Funky Owl

I'm having so much fun with these knitted animal toys!
This pattern is also from Amy Gaines and I've used a variety of Lion Brand Cotton Ease colours to create it. I found some plastic cat toy balls at the dollar store, which are about the size and shape of a golf ball, yet lattice style and have a small bell inside. I stuffed the main body from the head down and placed a ball inside, surrounding it with stuffing. The baby who receives this as a gift will also have the pleasure of listening to the lovely tinkling sound of the bell.

The Unthinkable ...

I have a front load washer and dryer set. On the washer is a 'handwash cycle', which has been a godsend for washing all my cashmere or merino sweaters. I didn't even hesitate to use it to block my Earl Grey.

After the cycle was complete, it looked perfectly fine, but I thought it could use an extra 'spin cycle' to get rid of excess water, prior to blocking. Big mistake!!!

Above and below, you will see that yes, indeed, you CAN felt in a front loading washer ... :P******!!!



Cropped, Earl Grey, anyone?

Family from abroad ...

My Aunt and her friend are currently visiting from Scotland, for two weeks. It's been 1 1/2 years since I was over visiting her, so it's been wonderful to reconnect. So much better in person, than over the telephone :) They stayed here for five days, and have moved on to my parent's house so Aunt Chris and Dad (her brother) can catch up. The Scottish accents have been flying! She's amazing, for almost 80. This woman can shop me under the table. I was flagging long before she was!

We had a big family gathering yesterday at our place and the weather was gorgeous! All the kids and grandkids, along with my sister, her husband and my mom were in attendance. Dad was down with a sinus infection, so decided to pass. It was wonderfully chaotic, with lots of laughs and good food.

Scrambled to have this finished for a baby shower for our newest grandson, seen in the previous post. This turned out so cute, but my goodness, what a lot of pieces and sewing up, plus stuffing to do! The finishing was deadly, but worth it! It was a big hit, with the pregnant friends of our daughter putting in requests for similar items and anything knitted, please and thank you!

It's a pattern by Amy Gaines. I happened on her patterns while surfing Etsy and noting that she had a sale on, promptly purchased at least 6 of them! She's also on Ravelry, if you're interested.
I couldn't find the safety eyes that she mentions, so I just embroidered them on. I used Lion Brand Cotton Ease, so it could be easily washed. I preferred the face "smirkless", so left off the smile. All in all, I'm very pleased.

"Mom" requested another pair of booties, please, so I made some in warm weather colours. Modeled below ...

His older brother requested some new slippers, so he could "skate" in the house on the wood floors! Then he decided he'd like to help me make them -- too cute! He'd stayed overnight and had woken up at 2AM, wondering where he was! Hence the look of exhaustion on my face :)

Next post, the saga of the Tea Leaves cardigan ...

Big News...!

A new Grandson!

Levi Vincent Mark R.
7lbs. 10oz.
Born April 16, 2010

He's about 2 hours old in this photo -- mom and baby are now home and doing well!

While I've been a woefully lax blogger, I have been knitting and will have some F/O's to show you in the near future!

One Skein Baby Hoodie

Pattern: One Skein Hooded Baby Sweater
Yarn: 1 skein of Dream in Color Classy "Midnight Derby" (left over from my FLS)
Needles: 24" 6 mm circulars
Button: Left over from FLS - 1". Crocheted loop to edge of button band for closure.
Mods: Sleeves: omitted decreases prior to ribbed cuff, so it wouldn't be so tight. Added 1/2" to length of sleeves and 1" to s/s portion of body.
Size: Approximately 0-3 months.
For: New grandson, arriving mid April :)

This may well become my current 'go to pattern' for a quick knit for babies. The pattern calls for 6.5 mm needles, but my swatch proved to be better with a 6.0 mm. It uses around 220+ yds. of worsted weight wool. The DIC yarn has 250 yd/skein and I have a large golf ball sized ball left over. As this 100% wool yarn is both machine wash and dryable, as well as very soft, it is the perfect thing for newborns who spit up a lot.

Note: I have found that my FLS has 'pilled' significantly with machine wash/dry and that's even with the 'hand wash' cycle on my new front loader! So, while I think it's lovely yarn and perfect for a baby sweater, I would think twice before using it again on an adult sized project. Thankfully, because it's a dark colour, it doesn't show too much, but under the arms (where there is naturally a lot of friction) it is definitely noticeable on my sweater.

I hadn't decided what kind of closure to use, so omitted button holes and waited until the end. Initially thought I might make a 'frog', but when I found the left-over button, decided to simply do a chain stitch loop for closure and am pleased with the results.

Did a full block, using "Soak" washing liquid and laid flat to dry.

Final verdict: stinkin' cute and I'll definitely be making more!

Olympic Red Meret

Pattern: Meret size L.
Yarn: Mirasol "Tupa"
Needles: 4 mm
Mods: 2 extra pattern repeats to achieve desired 'slouch' effect + I-cord loop at crown


Modeled with the appropriate Vancouver 2010 mitts!


I know -- I look like I'm dressed for winter, but it was actually a very sunny, balmy 14 C today -- wonderful for us; not so happy for the mountains in desperate need of snow!

I've had the flu since a week ago today and haven't been ANYWHERE except for a brief trip into the market yesterday. There was a moment where I thought my "wet noodle" legs were going to give out on me -- not a great moment.

Most of my time this past week has been spent indoors, watching the Olympics and knitting, or reading, so, today we spent a couple of hours this afternoon in our lawn chairs, on the back patio, enjoying the sunshine and admiring my crocuses (in full bloom!). I actually got a bit of pink on my face and chest -- sooooo weird, for February! Hopefully, I'll be recovered by the weekend as I am fully determined to be at several Olympic venues next week -- no way am I missing out on this once in a lifetime chance!

Spray mist blocked over my Ikea dinner plate. Worked out really well. As you can see, I did a small I-cord at the crown. After I decreased down to the last 4 stitches, I did an 8 row I-cord, flipped it in half and tacked in to the inside, to finish it off. This is far more stable than simply drawing the yarn through the last few stitches and knotting off. I've had a previous one explode on me and spent the better part of an hour scrambling to recover the stitches :P******!


I probably could have gotten away with having made the size M, but I would rather have a hat a bit loose, so as to avoid the whole "hat head" drama. If it stretches too much, I'll simply thread some red-coloured elastic thread through the back of the ribbing rows.


Here's my hubby, on his way out the door to the Olympic Women's Hockey Game last night. Not tooooo excited ... :)

Our daughter called in the a.m. to say that she'd won a pool at work and was presented with two tickets, and did her Dad want to go???

Here he is, back at home, after the game and having a celebratory drink ... in his Olympic mug, of course! Doesn't matter if it isn't from this particular Winter Olympics, does it?

Ishbel ...

Loved this project ... although the photos, not so much. Looks a bit like I'm wearing a bib or an apron in the second photo ... I was going to do a 'slung-across-the-chest-to-the-other-shoulder kinda thing', but my photographer was "done", if you catch my drift :)

Handmaiden Casbah Sock yarn in "Wine" -- amazing yarn! I promptly put in an order for another skein, once I'd finished with this one. I actually had a good 2" ball of yarn leftover, which I'm sure could be used up in Saartje's booties, or something equally tiny and darling.

There is nothing bad to be said about either the yarn or the pattern -- only superlatives.