ReadY, SET, go! (Yarn, Snowfigures, Erasers and Townie!)

Not a lot of time to chat today (kids home, snowing, I'm cranky and crampy...), but I realized how LONG it'd been since my last post. So...here are pictures and somewhat short (and possibly babbling) descriptions.

Okay, here we go!

1. Erasers



I love erasers and all cute journaling/writing accessories (Lora already knows about my journal buying addiction!). When I saw these erasers at the toy store we visited in Vermont, I just HAD to have them. Not only are they friggin adorable, but they erase really well, too!

2. Yarn



Yarn that I bought in Vermont at the Northeast Fiber Arts Studio (whose sign reads, "Oodles of Yarn...The Candy Shop for Knitters"...love that) - skeins of Lamb's Pride worsted for me for crocheted bunny slippers (I know, I know....I'm going over to the dark side!) and skeins of Lopi for Ben's felted mittens (from the book, "Sunny's Mittens") that he wants to knit. Not sure if he'll be knitting them anytime soon, but we found the perfect color blue for him. (and white for me)

3. Snowfigures



Ian and the kids spent Sat and Sun building some new snowmen - and a snowbunny (which I think looks more like a cute dog) - and here's Ben showing off their creations.



Tim and Mike mostly made the one with the ski goggles, purple scarf and London Fog fedora.

4. Townie!!



On Saturday, we visited the Alternative Bike Shop in Goffstown/Manchester - just to take a look at the bikes. And I ended up putting a downpayment on this one!

It's an Electra Townie 21D - in a bright, leafy green. I can't tell you how cute it is - even cuter than the picture shows - and I'll be adding on a wicker basket, a bell and a pink flower to the front. At least, as soon as I can get some more money saved up. That sucker is expensive! (But going to be worth every penny!!!)

We're all planning on riding our bikes when the snow melts - Ian rides his bike to work everyday during the good weather and Tim spends all his free time on his bike when he's not swimming - and, for the first time, I'm looking forward to it, too. First, though, we have to get Ben to practice riding his bike without the training wheels. You can do it, Benji!

Hmmmm...I think that's all for now. I'm finishing up decreasing the yoke on the Golle Molle Baby cardigan and then hope to start the bonnet on Wed night at knitting group. I cannot wait to finish this. It's cute, but....on size 2s!!!

Hope you're all having a super day and THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all of the lovely, encouraging and just awesome comments on the last post about my weight loss. I couldn't do it without all of you!!! (BIG HUG)

P.S. Did I mention that I lost 2.4 more pounds last week? Woo-hoo!!!

Oh, and a pic of Ian's grandparents, sister and all of us in Vermont from last weekend....



If only Tim would smile......

Meta Knight!

Am I getting a little obsessive?

I don't think I would have made another Super Smash Bros Brawl toy, but....after making Tim the Kirby doll, I couldn't very well not make a doll for Ben. Luckily, this was another round-ish toy, so I could use the same basic template as last time.

Look at how happy Ben is with his new guy....



And, I think, it came out pretty cool.

What do you think?

DETAILS:

Pattern: A modified version of Jess Hutchinson's "Spherey" doll from the booklet, "Unusual Toys For You to Knit and Enjoy". (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in White and Blue/Gray and Lamb's Pride Worsted in Royal Purple.
Needle: Size 5 dpns or Magic Loop
Time: Friday to Monday (with a day off to find more felt) - 3 days total
Extra Materials: Tapestry needle, scissors, felt (yellow, black, white and gray), blue material, gold pipe cleaners, needle and matching thread

Please click HERE for more pictures/angles and details on my Ravelry page.

Here are the modifications that I made to the "Spherey" pattern....

1. I only used the body portion of the pattern (not the arms and legs)
2. I left out rounds 25-29 of the body pattern, but left the rest the same.
3. I used a smaller needle size....and if you want to make one even smaller than mine, use a size 3 or 4 needle and thinner yarn...like sportweight.

After knitting up the body and stuffing it moderately full with polystuff, I designed some arms and feet, same as I used with the Kirby doll. I used the same size needle for all.



ARMS: (make 2)

CO 18 with WHITE yarn, join in the round, being careful not to twist, leaving a 12" or so tail for sewing to body.
Round 1-4: Knit
Round 5: (ssk, k5, k2tog)2x
Round 6: knit
Round 7: (ssk, k3, k2tog)2x
Round 8: knit
Round 9: (ssk, k1, k2tog)2x
Round 10: knit
Kitchener stitch top of hand closed. Stuff lightly and use tail to sew larger opening to the side of Meta Knight's body.

FEET: (make 2)

CO 18 with PURPLE yarn, join in the round, being careful not to twist, leaving a 12" or so tail for sewing to body.
Round 1-15: Knit
Round 16: (ssk, k5, k2tog)2x
Round 17: knit
Round 18: (ssk, k3, k2tog)2x
Round 19: knit
Round 20: (ssk, k1, k2tog)2x
Round 21: knit
Round 22: (sl1, k2tog, psso)2x
Round 23: knit
Kitchener stitch top of foot closed. Stuff lightly and use tails to sew larger openings to the underside of Meta Knight's body. Sew feet somewhat close together.

HINT: I like using Jess Hutchinson's sewing up technique...check out her book for more details. It makes a nice finish to the doll, with little "sewing up- look".



Well, like a sucker that I am, I'm in the process of making yet ONE MORE knitted toy before I go on to finishing up more half-knit pairs of socks. This time, it's the Elephante pattern...and, thank goodness, it's already fully written!!

Not My Sunrise Circle Jacket

I know I promised that I'd be blogging the "Amanda Hat" interview with Caroline today, but that will be tomorrow's post...along with some SASSY pics of a new crocheted gift I received last night at knitting and my favorite Amanda Hat pics. Caroline is very carefully finishing up her 8th (!!) Amanda Hat and crafting her answers to my questions. I'm really looking forward to seeing what she says, aren't you?

Speaking of Blogless Amanda, I've been bidden to show my beautiful friend in her newly knitted Sunrise Circle Jacket by the fabulously talented, Kate Gilbert.

Since Amanda doesn't have her own blog (hence the "Blogless" part), I'm going to show the pic I took of her myself...woo hoo!



Doesn't she look amazing? Though, truth be told, she looks good in EVERYTHING...damn her.

YARN: Lamb's Pride Worsted in varigated reds

Kate, you like?

Oh, btw, before I go back to knitting.... the Amanda Hat Gallery is completely updated! At least 56 hats now! Woo-hoo! Remember to send in your Amanda Hat photos before the 21st!

Have a great day (it's snowing here) and report back tomorrow, knitters!

Spherey!

Introducing....Spherey!

Oh, this was even quicker and more fun than Squarey. Only a couple days to knit the whole thing....and, man, is he POPULAR! I took him (partially finished) with us to a restaurant for dinner and, since only his head was done, everyone kept looking at the head in my bag and smiling. Ben kept saying, "I want the smiley head!" and we would toss it back and forth. Spherey is a real happy guy ; )

DETAILS:

Pattern: "Spherey" from "Unusual Toys to Knit and Enjoy" by Jess Hutchinson.
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Worsted in pale greenish blue and red (only 1/2 skein of greenish blue and small bit of red)
Needles: Knit Picks size 8, 32" circ for magic loop.
Time: 2 days...1.5 days for "head" and only a couple hours tops for arms/legs.
Fun: A- (Really loved it...especially since you can use stash yarn for it and it's quick and adorable. Only thing was that sewing on the legs neatly wasn't AS fun.)


Wanna see what Spherey does in his spare time??



He LOVES the Grab-It Game!

Oh, I also finished my Wavy scarf on Wednesday night in the hot pink color of Ella Rae Classic. It's just as warm and wonderful as my other Wavy in the Cascade 220 yarn. Now, I just need possibly one more Wavy (in black perhaps?) to go with the other outfits in my closet. Isn't it great to be able to knit to coordinate with your wardrobe? It's awesome!

Speaking of finishing things...I also finished my entry for the One Skein Wonders book and I'm going to reblock it tomorrow and send it off ASAP. Please, please keep your fingers crossed for me. It would be the best and most wonderful event in my puny knitting/designing life.

I was also shocked to see that there are over 100 Amanda hats on Ravelry now! Isn't that amazing????

My very next blog post will feature:

-an interview with Caroline (an amazing knitting friend) who is on her way to knitting about 8 Amanda hats!

-pictures of the "prize swag" that the winners will receive from the contest

-since I'm not the one judging the contest (thank goodness, since they're all so awesome), I'm going to show MY favorite hats/pics so far.

And, remember, there are only 17 days left to enter hat pics!!!

I'm v-e-r-y slowly working on my other lace projects and UFOs. But, I'm happy to have finished these three things this week. Woo-hoo! Happy Knitting everyone!

Squarey...and the Amanda Hat UPDATE!

I am in LOVE with this little knitted guy that I made for Ben this week. Ben couldn't wait for me to finish him and asked every, single day if he was "done yet ?". I had lots of fun knitting this toy, too. Tim, trying not to look interested, kept passing by while I was knitting Squarey and then, finally, he couldn't contain himself anymore....he started looking at the pattern book and pointed to "Spherey" and said, "Uh, can you make me that one?" (of course!)

Here is Ben loving his Squarey:



DETAILS:

Pattern: "Squarey" from "Unusual Toys for you to Knit and Enjoy" by Jess Hutchinson
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Worsted- 1 skein orange and a few yards of purple and turquoise
Needles: Size 8 32" circular for Magic Loop
Time: 5 days
Fun Level: B+, loved knitting with this yarn, the pattern was very easy to understand, well written and cute as hell...the only thing that took away from super fun is the final sewing up of the body, arms and legs. That was a bit tedious.

I'm looking forward to starting Tim's "Spherey" and I think he'll be even easier...he's knit in the round! I'm getting the yarn on Friday at the store. Woo-hoo!

Now....on to....the "Do the Amanda" UPDATE!

Ravelry: 133 people heart my hat pattern and there are 49 knitted hats finished or in progress at the moment. I am thrilled!!!

Gallery: I have 25 hats in the gallery so far and I have at least 4 more that I need to put in. I've been adding new pics to my other galleries, as well, so make sure to check those if you're interested.

Other News: The yarn store, Nana's Knitting Shop in Illinois has asked my permission to have an "Amanda Hat" class! They'll be taking pics of everyone knitting their hats and pics of the shop, too, to send to me to share. I can't wait to see the diversity of those hats and how nice they'll look wearing them....

Prizes: As of this moment, I am getting together delicious skeins of yarn, stitch markers and other goodies for the winner of the contest. (so much fun!) And, Blogless Amanda has had another idea as well. Giving three prizes...first, second and third prizes. This way, more people have a chance to win...Amanda is the judge!

There will be a prize for:

1. Best Hat using Malabrigo yarn
2. Best Hat using a non-Malabrigo yarn
3. Best and Most Interesting Photo wearing the Amanda Hat

There is still over a month for the contest, so you have plenty of time to knit another hat, if you'd like. There is no limit on the number you can enter. I love opening up my email and seeing all these new and beautiful hats. It's like Christmas!

*A few people have sent me links to their photos or told me where they are so that I can add them in, but...if it's at all possible...I would really appreciate the pics being sent to my email address if you'd like to be added to the gallery. I'm getting a bunch every day and need to edit the pics as well, so I don't always have time to go and find a picture. Thanks so much!*

One more thing....I wanted to give Sonya a HUGE thank you on the blog because she is one who gave me the idea to make this hat. She is the inspiration behind this super comfy and quick to knit hat that we're all enjoying and I wanted to make sure that she knows how grateful I am for her great idea. You rock, Sonya!!

Before I go, I wanted to say a HUGE "HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!!" to my hubby, Ian and share a pic of Ian (and Ben) blowing out the candles on his ice cream cake. He turned 35 on the 8th (and I can be younger for another 4 months!!! he he) and we had a small party while his parents were visiting from Texas. Love you, Ian!!



Happy knitting and keep those hats coming!!!!