Zhinka dinka doo

Red tweed wood sprite hat

This is one of a set of 7 hats for a special order. The order was for 4 child/teen sized hats, but then I had bits of yarn left over so I made 3 doll-sized hats to include.  My customer is amazing:  these are part of her Christmas shopping!

I desperately need a head mannequin for hat photographs. These just don't look very good all flat like this, and Max is no longer interested in modeling. I looked on ebay and found some vintage millinery forms, but I keep getting outbid. Does anyone know where else I can get one? Or maybe I should just make one. How hard could it be? (Famous last words.)

Gertie update: Thank you all for cheering Gert on! She says thank you too, only it sounds more like "purrrrrr". We have big news: yesterday she ate her first food in about 3 weeks! It was only a teaspoon, but it's a step in the right direction. She didn't repeat until this morning, and now isn't interested again. We're going in for her check-up tomorrow. Hopefully we'll keep taking small steps in the right direction.

The sewing bug is whispering in my ear

I really really want to get back to sewing. But for some reason, I really really can't. Because I can't sew, I did what any normal person would do and...bought fabric. Here's a fat quarter pack of Michael Miller's Ginger Blossom. I got it in part because the colors are not my usual colors and I'm trying to branch out.

And here's another fat quarter pack, this one is Hoffman's Kasuri Japanese Country, yukata-like fabrics. I've planned pen sleeves for some of these.

And these bright beauties. I got these during my "mental health" trip to the local quilt store. I didn't have any particular projects in mind, so I got colors I don't normally get. Except for the green, I always get green.

These 3 have an actual plan! I'm making more tote bags, 2 for a charity auction and one for a friend's birthday.

Figuring I needed to do something to jump-start my sewing, I decided to join in to Finny and Donk's Sew Along Challenge. They're using Simple Gifts to Stitch for project ideas. First up is a pintucked table runner, I like the sound of that. I'm thinking I don't need to buy more fabric for that, I should have stuff in the stash, but you never know (wink). My book came on Monday, so I can get going any second now. Yup, I could.

I'll now show you what I have been working on. Did you notice how this doesn't seem to be sewing-related? I decided I must have new hand-knit socks, so I'm working on these Jaywalkers, except I'm doing them toe-up. Getting to this point has been a huge challenge, although it doesn't seem like it should be. First, I learned how to do a short row toe. Then I perfected my short-row toe by re-knitting it about 5 times with different needle sizes and numbers of stitches. Although I usually am religious about gauge swatches, for some reason I decided it wasn't necessary. Several toes later, ones that fit only the cats, and I decided to swatch. Finally, something that fits my foot!

Oh, and since I'm photo-heavy on this post anyway, I'm going to throw one more in. My new dolphin case! It's a Clover case, they say to use it for accessories. I found it on clearance at JoAnn's. I'm using it to store my size 0 dpns and the yarn for my socks. Those toothpicks break so easily, I'm hoping this will keep them safe.

Elfin cap

Here's another custom order (before I washed it), just finished a few nights ago.

I'm still amazed when I see my own hair from the back, it seems like it was just yesterday that it was pixie-short.

Here's the pattern for the cap:

Fiber: Patons Shetland Chunky Tweed, 1.5 skeins
Needles: size 9 dpns
Gauge: 4 st/in in stockinette
Finished size: 22 in

Cast on 76 st, arrange as 19 st on each of 4 needles. (I cast on to two size 9s held together.)
Knit 5 rows with size 8 needles (to make it roll more), then switch to size 9 needles for 25 rows (to row #30). Decrease 4 st evenly on rows 31, 34, 37 (every third row), knitting plain the in between rows. Then decrease 4 st evenly on rows 39, 41, 43, etc (every other row) until row 67 when only 4 st are left. I-cord for 20 rows, bind off.

I also knit this in a sock yarn, you can see it here (it's available for sale), there's quite a difference in the feel of the knitted fabric, and in how the hat stands on the head, between sock yarn and bulky yarn. I like them both, they're just different.

Click click click

My knitting needles have been clicking away happily, working on this pair of wood sprite hats for a custom order. Now I'm working on an elfin hat, and then back to S's sweater.

Speaking of sweaters, did you know that March 20 is Sweater Day in honor of Mr. Rogers, on what would have been his 80th birthday? (You can watch Mr. McFeely pitch it here.) If you're on Ravelry, there's also a group planning to knit mini sweaters to celebrate the day. So I guess I'll be knitting the mini sweater before S's. It should be quick, I don't think he'll mind.

And last, one gratuitous photo of Gertie, my little (big) sweetheart.

Echo Lake hat: FO!

Thank you for the words of encouragment yesterday. I'm glad to say that the dripping has stopped and has not returned. We've both resolved to do more with prevention and hopefully less with running around trying to fix what happened due to lack of prevention.

Now, on to some knitting.

Hat: done. I finished the Echo Lake hat. Actually, this is the second time I've finished it. The first time was Saturday night, but it was too short so I ripped back and made it longer.

It's quite nice, but the recipient does not want his picture taken in it, and certainly would never want to see his picture posted. Hmph. I considered never knitting him anything again, if I can't post a picture of him wearing it. But I decided that was just pouting. (And you notice that I'm not offering my head for a photo.) So here's the hat, headless.

Now I can start on the cardigan!

Echo Lake hat

This is the beginning of the gauge swatch for hubby's Echo Lake cardigan. He just lost his beloved green hat, and he picked green for the cardigan, so rather than doing a boring swatch, I'm knitting a hat. It's a 2x2 rib, so the exact sizing won't matter too much if I'm off on my gauge.

The pattern is from Interweave Knits Summer 2003. The ribs do this little cable twist thing at the bottom hem and then continue straight up the body. I'll try to remember to scan the picture from IK. In the meantime, if you're on Ravelry, you can see it there. (And if you are, add me, zhinkadinkadoo, to your friends! I'm just getting started there, I'm amazed at how much there is!)

I'm using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes for this, not the called-for yarn, Plymouth Silk Merino. Because (1) it's not available anymore, and (2) the closest Plymouth silk blend replacement would make this a $180 sweater. While I dearly love my hubby, this will be my first adult-sized sweater (unless I finish my Sweet Mary Jane first), and I just can't commit those great sums of $$, at least until I can prove than I can knit something wearable for an adult. (Even then, $180 is a lot!) I've done kids' sweaters, but those are so much easier, you just wait for the child to grow into it. Plus kids look cute in anything, even misshapen hand knits.

p.s. How have I missed the blog-from-flickr phenomenon before? So easy!

It came from the deep

Hi there! Here's a little visitor from the ocean...

...and he even brought his own snack with him!

This is a wonderful knit pattern from hansigurumi. It was a quick knit, an easy-to-follow pattern complete with pictures to help you through the tricky bits. I love how he turned out! Details on my interpretation are here.

I've mostly been working on the endless Sweet Mary Jane cardigan, so there's not much to show there. Last week I decided I really needed to finish something, anything. You know how that is? So I got this pattern, grabbed some Wool of the Andes, and a few days later I was done.

In case you're wondering what's with the shark? I googled "octopus" to see what real octopus tentacles do, and I came across this movie. Apparently the Seattle Aquarium kept losing their sharks to the new octopus in the tank. Pretty tricky eight-leggers, aren't they?

Comet and nothing

We had lots more snow last week and school was cancelled on both Monday and Tuesday. Max had a great time body-sledding in the front yard on the giant mound of snow that was removed from our driveway. While I was watching Max play--I was inside and warm--I found Comet doing a common cat thing and staring at nothing. Or perhaps they were fairies that are invisible to humans. In any case, she seemed content to just stare.

Look at the ruff on that cat. I know it's hard to see, being white on a background of white, but take my word for it, it's huge.

One minute later, she tired of keeping watch over the fairies and let out a huge cat-yawn. No, she's not trying to eat them.

Looking at Comet's ruff made me want to knit a neck warmer to keep my neck as warm as hers. I tried something, but it didn't work out as planned. I think it would work with a modification, but I don't think I'll get to it because in the meantime I discovered that my Calorimetry works pretty well, I just tie it to fasten behind my neck (I've long ago given up on the button, I just tie it now), and then I can pull the front part up as high as I want. It keeps my chin and nose warm during my sunrise walks in the frigid air. I don't think I ever posted a picture of it here, but I did make one, as did almost everyone else. I make it out of Noro something or other. As for everyone else, it's kinda big and I keep thinking of felting it, but with this new use as a neck warmer I think I'll keep it as is.

Fluff at the wrist

Last week I was gripped by a sudden boredom with plain-old-ribbing and needed to try something new. I think this came after knitting the last batch of mittens, and is aided by the fact that I have to wait for more yarn to come to me from KnitPicks. So I'm experimenting with alternatives to ribbing. And here we have the pleated ruff mittens. With 2x2 ribbing beneath the pleats, so I haven't completely escaped.

These are fun mits. It's really too bad they're too small for me.

Birdie birthday bag

Do you remember this bag? The pajama bag? Although several people wrote and said they remembered pajama bags, or that they would use a pajama bag, I kept thinking it would work better as a purse or tote bag. So I added a strap and lining, and ta-da!

Finished in the nick of time (as usual), the intended recipient's birthday party is later this afternoon. I think it's probably a bit big for little kids, as it wraps halfway around Max's waist. We'll see how it goes over. You never know what kids will like. (At least *I* never know.) It'll come packed with a flower press too. Because I'm unable to give just a handmade item as a present.