Archives for July 2015

That’s me, out of control. Meet Fifi:

I enjoyed knitting Florian the fox so much I had to make a girl fox. She is a bit larger than Florian because I knit her from aran weight yarn: a leftover partial skein of Rowan Harris Aran, a now-discontinued yarn. It’s a great foxy color, is it not?

That’s not all:

This is Souris, a sweet little girl mouse. Her dress looks very French, no?

I can quit any time.

A coworker arranged some of my critters so you could see all their little tails:

The animals live in my office because Loki does not know the difference between them and cat toys.

“Who, me?”

You will be relieved to hear, I am sure, that Angelique now has a dress she likes.

Her lace dress, my own design, with the bodice based on the Seasonal Dresses pattern by Julie Williams, is knit from Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere. Angelique feels very elegant in it.

But that’s not all . . . she has a new friend.

This is Florian the Fox, knit from Julie Williams adorable pattern.

I love his bushy tail!

You may wonder why I am suddenly obsessed with knitting small animals. Several reasons:

1. Julie Williams’ patterns are brilliant and the resulting animals are adorable.
2. I can’t start knitting my August Camp Loopy project until August 1 and I don’t want to commit to a large knit right now.
3. When it is eleventy-billion degrees with 900% humidity outside, knitting on small items seems like a good idea.

What’s not to like?

Loki sez:

“Meow.”

Question: what do you do when you have almost full skeins of grey Rowan Kidsilk Haze and Baby Merino Silk DK leftover from knitting a little Loki cat?

Answer: You knit a bunny, of course! Meet Angelique:

She is called Angelique because she is fuzzy and sophisticated, therefore I think she is French. 🙂 Angelique still needs a dress. Dotty and Inga offered to loan her one of theirs while she is waiting for me to knit her one, but she pitched a fit about “used dresses” and flat out refused. So I have designed something just for her.

Stay tuned.

I got my yarn for my lilac point Ragdoll kitty!

This is Rowan Kidsilk Haze in the White, and Smoke colorways, to be knitted held together with Rowan Baby Merino Silk DK, in the Snowdrop, Dawn, and Rose colorways. My hope was that the Kidsilk Haze would give my kitty a bit of fluffyness.

Here is the resulting kitty:

I think he turned out nicely. I went up a needle size to a 3.25mm since I was using a strand of Kidsilk Haze together with the Baby Merino Silk DK. It worked very nicely!

Craft Festival

Check this out: Annie’s Craft Festival!

Annie’s is the company that has published many, many booklets of great knitting and crochet patterns and I have reviewed and given away a number of them. The festival is not limited to knitting and crochet, but also includes classes in Beading, Cake Decorating, Cross-Stitch & Embroidery, Floral Arranging, Painting, Paper & Card, Quilting, and Sewing categories. It is being held in Fort Wayne Indiana October 30 — November 1. Looking at the list of instructors, I can see that they have some great knitting teachers lined up, so I can only imagine that the teachers for the other crafts are likely great as well. It would be a great trip for someone who is into several of the crafts represented. All the info you need is on the festival website.

Loki Sez:

I don’t know who this impostor is. He doesn’t look a thing like me!

I don’t have a problem, honest.

They are just so danged fun to knit!

All these kitties are knit from Julie Williams’ new “Boy Cat” pattern. She also has a “Girl Cat” pattern and both of them have clothes, but unlike my bunnies, I don’t necessarily think the cats need clothes. But bunnies do. I never said my life was governed by logic.

So, in addition to the tuxedo cat I made last week, I now have a tortie and a Siamese. There will be at least one more: a lilac point Ragdoll.

Bet you can’t guess why.

But I do not yet have the yarn for the Ragdoll, so he is on hold.

Like all of her little animals, the pattern directs you to add the features to the head after stuffing. I have found that for me it is easier to do so before stuffing the head. Same with the body: I attached the arms, legs, and tail before stuffing. I knew pretty much where to attach everything after having made one, so I was good to go!

In other news, I got my yarn for my Camp Loopy August project.

This is Wollmeise Pure, in the Sabrina and Tambopata colorways. I plan to make Martina Behm’s “Match and Move” wrap. As you can see, I’ve wound my yarn into balls so I’ll be ready to go on August 1st. I weighed each ball because in the pattern, Martina suggests doing so, and using the heavier of the two for Color A because that uses a bit more yarn. My Sabrina (the solid) weights 165 grams, and Tambopata (the variegated) weights 167 grams, so Tambopata will be color A.

The two colors are very closely matched, so the stripes will be, I think, very subtle. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how Match & Move looks in this combination! Actually, I have a pretty good idea, because there is a Match & Move made from these colors on Ravelry, here.

I googled the word “Tambopata,” by the way, and it is apparently the name of a river, a national reserve and a province in Madre de Dios state, southeastern Peru. Seems appropriate for the colorway!

Loki sez:

“What the hell is that thing supposed to be?”