Owls!

Back in the beginning of May I had a brainwave to make knitted toys for party favours for E’s 7th birthday party, instead of doing loot bags full of junk food.  Her party was the 1st of June so I figured I’d have plenty of time to make x8 toys.  After extensively browsing Ravelry I decided on Cordell the Owl as the pattern to use, with E’s approval.

I don’t know why, but I didn’t make them one by one – instead I knitted 8 little bodies, then 8 little beaks, and 16 little wings.  And then I sewed them all together over a few very very late nights.  It turns out that I am super slow at knitting little things and at sewing up little things, and I didn’t manage to finish them until 2am on the morning of the party – yawn!

I didn’t make the eye patches, instead I just cut out pieces of white felt.  And I didn’t do the feet because I simply ran out of time.  I magic looped the bodies and wings, and used dpns for the fiddly little beaks.  I actually found the beaks a little large, so after the first one I tried to make them smaller prior to attaching them to the body.  I got some 12mm amber teddy bear eyes from  Spotlight, which I think look really good – better than just buttons or black felt.

On the day before the party E and I went to Ike’s Emporium, and we chose some flowers and bows to attach to the owls, to pretty them up cos they are girl owls.  Apart from the orange owl which C chose for himself.

The morning of the party they tried to escape…

I rounded them up and then wrapped them up before the party, and then at the party we played a game, with each girl in turn having a lucky dip and choosing a parcel.  Then she left the room while the others hid the parcel, and when she got back they played “hot and cold” while she looked for it.  It was a big hit, they all had a great time.  Then to wrap up the party they made bedrooms or nests for their owls out of boxes and craft stuff.  E loved it so much she spent the entire next day adding boxes to make more rooms, and ended up with an entire owl-house.

Jenny vs Lace…

OK I’ll admit it first up, my sister warned me that the Tanvi cardigan was cute but the lace was painful and took ages.  Not that it is a difficult pattern; it isn’t.  But I guess my sister discovered she didn’t have the patience for lace when knitting Tanvi, and she suspected I wouldn’t either.

Nah, the pattern was simple!  I can do lace!  How hard could it be?  I’ve knitted lace before, scarves even.  I was sure Tanvi wouldn’t pose any problems.

So I cast on my Purple Tanvi with some Moda Vera Noir that I’d originally bought to try sock knitting.  I figured E would like the purple and it might stripe in an interesting way.  Well the bodice was simple enough, so far so good.

And then I started the lace.  And made a mistake, frogged a row and kept on.  And made a mistake, frogged a couple of rows and carried on.  And made another mistake, frogged another couple of rows and started to get a bit frustrated.  What was wrong with me?  OK I was knitting late at night and tired but surely I could get to the end of the row and actually have the right stitch count, even if the row was 153 stitches long?

Apparently not.

So I got out my lace stitches book and hunted for an alternative lace pattern.  Something easy.  Something with alternate purl rows instead of lace stitches every single row.  Something really easy with only a 6 stitch repeat, instead of the 12 stitch repeat in Tanvi.  And I settled on a zigzag pattern which sort of matched the diamond pattern in Tanvi, but required even less brain power.

Phew.  I still made mistakes, but still this lace went a lot faster.  As long as I didn’t try to watch TV at the same time.  Or knit late at night.  I was VERY happy to cast this one off.

So the mods were the different lace pattern, plus picot edging on the sleeves and hem.

My sister said “I told you so”, and pointed out that my efforts at a lace scarf involved me starting the scarf, getting fed up with the lace and giving it to her to finish.  Oops, I’d forgotten that.

I have very happily cast on a Hoodlum for my next project, lots of nice simple stocking stitch in the round… ahhhhh bliss.

 

 

A year later…

I can’t believe my last post was a year ago!  Craft took a back seat for a while there, and knitting just wasn’t happening.  But the knitting bug hit me a couple of weeks back and I’m pleased to report I’ve now actually finished a piece, for the first time in a year or so.

So here it is, my first FO of the year, a stripey tunic for E.  Its a Just Jussi design, and was a nice easy knit for my first project in a while.

The pocket was knit into the tunic rather than sewn on, and I think it would look better if it was a little lower, but other than that I’m quite happy with the finished product.

For my next project (which I intend to cast on tonight) I shall tackle a slightly more ambitious (for me) lacy little number, a Tanvi cardy for E.

 

Captain Feathersword!

I’m baaaaack!

Yeah shocking blogging, I know.  I’ve had a busy year and crafting sort of took a back-burner for a while.  In fact (and how embarrassing is this?)  I’ve just finished a pair of longies I started THREE YEARS AGO!  And I was so out of practice I had to keep looking up my pattern pages to remember how to make them!  shame!

I’ve put them aside to embellish, so will show them later.  In the meantime, Nana Colleen has been busy making a Captain Feathersword costume for C.  Yep, the Wiggles are once again popular at my house, now that I have a 2 year old!

The shirt is a Pumpkin Patch one that Nana Colleen bought and added lacy ruffles to the sleeves and down the front.  The vest is entirely made by her.   The hat and sword were bought but she’s added the feathers.  It has a sash with fringes at the end too.

Here he is, saying “ho ho ho!” (cos he hasn’t figured out that pirates say yo ho ho).

Placket Neck Jumper

So I started a placket neck jumper for Connor a few months ago, and have been dawdling along with it.  Used magic loop for the sleeves on my new knitpicks needles – my first ever magic loop project!  I’m just about to start the placket neck now, but in the meantime my sister has whipped one up for my nephew in a fraction of the time its taken me to get this far.

So here is Jasper’s placket neck jumper, in Ocean Utiku I think

and here is Jasper wearing it – very very soon I will show a pic of Connor wearing his.  Honest.  Really.

Helloooooo!!!!

Hi!   Its been a very long time between blog posts! sorry about that – currently my computer is doubling as the TV and its hard to get enough time without hubby or kids wanting the TV for me to be able to blog.

For that matter I haven’t been knitting much either, but as winter is approaching I NEED to make some longies for Connor, who is currently wearing his sister’s girly coloured longies that are about 3 inches too long for him.

Since I’m blogging in my lunchbreak at work I have to be quick, but I thought I’d share a Mothers Day swap that I got in the weekend (sorry the pics are a bit big, I don’t have time to fix them).

Aren’t the little owls just cuties? Their wings are minky, and their eyes are felt with little black snaps.  Ellie has claimed the red one and named it Hoo.

The yarn is a very beautiful 2 ply, which is asking to be made into an Anthemion Wrap, which is rather ambitious since in my current UFOs I have a pair of longies I started 2 years ago, and a more recent but still very slow jumper for Connor.  One day though…

Its that time of year again…

E had her kindy christmas party last Friday.  I didn’t make it but it looks like she had a ball on the bouncy castle

Apparently there was a magician with a white rabbit which she got to cuddle

Then she got to go home with Nana C for the night, which she always loves.  The next day Nana C took her to the Waiuku Christmas display.   This year she had made an angel costume for E, which I suspect was very very hot given that it was a very MUGGY and HOT day, and E is wearing long sleeves and rather rosy cheeks!

My netball supporter

Last night my work had a friendly netball competition with a local banking team as a netowrking sort of thing.  I DON’T play netball but I thought I’d go along to show my support, so the kids and I went and cheered for our team.  Both kids were fascinated with their first viewing of a netball game, and E has asked me if she can please play netball “when I am a lady”. 

My team was wearing silly sweatbands for fun and of course one of them ended up on C’s head, who kept tilting his head back to try and see it!  He had a good time and got lots of attention which always makes him happy.

Blossoms

We were down in Invercargill for a visit in October and the spring blossoms were gorgeous!

We’d never been to the Southern City before, and we loved it despite the less than stellar weather.  Queens Park is fabulous!

Actually we were very taken with Invercargill and for a while we were planning to move there to live – its a lovely city and so much less traffic than Auckland!  We ultimately made the call to stay put though.

All the above shots were taken at Queens Park.  You will notice there are no photos of C – thats because he was snoozing the whole time!

My little girl is growing up

And is big enough for pony rides!  She’s been on a pony once when she was two, and sat on my horses a couple of times, but last month she had her first proper lead rein ride.  This is a pony called Rusty who is owned by one of the little girls at the local pony club.  E loved her ride so hopefully we can make it a regular thing.