Cowls are really just a scarf without the annoying bulk

I made several cowls as gifts for Christmas this year. Some were from TinCan Knits, the False Creek pattern. The original design called for a 3 button closure, which made it quite versatile in how it could be worn. I also made some as a joined cowl, for those who don't want to fuss with buttons. These were all done in acrylic of various shades, in a bulky yarn weight. (I wish I had taken pictures of them). I made some other cowls in Paton's Classic wool, which will undoubtedly be very warm and toasty to wear! One of these is out of a knitting magazine I bought in the fall. It is from Knit Simple, and is called Merry Mesh. Originally a long scarf but I modified it to be a button-up cowl as I liked that idea so much!

I just completed another of the wool cowls, using a pattern I found on one of the blogs I follow. It is a hand cabled cowl, and it closes with 1 button. This one I did take pictures of! It will be so versatile to wear! I love how the hand cable turned out. I may play around with another like this to keep the cable front and centre.Perhaps fewer stitches on one side of the cable ..... we shall see. Directions for making this are found  here  directions for the collar on Chris Knits in Niagara's blog.

So, now that I have made mittens and cowls, I suppose I will soon turn to hats! LOL No, actually, I am finishing off a stuffed toy for a KAL, then I am making a sweater for myself with the yarn I bought at Romni Wools in December. I can hardly wait to work with those yarns as they are sooooo soft and luxurious!

2014 Begins!

Happy New Year to all! It was a bit of an unusual holiday season for my family, but, that is most likely normal for us given the last few years history. I was busy creating some last minute gifts that caught my eye and interest .... cowls, and mittens, and some other small toys. I did not think to take pictures of them in my haste to gift them, but I was very happy with the results and will most likely make more of these.

The mittens, however, I did continue to make. My ddil expressed a very strong wish for some shark mittens that she saw on Pinterest. I ho-ed and hummed about the pattern as it was done in tunisian crochet. I am certain I could master this craft as well, but then I would just end up investing in more tools (the hooks for this) so I put making them off for a few months. As Christmas drew near, I became determined to convert the pattern into one I could knit, as I read others who had done so on Ravelry. And so my adventure began. I do wish I had taken a picture of the adult sized shark mittens. They were well worth the effort! I found I had yarn left over, and so I set about down sizing the size to make some for children. And these I do have pictures of! I did not make note of the size of needle or number of stitches, since I was more or less just working on instinct. I did however make them flat, leave about 6 - 8 stitches on a holder for the thumb which was worked after the body of the mitten. It was not all that difficult to figure out how to reproduce them.

While looking for plain mitten patterns to guide me on my quest, I saw some very sweet kitten mittens. These stayed in my mind so once I was content with making 3 pair of shark mittens, I set out to see what the kitten mittens would be like. Again,  I just used the picture of the finished mittens for inspiration and did not actually follow the pattern at all (even though it was a free pattern). So 3 pair of kitten mittens then appeared. Again, I knit these flat and then seamed them at the end, except for the baby mittens which I knit in the round as there was no thumb to deal with. The thumb on the larger mittens is supposed to be the cats tail .....  I think I was inspired to make mittens as it has been so cold the last few months here!

Some of the last minute toys I made were some kittens with pink dresses and a bow by their ear (you know the ones I mean!) I then dove into making some mittens, but with peach instead of pink. I am quite happy with these as well.

My mitten making is on the back burner again and I felt obligated to make some little mice as I had previously purchased a set of patterns called Christmas Mice. Of course it was a little late to make them for Christmas, so I made 2 dressed in street clothes rather than Christmas wear! They are very sweet.

Now, onto a mystery KAL that I joined, and then to cast on a sweater for myself using some of the wonderful yarn I got at Romni Wools late last year!

Happy New Year to all! May this year bring you endless joy, smiles, love and contentment.

A Memory of Mom

Regular readers will remember me talking about my Mom, and how her love of dolls inspired me to go back to my knitting in order to make a topsy-turvy doll for her, followed by a whole family of dolls to keep her company in the nursing home. She truly did like to receive the dolls and they were often on her bed when I went to visit her.

December 4 is her birthday, and also her father's birthday (my grandfather). Although they are no longer with me, their spirits truly are. It is so fitting that I happened to go to St. Joseph's LifeCare, which is a retirement/nursing home here in Brantford for my second craft show and sale on their birthday! It was purely serendipitous, Wednesday is the best day for me to do something like that that takes me away from home for any extended period of time due to my husbands health. I was also lucky that my son and future daughter in law were able to take a work at home day to stay with him so no worries at all for me while I enjoyed my day of sales. It was like the home that my Mom was in in so many ways, and I enjoyed talking with and listening to the residents as they came by to look at my things.

One family sat quite close to me and I was able to watch and listen to them as they shared a snack and visited, and the mother was so much like my own mother in the way she reacted. Near the end of their visit, one of her daughters came over to look at my things and she bought one of my large dolls for her mother, because she loved them too! That was so heart warming for me to see that my doll was going to bring smiles to someone so much like Mom! I am so glad the chain of events lead me to that place on that day! Small things can so often make a big difference in our lives!  Happy birthday Mom, and Papa! I was thinking about you on your special day.

The sale went very well, and I would certainly like to go there again (with different things of course) just for the pleasure of visiting with the people! Perhaps in the spring if I can get some spring themed things ready ....

I was able to get some stands to hang the toys from, and brought my drier rack to hang some things from, so the display was better than the first show I did. I need to find some better table coverings perhaps though that reach the floor from all sides for next fall. No rush on that, I am sure I will come across something in my shopping that will make a lovely backdrop for the toys.

Many thanks to Audrey for her picture taking. I remembered my camera this time but did not remember to get it out of my purse! :D

Ho Ho Ho! Christmas is Coming!

The wonderful season of Christmas is drawing in, and I am ready with some Santas, snowmen and a Christmas Teddy bear!

The Santas are my own invention, after looking at pictures of other crochet Santas and not being particularly drawn to any of them. The beard and hair is what makes mine "POP" I think. I am very happy with them and have recorded the pattern for myself so I can revisit it and polish it. If anyone is eager to try one, I would be glad to share the notes I have at present for them. The smallest Santa was the initial creation, with the larger versions being the "tweaked" Santas.

Likewise the snowmen were made very much off the top of my head. Some are 2 snowballs high and some are 3 snowballs high. I used the idea from the Mr. Melty snowman for the arms though. I like that effect more than snowball arms. And I really like the twisted chain for the nose. I think they look quite carroty!

The teddy bear is for a KAL for one of the groups I joined in Ravelry in the last few weeks. It is toy making group -- no surprise that that one would catch my eye quickly! I don't remember what lead me to the group, but it appears there are many other toy enthusiasts in the knitting and crochet world! This pattern was written by a homeless man, who made the bears to sell and to improve his position in life. It is a most heart warming story, which I believe to be true. His name is Gregory Patrick and this is his blog if you are inclined to read his story further MadMan Knitting Blog  I did not sew the hat and scarf onto the bear, so after the festive season she (or he) can sport other seasonal attire! I foresee a little sweater for the winter and perhaps a bunny hat for the spring! :D

Do have a wonderful Christmas season if I do not post again before then. I think I shall ... I am working on a few more of the 12 inch knitted dolls at the moment and I will be glad to share their pictures once they are completed!

My First Craft Show

I have survived my first craft show, thanks to much support and encouragement from my family. It was great fun, and for me it was also a little exciting. It ended up being quite a small show, so far as potential customers were concerned as it was mainly the dancers and their families who attended (it was a fund raiser for a dance group that is raising money to travel to Scotland for a competition). I learned so much from the experience, and got some good tips from the other vendors about other shows that are worth entering, and also a contact in one of the facilities in town that lets you set up a table and sell your things there for a donation, depending on how much you sell (10 % of sales, but that is not really bad since all the other shows have a table charge to enter.) I got confirmation this morning that they have accepted me to set up a table there, so now I am excited again! :D It will be on Wed. Dec. 4, from 10 am until 3 pm. That will work wonderfully for me as the nurse and the PSW both come on that day so I won't have to worry about hubby being alone for too long. Now I can hardly wait to get creating those small toys again to stock up the things that were sold, but first, to finish off the 2 sweaters that were ordered at the last sale. I just have the sleeves on the larger size to finish, then I can get them delivered.

More for the collection

Actually, these are not for my growing pile of toys, they are destined for a craft sale I have entered in early November. I have not tried to actively sell any of my things before so it is both exciting and a little scary. But, it will be a fun day whether people are interested in buying the things I have made or not! To get ready for the sale, I have made some more of my dress up dolls, and some other smaller toys. I plan to make a few more monster toys for the sale so the girls are not over-represented with the dolls!

These dolls show the different skin tones and also a few other hair styles that can be made. The clothing is always an adventure as I don't really know what to dress them in until they are done, and that inspires me to design their clothes.

Julia, long brown hair and loose ponytail, with beige skin.

Helena, with blonde hair done in 2 braids on top of her head, with pink skin.

Eva I believe I have posted about in another post. She has black hair, done with a single braid across the top, and brown skin.

Idalia, with lighter brown hair, done in an up-do (lots of braids then braided together), with beige skin. 

Views of the hair styles. If you would like to know how to create any of them, please just ask!

Different clothes for different gals! It is such fun creating the outfits for them to wear! 

I also made a long coat set for one of them. It has the coat, a poncho, boots, hat and mitts for those cold days to come. The trim and poncho are mohair (Mickey, my cat just loves any natural yarn so I had to be on the lookout for him while I was making these as he will eagerly steal the yarn to wrestle with it!) The main yarn for these was actually cotton, which is nice for doll clothes as it does not pill and is not as slippery to put on and take off for little hands. 

Those fingers are so darned cute! And his mouth has a tunnel behind it so he can really "eat" things! 

This is a monster I also just finished. He was part of another pattern test and was a very nice change of pace from the dolls. He got chased up the cat ladder by some ghosts that I made by special request for Hallowe'en!

That appears to be all I have to say for now .... off to make a cup cozy tonight and then back to dolls and monsters! 

Have a wonderful week!

Lil' Chipmunks

Change of pace and some cute little critters! One of the dialysis patients requested a chipmunk to give to his wife for Christmas, as she has been feeding a little chipmunk all summer. So I set to work finding a pattern that appealed to me, then went searching for just the right yarns to complete her. I am most pleased with the results. So pleased, I made 2 of them! 

This is a free pattern, if you are so inclined. Really cute chipmunk to crochet It is crochet. I used a 3.75 mm hook. Normally I use a larger hook for my amigurumi toys, but the yarn I found in the perfect colour was just DK, and it was not tight enough with a larger hook. The body is done in Mellowspun DK by Mary Maxim in bronze. There were many small parts to sew together, but I find when I do the sewing as I go, it is not really a big deal. Other than the body colour, the rest of the yarn was bits I had left from other projects.

The pattern calls for just a small tail, but I opted to make a longer tail. For one, I crocheted 8 stitches in a circle until it was the length required, then did a decrease row and then closed the opening. I stuffed it lightly, and after sewing the tail onto the body, I crocheted the stripes right onto the chipmunk. That is the chipmunk on the right below.

For the next chipmunk, I crocheted the tail as a rectangle, again 8 stitches wide. After the body colour was done, I went along both sides with a row of black in single crochet. I then added a row of white single crochet but I also joined the black edges together to form a tube which was then sewn onto the body. For the body stripes, this time  I crocheted a long chain of single crochet the length needed to go down the back, and up the other side. The stripes were 3 rows of single crochet .... black, white, then black again. Once the stripes were finished, I sewed them onto the body, starting just behind the ears. This is the chipmunk on the left, below.

Both ways of making the tail and the stripes gave a nice result and were about the same in difficulty to make. I embroidered the eyes by making black knots which I secured at the neck before sewing the head and body together. I also gave both chipmunks a pink bow, since the request was for girl chipmunks! :D

Maybe you would like to create a few of these very sweet little creatures for someone you know as well!