My Valentine

I think I may make these hearts for Nick for Valentine's day. We don't usually do Valentine's day, but I know he's bought me something so I should make some sort of effort - and as I will definitely not be crocheting the Link from Zelda I was hoping to give him, these are a cute alternative.

However, this all depends on Cinderella's skirt getting finished some time soon. And I also have a birthday present to knit for February... eep! I have a pattern in mind but I need my 3mm needles, and Cinderella's sitting on them right now!

Mistake!

Cinderella has been on hold for a couple of days because I made a mistake and couldn't work out whether to rip out a few rows and do it over. I needed to think objectively, which meant giving myself time to stop being so upset about it!

Anyway, after careful consideration I decided not to undo an hour's worth of knitting just because I'd joined the next colour on a purl row instead of a knit row, as even though any knitter can see the mistake instantly I'm making the doll for a four year old girl. Not only will she not care in the slightest, but it's the thought that counts. It takes a lot of energy for me to knit a big project like this, and one extra band of white doesn't matter too much.

Obviously, it annoys me whenever I look at it.

Cinderella shall go to the ball... eventually, maybe?

Cinderella's poor side

Cinderella may take some time!

The skirt took me two days of pretty much solid knitting, and she still needs another skirt, four arms, two sets of hair, patches and flowers. Grr!

But actually, she's quite fun to knit. Just tiring.

I've drawn out some patches that will spell out Ellie's name across her dress and have managed to get the hang of that technique whereby you twist the yarn at the back of the work and carry both colours along with you. What's that called? Fair Isle? Well, I managed it, whatever.

Unfortunately I've been too tired to do much today, and have only managed two plain patches, one stripey one and one with an E on it. Only L L I and E to go :)

Cinderella-ella-ella

Recently, knitting has been my therapy. This means I'm getting through patterns quite quickly and I'm enjoying it because when I finish something it feels like a big achievement, given how distractable I am at the moment.

I've just started a topsy turvy Cinderella doll for Ellie. The intention was to make it for her birthday, but I had expected it to take longer than it is seeming to. I guess I hadn't planned on the power of stress making me knit faster!

I'm planning on knitting for the boys' birthdays this year too, and as they're in April, October and December I think I should have enough time for them all.

Ooh, and what shall I knit for Nick for valentine? I think the Link from Zelda crochet plan might be put on hold... hs birthday's in December so I might make that the deadline instead ;)

Stash tidying and elephant knitting

Alfie Elephant

Stash organisation system!

I bought some drawers today to keep all my knitting supplies in as they were taking up too much space behind the sofa and I could never find anything. I'd thought about it this morning and then spotted the drawers today - that NEVER happens!

I also finished my little elephant today and lovelovelove him. He's deliberately wonky (unlike most of my accidentally lopsided knits!) and that's because Nick thought he looked cute before I straightened his head on. He was quite fiddly but the more I did the better I got, and I'd be tempted to use the pattern again.





I'm thinking of making a larger size for Sam's birthday, but I'm not sure whether to just use two strands of wool together or to get some chunkier yarn.





In the meantime I'm going to start a topsy turvy doll for Ellie. I started it today but frogged it after eight rows as I spotted a hole and couldn't rest with it there. If I'd been further in I might have just fixed it, but I thought I should try to do it properly. I'm doing the Cinderella one from the christmas patterns booklet, although I might change my mind for the sleeping/awake baby as it looks simpler. Hmm...





I'm also considering knitting the boy dress-up doll for Thom's birthday (lucky these birthdays are all a long way away!) but if I knit for the others I'll need to find something for Mart too... not sure what he might like, bue I'm sure I can think of something.

Crochet for beginners

I do remember being frustrated when I started knitting. Following written instructions is not the easiest, and yet I tried it again when I decided to learn to crochet.

I got hooks for christmas (from Sair, again!) and was over the moon because I've found a pattern I want to make for Nick (a tiny Link from Zelda). I looked at a couple of YouTube videos but didn't get much further than chain stitch (or any further, actually). I didn't know whether I was using the wrong yarn for the hook, or what size hook I should actually be using, or whether I was just making the loops too tight (or how to make them looser!) so I thought I'd order the Happy Hooker book, having had so much luck with the Stitch 'n' Bitch knitting guide.

Well, it arrived today and confused me more than ever! It had some great bits (although the patterns aren't my taste, really) but the guide to single stitch had me wanting to throw the hook. It didn't give me much more info on selecting hooks and yarn, either. But with the help of both the book and the knitwitch's youtube videos, I eventually moved from chainstitch to single stitch - and voila - I have created a tiny little rectangle of crochet! Woo!

(It turns out there are two ways of moving into single stitch from your chain stitches, and the Happy Hooker tells you to do the more complicated version. The KnitWitch simply gets you to poke your hook through the hole and carry on. Fantastic!)

That's enough for today. It's exhausting learning something new! Whoever said crocheting was easier than knitting had obviously been born with a hook in her hand, or was needle phobic. Or simply deranged.

Jimmy Bunny

I bought another skein of brown Big Softie to finish the bunny as the Denim Ultra didn't look right when I tried a leg and an ear.

Unfortunately, I've run out of Big Softie again because I kept messing up the sewing up today - I stitched the ears on and then found that the seam was on his side rather than the bottom, so I unpicked it all (which took bloody AGES) and repositioned them, and yet again the seam seemed to move when I was sewing it up! It's still not in the position I wanted but it's on the underside so I'm not messing around with it anymore.

I don't know whether to knit him his final leg in black yarn and then stitch some black patches onto his fur, or whether to get yet MORE brown yarn....

I also don't know what to do for his eyes. I've got some hella-cute buttons which might look nice, but I haven't decided.

He looks a bit wonky and weird but I actually love him. I didn't think I would and hadn't decided what I was going to do with him, but now I'm keeping him. Maybe it's his imperfections that make me think he's perfect!

Flopsy bunny

After far too many hats, I have finally got back to knitting for pleasure.

I started a little elephant from a very old Greenhowe pattern, but it's so very fiddly and has been driving me absolutely crazy. Subsequently, a nice easy pattern was calling for my attention today while I was exhausted. Enter Flopsy Bunny.

http://promotions.drgnetwork.com/newsletters/creativeknitting/pages/CKNL1707_patt.html

The only problems I had were these:

1) I didn't have any bunny-coloured yarn other than Big Softie, but I fancied knitting with big needles anyway so I just went for it.

2) I got UTTERLY bored of row after row of stockinette and wanted to throw it a couple of times.

3) I ran out of yarn after the head and body, and so have to decide whether to knit the ears and legs in Denim Ultra (in a grey/beige kind of colour) or to wait until I get some more Big Sofite. I do have more Big Softie, but only in pink or black. Hmmmm....

The bunny has been stuffed and has a ribbon and nose, so he is looking cute already. I just don't like leaving projects half-finished when I've made time to get them done, so I feel a bit sad for him now. Poor bunny.