with two colours. 

As you can see this particular jumper has about 20 bazillion colours, so one may say I need more experience. 

Experience, schmexperience. 

When I took up running I went straight in for a full marathon and totally disregarded any 5k, 10k or half marathons. No really, that's what I really did. 

So, I'm gonna do it. But seeing as the yarn was pretty darned expensive, I'm going to at least do a practice adult jumper. Just a basic, plain stockinette stitch but just so I know I can at least do that. Then maybe practice a swatch or two of intarsia charts involving more than two colours. Then I'll be ready. 

Santorini, here I come. 

Crocheted Shrimp

Just before I left to see my boy again, I crocheted a shrimp for one of my really good friends. I know it's a bit random, but so is he! I regularly call him shrimp-related names like 'Shrimp King' and 'Shrimp face' not because he looks like a shrimp.  Actually I can't remember why I even started calling him those names :/

I followed a pattern from 'Super Super Cute Crochet Animals'. However the first 12 rows were incorrect and the head bit ended up being a little deformed (see picture below). So I corrected this bit of pattern and he looked fine :). I did email the publishing company a few weeks ago regarding the errata but I haven't heard anything back. So I've listed the corrections here for anyone who is stuck on the same pattern, or you can find it under my 'Pages' section listed on the right hand side.

Picture shows what comes of the shrimpy face if following the pattern from the book (above) and the correction (below)

My friend loved the little Shrimpy-man and he said it made him smile, but also made him think that I'm a little mad.  Huge compliment in my opinion :)

Tea Cosy

Hey guys! I know it's been a while - I've been busy like a little bee knitting away in all of my free time making various gifts for people.  I did, however, make one gift that wasn't a Christmas one and so I can blog about it!

When I first started knitting, my twin (in the ironic sense, she's tall, white and blonde; I'm short, brown and have curly hair), asked me to make her a tea cosy as her teapot was feeling cold and was feeling a bit sad about it.  I promised her I would once my knitting skills were up to scratch. About a month ago I decided now was the time to try.

I found a pattern on Ravelry by Patons for a classic pleated tea cosy with a pom pom on top which looked cute.  My friend's favourite colours were turquoise and cherry red.  I held the colours together and didn't think they quite matched so I went for a deep turquoise and mint green.  I'm pretty pleased with the result, especially as it's my first one using more than one colour :)

Well, that's about it for now!

UPDATE: My twin received the cosy and now her teapot is all warm and snug, yay!

Another Baby Cardigan!

Guess I'm at that age where mostly everyone I know is either getting married or having babies. Some friends of mine are expecting a little bundle of joy in October and had a baby shower last weekend - so I did what I do best and made the little bubba something from yarn!

I was talking to another friend (the mum of the little girl I made the last cardigan for) and she said a baby cardigan for them would be perfect especially as it'll be a winter baby.

I decided that I wanted to knit a seed (moss) stitch cardigan with ribbed edges and a hood.  So, you know, not really that specific at all.  I spent quite a few hours looking for patterns all over the place but to no avail.  But alas, whilst browsing Ravelry I came across a raglan baby cardigan in seed stitch, ribbed edges and a hood.  I couldn't believe my luck! I purchased that pattern in a heartbeat!  

There I was, all excited that I was going to make this amazing cardigan and started reading through the pattern and saw...Circular needles...what?!...knitting in the round with double pointed needles (DPN's)...whaaatttt?!  I've only ever knitted on single points :/

I saw this as a challenge and I couldn't avoid these things forever, especially if I am to become the knitting extraordinaire that I want to be.  I went out a bought me some bamboo circulars and DPN's and got to work. Again, I used Rowan All-Seasons Cotton as it's easier to take care of especially where babies are concerned.  I cast on, then got into my head that I was knitting the body in the round with the circulars and got into a major panic.  How could I join 30 stitches across a 80cm circular?!  I decided to email the lovely lady who designed the pattern and she cleared things up for me instantly.  Eventually it would be 108 stitches long; the circular is used just to hold all the stitches and not to knit in the round.  Phew!

Then came the sleeves, DPN's and knitting in the round.  Whenever I've seen pictures of socks being knitted and seen all those DPN's, I'd get scared.  Plain scared.  It looked so complicated! Thank goodness for YouTube.  Is it bad that that it taught me how to knit in the round?!  Well, I am glad to say it was no where nearly as scary as it looks, and actually pretty enjoyed it!

Anyways, two weeks later, ta da! I finished the cardigan on the morning of the baby shower so I cut that one really fine!  The parents-to-be loved it.  I can't wait to see the little one wearing it when he/she is born :)

Baby Cardigan

So a while ago, my friend had asked me to make her gorgeous little daughter a little cardigan.  Other than a scarf and a snood, I'd never made a real item of clothing.  But seeing as my eventual aim is to make a penguin jumper, I accepted this new challenege!

One afternoon, me and my friend searched Ravelry for knitted baby cardigans.  Her only requirements were:
1. A very simple design (i.e. no fancy cable work or moss/seed stitch patterns)
2. Buttons that do up all the way down the front, not just at the top.
3. Greyish/Lilac colour.

I set to work on finding a pattern first as thought there was no point in finding the perfect yarn until I knew what yarn weight I needed!  Eventually I found a pattern through Ravelry on the Lion Brand Yarn site.   Now, their pattern requires their 'Pound of Yarn'.  It was a bit of a problem as a) LBY has no distribution in the UK and b) it's crazy expensive to get it shipped over.  Good thing is after some investigation I discovered it was of worsted/aran weight!

I wanted the yarn to be supersoft, but also breathable and hard-wearing, so ideally a cotton/acrylic mix.  I went to the first place I thought...John Lewis!  After a bit of a faff - I found my perfect yarn! It was the All Seasons Cotton by Rowan in Shade 253 (Fez).  Unsure of how many balls I'd need, I bought 8, just in case so they'd all be in the same dye lot too.  Now I say faff as the label on the yarn doesn't overtly say what weight it is and one lady in JL was convinced it wasn't as the needle requirements were 4.5-5.5mm which was what I needed anyway.  To be on the safe side, I came home to investigate and if you search yarns by weight on the Rowan site, All Seasons Cotton appears on the Aran weight.  In case anyone wants to know, I only needed 4 of the 50g balls for the 12 month pattern, which included the tails for the start/ends of a piece and sewing the seams.

I had so much fun making this, especially the pockets (cos I'm totally sad).  I need to get started on more baby clothes now...this has given me a bug for it!

Can't wait to see little J in this cardigan, she's going to look totally adorable :)