Christmas Knitting

Sorry I fell of the face of the earth in December.  I am pretty sure, that if you are regular reader, you understand the craziness of the Christmas season for someone who has poor health.  I concentrated the whole of December on creating Christmas gifts.  I also went up to York to see my family and a consequence of this visit, was my inability to think straight for the next 3 weeks.  I didn't even manage to spend a weekend with my OH's family, which I was so sad about, but couldn't face sitting in a car for 3.5 hours on the day of travel.  In the end I was glad I didn't go, because that journey took my OH more like 4.5 hours which would have been hideous for me.

As a result of my painful Christmas and New Year I have decided that I need to see the doctors about tinkering with my pain medication again.  Whenever I have an increase in pain levels it always takes me time to adjust mentally and physically, which is why I disappeared.  I'm hoping that changes in medication (when it happens) will help me quickly and not leave me too spaced out.  In the meantime I will try and catch you up with the stuff I created for Christmas.

I made 5 gifts, 4 of which were for children. The non-child gift was a shawl for my sister-in-law that I made earlier in the year, so I'm only going to focus on the children in this post.  I used Cascade 220 Superwash for all of the children's gifts. It has become my "go to" yarn for children's knits because it is a nice bouncy yarn, that is machine washable, but is also wool so it is warm and breathable. It also comes in lots of colours and is reasonably priced. I get mine from Nutty Knitting Supplies.

Firstly I made a whale for my niece, who's favourite word seems to be FISH at the moment.  It was a crocheted whale made from a free pattern by Stacey Trock, who is my favourite amigurumi designer.  The pattern is M.Richard the Whale.

I used embroidery thread for the face and I am really happy with the way it turned out.  I used less than 50g for the whale, so I'm tempted to make another one for me ;-)

For nephew A, he needed more clothes as he keeps growing in spurts. He hates having anything pulled over his head and he suits nice rich brown colours, so I decided to give him another Beyond Puerperium, but in worsted weight and with long sleeves for the colder months.  Apparently it is a little big but I think that is much better than being too small, as he'll grow into it, and it means he can have layers underneath.

The button bands were knit simultaneously with the body of the garment, so I used intarsia to make the button band in a solid colour.

The buttons are made of plastic but they go really well with the cardigan.  I used embroidery thread to attach the buttons and I found a really good match in my old cross stitch thread collection.

I make a shaft by wrapping the thread around several times underneath the button, but above the knitted fabric.  This means that the button doesn't pull the cardigan out of shape.

For my other two nephews, O and K, they requested more monsters!  There was discussion about colours and types and there was several mentions of Mike Wazowski from Monsters University and I had to say that there weren't any patterns for Monsters University because of licensing issues.  THEN I discovered this blogpost.  A FREE Mike Wazowski pattern from Stacey Trock.  I was so pleased that I didn't have to disappoint the boys and got crocheting.  It took ages to make because there were lots of fiddly bits and, in fact, this quick snap was taken on the evening before it was wrapped to be delivered.  I cut very close to the wire.

I used a safety eye instead of felt for the pupil, because I think that gives more life to crocheted creatures.  I used black fleece for the mouth, because at the last minute I discovered I didn't have black felt (I'd already decided not to use it for the eye).  I decided not to put the teeth in, as I like this look better.  I'm really pleased with how he turned out and I was assured by my OH on his return from his family that K, loved his monster and wanted to make sure that my OH told me so.

O's monster was from Big Book of Knitted Monsters by Rebecca Danger and it was the Toothy Joe the Mailbox Monster pattern that I chose this time.  I decided to make my version toothless though.

He looks slightly sad from this angle, but from above he looks like he smiling (honest).  I love his long limbs too.

He is a perfect sitting monster, which I thought was more suitable for my eldest nephew.  Again the recipient made sure to tell my OH that he loved his monster and to tell me that.  They are both such polite boys as well as being great in all other ways too.  I am so sorry I missed seeing them at Christmas because they are getting quite mature now, and though I'm looking forward to getting to know who they become as teenagers and adults, it makes me sad that this might be the last time O admits to wanting a monster for Christmas.  He will, however, always be knit worthy as he has always loved my knitting and the knitted gifts he's received.

For O and K's younger brother who is a toddler, I got a long sleeved t-shirt in the same green as the knitted monster, with big scary monster eyes on it, so the boys all matched, gift wise.  I just didn't have it in me to do another crafted gift and he got a whole quilt last year.  I'm pretty sure he didn't mind ;-)

I hope you haven't fallen asleep with this massive catch up, and I hope that my next post won't be quite as long in coming, because that way I don't have as much to write ;-)

I hope you had a great end to 2013 and I look forward to spending 2014 with you.

Bea The Basement Monster

A few weeks ago I started a new project.  It was another monster from Big Book of Knitted Monsters by Rebecca Danger.  This book has paid for itself many times over in the pleasure it has brought.  My nephew decided at Christmas that he wanted a collection of monsters, once he knew that there was a book of them. How can I resist such appreciation for my work?

This time I decided to try a different shaped monster, one that sat down.  I chose Bea The Basement Monster.  The recipient got a small sized monster at Christmas so I decided that a good sized monster was called for.  Bea, is around 12" tall when knit in worsted weight yarn.

I used Cascade 220 Superwash again, as it is a brilliant yarn for knitting toys in.  It's bouncy, soft and comes in great colours, and of course there is the superwash thing!  This monster is knit in 7 parts.  The main body and base is knit in one and then there are legs, arms and ears.  Because the monster is is a decent size, the smaller elements aren't that fiddly.  As this was a different design from ones I'd previously done I had to think a little bit whilst putting it together.

First off, the eyes are fixed to the body.  I used 12mm safety eyes.  I love how these eyes reflect light and give more life and character to the toy than plain fabric or sewn eyes.  Next the legs are stuffed and sewn to the body. The bottom flap is then sewn closed, sealing the legs between the body and the flap. Before the flap is completely closed the body is stuffed.  I try and use as much stuffing as possible in the body to make sure it stands up to repetitive cuddling.

I stuffed the arms and ears and attached them, as instructed, but did a different mouth from that show in the book.  I used embroidery silk to sew a solid line for the mouth in backstitch.  I then cut out two triangles of white felt to use as fangs and sewed them to the body using regular sewing thread that got buried in the felt.  I love how the face turned out.

It never ceases to amaze me how each monster has it's own character, the minute you finish the face.  The whole toy comes to life.  I really like how this one came out, in fact I would go as far as to say, this is my favourite face, so far.  Of course, I shall have to come up with new ones if I have a whole collection to create!

I really like how this monster sits down.  It will look great sitting anywhere, bed, chair, floor or shelf.  I think this basement monster will probably hang around, even when it's owner gets too old for stuffed toys.  It's fun enough and quirky enough to not just be loved as a toy, but as a little character that is too cute to discard even into adulthood.  To be honest, if I could have kept it, I probably would have done!

Apparently the recipient got very excited when his parcel arrived in the post, even before he opened it.  He's a smart kid and probably knew what he was getting when the parcel was squishy. I have been told he loves his new monster, so I should probably be thinking about which one he will get for Christmas!

To see other finished objects, click the button.

Baby Gift Reveal

Several months ago I finished making gifts for my new nephew, who was due on 31st May.  He was born 10 weeks early and spent several weeks in the Special Care Baby Unit.  While he was there I was not allowed to see him.  It was a tough few weeks being the only immediate family member who wasn't allowed into the Unit, but they have to draw the line somewhere and aunts are on the other side of the line.  I was really sad about this, but it gave me a little longer to finish off some baby gifts.

As you might remember from last year, I made my niece a crocheted bear, when she was born.  I decided that her brother should have a similar stuffed toy, but slightly different.  I chose a pattern from my book, Crocheted Softies: 18 Adorable Animals from Around the World .  As Stacey Trock (the author) designed my niece's bear, the toy I chose for nephew matches in style.  I chose to make La La The Panda.

He is a little boss-eyed, but this is the nature of sewing yarn onto crocheted fabric.  I couldn't use safety eyes because this was for a baby, and babies can chew the eyes free of the fabric.  I used Cascade 220 Superwash which is great for baby things as it is wool, but it can be slung in the washing machine without fear of felting.

His arms are curved, which wasn't as easy to do as I anticipated.  This panda is crocheted at a fairly small gauge and crocheting black yarn in a poorly lit room (which mine was) is not fun.  However, the result is.  When my niece "helped" by unwrapping her brother's gifts she grabbed hold of the curved arm straight away.  It is a perfect child handle!  The panda had to be smuggled away whilst she was distracted by her birthday gift.  This panda is pretty small, but as it's owner is only wee, I thought it an appropriate match.

As well as the panda, I, of course, decided to make a blanket.  All new babies need blankets.  It's the law, or something.  As I was on a crochet kick I decided to make a crocheted blanket.  I wanted to make squares for the blanket, but I wanted to make them fairly solid.  After some trial and error and searching I found this free pattern.  It was the perfect square for what I had in mind.  I bought lots of different bright shades of Sirdar Snuggly DK and some dark blue in the same yarn, as contrast, and crocheted each bright square before crocheting them all together with a dark blue border round each one.

I decided to single crochet the blocks together with the wrong sides facing to make ridges on the right side of the blanket, to create texture for little fingers to play with.  I edged the whole blanket in the more of the blue.

The first round of the edging was only crocheted into the back loop of the stitches.  After finishing the edging I then slip stitched into the front loop of that first round to create a matching ridge to create a frame that matched the inner squares.  I think it worked quite well.

As I had some brightly coloured yarn left over from the blanket I decided to make a short sleeved Beyond Puerperium, by Kelly Brooker.  I made a long sleeve version for my niece and I think it has had lots of wear.  As we are supposedly in the warmer months, I thought a short sleeved version would be appropriate.  The good thing about short sleeves, is that the cardigan should last longer, as most babies get longer before they get wider.

I love the bright stripes, but there were an awful lot of ends to deal with.  I wove in as I went, but the ends still needed a bit of tidying up.

I made the 3 month version of this pattern, again in the hopes that it could be worn for longer.  Having short sleeves means it should be ok to be worn straight away, and last well past the 3 month mark.  Full details of the cardigan are on my Ravelry Project Page.  I love this pattern and I think my niece and nephew will be getting several more versions of this design as they get bigger (unless my SIL and brother tell me to stop!)

So, at last, now I've met my little nephew, A, I can share his presents with you.  I think they were well received.

As it is Friday, and these are finished objects, I'm going to hook up with Tami.  Click the button to get more crafty inspiration.

Double The Monsters - Double The Fun

Today I took some photos, to show you my completed Made Up Monster.  I realised, as I started to prepare for this post, that I hadn't blogged about Baldwin being finished!  So, of course I had to make this a double monster post.

I shall start with Baldwin.  Baldwin has turned out to be a very sweet, but fierce monster.

Just look at those fangs!!!  This monster is actually going to the recipient of my first monster.  I thought Baldwin could be a little brother for Hugo.  I had originally thought to give Baldwin to my other nephew, but when I saw Baldwin all finished, I knew he belonged on the same shelf as Hugo.

I used the same felt and eyes for Baldwin as I did for Hugo.  I love how three dimensional it makes the face look.

I did make a couple of tiny mistakes on this monster.  I added an extra stitch, somehow, to the first arm I knitted, so I added an extra stitch on purpose to the other arm to make them match.  There is very little difference between 9 stitches round and 10.  I also attached one of the arms the wrong way round.

The photo on the left has the curved part of the hand facing outwards from the body and the photo on the right shows the curved part facing towards the body. I had a look at un-attaching the relevant arm, but I couldn't find the right yarn strand to pull to get it undone.  I decided it was better to leave it than risk ripping the whole monster apart.

This photo helps you get an idea of scale.  Baldwin is a hand sized monster, which I hope will make him easier to transport on journeys away from home.

So having made this little monster for one of my nephews, I had to make another one for the other.  I decided to wing it, as I told you on Wednesday.  I am so pleased with the outcome!  Please meet my made up monster.  I have yet to name him.  Has anyone got any ideas?

Once again, I used my thick white felt for the face.  This time I added the felt to form the white of the eyes.  I also used separate fangs.  Adding the 12mm safety eyes to the felt means, this monster looks slightly boss eyed.  I think that, along with the wide spaced fangs, makes him look very endearing.

This guy has turned out to be pretty rotund.  In fact, I ran out of toy stuffing!  After a brief panic which envisaged me having to grab a taxi into the city centre to buy more supplies, I have a flash of inspiration.  I had bought lots of wool fibre to practice spinning on - I could use that.  So my tubby little monster is half stuffed with polyester and half stuffed with merino!

I was typing up the pattern as I went, but as the deadline started getting nearer and nearer, I stopped and just crocheted like fury.  I may try and make another one at a later date, when I'm under less pressure, and I'll finish the notes then, if people are at all interested.

I've decided to let my monsters hang out for a while before suffocating them with wrapping paper.  They look pretty good together, don't you think?

To look at other people's finished projects, click on the button.

Making Up A Monster

I'm currently in the throes of making a monster.  I am inventing it myself, for one of my nephews for Christmas.  Recently I have enjoyed crocheting animals with Stacey Trock's patterns, and knitting monsters with Rebecca Danger.  I decided to blend what I've learnt from both pattern designers and from my own pattern writing and try something new for me, designing a crochet monster.  Here is how far I've got:

I'm using Cascade 220 Superwash, which I've become very fond of.  It has a lovely handle and creates nice crisp stitches.  Though the yarn is worsted weight, I'm using a 4mm hook to create a dense fabric.  It's a lovely texture, with all those tight, crisp stitches, created by crocheting into the back of the stitch.

The feet and hands of the monster are in the same colour.

I'm also adding a face in the same contrast colour, using intarsia.

The face bit is all squished up due to the strands of yarn running across the back.  These will be cut and knotted together when the face is complete.

I crocheted the arms and legs first before joining the legs together and starting the body.  I then joined the arms and started decreasing, to create raglan style shaping.

I've had a few challenges while working on this monster, but I'm really enjoying it too.  I've been writing up the pattern as I go, so hopefully I will be able to duplicate it once it's finished.  I'm still not sure how it's going to look when it's done, especially the face, but I have a few days left to decide before it has to be wrapped up!

For other works in progress, click on the button.

Another Monster Make

I'm making another monster from my book by Rebecca Danger, Big Book of Knitted Monsters.  This one is Baldwin the Bathroom Monster.  He is going to a be a Christmas present for another nephew, one who didn't get the last monster I made, Hugo the Couch Potato Monster.  This book is so full of fabulous characters it is hard to choose which monster to make, but this one, while similar is some respects to the first one, has lovely long arms.  I'm hoping that a 10 (nearly 11) year old won't be too old for a bathroom monster!

With this monster I have used the disappearing magic loop technique explained by TECHKnitting.  I have used the crochet version of this and like how it works, so I thought I'd give the knitting version a go.  It seems to work pretty well, and this is what it looks like.

It's pretty neat and I think once I've done it a few times more, I won't need to refer to the instructions anymore.

I'm using Cascade 220 Superwash, which is the same yarn I used for the previous monster, just in a different colourway, number 810 which is supposed to be teal, but I think looks more jade in colour.

It may be that it just looks jade to me because the light is so shocking at the moment.  We seem to have been covered in a grey blanket in the UK.  It's pretty normal for this time of year, but I think I blot it out to escape the trauma!  As you can see, I'm not very far on, but I don't think it will take that long to finish, but it will have to go on hold for a while.  I'm not taking it with me when I go away later on today, as I want something easy and mindless, so I think I will take the Nuvem.  The Nuvem doesn't look much different from the photos I've already shown you, so I'll leave it until I've motored on a bit more, probably when I'm back home.

My trip away is to the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate and my sister- in-law is coming to pick me up for an extended visit up North.  Picking me up a couple of days before we go means I can recover from the journey and still go to the show with her and her Mum on Friday.  I'm really excited about my trip as I love the Show and I love seeing my family even more.  So if you see me being pushed around in a wheelchair at the Harrogate Show on Friday, stop me and say hello!

I'm linking this little update to WIP Wednesday at Tami's Ami's, so click the button to find some new and interesting blogs.

Fanged and Fabulous FO

Last week I showed you my burst of energy photos and told you that I had held something back to share later.  Today I bring you HUGO THE COUCH POTATO MONSTER!!!!

Isn't he fabulous?  The pattern is from Rebecca Danger's Big Book of Knitted Monsters.  This book is one of the most adored in my knitting collection.  When I use the word "most" I mean adored by the most amount of people that I show it to, especially the non-knitters.

This monster is heading for one of my nephews, who has a birthday in the next week or so.  It is being hand delivered, but not by me.  I wish I could see his face when he opens this gift, as I think he will be loved by the newly minted 9 year old who will receive him.  Apparently, I have been informed by his mother, 9 is not too old for woolly creatures.

This knit was pretty straight forward and I loved putting this guy together.  I got the felt for the mouth from Blooming Felt and when it arrived I could not believe the thickness of it.

The felt is 4mm thick and is proper wool felt.  It's incredible quality and I think it gives the fangs a great 3D effect!  I stitched the fangs on the opposite way up to the pictures in the book, and though it was accidental, I really like the way it makes Hugo look like he is smiling.  I sewed the fangs on, rather than using glue, as suggested, as I enjoy the process, rather than from any worries about not sticking.

I used 12mm safety eyes for Hugo as he is quite a substantial chap and I thought 10mm was too small.  The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash, which I got from Nutty Knitting Supplies and I highly recommend.  I bought a few skeins for toy making and I really like it.  If I could afford it, I would make clothes from it.  I know I would definitely use it for baby or children's clothes.  It gives a lovely crisp and even knitted fabric, which looks very neat.

I was quite surprised at how neat the three needle bind off at the top of the toy looked. 

I had thought that grafting would have looked better, but this looks fine.  I was also surprised that the whip stitch that sewed the bottom of the toy together, after stuffing, looked so neat.

The only thing I would do differently for my next monster is to stuff the legs more.  They do bend a bit when the monster is stood up.  I must remember that where the limbs join the main body, that is the point where all the stuffing is needed, or it will just sink to the bottom of the limb, like in the picture at the top of this post.

I will definitely be knitting more monsters from this book as they are a simple and enjoyable knit which bring so much pleasure.  I know there at least 3 more people who would love one of the monsters, so I should be able to work my way through the book quite quickly.

To look at other finished objects (with less fangs) click on the button!