Knitworthy little boy - and Mario

It's DONE! <>

Yes, it's done, DONE, DONE!

To be honest, the worst/hardest part was coming up with charts for the words and I'm not entirely thrilled with either panel. But all-in-all, I think it's going to be a great blanket for his bed. It's ALMOST, but not quite big enough to cover my queen sized bed.

I've got a few ends to tackle (intentionally left for maximizing points)... but it's been through the washer and the dryer and is currently stashed for putting under the tree. (please ignore the messy bedroom)

Unlike the star wars blanket from a couple of years back, this is much lighter weight and will work throughout summer months... whereas the star wars blanket mostly has to be put away to prevent him from sweating to death once it gets even slightly warm out. Good for this time of year though... :-)

The Long Haul

Some projects are a bit LONGER than others.

Sometimes it's a complete slog, but you really, really want the finished item.  Because in all honesty? If it's no fun AND you don't REALLY want the finished items, let's face it - those items don't get finished! In point of fact... the double-knit blanket? got frogged this last weekend. The yarn has been reclaimed and is destined to become something else. Don't know what yet, I have a couple of ideas and only time will tell.

Sometimes it's a lot of fun, but just immense amount of work. That's the current Mario Mushrooms blanket. Each section was fun... but each section took a lot of time. I did a 9-block section for an Order Mission (my first and only complete Order Mission in the history of Order Missions). I did a 15-block and 6-block section for half of my NEWT (my first and only complete NEWT). I did a strip, that was the equivalent of a 5-block section for the top a week ago.  I finished the last strip (another equivalent of a 5-block section) this week.

All the ends have been woven in - so after a bit of seaming and a few more ends woven in... we should have a finished blanket. Plenty early for Christmas! And being it's my last Christmas present to make, I'm feeling pretty good about that.

I have only four remaining WIPs on the needles:

1. Fingerless gloves from October - these really need to be frogged and restarted - so I'll wait until January to maximize points.

2. My Braided I-cord scraps rug... this is a long-term WIP. Fun to work on... lots of work. Funny enough, while it's simple enough knitting - it's always fun to see how the unexpected scraps of color turn out as I am adding them quite randomly - and by the tme you have three different random sections that then get braided - it's quite enjoyable. I do bits and pieces of it as I come up with yarn scraps. I originally was thinking this was going to be a five to ten year project. But honestly? At the rate it's growing - it'll be ready for use within a few years.

3. My Mermaid Tee. Over 50% done. Cast-on originally for Quidditch for a seeker position - but set aside and never turned in for anything as it was taking so long to make. And I needed a quick baby shower baby blanket - which I used instead to earn points. Probably about 20 hours left of knitting and another five to six hours of seaming. Simple, straightforward knitting. Boring. It's using a self-shading color change yarn which should make it more interesting... but it's really not. But put on a good tv show and I should be able to pound away at it. I was originally thinking I should focus on my fourth WIP through the end of the month... but it's kind of intimidating... so maybe I'll take  the easier project of the two to focus on for a bit.

4. My Chocolate Passion Cardigan. This thing was a bear. I kid you not. There was a chart with a repeat. Then there was cabling (which couldn't really totally be in the chart due to short rows) plus garter stitch. THEN there were short rows (not in chart) AND there were also increases (not in chart) simultaneously. I have two sides - left and right. And had finished one incorrectly and didn't catch it until I was at that point in the pattern on the other side and realized I had missed the increases. I wrote stuff down and set it aside in frustration. And now can't find my notes. I reprinted the pattern and have no idea where I am as far as the pattern goes on the side that is live right now.... so I'll probably frog back to the last 'recognizable' point. Yes that's in quotes and I probably overdo using quotes... but I'm seriously  doubting there is going to be a recognizable point (insert  quiet little stifled sob here). Hopefully I can figure that out and finish one side correctly. And hopefully based on that - I can figure out how much of the other previously finished side needs to get frogged and restarted. Add some sleeves to knit and some seaming and buttons... and maybe, at some point this might become a sweater. Originally, I had planned on tackling this first. And I really do think I'll like the finished sweater a lot. But, it's the kind of thing that needs peace and quiet. I don't usually get a lot of that. However, I'm taking several days off towards the end of the year... and it looks like my son is spending most of those days with his dad.

So... my plan of attack is to watch a bunch of Christmas movies with the boys after school this week... and see if I can't pound out the rest of the knitting needed for the Mermaid Tee. I could seam it this weekend and get it turned into Flexible Scheduling for Nerdwars. Enjoy the holidays - if my fingers itch - I can always cast on a couple of charity hats to work on. Then by boxing day...  after my son goes to dad's house... I can drag out the Chocolate Beast and spend a little time in quiet focus.

Still more Christmas gifts coming off of the needles

First, a ski mask... for little Aydan who REALLY, REALLY wanted a dragon... and when I offered to make him a ski mask instead decided he wanted BOTH a dragon and a ski mask....

This was made with Red Heart With Love... with a pattern I wrote as I worked it. I cast on the same number of stitches I would have for a hat, knit in K1, P1 ribbing for six inches (for a six year old) - older and adults, I'd go up to eight to ten inches...  Then I cast off half the stitches - for me, I used Jeny's Extra Stretchy Bindoff from Knitty. K1, P1, the other half of the stitches... then used Backwards Loop to cast-on the stitches I had just cast off. I knit in K1, P1 ribbing for a good inch or so... then changed to stockinette (disregard the one row of K1, P1 ribbing that slipped in there somewhere during a good part of the tv show I was watching. I knit it stockinette another four inches (would have done closer to six for an adult).  Typical hat-based decreases, I K5, K2Tog  repeat through end of row, K one row, Then I repeat each row decreasing the number of stitches between K2Tog until the last row which is just K2Tog all stitches.  Quick, fast and mindless knitting. Fun and bright... perfect for a little boy who doesn't like to freeze.

Second, a pair of simple socks. I used the Easy-Peasy sock pattern on Ravelry. Worsted weight socks are SUPER FAST - this pair is in some Hobby Lobby I Love this Yarn in Ombre print.

He's growing so fast, and he's had to give up several pair of outgrown hand-knit socks this fall. He loves these socks, though they are almost as thick as slippers... but they keep his toes warmer in winter, and what's not to love about a little boy who loves socks that his mom makes him?  I want to knit him dozens... lol.

Lastly a set of bells... these were made following project notes out of the left overs from  the Red Heart with Love yarn from the ski mask hat...

One for me, one for little 'a', one for big 'A', his fiance 's', her son the littlest 'a' and the rest will go to teacher's with the teacher's gifts. Super fast at only an hour or so to make each one. The only thing stopping me is that I ran out of jingle bells. I have added a jingle bell inside each bell as a 'clapper' so that when 'rang' there's actually some noise.

I love following the tradition of hand-making ornaments every year and gifting them. It was getting to be a chore at one time when the number of nieces and nephews getting them were getting a bit 'numerous'... but after cutting back to immediate family and teachers, I can start enjoying it so much more again. I love finding a new pattern. And while I enjoy the more tedious projects as well, you just can't beat something that turns out this cute and is so super fast! These were made with a thick worsted yarn and came out to about four inches tall, three inches wide... but I was thinking some fingering weight yarn? might turn out tiny bells? and wouldn't that also be soooo cute?!

A couple of gifts down

First, I finished a hat for little 'a' a bit ago... then yesterday I managed to finish off a matching scarf. He has TONS of hand-made hats. But they are all 'special' and draw attention. And in the fourth grade? Drawing attention to yourself is not in his comfort zone.

But these should be cozy and warm for him this winter!

The next one is a secret project... for another little boy... who has asked me to make this exact item - and I told him that I didn't want to make it.... but decided today that if I could whip it out, it'll be great in his gift at Christmas time. I'll probably stick it in the bag of clothes (ooh - yuck... clothes for Christmas.... ugh - LOL).

I still have another ski mask to make for Christmas gifts and the Mario blanket to finish up ... making December a much lighter pile of knitting tasks than usual.

Pikachu is finally done

I'm not quite sure he looks like the character... but I did what I could.

Here's the finished Pikachu:

Yeah... not perfect.... but eh... my son loves him anyway.

The yarn I had started him with was more neon-shaded... but I ran out and couldn't get more... so the new yellow is a bit brighter than the photo would appear... it's a good color.  I didn't get the face/head quite right. But I love the ears and the tail. Tail is made in seed stitch with lots of zigs and zags and a bit of darker color at the base. I added stripes to his back with duplicate stitching.

Sadly, he looks a bit more like a pillow than a pikachu... but I can live with it since little 'a' loves him all the same.

Of course, five seconds after he took Pikachu back to his room after he was finished he came back to me asking for a Snorelax... because it 'ought to be easy and really good for cuddling'.

While he ought to be easy enough to make.... I'm not sure I'm ready to sign up for coming up with him from scratch with no pattern... not yet anyway. Maybe. Good news is that his face is pretty straight-forward embroidery - so at least I'd be less likely to mess it up. So, for right now,  little 'a' is just going to have to settle for 'let me think about it'.

Pikachu is in the home stretch

I've finished the body and head which felt like a total slog.

The ears were finished last night. The arms are over half done today. I think I'll manage to whip through the arms and legs tonight. That leaves me the tail to knit tomorrow... and seaming and making his face on Sunday.

It's just streaming along now that I'm through the worst of it.

Super-fast necklace

A couple of months ago there had been a class prompt that asked you to use some metalic colored yarn as one of the options. I wasn't going to do it... but in the craft store I stumbled onto a rack of Lion Brand BonBons and kept eyeing the package of metalics.  The package contained six little 35-ish yard mini-skeins and the metalics package had silver, gold, copper, etc. Super cute and super fun... and I broke down and brought the package home.  I ended up whipping out a super-easy, super-fast bracelet...

Basically, I knit three different I-cords; then braided them... which was inspired by a thought I had around making a braided rag rug - but instead of using rags; I wanted to use scrap bits of yarn and make I-cords from them. Making the bracelet  helped me think through the process and experiment a little.

This month, along comes another prompt... this time it was to be inspired by keys... and I couldn't resist adding a necklace to match:

It took only about 5 yards of each yarn. I used big needles to make it go quick... an dit did. About one hour from first cast on to trying on.