Gifting Progress

So you remember that gift knitting I put on hold because WALRUSES!!! Some of it has come together.

When we were up visiting Mr Liu’s extended family, I found out that his nephew likes Minecraft. Since I see Minecraft themed stuff on Think Geek every now and again, I filed that information away to be used for gift giving holidays. With the help of the all knowing Ravelry, I found a creeper hat he might like.

I got some Cascade 220 in highland green and cast on the “kids” size without actually doing the math to find out what the final circumference of the hat would be. It was apparent about halfway through the project that it would be too small for the seven year old’s head.

I finished it anyway. Then I stuck it on LittleBoyLiu’s head. It fit, but just. THEN I did the math to get the circumferences on the three sizes to see which one I should cast on for Mr Liu’s nephew. Turns out I had to cast on the adult large.

We are a big headed people.

I think it turned out rather well.

The only thing I don’t like about it is the gap in the back that is entirely my fault because I forgot the pattern at home and was going from memory.

But I can live with it.

The smaller hat will go to my nephew, who is two (I think?). Younger than BabyLiu, older than LittleBoyLiu. So between 18 months and four years old. Hopefully it will fit him. I’m a little worried it will be too small.

Like I said, we are a big headed people.

 

 

Oh Christmas Walrus

Anyone who knows me knows I’m easily distracted by shiny objects. I remember once Mr  Liu and I were talking outside while BabyLiu was in her swimming class and I literally stopped mid-sentence to yell “Hey! A squirrel!” Knowing this about me, I’m sure it will come as no surprise that rather than continue along my very well planned out holiday gift knitting spree I dropped everything when I got a pattern update in my inbox from Mochimochiland because OMG CHRISTMAS WALRUSES! WITH HATS!!!

I cast one on so quickly I could almost hear my WIPs sigh. I had three by the end of the week.

The walruses are supposed to be palm sized, but wanted something more wee, so  I knit them up using the Lion Brand Bonbons I had on hand. I knit three walruses and had a Criminal Minds sewing up party (me plus two cats counts as a party, right?) Friday night.

While I was sewing the parts together, I realized why I love the Mochimochiland tiny patterns so much. Very little finishing. But they came together pretty well, I think.

Because I spent so much time sewing them up, I wasn’t able to give them all hats. I gave the purple one a wee wreath I knit up from this pattern, also using bonbons. The tiny minion was knit from this pattern. He was a fantastic little knit. His Santa hat is a modification of the walrus’s. The little blue guy will get the earflap hat but BabyLiu is insistent that the hat needs a pompom and I’m not quite sure how to go about making such a small pompom. So he’s hatless for the time being.

One of the recipients commented that she didn’t know she needed a Christmas Walrus before she got one. That’s kind of how I felt when I first saw the pattern.

 

But I do know I need a Christmas squid.

Help Me Knit…

On thanksgiving BabyLiu asked to knit. She can’t, mind you, and she generally doesn’t want me to help her. She just likes playing with yarn. So I gave her a ball of yarn and some needles and she went to town.

About thirty minutes of relative quiet go by before BabyLiu puts on her sweet voice and asks me for something. “Mama? Help me knit. Help me knit a house.”

Please note that “help me” in this context means “you do it.”

I think about her request for a minute. A house is basically a square, right? I can probably do this. So I agreed. She handed me the yarn and needles I had given her and I cast on. BabyLiu then proceeded to spend the rest of the project critiquing the pattern I was making up on the fly.

“Mama, where’s the door? They need a door.”

So I add a door.

“Mama, where are the windows? They need windows to see.”

So I add windows.

“Mama, where’s the top? They will get wet when it rains.”

So I knit a roof. The roof was the most difficult piece. I frogged it a couple of times before I got a fit I was happy with that I could make with the remaining yarn.

“Mama, where’s the bottom?”

So I set it on the table and said that was the floor. Problem solved.

Here is the little knit house with its door.

And windows.

And roof. If I had more yarn, time and interest I would have filled in the triangles on the roof.

The current inhabitant doesn’t seem to mind, though.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you’re spending it in your preferred manner.

And happy Thursday to my friends outside of the US. Treat yourselves to a turkey hat!

Attempting Crochet. Again.

I bought a book recently because it was so super adorable I could not stand to not have it in my house:

And yet, I cannot crochet so creating a wee Chococat is currently beyond the scope of my abilities. I mentioned to a friend of mine that I wish I could hold the meaning of the crochet stitches in my head for more than an hour at a time. She said to me:

That’s easy peasy. It has to do with how many times you yo the hook before starting a new stitch.

Single – 1 yo
Double – 2 yo
Treble – 3 yo

Half is you yo 2 but act like you’re making a single.

That sounded super easy to me, too. So when I got home I pulled out this little flower crochet kit that came with one of my knitting magazines. I looked at the instructions for it and this was my face:

I may have actually said those exact words, but I looked considerably less high than this cat.

So I hooked up with Mr Google and looked up the stitches and was able to complete these:

But I’m 80% sure that when I try again I will have to look up the stitches tomorrow when I try to make the third flower in the magazine.

Traveling

Traveling and knitting. Knitting and traveling. Five hours of near constant knitting on the plane and my black hole is still incomplete.

I’m convinced there is no end to this skein.

Geeking Along

I finished my first and second geek blanket squares! At this rate I will have my blanket ready by Christmas of 2015.
Here is my lovely Companion Cube:

I’m rather partial to the dark pink charcoal grey combination. It pops nicely.

Geek square number two is a darling rendition of the monster Cthulhu:

I’ve been told he appears to be hula dancing. :p

The tentacles were so hard for me. I couldn’t do anything else while I was knitting the middle section without having to tink and start over. And he’s still got a couple of freckles. But don’t point them out. He’s sensitive.

Both squares are made with Knit Picks Wool of the Andes. The Companion Cube is in Rouge and Onyx Heather. Cthulhu is knit up in Green Tea and Opal Heather. If I had my druthers (or better planning) I would have bought a second ball of the Onyx for Cthulhu, but I think the contrast is nice nonetheless.

I’ve already cast on the next square!

It’s Time

Last year I bought a sewing machine. I bought it because
A) I want to learn to sew and
B) it’s ADORABLE!

Yes, my grown behind is the proud owner of a Janome Hello Kitty sewing machine. The GREEN one, mind you. You knew I loved kitties!

When the sewing machine arrived it languished in the box. It sat in my entry way making an excellent landing spot for my purse. After about six months Mr Liu moved it out to the garage where it suffered for another six. But no more!

BabyLiu has decided to be Robin for Halloween. So the rest of the Liu’s will fill in for the other Teen Titans. Mr Liu will be Cyborg, LittleBoyLiu will be Beast Boy and I will be Raven. Little Girl (BabyLiu’s Cabbage Patch doll) will be Starfire.

BabyLiu’s costume was purchased. So was the shirt that Mr Liu’s no fun self will be wearing. LittleBoyLiu and I need modifications, though.

This is Beast Boy:

As you can see, he has on a purple and black uniform. After looking around for a long pants/sleeved one piece, I settled on a purple romper that I will sew black legs and sleeves on to. I will also cut out some grey fabric and make him a wee belt.

This is Raven:

I’m being fairly lazy here. I bought a black turtle neck and white skinny jeans. I also bought her belt off etsy. But for the life of me I cannot find a purple cloak. So I will attempt to sew one.

Gulp.

More Mystery!

Riding high off the success of my successful (and on time!) completion of the Summer Mystery Shawl, I jumped right into SweaterBabe’s mystery scarf knit along. I figured what the hell. I’m going to need Christmas presents in a hot minute here anyway. In keeping with many of her knits, this one will be light and airy. I took a jump into my stash and pulled out this beauty that was even one of the recommended yarns!

Knit Picks Aloft in Tranquil. Finding a set of US9 needles was considerably more difficult. I found a single straight needle and one DPN before I put hands on the circulars pictured. And after a single row I looked for the second straight needle again. I didn’t find it, but I did lay hands on a second DPN. There are simply not enough stitches to justify all that cable.

Aloft has mohair in it. You may know that mohair is the knitting equivalent of superglue. It’s not really a fiber you can frog when you mess up. I’m certain that’s the reason any time I knit with mohair my brain looks at what should be a relatively straightforward pattern like “YO, K2 K2tog” and turns it into this:

So this got cast on a couple of times and I have a small ball of unusable fluff in my living room. But, eventually, success was mine and I completed the first clue. Since I’m using DPNs and can’t really stretch this out, I’m not at all certain what the pattern really is. It is fluffy and soft, though! 😀

From here on I knit sloooooow.

Getting My Geek On

I’ve mentioned Dr. Llama’s Geek Along before with no actual geeking occurring. No more!

In preparation for this long term project that I walked into halfway to done, I created a spreadsheet (because sometimes I am organized) and went through all the available squares and determined which are on my MUST MAKE list and which are on my Probably Should Make list. Then I added the yarn colors I wanted to use to make each square. Then I looked at my stash and laughed because the only solid colors I have are in sock and lace yarns. I went online found a yarn that would work and ordered up all the colors I would need for my MUST list of squares.

I managed to hit a sale and ordered the biggest box of yarn to arrive at my door. It’s a selection of colors in Wool of the Andes which was on super cheap at the time. Then I cast on my first square.

I went a bit rebel and decided to cast on an alternate square first. The Portal Companion Cube. Why? Because like Cartman, I do what I want! Also, I think the Companion Cubes are adorable.

The knitting gods apparently didn’t appreciate my decision, though, as I had to recast this sucker twice. I’ve also got a mis-stitch right below the heart now that I’ve decided I can live with more than I can live with frogging it again. I’m hoping all the double knitting I’ve got planned for the future helps my speed because I am sloooooooooow right now. Also having two balls of yarn makes this terrible for transit knitting so I’m only working on this at home. After the Liu Children have gone to sleep. So mostly during The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. After I’ve finishing raiding other towns in The Simpsons Tapped Out. Because priorities.

The square is going to be larger than I originally believed. Based on what I don’t know since the introduction post clearly indicates that each square will be 10in x 10in. But the final blanket if one completed all 48 squares will be of a good size. I don’t think I’m going to complete all of the squares. I’m aiming for an afgan but might end up with a baby blanket. We shall see!